Caught up over December (in part so I could do a species write-up for the Kelpien and a couple Discovery ships for
Star Trek Adventures).
In general, this episode was solid. I actually rather enjoyed it from start to finish.
People actually communicated and interacted like colleges. There wasn't forced animosity and conflict. When there was interpersonal drama—such as between Lorca and Dr. Culber—this wasn't forced and seemed natural, and Lorca responded in a believable, calming manner. While it does introduce the CW trademarked drama-through-secrets with Tyler having his personal issues, but his reluctance to talk can at least be explained by Voq blocking him from remembering.
And there was humour. Which is such a great tension breaker. And the bits with Tilly were gold. Again, because they're doing stuff with a character we actually care about and like.
And continuity! An acknowledgement of stuff that has come before but not just as an Easter Egg on a desk
Y'know, it never occurred to me that Tyler is Voq. Cool. Like the idea. And it fits in nicely with the notion of human looking Klingons.
There are some meta-clues based on the actor.
But the fact that Voq was in every episode until Tyler appeared, and Voq hasn't been seen since (after last being told he would need to sacrifice
everything for his revenge), really suggests Voq went under the knife.
But, where are you guys getting the idea that Lorca is a mirror universe Lorca?
The Mirror Universe was teased very early, so people have been guessing for a while. The thought is that Lorca is such a tool, he must be from the Mirror Universe. Because, otherwise how would someone so dark be a captain?
Not entirely thrilled that they're dipping into the mirror universe already. I would have rather seen that a while later once the characters were a bit more developed. Love the call back to DS9 though. The fact that they're referencing the wrong Defiant is a nice Easter Egg for fans. Bit timey wimey though. At least they explicitly talk about it during the ep saying that there might be some sort of time distortion going on.
It's actually a nod to the
Star Trek: Enterprise episodes set in the Mirror Universe, which itself ties into
The Tholian Web. It's some pretty hefty continuity and almost a deep cut, given how few people watched
Enterprise in its final season. But it's an example of using canon well, as you don't need to know
why the ship is there to understand the episode and they explain enough really quickly. And even if someone just watched
The Tholian Web, they'd be able to mentally bridge the gap.
I just hope
Discovery can keep up the quality for the rest of the season.
It'd also be nice if the actually stopped and did some philosophising. If they looked at the Terran Empire and said "this is not what we want Starfleet to become." If this leads Lorca to some personal growth. I'd be nice if
Discovery actually embraced and explored the thematic aspects of the show rather than just acknowledging they exist in a off-hand line of dialog and then letting them drop. Even
Battlestar Galactica, as grimdark as it was, stopped and allowed
Adama to give a speech about what was right and wrong.
And I also hope they don't just completely end up
fridging Culper. (Not that I want the Spore Drive to also be able to raise the dead... but I expect that's what will happen.) Not every show needs to have a high death count. And especially not this early when it's not exactly rolling in expendable characters. It was shocking to kill support characters a decade or two ago, but now it's just rote. (That's why
Game of Thrones upped the ante and killed the ostensible protagonist.) The shock death hasn't been shocking for years and I'd love to have them subvert it with a twist that he survived, was placed on life support, and is slowly recovering.
(I called Tyler killing someone to prove his heel turn. At the time I said it'd be Tilly to cement his betrayal of Burnham and allow her to work up the emotion to kill her lover. Which could still happen. But it'd be nice to be wrong.)
Oh... and it'd also be nice if the Faceless Emperor is actually revealed and doesn't end up another teased mystery that goes nowhere. Like the Black Badges...
)
