2x12 Through the Valley of Shadows

[7.0/10] It’s not a cure-all by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to like episodes centered around a particular theme. This is a bit an interstitial episode of the series, one that puts pieces in place and spoon-feeds us a few more reveals before advancing the main plot for season 2. When you’re doing table setting, it helps to some idea that you’re exploring in each little story to help give a sense of cohesion.

And the theme we get here is the immutability or malleability of the past, present, and future. That’s a pretty broad notion (one that’s appropriately expansive enough to fit all the disparate narratives Discovery wants to include here), but at base, it features characters struggling with the notion of whether they’re trapped by their pasts, whether their futures are already set, or whether there’s ways to change and fix and make things better.

My favorite of these disparate stories is Pike’s experience down on Boreth, a Klingon planet that houses the a Temple of Kahless, a cache of time crystals, and most notably for our purposes, Voq and L’Rell’s son. Let’s be honest, the whole escapade there is pretty silly, with faux-profound doublespeak about time and the future, and some timey-wimey craziness, and ominous tones. But god help me, I liked it!

I think part of that is that, centering on Pike in particular, it feels appropriately like a throwback to something the original 1960s Star Trek series would do. The Klingon monk who turns out to be a time-shifted version of the son Ash left on the planet is a little nuts and convenient, but almost charmingly so. The Empire Strikes Back-esque journey into a cave where you gain insight about yourself but at a cost, while being guided by a bumpy mentor is a little cheesy, but also impressionistic and sincere enough to pass muster. And the whole sense of this bizarre little spirit journey to pick up the macguffin and reaffirm your principles feels very Kirk-like somehow.

What I like the most about it, though, is how it’s a character study for Pike. I’ll admit that I’m still not crazy about Discovery borrowing tension or meaning from other shows, but there’s still a power in having Pike witness the incident that turns him into the shell of a man we meet in “The Menagerie” or having to look upon his own scarred, melting face. While the makeup is a little corny, the Kubrickian image of him standing in that hallway where you just hear the whirr of the hoverchair and see it out of focus in the background is utterly horrifying. For setting Pike on a spiritual journey that’s supposed to rattle him, the show doesn't skimp on the disturbing parts of it that drive home the grimness of what awaits the once and future captain of the Enterprise.

And yet, he decides to stay in the game. He reaffirms his Starfleet given principles of service, of sacrifice, of duty, even in the face of his own unfortunate future. He knows what lies in wait for him down the line, but he’s still willing to cement that future in place if it means he can save a brighter future for the galaxy. It’s the kind of admirable bent toward self-sacrifice for a greater good that makes the denizens of Starfleet noble despite their wild (final) frontier ways. Pike’s presence has often felt like a throwback to that sensibility on the morally murkier Discovery show, and it’s a welcome interlude here.

But his experience on Boreth helps to calm things between Ash and L’Rell, which is a relationship I’m glad the show touched on again, however briefly. Theirs is a weird pairing, but that’s one of the things I like about Star Trek, the way it explores those sorts of strange relationships between souls and how it would affect them. The struggle for Ash between being Lt. Tyler and being Voq, and for L’Rell of being the Klingon Chancellor and someone who loves her son and one-time partner, makes for meaningful interactions. The way they both struggle with their two truths, the desire to see their son but also protect him, and the realization that their pasts don’t have to hamstring their futures, or his, is an abbreviated part of the episode, but also a strong one.

Were that the same could be said for the continued Stamets/Culber relationship issues. There’s still this weird sense of high school drama to what should be a powerful emotional struggle, and the show doesn't seem to know how to fix it. The lipservice (and let me be frank, acting) here doesn't do much to sell the estrangement or inevitable repair of it. That said, I do like how the show aims to use Jet Reno and her story to tell Hugh not to waste a second chance. The writing is good, if a little heavy-handed, in that scene, with Jet having a reasonably motivation of just wanting Stamets at his best, but also having a legitimate means of relating to Hugh as someone married to a micromanaging perfectionist herself. It doesn't really answer or solve the problem that broke them apart in any way (chiefly, that Hugh’s old life felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar after his experience), but it does suggest to Hugh that there’s something valuable in the future he could be losing if he gives up on things because he doesn't recognize their past, which is something.

There’s also some juice to Michael and Spock going to investigate an odd Section 31 missed check in. This part of the episode has problems. For one, I’m still not sold on the Burnham/Spock dynamic on the show, which still feels out of tune to me. For another, given how interstitial this episode already feels, this definitely comes off like a minor sidequest very early on. And lastly, it becomes clear early that things will go wrong and that there’s more to the (barely-remembered) guy from the Shenzhou than meets the eye.

But at the end of the day, I liked this one too, For one thing, you again have the horror movie panache of the fellow crewmember turning out to be Control, and Michael and Spock realizing that at the same time. There’s the raw action quotient of Burnham trying to blast the thing to smithereens, the creepy advancing swarm of nanobots, and the last minute save from Spock trapping them on the floor. (“Yeah bitch! Magnets! Oh!”)

Apart from the scary movie material, though, I like that we get a little more about Control’s goal here. There’s a lot of “Michael is really important” talk here, which doesn't really thrill me. But I appreciate the practicality of Control focusing so much on Burnham because it thinks she’s the best way to get to the Sphere Data, with a specific goal to take her over. I also appreciate the Asimov-esque rationale that its programming is to protect all sentient life and it views the end result of that as being to become the apex of all sentient life. It’s appropriately explanatory and science fiction-y.

And I like the way it ties into Burnham’s sense that she failed her mom in the past and the present, but that the encounter makes her realize she can still change the future. That method may come from the same thing Pike eventually realizes is needed -- self sacrifice. It’s unlikely to be permanent (and I believe the self-destruction of the Discovery tease about as much as I believe Shatner’s hair is natural, but maybe there’s a tie into “Calypso” in the offing), but I like the sense of Burnham going from regret about what she’s done before to resolve about what she can do now.

That’s the minimum I ask for from Star Trek. This isn’t a perfect episode by any stretch, with acting and dialogue that still rankles me a fair bit. But there’s a core idea that informs pretty much every scene we see, that calls on the writers to explore and work around, and that makes this one stronger by association even if it can’t be strong in every moment.