Despite the fact that this first episode of season one starts with a ‘last season on Star Trek: Discovery’ recap, the episode itself really reflects the feeling that this is a fresh start. Lorca is gone and there was some semblance of resolution at the end of last season. “Brother” is the start of a new story that doesn’t feel bogged down with baggage from the prior season.
1. Captain Christopher Pike
So far, Discovery has attempted to hit us right in the feels with a dose of nostalgia, and they hit us real hard at the end of season one when the crew of the USS Discovery encounters the USS Enterprise. This episode starts with Saru in command, a short lived tenure, as Captain Pike arrives and takes the reins of Discovery, as the Enterprise is out of commission after returning from a 5 year mission. (Right in the feels again.). At this point, it seems to me that Pike is a quality addition as throwback to The Original Series as there isn’t an overwhelming amount of mythology wrapped up in his character. Spock, yes. Pike, no. It is fairly obvious Pike is attempting to win over the crew of the Discovery, as his addressed their obvious traumatic experiences with their former captain, Lorca, as well as his ‘tell me your names without rank’ effort to be an everyman captain.
All of this aside, Pike is ultimately there to investigate seven mysterious signals that cannot be of natural origin, according to the Enterprise’s science officer, Lt. Evan Connelly, not Spock, as expected by Michael Burnham and Sarek. It’s established early on that Pike doesn’t want to leave anyone behind, so when they discover the USS Hiawatha has crashed on the asteroid they are investigating, he wants a landing party to search for survivors.
2. Michael Burnham
If we’ve learned anything from season one, it’s that Burnham is backstory heavy. She’s a rich character driven and molded by a past that has left her scarred, but bold. This episode opens with another Burnham voiceover – – her thoughts and stories drive the episode – – as they have in past episodes. There is conflict between her and Spock the first time they meet: her the orphan, Spock the logical son. The biggest takeaway for the audience in terms of this relationship is revealed in a conversation Burnham has with Sarek. He wished for his son to learn empathy from his foster sister, a lesson Sarek believes has gone unlearned. In contrast, Burnham believes the lesson of empathy was learned all too well by Spock.
After Burnham is unintentionally left behind after a rescue mission on the asteroid, she is injured, she is panicking, she is in pain, and she sees a vision in red. Honestly, at first I thought it was the Devil, but there seems to be talk out there about an angel. I guess I go right for horns, not wings, which seems disconcerting. But back to the episode. In reality, it’s Pike returning to rescue her after she rescued him. No one left behind. I’m sure this vision will return and will be a driving force behind the action of season two.
3. Tig Notaro
Honestly, my favorite part of this episode is Tig Notaro’s engineer, Jet Reno. Her name is Jet?! Come on. This is amazing. Anyway, she survived the crash, and engineered a way to save her USS Hiawatha crewmates through ingenuity, and what I assume is a killer sense of humor. Her deadpan delivery of lines adds the levity this episode, and this series, needs. It’s not the forced humor of an alien species sneezing on a grouchy officer as we saw earlier on in the episode. It’s smart, subtle humor that makes your insides smile. I vote recurring role for Tig Notaro. We need it, and Star Trek needs it.
4. Spock
The perfect example of not needing to appear in an episode in order to drive its action. The writers leaving Spock out of this episode only increases our desire to see him in the flesh. We do see young Spock, but that’s not what we’re here for. We don’t find out why Spock is estranged from his father and sister, but we do learn he has taken leave from the Enterprise; he’s been experiencing recurring dreams since he was a child. Dreams that frighten him. Dreams that he now understands. Our siblings define who we are and what we become, and the last word in this episode, uttered by Burnham, is “brother.”
Continued below5. Random thoughts
The new uniforms worn by the Enterprise crew are a callback to The Original Series (TOS). They gotta make the timelines jive in some way; they may be updated for 2019 uniforms, but we’re leaving the uniform uniform of Discovery and moving into the colors of TOS. Thanks for the red shirt joke, Pike.
Elements of Spock’s quarters on the Enterprise reflect his quarters in TOS as well; a little 3D chess for one.
I keep hoping for a more distinct and rich Stamets/Culber storyline and the prior press junket has made me think this is a possibility for season two. Here’s to hoping.
And then there’s Tilly. She’s still the Tilly I grew to love over the course of season one, and I’m excited to see her growth this season. Tilly lightens the mood and tone in a series that tends to skew too dark for my tastes.
Lastly, visually, this series is impressive – even more impressive than last season. I thoroughly enjoyed the landing party marching to their ships in colored suits with a brief pause on the symbol of the Federation.
I re-watched Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation between the end of season one of Discovery and this first episode of season two. No matter how hard I try, I still miss the pattern and feel of these past Trek series. That being said, I don’t dislike Discovery for what it is not, I know they’re trying to write and produce for a modern audience that may not have been prior Trek fans, but it’s just holding me back from experiencing true joy as a result of this series. I like the journey it’s taking us on, but it’s not the place we haven’t gone before that I’m looking for.
