Discovery 2x10 "The Red Angel"

rating: ***

the story: At last, the identity of the Red Angel is revealed!

review: So, obviously a big moment for the season, and as we learn by the end, and as explained in the next episode, a big moment for the series in general.  But it somehow manages to underwhelm.  So let's explain:

This kind of storytelling, where big moments have to happen throughout an entire season, can begin to overwhelm, especially if many of those moments are set up as parallel to each other, or in literary parlance, foreshadowing.  Whether you're thinking of Tilly's arc from the first half of the season or Saru's in the middle, or the hunt for Spock that accompanied both, all of its fed on the same basic arc of big revelations and momentous character developments, and they all led to this big reveal.  "Red Angel" has a red herring, in that for the duration of the episode we're led to believe that the eponymous individual is Burnham herself, some future version on an epic quest.

But that final line, and a sparing glimpse, reveals otherwise.  But more on that next episode.

Instead, my thoughts on "Red Angel" itself rests on the crew's plan to in effect stage Burnham's murder, which ought to feel like one of the worst possible experiences any of them could possibly endure.  But we already had that with Saru, and that was a moment that could never really be topped.  So instead of setting this moment up, the show instead sabotaged it.  The results feel convoluted instead, thoroughly acceptable in its storytelling logic, but...less than they should have been. 

Last season had this sort of experience, too: even if basically everything we knew about Lorca confirmed what he was all along, it was still disappointing for viewers who nonetheless had grown fond of him to see Lorca unceremoniously dispatched well before that season concluded.  Gene Roddenberry had realized that effect when he coined the term "beloved character status" for Saavik when Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was in development.  Saavik, who had been featured prominently in Star Trek II and III (Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock), was intended to be among the conspirators in VI, but Roddenberry vetoed the idea, on the grounds that this was a character who had firmly established herself as one of the good guys.  No manner of plot necessity would've truly justified betraying that status, and would've tarnished her rather than make for compelling material.

That's essentially what Discovery seems incapable of preventing itself from doing in these season-long arcs.  It never seems to know when it's pushed too far.  In the rush to keep viewers engaged, it forgets that at the end of the day, the whole thing will be taken into account.  Some fans will complain that Spock himself has been poorly handled in all of this, but his material has been the strongest, and it's obvious that the writers were most concerned about his role in the arc, and kept it most protected. 

If only they had been so careful with the rest of it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The constant pitfall of serialized storytelling in established frameworks like Star Trek is that they run the risk of becoming too insular in their logic, which is where "Red Angel" seems to leave this arc.
• series - The overall importance to Discovery itself can't, however, be denied.
• character - The focus once more swings to Burnham.
• essential - Even if the execution is suspect, the content speaks for itself.

notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)