We’ve departed the brief, two episode, episodic portion of Season Two, and we’re moving back into the seralized portion of the series. Tilly’s vision continues, Spock is still a spectre hanging over Burnham, and we get back to the Klingon Empire and its seemingly constant struggle for power and dominance among its own families in the episode, “Point of Light.”
1. Let’s get right to the Klingons
They’re back and we get an answer to the question: why do TOS Klingon ships look different? Because of the new ship L’Rell proposes that represents the current allied Klingon houses. Question answered. The controversial bald Klingon look is slowly fading away as well; some are growing their hair out as seen in this episode. Perhaps not surprisingly to Trek fans, there’s a power struggle going on within the newly allied Klingon Empire and most of the controversy seems to surround L’Rell’s leadership role, as well as her dedication to Ash Tyler/Voq and his status as her torchbearer. In a vaguely complicated, Shakespearean type story, it turns out L’Rell and Voq had a child together, her enemies discover this fact with some good, old fashioned spying, and take advantage of her weaknesses: Tyler and their child. A fight ensues and L’Rell and Tyler escape death only thanks to the appearance of Mirror Georgiou.
2. High Chancellor L’Rell
In order to secure her leadership of the Klingon Empire, L’Rell must renounce virtually all that makes her a woman. After Georgiou rescues the Chancellor and Tyler, she coolly and coldly informs L’Rell that Tyler is a liability as the male Klingon house leaders do not believe she, a woman, is making all the decisions, and that Tyler – a man that appears human – is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. She asks L’Rell to kill Tyler…and their son. In the Shakespearean inspired penultimate scene of the episode, L’Rell addresses the Klingon council and states that Tyler was a traitor that betrayed the Klingon Empire and then she presents them with the severed head of Ash Tyler and the tiny severed head of their son. The audience can feel the influence of Georgiou in this scene. In the creepy denouement to her speech, the Chancellor reveals to her audience that she will bear a child but only once, and now they are her children as she raises this, her family, the Klingon Empire, to greatness. As she says, “You may call me mother.” A woman in power can have no perceived weaknesses, and L’Rell sheds all weaknesses holding her back in the eyes of the male house leaders in this scene.
3. Section 31
A covert institution that has popped in various Trek series, but is being fleshed out further in the world of Discovery. As perhaps we knew, even as L’Rell threw the severed heads of her loves, Tyler and their male child, into a fiery chasm, they are not truly dead. They’re aboard Georgiou’s ship and dropping the Klingon child off at a monastery so he will be cared for, and never know his parents, in an effort to keep him safe from those that would harm him. There’s so much the series can do here with a child cast off from its origins; I’m so into it. (Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Rey vibes) I don’t know if this child will ever be addressed again, but the potential level is sky high. Tyler knows this is Mirror Georgiou, inserting her hand into his life, and he knows her past, which is seemingly why he denies her offer to join Section 31. But I think we know he’s going to join. Tyler needs a place within the series and that place is not with L’Rell and seemingly not with Burnham; he’s a man between worlds, which makes him a perfect candidate for a top secret network of individuals that must move covertly between various worlds.
4. The Mystery of Spock
Still no Spock. The entirety of Burnham’s storyline is driven by the attempted discovery of Spock’s whereabouts and state of mind. The one bright spot is the arrival of Amanda to work in tandem with her adopted daughter to decrypt Spock’s medical files. Amanda has stolen them from the starbase housing Spock during his recovery since it was her only logical course of action after being denied access to her son and his files. Burnham insists Pike assist them in the decryption and he inquires as to if Burnham was always this bossy; Amanda clarifies and states that on Vulcan they call her nature persistent. Pike does not argue and accepts Amanda’s assessment of her daughter. While L’Rell experiences overt dedication to patriarchy within the Klingon Empire, this interaction highlights how insidious that the patriarchy can be, even within the culture of Starfleet; a group that has, for the most part, grown apart from male dominated power structures. We do finally get some additional information about the estrangement within family as Burnham confesses her actions in pushing Spock away in order to protect him from perceived danger. Amanda is forgiving of Burnham, the child she could shower her emotions upon, and kisses her before leaving to find her son. I’m always into a mother/daughter relationships as they’re so frequently overlooked; here we see a realistic one filled with difficulties and also filled with love.
Continued below5. Tilly and her sidekick of the mind
May is still here, attached to Tilly’s side – literally and figuratively. In last week’s episode, May assisted Tilly in rescuing the Discovery; in this episode, she assists Tilly in destroying her command career. May insists Pike is not the Captain, and is therefore ruining her plan, all while Tilly has a seemingly nervous breakdown on the bridge in front of Pike and the crew. Tilly confides in Burnham about this figment of her imagination and Burnham thinks logically of a solution and enlists Stamets help. Turns out, he’s the blonde headed captain May has been looking for. Despite the fact that Burnham is struggling with her own demons from the past, she helps her friend Tilly, as she and Stamets find that May is really a fungal parasite, possibly from the Mirror Universe, that attached itself to Tilly and has been hitching a ride for some time. Why? We don’t know.
In many ways, love is at the core of this episode and is what drives it from start to finish. The love of a mother and daughter. The love of a mother for her son. The love of a sister for her brother. And the romantic love of partners that believe duty comes above all else.
