The seventh episode of this second season of Discovery begins with Michael Burnham’s personal log. In it she reveals advice given to her by her adopted mother, Amanda, and this advice states that the greatest things come in threes, such as: the past, present, and future. This episode deals with all three while ultimately revealing how all three are irrevocably joined.
1. Distrust Makes for Compelling Storytelling
We don’t like it when fictional characters remain static; we want them to change, change because life is messy and the only way we truly grow is through mistakes and conflict. Captain Pike obviously has issues with Ash Tyler, and issues with the fact that he used to be, and still kinda is, Voq. Voq killed a member of Discovery’s crew and Pike has not forgotten or forgiven. But, as Pike puts it, Tyler is like a bad penny that keeps popping up, and bad penny Tyler insists he accompany Pike on his mission to launch a probe into a space-time rift. That space-time rift/continuum is favorite of Star Trek. The two obviously encounter difficulty during their mission, not the least of which being Pike briefly glimpsing future events, events that appear to show him shooting Tyler with a phaser. This only heightens Pike’s mistrust of the Section 31 liaison as the two get pulled into, and lost in, a time rift. As Pike and Tyler are being pulled back in time they are attacked by their own probe, a probe that has aged 500 years since they launched it, only minutes earlier. The updated probe infiltrates the shuttlecraft and physically assaults Tyler, and Pike saves him with a phaser; this is the scene Pike just saw minutes earlier. Tyler wasn’t the enemy, their own probe is. Stamets mycelial DNA allows him to rescue his crew mates, while they’re trapped in time, and bring them back to the present. Upon their return, Pike and Tyler bond over their harrowing experience, and Pike even admits the Red Angel may not be the benevolent creature he once thought it to be. Perhaps it is deserving of more suspicion and caution as Tyler believes.
2. Misplaced Trust Also Makes for Compelling Storytelling
Finally, after six episodes of searching, Burnham finds Spock. As it turns out, he’s been hiding on Vulcan with the assistance of his mother, Amanda. Also, Spock has a beard; I think bearded for the first time since Mirror Universe Spock, and that was more of a goatee. Spock is obviously disturbed as he will not address Michael or Amanda and continues to repeat the First Doctrines of Logic over and over, until be begins repeating the same numbers over and over while carving them into a (red) wall. As Michael begs Amanda to help Spock by turning him in, Sarek shows up and reveals the trust he has in Leland from Section 31, trust that he will help his son. Once we make it to the end of the episode, once Spock is in Leland’s custody, Leland reiterates his agreement with Sarek, the promise he made to protect his son. Enter Georgiou, or the Emperor, depending on your level of top secret clearance. Never one to shy away from conflict, Georgiou tells Burnham her instincts are correct and that the technique Leland is using to extract information from Spock will destroy his mind. She tells Michael to attack her in order to save her brother, which leads to a fantastic fight scene between the two. There’s a connection between Burnham and Georgiou that seems to go beyond what we already know; in fact, Georgiou tells Burnham that she knows more about her than she can possibly imagine. I think the Georgiou/Burnham relationship is my favorite in this series; the interplay between these two women is tense and thoughtful at the same time. It’s obvious there is more to explore between the two and I can’t wait for it to happen. Burnham escapes with her brother, a bit too easily, after assistance from Georgiou. Leland wants to know why, why Georgiou let Burnham escape. Her response: because he needs Georgiou, to keep Burnham from finding out the truth, the awful truth is that he killed her parents. While this was a surprise reveal, Georgiou won’t let that secret steal the scene, she’ll steal it herself by telling Leland to mind his manners because he’s no longer calling the shots. She is. Sarek misplaces his trust here, Burnham misplaces her trust here, Leland misplaces his trust here, but Georgiou never misplaces her trust, because she trusts no one, and she’s my favorite. She’s playing the long game and we don’t know what it is yet.
Continued below3. Solving Problems in the World of Star Trek
We’re in space. The rules are different in space. In fact, there are rules we haven’t even thought of yet since interplanetary travel isn’t exactly accessible to the masses. That being said, in order to solve problems in the world of Trek, there are frequent repeat solutions. Lots of repeats. Solutions I didn’t understand as a kid, and solutions I now laugh at as an adult. Like, for example, reversing the polarity. If I’m watching any Trek series with my family, and there’s an unsolvable problem presented to the crew, inevitably someone will yell out, “reverse the polarity!” and laughter ensues. Man, Miles O’Brien and Geordi La Forge love reversing the polarity to save the Enterprise or Deep Space Nine. And the trope isn’t confined to the Trek universe; it’s all over the place in various versions of sci-fi television. But we need a joke and some levity from time to time, and this reversed polarity does it for us, perhaps unintentionally. Discovery takes it a step further in this episode with some tongue in cheek jokes delivered by our very own Tilly. She’s witty, that Tilly. Once Discovery encounters the time rift, she jokes about how putting the word “time” in front of something makes it sound way cooler. Such as, time bends, time rift, etc. As a result, every time “time” is mentioned, Trek is subtly, or not so subtly, making fun of itself, which is something I’m here for.
4. Commander Airiam
Here’s a background bridge character we don’t know much about because of her limited role on Discovery, and because of the conflicting background information provided on her from the actress herself, official Star Trek channels, and an episode of After Trek. Prior to the altered Starfleet probe being destroyed, it manages to transmit a signal to Airiam’s station, a signal that looks like three red lights. These red lights appear to alter her own programming in some way. This supports the idea that the probe possesses nefarious intent, or at least those that redesigned it do, as well as suggest that the Commander will be acting on the orders of those that altered the probe and sent it to destroy Pike and Tyler while simultaneously downloading the Discovery’s data core. Looks like we’ll learn at least a bit more about Commander Airiam in upcoming episodes.
5. Friends Looking Out for Friends
Star Trek is about duty, duty to Starfleet, but it’s also about friendship. The members of each Enterprise crew, the members of Voyager’s crew, and the members of Deep Space Nine’s crew, all develop friendships over time. Friendships that increase their devotion and loyalty to one another. It takes a few seasons, or a few movies, to develop these friendships fully, but Discovery has begun and the series will only be richer for it.
