Can I say this is my favorite episode of the season so far? I think I can.
1. What is real?
Oooof. A philosophical question. Does it have a real answer? This week’s episode attempts to at least skim the surface of questioning reality. Burnham and Spock head for Talos IV, a planet already visited by Pike and the Enterprise, a fact which plays a major role in the plot of this episode. Once they arrive, Burnham is greeted by Vina, a beautiful human living on the planet, as the Talosians can use their illustory powers to hide the physical scars she sustained in the crash of the SS Columbia. Vina leads brother and sister to, as my brother and I called them when we were kids, the Big Headed Brain Guys, aka the Talosians. These people barter in memories and they’re willing to assist Spock, so long as Burnham makes a payment, in her own painful personal memories. And they don’t want just any memory, they want the one we all want, memories of how she hurt Spock; they want to see what it was that tore the siblings apart. Burnham’s (human) love for her brother is strong enough to allow revealing this memory she’s been trying desperately to keep to herself. Without the help of the Talosians, Spock will lose his mind, lose his sanity. To begin the process, the Talosians show Burnham his memories, memories of the Red Angel; how the Angel showed Spock young Burnham’s death, which led to him saving his sister, and how the Angel showed Spock the death of the galaxy, which will hopefully lead to him saving it as well. Is the Angel real? A real human? How real are Spock’s memories of the Angel? Real enough to force the crew of the Discovery to commit treason?
2. What is time?
Darn it. Another question. We’re heading back to ToS. This episode opens brilliantly with a “previously on Star Trek,” moment that features shots from The Original Series episode “The Cage”, which might be confusing to those not familiar with the Trek universe. One of the biggest mysteries this season is the Angel; it appears we’ve concluded she’s a time traveling human that has shown Spock the galaxy’s apocalypse, which will occur sometime in the near future. What is time when you are a single human stranded in a post-apocalyptic galaxy with no one to turn to for help? It looks like time is fluid for the Angel, as opposed to being a linear construct, which is exactly how Spock is experiencing time after seeing the death of the galaxy. The Angel affects Spock deeply and profoundly. What is time when another species can look into your mind and see your memories; memories of you calling your younger brother a freak and half-breed in order to make him hate you, to save him from the danger you put him in every day. If you’re forced to relive your worst memories, is time really linear? Or is time fluid for all of us, as we constantly looking back on the past to learn from our mistakes, to ….on our regrets, to relive our past glories?
3. What is real identity?
Question 3. Season one dedicated a large chunk of time to exploring both sides of the man we now know as Ash Tyler. He was the Klingon, Voq, who killed Dr. Culber in cold blood. But the Tyler of today is not that Voq of the past; or at least he and members of Starfleet want to believe that. It’s the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde allusion, two men, one body. But Tyler isn’t the only crew member struggling with finding his true self. Ever since Culber came back from the spore universe, he’s been on edge, off just a little bit. Things finally come to a head in this episode when Culber confronts Tyler in the canteen; a physical fight ensues and Saru allows it to continue until it’s logical end. Both men fighting until physical exhaustion takes over and they are able to see some common ground-the fact that they’re both not the same man they used to be. The fact that they’re both searching for their real identities, which ultimately leads to Culber breaking his relationship off with Stamets. We can add a third crew member into the mix here. Pike asks Saru why he let the fight continue, since this is against the uniform code of conduct, and asks if this is a result of the change Saru went through just recently. It looks like Saru is also a man searching for his real identity.
Continued below4. Machinations
Every Shakespearean tragedy contains self-serving scheming and this episode delivers some as Georgiou subtly positions herself as the go to for all things Section 31; the go to above their current leader, Leland, a guy who thinks of himself as a super spy, but manages to let Spock and Burnham slip through his fingers. Georgiou is cunning and intelligent, and she’s playing the long game. Her story is buried beneath the bigger stories this season, but I want to see what she has in store for us.
5. Random Thoughts
I’m here for the throwbacks and connections to ToS. These connections weren’t executed perfectly, but that’s ok. Spock is kind of a dick in this episode; Burnham puts her life and career on the line for her brother, out of love, guilt, or devotion, we don’t know, and Spock is totally uninterested in her life; he’s concerned only with his. Is it to save the galaxy from imminent destruction? Maybe. But he’s still a jerk here. That being said, characters we know and love have to change; Spock in the world of Discovery can’t be the same Spock we love from ToS, or even the Spock from recent movie reboots. He’s gotta struggle to grow. Burnham thinks his beard is a struggle; I don’t agree, but she is his sister. The Big Headed Brain Guys are creepy as hell. They search people’s minds for their darkest secrets and force them out into the open. It’s rapey and not cool and not quite the type of character we’re looking for in 2019, but they help Spock, and they’re a throwback, so I guess we’re expected to accept them as fairly benevolent creatures. Last but not least, Pike concludes the episode by disobeying direct orders and taking Discovery, and the wanted Spock, off to save the galaxy. But before he takes off, he tells the crew he can’t ask any of them to be complicit in his act of disobedience, echoing the words of Kirk as he’s stealing the Enterprise to save his friend, Spock. If I’ve learned anything about Star Trek, it’s that everyone will risk everything to save Spock. What a guy. Well, what a Vulcan.
