The sucking sound you hear is that of thousands of panties being dislodged and reluctantly pulled out of the wedgied butt cracks of the nattering, naybob naysayers, disbelievers, and generally unwashed masses. And trust me, they REALLY like their wedgies!
Yes, it's still early in the season, and there's still plenty of time to screw things up, but, I can wholeheartedly say that it appears the writers may have just found their stride, and are well on the way to achieving balance in the force...., er, wait, uhh..., THE balance between looking forward from and paying homage to established Star Trek canon, without being kitschy, and giving ALL Star Trek fans something to look forward to each week. Kudos and applause all around.
They attacked some BIG themes this episode, especially with the brilliant re-interpretation of A.C. Clarke's theorem that, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" to "Any sufficiently advanced technology when viewed by a non technological society is indistinguishable from...., GOD." (paraphrased) Believer, Nonbeliever, Atheist, Agnostic, ALL, like Aristotle's 'petitio principii', often beg the question, that is, their argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it one way or the other.
One person looks at he mathematical precision of the Universe, and concludes that it HAD to have a creator, while another can look at the same precision and declare "There is no God". Yet, who really is the fool? Perhaps neither, perhaps both. If a being had technology that allowed then to manipulate and reconfigure matter on a molecular or atomic level, would that not, to those dispossessed of said technology, make them appear Godlike? It would only be their own benevolence that would prevent them from assuming that role.
That is the position our intrepid crew finds itself in this episode. After Michael Burnham reveals to Pike that her brother (from another Mother) Spock had apparently discovered the mysterious signals MONTHS before they actually appeared, another beacon reveals itself, and at maximum warp, they can reach it in...., 150 years. Ohhhhhhh Staaaamennts!!!!!! Now, Starfleet's General Order Number 1, or, Prime Directive, forbids interference with pre-warp civilizations, yet, somehow, they have been led to one inhabited by Terran's FROM earth who are now in the beta quadrant but their technological development ended 200 years prior during Earth's Third World War, when they were apparently beamed away just before a nuclear strike. So, "This is Us"..., but a severely beta version. The dilemma now being whether they get, or even deserve an upgrade. Oh that pesky prime directive..., What's a Starship Captain to do???
Well, knowing that THIS Captain's middle name is "Richard" and not "Tiberius", does keep that from having a foregone conclusion, and watching Burnam play Spock to Pikes Kirk, (got that?) is rather joyous, ESPECIALLY since this is apparently opposite crew day, and the traditional TOS roles here, are, well..., kinda sorta reversed.
Meanwhile, back on discovery, Officer Candidate Tilly decides to break off a chunk of the mysterious space rock they captured previously, and play with essentially a chunk of a neutron dense asteroid, so Stament's doesn't go mad inside the "mushroom network" if he sees his deceased other half again, and she, well, let's just say things don't go quite as planned.
And then there's the impending doom that suddenly materializes to get everyones knickers in a twist. Well OF COURSE impending doom suddenly materializes, we must have homage beats, yes? Do they even wear knickers in space? George Lucas said "there were no bras in space", but there MUST be knickers.... Those uniforms are too tight to go commando..., but, I digress.
So, the, all that's left to do is defeat the impending doom, make contact with the locals who are us, but running Windows 98, while obeying General Order Number 1, yet somehow not feel like total monkey butts if we decide to exit, planet left, without them.. Did I miss anything??? Oh yeah, and Tilly apparently can see dead people..., or she's having a brain aneurysm. Anyway...,
You now have permission to watch the episode.., if you haven't already.. (But then, WHY are you reading this if you HAVEN'T watched the episode?? Get outta here ya nut!!!)
