[7.2/10] For better or for worse, this is the episode of Star Trek Discovery that’s felt the most like a regular episode of its predecessor series so far. If the first two episodes were an origin story, and the third episode was a pilot, then this episode was the closest thing we’ve gotten to “business as usual” so far.
That’s not a bad thing! 90% of the Star Trek franchise is business as usual, outside of a few two-parters and DS9’s experiments in serialization. What made each show and the franchise great is what they did within that structure. But “The Butcher’s Knife” feels like the modern day twist on that sort of rubric, with a problem of the week for the ship, a personal challenge to overcome for Burnham, and even a short arc for the (sympathetic) villain of the series.
That ship-wde problem of the week is a Federation colony under attack by the Klingons. No Starfleet ships are close enough to defend them, and the colony produces 40% of the Federation’s dilithium (think magical engine juice) so it’s of great importance that they be saved and the Discovery, with its magic spore drive, is the only ship that has a chance to do it.
It creates a nice opportunity for Captain Lorca to seem like a “by any means necessary” wartime chief as he demands more, sometimes in harsh terms, like his crew, and for Lt. Stamets to do his sarcastic, perpetually annoyed, “I can’t deliver what you want” routine in return. It’s overwritten at times (like a lot in this episode) but the conflict between Lorca as a warmonger and Stamets as a scientist, and the way they stand for the larger conflict within the peaceful Federation that finds themselves at war is well-positioned.
That theme extends to Burnham’s personal challenge, which is to figure out how weaponize the macro-tardigrade that Lorca extracted from the Discovery’s sister ship last week. Again, the theme is not subtle. Burnham is sent to figure out how to turn a living thing into a weapon, and instead she not only starts to understand it, but figures out that they can have a symbiotic relationship rather than an antagonistic one with the creature.
(As an aside, I’d admit I was pretty surprised when the tough-as-nails security chief died at the hands of the tardigrade. Sure, opening the creature’s container was Prometheus levels of stupid, but I’d just figured out she was Tory from Battlestar Galactica so I assumed they had more for her than that.)
So the episode gives the other characters some one-on-one time with Burnham. Saru is still a skeptic, but she uses his danger ganglia to prove that the tardigrade isn’t hostile, and Tilly shows her own kind of awkward bravery by helping Burnham feed the creature with spores, which gives Burnham the connection she needs.
Naturally, the two stories on the Discovery converge, and the tardigrade is the missing piece that allows Stamets to make use of the equipment he got from the U.S.S. Glenn and allows Discovery to get to the colony in time. It’s admittedly a little easy, but it also feels like a hallmark of Star Trek writing, where two pieces come together and suddenly the crew can solve the whole puzzle, so there’s something warm and familiar about it.
What isn’t familiar is the show, but impressive cinematography. Bits like the microscopic zoom out from the replicator making Burnham’s uniform, or the upside down perspective as Voq walks the husk of the Shenzhou, or the zoom in from space to the Discovery bridge show a visual flair that doesn’t do a whole lot in terms of symbolism (though the flipped perspective adds something to the peculiarity of Voq walking the halls of the ship he helped destroy) but it’s pretty to look at.
Speaking of Voq, he has the Klingon equivalent of a meetcute, where T’Kuvma’s second in command and he find their mutual respect metamorphosizing into something more. Of course, it’s coupled with Voq’s ship (formerly T’Kuvma’s shop) running out of food and power, and a pledge of fealty from a rival house turning into one of those Klingon coups you’ve heard so much about.
Once more, there’s some pretty heavy-handed theme work, with L’Rell giving a grand (at least in the subtitles) speech about bridging both sides of something. That’s the overall theme of this episode. L’Rell is of two houses; Voq has to resolve T’Kuvma’s purity with their need to survive, and the Discovery and its crew need to balance the need to win the war with their principles to advance the cause of peace and scientific advancement. It’s underlined strongly, but it’s nice enough and there’s something oddly compelling about the slightly hokey Klingon romance.
Last but not least, we get Burnham opening the video will of Capt. Georgiou, who left her the telescope they looked through in the pilot. It’s a nice touch, even if, say it with me, the writing is a bit too blunt, that works well as a symbol of how Geourgiou’s memory is both a source of solace and a source of guilt for Burnham.
Overall, this was a meat and potatoes episode of Star Trek, but a reliably good, albeit not great one.
The production levels are through the rough in this show! Every episode looks like a movie. Visually, it's been one hell of a ride.
They do seem to be consolidating the idea of a grittier, bitter Star Trek with Discovery. And, quite frankly, I've given up sort of scoffing at it ("this is Star Wars in Star Trek uniforms!") and I'm all on board, now. I like this show, it's growing on me, despite its apparent disregard for the essence of Star Trek. At least I consider it to be better than the movies (I wonder what other Star Trek fans think of this...?).
A giant menacing tardigrade acting like a puppy was something disturbing to see. A giant menacing tardigrade acting like the ship's navigator was just plain weird. But I'm definitely enjoying the science side of the show (it's a science-fiction show with some actual science thrown in, even if it's, well, fictional).
Hey, I liked how they considered Elon Musk a visionary, by then ;)
People seem to not be enjoying the Klingons, but I'm genuinely interested in their part of the story. It has betrayal, love, pride, shame... All the ingredients of a good telenovela! :D
Now I'm just waiting for the Borg to appear so I can forget about any other villain on this show. It's very unlikely, given that TNG was the first to encounter them (I think), but since they seem to be getting rather flexible regarding the Star Trek lore, I'm getting my hopes up.
