Season Finale! In my mind, this introductory season of Star Trek: Discovery functioned as 3 separate shows. The first third showed us a utopian version of Starfleet, the middle third showed us a scientific vessel led by a warlike captain, and the final third showed us those utopian ideals of Starfleet shining through the overwhelming darkness of man creating his own hell through war. Who leads us through that darkness? Women. The women of Starfleet, and one woman from Kronos.
1. Emperor Phillipa Georgiou in the Prime Universe
We’re familiar with Georgiou’s brutal and cruel nature, as we spent a good deal of time with her in the Mirror Universe. We know how she leads, and we know how she treats others. The crew of the Discovery is not so familiar with her ways. The minute she assumes command of the Discovery, she berates and embarases Saru in front of the entire crew. Burnham is having none of it and begins to ask Georgiou about her past in order to distract her from brutalizing Saru with her words. Burnham knows exactly what she is doing and Georgiou leaves the bridge with Burnham in tow. This is the perfect opportunity to ask her new captain what her real plan is in terms of attacking Kronos. Georgiou doesn’t reveal anything, informs Burnham that, “my knowledge is giving you a fighting chance. Are you with me or against me?” If the captain’s brutal verbal attack on Saru is concerning, her remorseless physical attack on jailed L’Rell is disturbing.
This is another instance where we see a contrast between Georgiou and Burnham; Burnham believes there is another way to find the information they need regarding Kronos. And that way is Tyler. He still has Voq’s memories. As if these two examples aren’t enough to show how different the leaders of the Terran Empire are from the leaders of Starfleet, Georgiou calls Tyler “it” and “half-breed” to accentuate her disgust for his inability to fit in, fit in the human world and fit in, in the Klingon world. Burnham makes a point of saying “he.” As if this wasn’t enough, Georgiou goes on to insult Tilly. Not Tilly, Georgiou. Not Tilly. Georgiou calls Tilly, Killy, and tells her, her curly hair is terrible. Our Tilly is unflappable and joins Burnham, Georgiou, and Tyler on their mission to Kronos. WHAT. A. LANDING PARTY. They manage to locate some killer clothing from Mirror Lorca’s hidden stash of black, leather clothing. Why did he have clothing that would fit three very different women, and one very tall man? Who knows, but it made for a great “let’s get this landing party started” scene.
2. Friendship
A motif that runs through virtually all iterations of Star Trek is one of friendship. In The Original Series, the trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy elicited joy, sadness, and humor from its audience. These were characters that grew together over the course of a series and the course of a number of movies. They changed, and we changed with them. We wanted their friendship to last. They may not have been friendly in real life, but I guess that means they were, at least, decent actors. We see that core friendship develop over this first season of Discovery. I wasn’t sure it would happen, but this episode brilliantly highlighted how Burnham, Georgiou, Tilly, and Tyler changed and grew together, and formed a familiarity resembling friendship.
Once our four friends make it down to the surface of Kronos, they have to work together to complete their mystery, Emperor Georgiou/Starfleet plan. Tilly recognizes that Burnham is upset. She says she knows how hard it must be for Burnham to work with a woman that looks like her Georgiou, but is nothing like her Georgiou. Tilly tells Burnham she is there for her if she needs anything. I said it last week, and I’ll say it again, everyone needs a friend like Tilly. The landing party is attempting to find an ancient temple on Kronos, and lucky for them, they have a human that speaks Klingon. Tyler engages a group of Klingons in a gambling game, he knows how to play thanks to Voq’s memories, but they didn’t have the info he’s looking for. Tyler recognizes the Klingon banter and laughter upsets Burnham, and asks her about it. Burnham confides in her former love, and reveals to him how her parents were killed, brutally, by Klingons, as she watched, and how she feels responsible. These two individuals may have been involved in a romantic relationship that ended, but the friendship is still strong. They are connected. These friendships are part of the core of what makes Star Trek so memorable and enjoyable.
Continued below3. Comedy
It takes strong writing, a strong script, and strong actors to pull off successful humor in a TV show that is billed as sci-fi. I love humor in my shows, no matter the genre, and Discovery finally pulled it off in this final episode of the season. Tilly is obviously used as comic relief; they tried at the start of the season and it didn’t hit home for me, but in this episode, they knocked it out of the park. Tilly is in a bar/business of ill repute while Georgiou is spending time with some of the employees. She’s protecting the package they’ve brought to the surface of Kronos, what the landing party believes to be a drone. Tilly manages to attract the unwanted attention of a patron, played by Clint Howard, and he convinces Tilly to inhale with him. It’s drugs. Tilly does some sort of drugs, and she reacts in the most Tilly way possible. Ridiculously. I’m not sure I’ve embodied the humor here, but I tried. If you watch, you’ll see.
Side note: Clint Howard has been in an episode of The Original Series, Deep Space 9, Enterprise, and now Discovery. I guess Next Generation didn’t want him. By the end of the episode, we discover Starfleet and Georgiou decided genocide is the solution to their Klingon problem, and have sent Georgiou to plant a bomb in the underbelly of Kronos. (This isn’t the comedy part.) After Burnham convinces Georgiou to give up her plan, and she’s about to leave, Georgiou gives Burnham this wink. A wink only people that know one another well can pull off. It had meaning and humor all at the same time. The interplay between Burnham and Georgiou is a joy to watch. Again, my description does not do it justice.
4. Growth of characters
Even if we don’t plan on it, life changes us. We can’t control things that happen, but we can control the way we react to those things. Burnham, Tyler, Tilly, Saru, and even Mirror Georgiou, experience an entire lifetime of events in the span of one season. I mean, it’s a TV show, that’s going to happen. But, our characters don’t remain static. They change. Burnham goes from a mutineer to the savior of Starfleet. That sounds extreme, and it is, but it’s her insistence on upholding the ideas of this utopian society that saves it. She refuses to believe the genocide of the Klingon race is the answer to their issues; Burnham believes principles are all they have, and she convinces Admiral Cornwell of the same. (Women making the big decisions and big moves here; saving Starfleet from it’s own hubris.) Tyler has come to accept his duality – Klingon memories, and human life. Tilly, as I’ve said before, has grown into my favorite character. She’s gone from meek to bold, in a realistic way. Saru has been captain, and he’s done a damn fine job leading the Discovery with compassion and intelligence. Even L’Rell has grown. Burnham gave her the key, the key to uniting the Klingon Empire. Klingons respect strength and L’Rell has the detonator to the bomb that sits under Kronos. Burnham gave it to her in hope that they can all enact change, human and Klingon alike.
5. Random Thoughts
Was this episode perfect? No. Was this season perfect? No. But who needs perfection. We need Star Trek. The writers bookended the episode with Burnham returning to her opening soliloquy regarding the connection between battle and the emotion of fear. We open with her posing the question, “How do I defeat fear?” By the end of the episode we get the answer, “By telling it no.” Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering, or so I hear. Burnham recognizes this and Starfleet is better for it. She will feel compassion, not fear, towards her enemy, and avoids needless bloodshed as a result. We make it back to Earth and Burnham gets to see her parents, Amanda and Sarek. She does find peace with both of them and what they both tried to teach her-Vulcan and Human ideals, living in harmony. We close up with an awards ceremony; Culber and Saru are awarded the Starfleet medal of honor, Tilly enters the command training program (yes!), and Burnham’s mutiny charge is expunged. Oh, and she’s named a Starfleet commander. Kinda like when Kirk was simply demoted to Captain after stealing a starship. Redemption is key at the end of this episode, and at the end of season one. But wait, a distress call. Who is it? It’s Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise.
