Twist upon twist, Discovery continues it's winning streak in the Mirror Universe. "Vaulting Ambition" and "What's Past is Prologue"
Since coming back from mid-season hiatus, Discovery has been firing on all cylinders. It has become addictive and mysterious and full of momentum. Cynical fans will say the writers have course-corrected after a tepid and inconsistent first half-season, but it's obvious this was the larger plot all along, and there's no way these episodes weren't completely written and filmed last fall, making it impossible to have responded to any nitpicking. Besides, as fun as these episodes have been, they aren't good enough to qualify as a successful course-correct. But at this point in the show, if you're still watching, you make your peace with the flaws and just go with it. The secret Defiant data so important two episodes ago turned out to be useless (and is quickly forgotten). And at first this seems like a clever reversal, but it makes me wonder how coordinated the writers were to make such a jarring shift. Was it always meant to be little more than hyped-up fan-service? A red herring? I'm very disappointed we won't get to see the classic Constitution class vessel after all. Burnham is captured by the Emperor who is the lost mother-figure Captain Georgiou she "betrayed" (more like just had a tiff, in my opinion, but ya know, drama) and got killed in Episode 2. Here they get the best dialogue as Burnham pretends to be the Mirror-Burnham and fails spectacularly. "You used to call me mother!" Georgiou rebukes, and forces Burnham to reveal her true multiversal origin in a risky confession that works in spite of itself. Turns out Georgiou knows the classified info about the different universes and promptly kills her senior staff that Burnham just blabbed in front of. Then she drops the ultimate missing-link of plot points that's been haunting the entire season: the big difference between humans from the Federation and "Terrans" from this mirror world is that the Terrans have a sensitivity to light (turns out all that dim lighting and brooding atmosphere wasn't just for evil effect). And -- *mind blown* -- because didn't Lorca have a sensitivity to light from way back when we met him?! And of course just as we get this earth-shattering (yet popular internet theory) revelation, we watch Lorca reveal himself and trick his way out of the Agony Booth to kill his tormentor. All part of the plan. All of this plays pretty functionally and Episode 12 does its job with blind faith that the twists will carry it through. And if you plan on binging the show in one sitting, it probably will. But as an individual episode, it's on borrowed time, piggy-packing off the momentum leftover from Episode 10. Besides the fun twists and plot reversals, it's only truly redeeming drama lies in the tense layers of dialogue between Burnham and Gerogiou, and likewise Lorca with his tormentor. Both scenes show suspicious characters baiting each other for clues and there's a lot of natural suspense as we wonder who will fool who (and even get a little fooled ourselves, perhaps along the way). All the stuff with Ash Tyler turning out to be Klingon is just junk. It weighs down every episode in which it matters and the whole Klingon laser-finger surgery just seems dumb. What is the point of all this? He will either betray the crew or they will save him or somehow both. From a writing perspective, it's just not that much to work with (especially when the acting is too blech to save it). Episode 13 is where things get good, though. All the cards are on the table, this time, and it's all beautiful chaos as the Mirror storyline comes to a climax. Lorca gathers his allies in an attempt to claim the Imperial throne, and we learn how this is the culmination of his massive plan since inadvertently getting sent out of the Mirror Universe in the first place. We learn a lot more than that too, like his weird mentor/lover relationship with Mirror-Burnham, and his ulterior motives for recruiting her back in Episode 3. I honestly don't know when they snuck in all this exposition. The episode was packed with action and phaser pew-pews. On the other hand, they maybe could've slowed some of this down to let certain character dynamics simmer. It happens fast. The reveal of Lorca's weird relationship to Burnham (the two main characters!) is the kind of drama that could carry a whole season. Likewise the unexpected return of Security Officer Landry (killed in Episode 4 maybe?) is given no attention or emphasis before she's abruptly zapped again a few minutes later. At best you might've thought, "Hey, she looks familiar..." But who cares, Michelle Yeoh gets to kick and punch and isn't that really what made her famous? Let's take what we can get! I already mentioned how the Defiant data plot point was abandoned last episode, so here the crew of the Discovery must treknobabble their way into an entirely new and convoluted solution to crossing universes. Stamets' little mushroom-trip with his alternate self reveals the mycelial network is dying/being over-consumed by its exploitation on the Imperial throne ship (liberal metaphor alert!). This means they have to simultaneously destroy the giant enemy ship (to save the multiverse) while riding the tidal wave home (to power the spore-drive). Or something. Everybody keeping up? Okay, great. Luckily they cruise through this stuff so fast you don't have time to realize how arbitrarily convoluted and deus-ex-machina it all is (after all, it is Star Trek). Because if you spent five minutes reflecting on it, you'd realize having the Defiant show up, looking like a hundred-year-old war-torn version of the 60's Enterprise would've been so much cooler (see Star Trek Enterprise, Season 4, Episodes 18 and 19 for an example of getting this right). Last minute twists: Burnham spares Lorca's life, only for Emperor Georgiou to sword him to death instead! Georgiou says she'll go down with her ship while Burnham escapes (they have a little moment) but right before energizing, Burnham drags her along with her, saving her life (against her will) and dragging her into another universe. I guess this is her way of finding redemption for getting her own Georgiou killed at the beginning of the season. It also provides a meaningful replacement to A-list actor Jason Isaacs (Lorca) by bringing even more A-list Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou) back into the cast. Finally, it brings the season full circle, as Georgiou carried the first two episodes, and now she'll close out the season (unless they kill her! Who knows where they're going with this one!) Our second twist comes in the form of time travel. After narrowly navigating home, we all know a twist is coming. Will it be another "wrong" universe, opening up all sorts of new potential stories to discover (see what I did there?) like that 90's sci-fi show Sliders? Sadly no. They get the right universe on the first try, but the wrong time period. They overshoot it a little... But will it be a time-jump to some alternate point in Star Trek history, like Next Generation for example or even further into the future so as to finally continue the mythology beyond Star Trek Nemesis? Or at least some unexplored time-period like Enterprise B or C? Or if not, then they must be going to the time of Kirk and Spock, about ten years into the future, so we can see what they look like in this iteration? At least briefly? NO! None of these brilliant ideas. It's nine months. Only nine months! Hardly worth it, honestly. Why time jump at all? They've been gone quite a while as it is, certainly long enough for the Klingons to win the war, which is basically the only relevant difference. It also means the next two episodes will mirror the first two episodes by focusing on both the Klingon war and Burnham's relationship to Georgiou. So symmetry is nice, right? Conclusion: It's not over yet. There's still lots of potential for strange and unexpected developments with Mirror-Georgiou. Will her evil tactics be enough to win the war for the Federation? Will Burnham realize this is not the same Georgiou from before and regret bringing her along? Or even better, finally forgive herself for what she did? Will they resort to time-travel to save the day and end up fulfilling any of my aforementioned story suggestions afterall? Who will be captain of the Discovery? Saru? He's been really stepping it up lately. Or will Burnham sneak into the roll somehow? And can they please kill the Klingon sleeper-agent Ash Tyler already? I'm sure he'll get lots of good screen time with all the Klingon stuff coming soon, but Episode 13 was so much better with him conveniently absent. I don't want them to "save" him, or redeem him or anything. Just get him off the show, so we can save room for more Tilly, Stamets and Burnham. I guess we'll have to wait for next week to see... Next Week's Episode Last Week's Episode Don't forget to Like and Subscribe!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Captain's Blog
|