Commander Saru returns to his home planet to combat the oppressors and unleash a long overdue revolution for his people. Discovery is officially kicking ass this season. “The Sounds of Thunder” When it's good it's good. This is the fourth episode out of six that is straight up awesome and instantly rewatchable. As in, I kinda want to play it again from the beginning as soon as it's finished. Saru is changing. Following up on the events from Episode 4 (Remember that whole giant sphere of living library that almost killed him?) Saru learns that the loss of his "fear ganglia" is making him more... not afraid, for a change. And they've been replaced by new tissue, which kinda looks like teeth, but, eh, we'll just put a pin in that for a minute. His psychology is changing too, as he no longer senses or succumbs to fear, as before, but finds himself suddenly confident and assertive. Like, maybe just a tad too much. He's a little pissed off, even, as he begins to realize his entire culture is a lie. The Kelpian tradition of subservience and voluntary self-sacrifice to a more advanced species (the Ba'ul) isn't to protect his people from slow painful death at all. It's to prevent their "evolving" and rising up. How convenient then that this week's adventure takes them immediately back to Saru's homeworld, Kaminar, for the first time since he left it, years ago (see Star Trek Short Treks for that origin story). One of those pesky red lights appears again and abruptly disappears when they arrive, leaving them to confront or solve another strange mystery. Saru's people are a primitive culture, so the Prime Directive (or "General Order One") applies, except the race that oppresses them just achieved warp, so... Gray area? Might as well send an away team! One of the writers finally remembers how Burnham is a xeno-biologist (and you thought she was just a generic know-it-all!) so she gets to go, but Saru is pretty pissed he isn't invited to his own planet. Pike is rightfully cautious, though. Saru might want to breach the Prime Directive and lead a revolution revealing the truth to his people, now that he's seen behind the curtain. And... that's basically what happens. The Ba'ul monitor their arrival and confront Discovery (after largely keeping hidden) and threaten to destroy all the Kelpians if Saru doesn't surrender. Pike talks some pretty good tough-talk, but Saru can't resist the chance to condemn their oppression. "Do you even know what you are?" the Ba'ul retort ominously. Pike orders Saru off the bridge, but that just gives him a chance to beam off the ship (weren't it's shields up?). This gives him a chance to face the Ba'ul (they haven't been seen directly in centuries) and argue the finer points of propaganda and racial supremacy. They're all oily and monstrous and creepy, and totally not designed by the same people who did the new Klingons, thank God. We learn at the same time from Tilly and Computer-Head Girl that the roles were once reversed on Kaminar. The "evolved" Kelpians once hunted the Ba'ul to near extinction, and the current "balance" is simply how they keep the Kelpians from from transforming and overpowering them again. It allows them both to grow and thrive in a sense, but it mostly favors the Ba'ul who have become quite advanced, while keeping the Kelpians uneducated and under their thumb.
Saru breaks free with his new roid-rage, and he uses those nasty teeth he was growing in his neck like darts. Then just as the Ba'ul threaten to destroy all the Kelpians permanently, the Red Angel appears to save the day like a literal Deus Ex Machina and Saru gets the first good look at it with his advanced vision (remember how he had that?). It averts the genocide and resets the "balance" between the Kelpians and the Ba'ul. Saru's sister leads the new wave of "evolved" Kelpians and there's a great sense of triumph over oppression. But there's also a very subtle and ominous risk. Will the newly "evolved" Kelpians become predators again? Or can they be enlightened enough to establish a new and equal balance? It's an age-old question wherever there is racial imbalance and injustice, and despite Saru's very Trek-ian optimism, the writers wisely leave it open-ended. Perhaps in a future season, we will return to Kaminar and see... Conclusion: Discovery proves once again that a hybrid episodic format is the way to go, tackling high concept adventures-of-the-week, while still teasing out the larger plot. This week we discover the Red Angel is a humanoid, possibly wearing a space suit, and its foreknowledge of galactic events might imply time travel. Yeesh! Doug Jones truly carries the episode with his continually clear but subtle expressions and his dynamic between his real sister and Burnham (his surrogate sister) is very strong. Captain's Blog Supplemental: We also check in Culber, still frazzled and disoriented from his resurrection. His body has no scars and he's kinda buff all of a sudden. Bonus points for not just throwing him back in as Doctor right away and shrugging it off a la TNG, but actually giving him a PTSD story arc. He's finally interesting as his own character for a change and I'm curious what happens with him. Seriously, why is Ash Tyler still on this ship? To spout exposition? His new look makes him a little more palatable at least and he mostly kept out of the way but does nobody remember he was a Klingon? Lastly, a fan theory: Do the Kelpians in their evolved state in fact BECOME the Ba'ul?!?! Another Fan Theory: Is the Red Angel Spock? Is it the Discovery AI we saw briefly in Short Treks (now that we know they tie in to the season afterall)? Was this the episode that inspired the Short Treks? When they went way over budget producing the sets and costumes for Kaminar and barely used them, someone maybe said, Hey I got an idea...
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