I'm loving this season, because I missed this about Star Trek, travelling to other worlds and experiencing strange and wonderful cultures. What a treat this episode is, and the fact that it is Tilly who stays in the race and wins is so, SO meaningful - for her own personal battle of indecision, as well as for the pointed remark about whether questionable athleticism always determines physical prowess.
Interestingly, the race itself, as well as the outcome reminds me of a popular religious quote (appropriate since Discovery is currently on a spiritual quest), from Ecclesiastes 9:11 - "I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise nor wealth to the brilliant nor favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Basically, "appearances can be deceiving", because who might outwardly appear a shoe-in for success, may not be, and the least likely candidate may surprise you. If you are in the right place, at the right time and have the will to endure - anything is possible.
[7.8/10] I’m going to offer “Whistlespeak” some high praise -- it feels like a meat and potatoes episode of 1990s Star Trek, updated for the modern day. The visit to a pre-warp planet where our heroes have to blend-in, the moral dilemma of whether to observe the Prime Directive or save the lives of innocents and friends, the contemplation of what belief means in the shadow of tremendous scientific advancement, were all the bread and butter of The Next Generation, and Voyager and sometimes even Deep Space Nine. Seeing Discovery replicate those rhythms, and in some instances even improve on them, is a sight for sore eyes after an up and down season.
For me, this is a better spin on the type of story TNG aimed to tell in “Who Watches the Watchers”, where Starfleet officers were captured by a community of Bronze Age proto-Vulcans, and Picard had to save his crewmembers without letting the locals believe he was a god. “Whistlespeak” isn’t exactly the same. But the principles, of pretending to be a local, rescuing an ally from their potentially deadly practices, and reconciling your advancement with their beliefs are at the heart of both episodes.
The premise sees Burnham and company following the trail of an ancient Denobulan(!!!) scientist to a comparatively primitive planet called Hemenlo, to find the next clue. To secure it, they must blend in with the locals and work their way to a weather tower disguised as a mountain than Hemenloites revere as a holy place. That means taking part in a ritualistic race, meant to mirror one of the community’s hallowed myths, where the winner gets to tread the holy ground and complete the ritual to ask the gods for rain.
It’s a good setup! One of the best parts of Star Trek has long been the “new life and new civilizations” part of the mantra. While the outlines are familiar, meeting a new forehead-accented community with a unique form of communication, vibration-based curatives, and their own distinctive set of cultural practices is invigorating. The premise of Burnham and Tilly needing to hunt down the clue without being discovered or disrupting the locals’ rites adds a sense of tension to the proceedings. And as in classic Trek, we get a parent and child, named Ovaz and Rava, to help bring the planet to life in a personal sense, each of whom gets meaningful interactions with our heroes.
For Tilly, that means running the famed Helemna thirst race and bonding with young Rava. In truth, the show has underbaked the story of Tilly’s struggles to find the right connection with her students at Starfleet Academy. But I like that her interactions with Rava, both before and after the big reveal, show that she’s capable of forging that kind of mentorship connection. It’s a simple gesture, but her choosing to refill Rava’s bowl, re-qualifying her to finish the race, is gracious and powerful. Seeing her compassion, and the two women lifting one another up to reach the finish line, does a nice job of selling why Tilly makes sense as a Starfleet instructor at a time of uncertainty for her.
Honestly, the interpersonal interactions, which are typically a weakness for Discovery in my book, were one of the highlights here. If nothing else, this episode brings back the friendship between Burnham and Tilly in a way that's shown and not told that I love. The two have an easy, playful rapport that befits the show’s longest-running friendship. Their joking with each other, banter, and breaking all the rules to save one another fits the two people who’ve been in each other’s corner for the longest. Hell, even their racing together comes with echoes of the famous “Disco” shirts and jogs along Discovery’s corridor.
It’s not limited to that, though. One of the best parts of this episode for me is Adira getting their chance to step onto the bridge, and pushing past their nervousness with the help of Commander Rayner. I like it on two fronts. On the one hand, Adira has sneakily become one of my favorite characters on Discovery. They are basically what Wesley Crusher was meant to be -- a talented but untested young ensign -- except that Adira is more endearing through their anxiousness and stumbles, which are more relatable than the young wunderkind on the Enterprise-D.
At the same time, this is a good episode for Rayner, clearly changed after the events of “Face the Strange”, the way his usual calm but firm demeanor is used not to demean his subordinates or give them the short shrift, but rather to show a steely confidence in Adira, makes him feel like a good Team Dad rather than a recovering Team Jerk. It’s a good look for all involved.
Not for nothing, this may also be the most I’ve liked the interactions between Dr. Culber and Stamets. In truth, I’ve never fully bought their relationship. It’s long seemed to miss that spark that turns on-screen relationships from script-mandated pairings into something the audience can invest in. But I don’t know what to say -- they felt like a genuine married couple here, familiar in their way with one another, a little playful but caring, and tender in an area where they’re nervous to tread. There’s a relaxed sweetness between them that we don’t always see, and it helps sell Dr. Culber’s ongoing storyline of personal discovery.
I’ll admit, I have my qualms about that storyline. Star Trek is no stranger to spiritual awakenings (hello Deep Space Nine fans!), and my assumption is that it will tie into the ongoing storyline in a plot-relevant, not just personal way over time. But I’ll admit to appreciating the humanist spirit of the franchise, and I’m always a little leery when creative teams veer away from it in ways that don’t feel fully baked. (Hello Voyager fans!) Still, both Stamets and Book telling Dr. Culber not to fret over his newfound sense of attunement to something greater, but rather just enjoy it and let it wash over him, is a solid start.
That humanist spirit is more alive in Burnham’s adventures down on Helemna. It becomes necessary to break the Prime Directive and talk some future sense into Ovaz when it turns out the prize for winning the race isn’t just a visit to the sacred mountain, but rather the “privilege” of becoming a sacrifice to the gods in the hopes that they’ll bring rain. When it’s Tilly who’s suddenly on the chopping block (or, more accurately, the suffocation block), Michael is willing to throw the rules in the can like so many great Starfleet captains before.
I appreciate the twist! The episode runs a bit long for my tastes. But I like the fact that this triumphant moment of Tilly’s kindness and camaraderie with a young but aspirational soul quickly turns into a horror movie when you realize what their “reward” for winning is. The secret weather station containing a vacuum chamber that becomes a sort of altar creates a ticking clock as Tilly and Rava lose oxygen. And it creates urgency not only for Michael to disobey the Prime Directive in the name of her friend, but to convince Ovaz of the truth so that he’ll open the door and free her and his child.
What follows has shades not unlike the best part of “Who Watches the Watchers” -- a Picard-esque conversation between the wizened space-farer and the local mystic about what’s really going on. (Heck, Burnahm even shows Ovaz a view of the planet from above, a Jean-Luc classic.) I appreciate the idea of Michael rooting her pitch in both the practical and the personal. She explains to an already devastated Ovaz that his people can have their rain regardless of the ritual, and on the personal front, that Rava doesn't need to die for it. The explanation of the weather station and technology on the one hand,a dn the personal appeal on the other,shows the best of Michael.
And despite the on-the-nose “Here’s the lesson we learned from our treasure hunt today” ending that would make even Kirk blush, I like the theme about the evolution of belief more than the tacked-on theme of being cautious with technology. Burnham doesn't use her knowledge or technological advancement to invalidate Ovaz’s gods or tell him his rituals are no good. But she also recognizes that there is a hunger for the community’s beliefs to evolve and grow alongside the needs of the people and their evolving view of the world. The notion that ritual and tradition can sit comfortably alongside advancement is a heartening one, and it’s delivered with a blend of high-minded philosophy and personal compassion, and understanding nuance that would befit The Next Generation.
This is the kind of thing I want more of from Discovery even as we only have four episodes left. Even though it’s connected to the larger chase, this episode could stand on its own. It dusts off old franchise tropes but finds new spins on them, updating the lessons for current problems. And most of all, it puts our heroes hand-in-hand with another, with believable relationships and interactions among both the regular cast and the guest stars. As the episode’s own moral suggests, it’s never too late to keep the good from what’s old and blend it with the best of what’s new, and in an episode like “Whistlespeak”, it’s nice to see the show taking its own advice.
[7.3/10] Glad to see the show grappling with Book's trauma, and it's well-balanced with a crisis of the week in the form of info-gathering within and escaping from the titular anomaly. The way the show navigates both issues simultaneously is well done, and it's nice to have Saru back in the saddle as a sage advice-giving advisor.
There's a lot to be nitpicky about here, from the change in inside ship scale compared to classic Trek to some convenient plot devices here and there. In general though, I feel like all of season 3 is back to the core of Trek values. I very much dislike the first two seasons, and like this one. I think season 4 can be the best yet, especially if they go back to the episodic format of old Trek. Not bad at all!
I thought it was a pretty good finale. Well paced, no loose ends, warm feelings all around. Also the look the guy gave when he saw Saru really was one of him, so cute!
I nearly rated this a 7 because it was a fun watch if you didn't pay too much attention to the detail. The best parts were definitely with Saru et al on the planet; the other parts felt shallow and drawn out with a lot of fairly vacuous action. A bit of a disappointing end to the season but on the plus side, at least we don't need to keep pretending that Michael isn't Discovery's leader. I just hope this doesn't mark the end of Saru's involvement, especially since we already lost Georgiou this season.
I do hope next season they focus on distinguishing the assorted crew members more because at the moment, outside of the more obviously senior officers, these assorted faces keep cropping up that all seem to have the same "happy NPC" personality.
As for all the people rating every episode 1s and 2s out of 10, bitching and moaning about alleged "bumming" and forced "diversity", you're 3 seasons in now and know what you're getting. Either accept this is what this particular Trek show is about and try and enjoy it by growing as a person, or find something else to do or watch - life is far too short. You'll feel better, I'm sure.
I was expecting Burnham to run around in a white tank top and yelling "Yippee ki-yay motherf**er" any time.
Well THAT was some kind of awesome.
Great episode. The Admiral is such a boss, totally stole the show. Also those DOT's are super cute. Looking forward to the finale!
Well that was an unexpected and interesting twist! It's getting better again :)
I'd never expected that move from Osyraa and it was kinda compelling. I didn't want to buy it but the lie detector made it difficult. Seems like she's getting pretty desperate but she's clearly pretty smart. I really didn't expect that the Admiral would insist that she would be tried for her crimes. It's a complicated situation but that did at least end the negotiations too quickly...
Poor Paul though. His whole family/world on the line :o
The repair droids at the end where pretty cool though tbh.
Linus needs to admit he can’t use the transporter correctly :joy:
[7.6/10] A good chunk of “Scavengers” is just good clean fun (so to speak). Burnham and Georgiou’s jaunt to the Orion junkyard/stronghold to rescue Book feels like a good spin on the Movie Trek vibe that Discovery often goes for.
There’s interesting personal dynamics with Michael’s barely-sublimated feelings for Book and her testy but maternal relationship with Georgiou. There’s a good overarching task, not just to rescue Book from Orion slavery, but to retrieve a black box that may help solve the mystery of The Burn. And there’s the tension that comes from Burnham once again going rogue, while she and Geogiou have to fool the Orion overseer long enough to escape with their prize, their friend, and their lives.
That’s a damn good setup. There’s nothing very deep to it, but it’s fun to see Mirror Georgiou go full baddie here, selling the ruse to the Orion slaver and seeming cunning and combative, which is Michelle Yeoh’s most entertaining mode on this show. At the same time, we get just enough of a flavor of life in this slavery-ridden salvage yard to understand the dangers Book is facing and care about the other poor souls trapped there with him.
It’s ultimately a good old fashioned Star Trek caper. There’s ruses, secret communications, a group of good people in need, and a MacGuffin that needs retrieving. There’s the ingredients at play to make it interesting: tension, romance, vulnerability, a ruse, and a righteous cause. Things go wrong and go right at a good cadence, and there’s even amusing references to canon like Burnham mentioning a search for “self-sealing stem bolts.”
Things are more mixed for the scenes on the Discovery. “Scavengers” seems to follow a familiar Star Trek structure, with the fireworks happening on the planet of the week, while the rest of the crew deals with other sorts of crises on personal issues in the meantime. It helps pepper an episode with different kinds of scenes and mix tension and relief for variety’s sake. The problem is that Burnham’s rescue/heist wraps up around the two-thirds mark, and the rest of the episode is devoted to on-the-nose conversations between crew members that turn subtext into text.
Some of those moments are good! Most of them involve Saru! I’m particularly fond of his scene with Tilly, a pairing that’s proved remarkably durable. There’s something meaningful about Tilly coming clean about Burnham going off against orders rather than protecting her friend, not just because it’s the duty of a Starfleet officer to report such things, but because she’s sympathetic toward Saru for the position that Michael’s putting him in. Tilly sees the bigger picture here, and her walking the line between loyalties to two different friends, not to mention her job, marks this as a choice with complexity.
(Not for nothing, her scene with Grudge the cat is pretty darn adorable to boot, and feels true to just about any cat owner like yours truly.)
Similarly, I like the scene with Burnham, Saru, and Admiral Vance. I still don’t fully trust Admiral Vance (maybe it’s just because he’s a high-ranking Starfleet officer, so he’s inherently untrustworthy in this franchise), but he’s very fair albeit plainly angry at both of the Discovery’s senior officers. He gripes at Saru for not raising the possibility of Burnham’s mission with him beforehand, and he gripes at Michael for putting others at risk to call her own shot, which reflects a certain amount of selfishness. And yet, he leaves discipline as an internal matter for the Discovery, evincing a certain “tough but fair quality.”
The follow-up, which features Saru demoting Burnham, lays things on a little thick in terms of the dialogue, but it’s also a strong choice. It shows that there’s a cost to Burnham’s choice to color outside the lines, both personally and professionally. As to the latter, she loses her position as First Officer, which retroactively adds weight to what she gave up to save Book and pursue the mystery of The Burn. As to the former, she not only disappoints a friend in Saru, but violates his trust, which has just as potent emotional consequences. Again, this show veers more toward making such moments melodramatic rather than making them feel real, but the emotional calculus of it works.
The same problem afflicts the budding friendship between Stamets and Adira. I like the idea of the two of them bonding not only of a shared love of science and Adira’s aptitude for fixes that make Stamets’s life easier when utilizing the spore drive, but over having lost someone they love who’s nevertheless still with them. The two performers have a good chemistry, and the mentoring relationship is a good one.
But the show, once again, gilds the lily. Having Gray explicitly state that he likes Stamets and thinks he could be a good friend, and also having Dr. Culber explain for any audience member too daft to get it why Stamets and Adira have losses in common, just goes too far. The scenes feel unnatural and hurt, rather than help, a connection between Adira and Stamets that works better with friendly chemistry than it does blunt exposition.
The rest of the business on the ship mostly involves marveling at the new 32nd century upgrades the crew can now enjoy. That means a heap of refits with programmable matter, combages that project info via holographic inputs, automatically receptive new controls throughout the ship, and even separated nacelles. That leads to some stilted attempts at comedy with Linus the Saurian showing up at inconvenient times due to personal transporter malfunctions, but it’s a solid way to show our heroes acclimating to and wow-ing over the technological advances of the future.
If there’s a theme to all of this, it’s the idea of people admitting things to one another, showing vulnerability and emotional honesty in the hopes that it will be rewarded by those close to them. We see it in Burnham sniffing out that Georgiou is suffering from some sort of PTSD-induced panic attacks over the loss of someone close to her (I think she says, son?). We see it in emotional exchanges between Burnham and Saru or Stamets and Adira. And, of course, we see it when the show pulls the trigger on romance between Burnham and Book, a relationship I’m not fully on board with, but am at least glad to see the series stop pussyfooting around on.
Still, the best part “Scavengers” is the escapade Burnham, Georgiou, and Book have in the Orion slaver’s scrapyard. The confluence of double identities, entangled affections, plot-relevant artifacts, and beleaguered freedom fighters feels like classic Trek. All the pieces are there, and season 3 of Discovery has been an improvement so far, I just keep waiting for the show to put it all together.
So this episode released early (and also has lead to the rest of the episodes being brought forward a week) and I genuinely could not be happier with it. It's everything I ever wanted it to be and more and will definitely be something I watch over and over again.
I’ve been going through some really hard times lately, and this episode is the first thing in weeks that made me genuinely laugh. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
[7.2/10] I wonder how long it will be before I start feeling the urge to compare Discovery to past Star Trek series. It’s been a long time since a Trek show has been on the air, and since TNG, each of them felt pretty easily familiar and of a piece with one another, even as they occupied different settings and even different tones. Discovery, on the other hands, feels like the biggest change, the biggest shift, since we went from The Original Series to the cinematic/Next Generation-era of the franchise, and that leaves longtime fans like myself sniffing for the familiar, even as we enjoy what Discovery is doing.
To that end, “Si Vis Pacem. Para Bellum” (a latin proverb that roughly translates to “if you want peace, you should prepare for war) feels like the most familiar episode of Discovery yet. It doesn’t necessarily follow the structure of old school Trek, with two major stories and a couple of minor ones packed in together, but it has premises that feel the most like something we might see Kirk or Picard exploring.
Chief among that is the major plot of the episode, which sees Burnham, Saru, and Tyler beaming down to an alien planet called Pavoh, in the hopes of using its natural resonance to help them detect cloaked Klingon ships. How many times have we seen Federation crewmembers beam down to a planet in search of some technology or resource, only to find more than they bargained for when they make it to the planet’s surface?
That’s certainly the case here, as the previously-thought uninhabited planet turns out to be populated by spores or particles or some sentient swarm of magical bacteria who, per Saru, are the planet. It’s the sort of “new life and new civilizations” mission that good Trek stories are made of, even if it feels a little too familiar for old fans here. For better or worse, the “crew beams down, one crewmember gets afflicted by crazy alien influence, other crewmembers have to save them,” is the type of story that you could pretty well deposit into any of the prior Star Trek* series without having to make many adjustments.
What’s less familiar is the B-story, for lack of a better term, which sees Admiral Cornwall allying with L’Rell (Voq’s accomplice) to try to get away from Kol the bad Klingon and get off T’Kuvma’s old ship. The storyline has some good moments, but it also comes off as pretty muddled at times. Who’s allied with whom, what everyone’s motivations are, and what the point of the story is all gets jumbled up at points.
Part of that is by design. The show intentionally wants you to question L’Rell’s true motivations and whether she really wants to defect or its part of a spy game and whether Kol really trusts her or not. But rather than having the audience question but follow along, the episode makes it rather unclear when she’s playing along and when she’s being true, in a way that makes the viewer scratch one’s head moreso than it builds intrigue.
Still, it offs Cornwall, which conveniently and predictably gets Lorca off the hook for his screwed up behavior. And it creates a ticking time bomb on Kol’s ship, where someone who abhors him is there, potentially wants to defect to the Federation, and definitely wants to get back at Kol for what he did to Voq and her other brethren.
There’s also a couple of other semi-disconnected stories, or at least check-ins, that move the larger narrative of the season. The most heart-pumping is the cold open that sees the Discovery engaged in a battle with six Klingon ships attacking another Federation vessel. It’s a thrilling skirmish, filled with well-done dogfighting, a nice sense of urgency and order to the chaos, and a meaningful loss that underscores the importance of Burnham’s mission that makes up the meat of the episode.
The most compelling, however, is Tilly detecting that something is clearly off with Stamets after his many trips as a tardigrade substitute. For one thing, the show teases hard that Tilly realizes her ambition and becomes a captain, and that Stamets is tripping through time or tapping into some cosmic knowledge when he rides the spore superhighway. But for another, the episode does a nice job of exploring the bind that Stamets’s issues puts him in, where he doesn’t want to turn into a lab rat and be taken off duty, but also doesn’t want to put his partner in a position where the good doctor has to lie for him. It’s just a little hint, not a full story, but it delivers a very humane dilemma to be unpacked.
The main story does a bit of the same. It’s another familiar Trek trope to have gentle or reserved characters be under the influence of some alien agent and go a little crazy and dangerous. Spock’s done it; Data’s done it, and now Saru does it. The bits where Burnham and Ash disagree about what to do with him and reveal their differing viewpoints is a little cheesy, but it’s interesting to see the show turn its most gentle and reluctant character into a threat.
The pod person routine with Saru is scary, both for how his alien physiology means that Burnham and Ash are no physical match for him, but also for his calmness turns from something that makes him seem kind of stuffy and superior, to something that makes him feel impossible to stop or reason with. It’s a nice outing for Doug Jones, and it gives the Burnham character some hard choices.
While I’m not crazy about the tease at the end (can we say Organians, folks?), I do like the explanation for Saru’s turn, for the reasons for his biological reaction to the Pandora-like planet, and for the psychological reasons for his change in demeanor. Like Spock before him, beneath that staid exterior is a well of emotions that Saru doesn’t always reveal. But in the clear light of day, he admits that he spends his entire life afraid, that it’s in his DNA, his evolutionary path, to constantly be on his guard and constantly worry. To have a respite from that, a chance to escape it and be happy and undisturbed on Pavoh, is a pull that no one could understand.
And yet, in her own way, Burnham does. She too has to project an image of strength, of calm, while clearly feeling the stress and strain of all that she’s been through. Like many of those other familiar stories, Star Trek often uses those away missions to find common ground between its crewmen, and this is no exception.
“Si Vis Pacem. Para Bellum” isn’t a groundbreaking episode of Star Trek. It doesn’t bring a time travel story into modern splendor like last week’s episode, or delve into some of the more ambitious serialized storytelling that the show’s engaged in thus far. But it follows the Trek formula more than any other ep in Discovery so far. That makes it feel comfortable, like slipping into an old primary colored uniform, but also like business as usual, and despite the sharp cinematography and better effects, it becomes just another adventure of the week.
Maybe I felt a bit let down by this one just due to how much I enjoyed last weeks, or maybe because it didn't follow up on that awesome moment of Stamets in the mirror that ended the previous one. Either way, I didn't get quite as much into this one.
But it's a shame, because there are many parts of this episode that worked by themselves, it just failed to grab me when they were all put together. I think it's clear that a real strength of the show is how unpredictable it all continues to be. The focus is taken away somewhat from Burnham and we get to spend half the episode with Captain Lorca, who continues to become more and more complicated. He's also becoming more and more sympathetic. There's a moment of what appears to be genuine fear when he realises the admiral will take away his command, and despite her apparent disbelief on whether or not he's being real it definitely came across that way to me.
It's a shame that the plot went in the direction of them sleeping together which felt a bit tired, but it did allow for that scene to play out nicely in the aftermath. At any rate, the ending with the Klingon double-cross made her look very naive.
Michael's story was quite interesting, too, if maybe a bit sloppy. It's a common misconception that Vulcans are an emotionless species, as various Trek shows and films have shown us time and time again that they are fiercely violent, racist and have a superiority complex. The emotions are merely suppressed and (hopefully) not acted upon, but they're all there. The relationship between Michael and Sarek is pretty fascinating while somehow feeling a little bit ridiculous. Anyway, it was great to get some more insight into the failings that Sarek felt around this time, especially in regards to Spock.
I also loved Amanda Grayson as portrayed by Mia Kirshnir, who bears an amazing resemblance to original actress Jane Wyatt. A little part of me feels it's a shame that Winona Ryder didn't come back, but I guess that was never going to happen.
The newly arrived Lt. Ash Tyler is a weird one. I think it's clear that the story is going somewhere with him (and if you explore online discussions be careful, because it's also clear that a lot of people have worked this out already), but at this point he doesn't really seem to fit. He's too good at everything and has integrated himself too readily, taking the forefront a bit too often. The guy has just spent 7 months in a Klingon prison (allegedly) so I'd think he'd need some serious rehabilitation.
Other random observations: I love that Stamets appears to have become in a constant state of agreeable bliss since using the spore drive (REALLY need to get back into this story line) and Tilly again just makes me smile.
[8.1/10] There is a line of demarcation between the difficulties a person experiences, their shames and fears, and what about those insecurities and regrets they share with the world, particularly for people in positions of authority. That’s particularly true for Capt. Lorca and Sarek, who find themselves confronted with those close to them -- a lover in the case of the former and a daughter in the case of the latter -- and yet cannot bring themselves to reveal what they’re going through, the personal pain they’re experiencing, until forced to by the very people they seek most to keep it from.
“Lethe” dramatizes these personal blocks and reveals in different ways. For Lorca and Admiral Cornwall, it’s a personal encounter that devolves from professional concern into romantic rekindling. For Michael Burnham, it’s something much more Trek-y, involving taking a shuttlecraft into a radiation-filled nebula and using a nigh-magical mind meld enhancement beam to find her surrogate father. Burnham is still infused with Sarek’s katra after he used it to revive her as a child, and now she’s out to return the favor when she received a psychic blast indicating he’s in danger.
That quest forces her to confront her own insecurities over her relationship with her father. Her efforts to mind meld with Sarek from afar lead her to one moment from their shared past -- the moment when they learned that Burnham would not be accepted into the Vulcan Expeditionary Force. Burnham reads the situation as her adoptive father spending his last moments on his greatest regret -- her. She interprets this scene as him fixating on the ways she failed him, the ways she was not good enough to achieve all that he wanted for her, something that’s lingered with her ever since she first felt the sting of that failure.
But buoyed by the support of Tilly and the recently-made-security-chief and former Klingon POW Ash, Burnham gathers the strength to confront Sarek about what he’s hiding from her, why he’s so set on rebuffing her from his mind. It’s there that she learns the truth. She didn’t fail, or at least not exactly. The Vulcan leadership gave Sarek a choice for whom it would accept into its leadership and good grace: Burnham or Spock, and we know whom ended up picking.
The shame, the thing he cannot escape, is not Burnham’s failure; it’s his own. He failed Burnham, and put in a Sophie’s Choice type situation, managed to lose on both fronts, with Burnham missing out on the dream he instilled in her to join the Vulcan Expeditionary Force, and Spock going against his wishes and joining Starfleet rather than the Vulcan Science Academy. The reasons for Burnham’s rejection are a lie he carried with him from that moment, pushing the failure, and the ensuing sense of loss and worthlessness, from himself onto her.
Lorca is likewise keeping up a facade in order to avoid owning up to his own failures and limitations. When Admiral Cornwall comes to check on him personally, to question his decisions of bringing Starfleet’s first ever mutineer on as a member of his crew and making a 7-month Klingon POW his chief of security, he puts up the image of cool collectedness. He claims to have his reasons, to be fighting this war the best way he knows how, and maintains that his decision-making, his risk-taking, is sound even if it seems unorthodox to the stuffed shirts in Starfleet Command.
But then they sleep together, and after a tender moment, a gentle touch of specific-contoured scars on his back by Cornwall, Lorca has an episode. He wraps his hand around his companion’s neck and brandishes a phaser in her face before he’s able to calm down. It’s then that Cornwall has confirmation that Lorca is not well. He admits that he lied on his psyche evals, that he’s had trouble since the battle that affected his eyes and cost him his crew, that he’s struggle and needs help.
But that’s the hard thing for people keeping important parts of themselves and parts of what they’re going through hidden from the people who care about them -- you never know if they’re telling the truth, if they’re letting you in, or if you’re just one more layer into them denying the real depths of the problem
But it’s understandable, even if the consequences are harsh, when what’s being hidden are personal failings, ways in which people feel like they don’t measure up to the standards they’ve set for themselves. Lorca wants to be a wartime chief, someone who can avenge his crew and create a safe place in the galaxy for his countrymen. That means hanging on to the Discovery, his best hope and best chance to do so, even if it means ignoring all the signs that he’s not well.
For Sarek, it comes in the form of all his efforts to overcome the prejudice of his species. The episode opens with a “logic extremist” who calmly self-immolates to protest Sarek’s involvement with humans or Klingons (you know, by trying to kill him). The crux of Burnham’s story in the episode comes when it’s revealed that the Vulcan leadership would only allow humanity to be a part of the Vulcan community “by titration,” gradually, and that they saw Sarek’s work of integrating Vulcans with their human allies as a parlor trick, a wild experiment, that should be cordoned off from Vulcan purity. It speaks to the recurring themes of this series thus far, one involving the mixing of cultures and the friction points therein.
But while it’s Lorca and Sarek who have these truths revealed, neither grows or changes from it. Lorca is saved by the plot-teasing Klingon trap that Cornwall, who’s filling in for an ailing Sarek, gets caught up in. (As a side note, if you ever find yourself in a T.V. show or movie, never tell someone that you’re going to deal with something big “as soon as you get back,” because it guarantees you aint comin’ back.) And Sarek, despite being rescued and revealed by his now-accomplished ward, remains taciturn and reserved, and more like the version of the character from The Original Series and its descendents.
But Burnham does. It’s signposted a little too hard, but she overcomes the blocks carelessly put in front of her by Sarek, and realizes that she can find her own worth, her own value, apart from his approval, even if it leads her to value the approval of the similarly-flawed Lorca, who offers her an official post on the Discovery. And she realizes, that as she tells Tilly, there is more than one path to success, more than one way to get what you want, and the fact that she had a setback on hers, a couple of major ones in fact, does not mean that she is doomed or fated to fail.
It’s easy to hide our damage, the things that bother us or make us feel like failures or less than. We want to project an image: to our coworkers, to our bosses, and even to our family members. But when we confront those parts of ourselves, share them and work through them, we can not only come out the other end realizing that the help we need is there, but also that the failures that keep us up at night are not really our own, and there’s still a galaxy of possibilities ahead of us.
Well, this is more like it! This actually felt like good classic Star Trek plot, but without all the ilogicalities and stupidity from last weeks episode (which is good especially when dealing with vulcans). Lorca proves yet again that he's the most complex character maybe in Star Trek history, and we can say that already six episodes in. I can only hope that Michael embracing her human side means she'll develop more from that uptight always right character into something more interesting.
After a lifetime of love for the Star Trek universe, it's hard to be impressed by some of the iterations between the end of Voyager, and the start of the recent movie reboots. As much as I love Scott Bakula, I panned "Enterprise" sometime after the first season, unable to find a way into the story or caring about that crew.
However, as if the showrunners of Discovery knew what, my intersectional heart was longing for. A powerful new female lead of colour (wearing her natural hair), in a very different take on the Federation and enemies of old. When I realised which enemy of old it was being reimagined—indeed, the extent to which the Federation has been a little reimagined—I became deeply impressed, moment by moment.
I'm uncertain if I like the makeup and costume design for the new 'Others' in the story, and the very 'colourfulness' of their ship interiors, but you know, I might just let it grow on me and see how it goes.
A word here on Sonequa Martin-Green's performance: Yes muh girl! Yes! I like you... A nuanced and compelling performance.
That said, this was an impressive opener. Oh CBS.. you play too much. They banned reviews to pique interest, and I am in for it. Here for it. I'm glad I took the chance and watched, and I'm glad to be so pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Usual disclaimer: never played the game, so I'm judging the series - not how much it resembles the videogame or how much it portrays my love for it.
Saying this cause of the amount of overenthusiastic reviews by fans of the game, which put this next to the greatest series ever after 2 episodes...
I found out a thing I never thought about before: the show is suffering a little for bringing too faithfully the videogame experience in some scenes. Which translated to a series some standard horror movie choices. It happened last time with the clicker sitch: it happens that they have to pass through a dark museum, creates a great setting for a videogame bit, but it's a little forced for a series/movie. Here again when Ellie goes in the basement alone. Come on. We can create 270 horrors by having a protagonist go into every basement, every corridor, every empty house and dark corner.. but it should have a solid motivation, not "girl thinks it's a good idea to go alone in a manhole in a infected-creatures world, finds a creature and decides to go close cause why not".
It does its best when it's telling a story and showing a world: through flashbacks, interactions, travelling.. when it goes too much into the "videogame level" kind of stuff, it gets redundant.
The part with Bill & Frank was remarkable, sweet and tragic and human at once. A depiction of a life spent together and what makes it worth living.
small IMO: Nick Offerman should try to convey emotions with his voice as well, his tone hardly changes
What a fantastic episode. All the feels. Anything is possible. True love can't be stopped. Even in a Zombie Pandemic.
Wow. That was some compelling sh*t.
absolute masterpiece. Going down as one of the best in history
This episode of "The Last of Us" is remarkable for its successful representation of homosexual characters in a post-apocalyptic world. The two characters are well-developed and complementary, with the survivalist having a touch of sophistication. The unique and touching love story adds a lot of humanity and realism to the series. Unlike other works, the theme of homosexuality is not simply included to please a community, but it truly adds value to the story and is fully integrated into the plot. This shows a successful and respectful representation of diversity.
Truly one of the best TV episodes ever made. I love that the show is building so much on what was already heavily implied in the game, but also staying incredibly true to it. I'm having trouble seeing how they are going to continue to top themselves with future episodes as the first three have been masterpieces.
On the one hand, it feels a bit like a filler episode. On the other hand, how do they manage to land these gut punches for characters we barely know? Also, Nick Offerman was brilliant here, sad that he isn't around for more.
Beautiful and sad. My eyes were red and I was crying big, fat tears by the end of it, but I so prefer this version of their story to the game. Sixteen years in any world, with someone you love who loves you, is remarkable and worthy of ALL the screen time.
10/10 for Bill and Frank, and for the sensitivity given to their heartwarming and heartbreaking tale.
Wow, this actually had me crying, that never seems to happen. Beautiful storytelling and world building, I really invested in these characters.
Looking back, from the perspective of a person who played the game many times, this is both a great love letter to long time fans, and gives a new spin on a well done character that had the potential for some really good lore, which was presented quite well here. I'm happy with the direction of where they went with Bill & Frank's story. I have no clue where they will be going in the next episode, so I will be watching closely to see if they go crazy off trail in the next episodes, but this one felt good. As a piece of work, this hit the emotional marks alongside the story aspects quite well, while also tying in the stories of our main characters throughout the episode. I'm trying to grasp the lens of what a first time watcher would be experiencing, such as those who haven't played the game. I wouldn't call it a filler episode, but it does hit the mark of a self contained story, though it connects to our main story, and helps continue Joel and Ellie's journey. This episode reminds me of what you would see in a show like Atlanta on FX, where the entire episode revolves a self-contained story of one character, and then the main characters would show up at the end, and possibly mentioned or pop up throughout the episode. This was a pretty rough ramble, but it was well done in the sense of a self contained story, branching off of our main journey with Ellie and Joel, which I do appreciate in many shows. This episode contains such beautiful and heavy themes, and it is interesting to show that there are bright spots like this within the bleak world of The Last Of Us.
In the end, I enjoyed this episode, I am pretty happy we got some really juicy Bill and Frank lore. I wish we got to see some conversations with Ellie and grumpy Bill , but it's alright, I'm sure we will be able to whiteness more fun Ellie moments throughout the rest of the show. By the way, the performances were absolutely beautiful. I managed to really connect to these characters, and hang on to what they had to say, alongside the amount of empathy I had for them. A beautiful story was told, and though it is different than the source material, which I typically am not a fan of, I was happy to be brought on this lovely adventure.
It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm waiting for my photos to render, so I decided to comment on this episode while I wait lol. I am very tired so mind my poor grammar lmao
