Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 14 (Such Sweet Sorrow: Part 2)

WARNING:  I’m going to give away details, including the ending of the episode.

I’m accustomed to a 26-episode season for Star Trek.  Discovery’s first season was 15 episodes.  Here we are at the end of the 14-episode second season.  I’m also hearing that Star Trek: Picard is going to be 10 episodes.  I’m going to have to get used to a slightly shorter season.

That being said, having fewer episodes does seem to produce a higher quality of episode.  There is a cohesive narrative for this season and we get a decent setup for the third season.

Burnham is going to take Discovery into the far future.  She has a few more things to do.  It takes her a moment to figure out exactly what, but she does it, with an assist from Spock.

Speaking of which, Spock seems to think he’s going with Burnham.  We know he’s not.  If he did, it would mean that there’s a way back from the future.  Instead, he has to go with Captain Pike and be on that spinoff that everyone keeps talking about.

There are two things that I noticed.  Both stem from the fact that control was defeated.  The first is that Burnham goes into the future anyway.  Since Control was defeated, it should be unnecessary for Discovery to make the time jump.  Burnham’s mother should also have come back.

This leads me to my second point.  It’s not stated that she didn’t.  She may have wound up on some distant planet.  However, it’s also not stated that Discovery is going so that they can look for her, either.  Maybe it’s destiny.  Maybe the writers are hearing all the complaints about retcons.  I don’t know.

Part of the finale seems contrived.  There was no reason for Cornwell to put herself in mortal danger, for instance.  Why would the crew even let her?  We also find out that everyone left in the 23^rd century agrees never to talk of Burnham or the spore drive ever again.  So, there’s that.

Either way, it was a pretty solid second season.  It was better than other second seasons that I’ve seen.  It will be interesting to see what a third season holds.  We’ve gotten a few glimpses.  Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a date more solid than sometime this year.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 13 (Such Sweet Sorrow)

I’ve had my complaint about Star Trek: Discovery so far, but I will say this:  I’ve spent the second season wonder what its end game is going to be.  There were seven red signals, a sphere with a vast amount of data and an artificial intelligence bent on getting that information.  We also find out that Burnham’s mother isn’t really dead and that she’s been working against the AI from 930 years in the future.

So, how does this all work out?  The data can’t be erased.  Once it’s in Discovery’s computer, it won’t let Discovery be destroyed.  The only option is to go through with the original plan of sending the information into the future.  The difference here is that Burnham will take the entire ship into the future.  Yes, they’re going to build another angel suit and let Burnham use it.

This raises a lot of questions, some of which I’ve asked before.  Will it work?  Does it even make sense?  Will Burnham’s mother be there or will she even be allowed to leave the future?  Will Discovery make it back to the 23^rd century or will Discovery be 930 years in the future for the rest of its run?

However, we now know what the time crystal was for.  A new red signal even leads Discovery to a planet where the inhabitants might be able to help.  We learn that it will probably be a one-way trip for Burnham and Discovery, as the crystal will burn out.  (That doesn’t mean the 32^nd century won’t have some other means of time travel.)

The entire episode is buildup.  It’s setting us up for what Burnham has to do to save humanity and all life in the galaxy.  She has a lot of figuring out to do and a need to accept her fate as The One.  Yes, she’ll have help and various characters will vow to go with her.  (I suppose it’s better than assembling a new bridge crew in the future.)  I guess we’ll have to wait for Part II to see how it plays out.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 10 (The Red Angel)

SPOILER ALERT:  I’m going to give away major surprises here.

There’s a line of thought that most mythology has some basis in reality.  Gods and angels could be powerful aliens.  Bigfoot could be any number of real-life animals, such as bears.  There’s even a word for it:  Euhemerism, which is the belief that actual events are distorted to the point where they become legend or myth.

In Discovery, there’s The Red Angel.  Spock saw it as a child.  The Red Angel even helped Spock.  He drew pictures of it, but it was dismissed as the product of a child’s active imagination.  Come to find out a few episodes ago that The Red Angel actually exists.  And it’s assumed to be a humanoid in a mechanical suit.

At the beginning of the episode, something comes to light:  The suit contains a bioneural imprint.  But it’s not any bioneural imprint.  It belongs to none other than Michael Burnham.  So, the crew sets off on the assumption that The Red Angel actually is Burnham.  It’s kind of a flimsy case, but whatever.

Here’s where the crew makes its next logical misstep, though.  They reason that since The Red Angel is Burnham, she’ll act to save Burnham.  Thus, putting Burnham at mortal risk will serve as bait so that they might capture The Red Angel.

Um, ok.  Is it really wise to have Burnham present during these discussions?  Wouldn’t it kind of give their plan away?  I would think they’d have her wait in the next room or something.

There’s also the cliché of having to possible actually kill her for the plan to be effective.  We all know that they’re not going to do that to such an important character.

Despite a few weaknesses, the episode serves as a good transition from Project Daedalus to Perpetual Infinity.  That may be its greatest weakness, in that the series had to get from one point to another and didn’t really have a great way to do that.  The Red Angel has to be drawn out somehow and there’s really only one way to do that with any certainty.  It’s not a great plan, but it’s hard to come up with a better one.

Dr. Culber also talks to Admiral Cornwall, who was a psychologist.  She doesn’t offer her a session, per se, but it is nice to finally see that he does recognize the need to reach out to someone.  I suspect it’s going to be a long road back for Culber.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 9 (Project Daedalus)

WARNING:  This review gives away plot details for this episode.

For those that remember Matlock, it seemed like every one of his clients was completely innocent.  This didn’t mean there wasn’t a pile of evidence that they committed murder.  The client would be found holding the murder weapon.  The client also had a heated argument with the victim hours earlier in which the accused threatened to kill the victim.  Of course, Matlock would prove their innocence.

This is what it’s like for Spock.  He left a psychiatric facility, which wasn’t a problem.  He was there voluntarily.  What is a problem is that he supposedly murdered several people before leaving.  There’s even a video of Spock murdering the people.  Spock maintains his innocence.

That’s not even Discovery’s biggest problem.  The crew wants to get to a Section 31 facility.  It would be easy except for all the mines around it, which are attracted to shields.  Oh, and the ship is hailed by an admiral informing them to stay away.

So, the ship goes in and manages to survive the minefield.  When they get to the starbase, they’re in for a surprise:  Everyone has been dead for two weeks, including the admiral that told them to stay away.  Well, that’s strange.  But it does provide clues for what happened with Spock.

The entire episode basically deals with Control, the information system that guides the decisions of Starfleet’s upper command.  It has become self-aware and wants more information so that it can become sentient.  Specifically, Baby Skynet wants the information Discovery got from The Sphere earlier in the season.

With most of the character development going to Burnham, it’s nice to see Airiam getting some background information.  I don’t like what comes next, and I should have seen it coming.  I should have known something was coming up.

To be honest, I disliked it mostly because the buildup was so intense.  I felt like it should have been spread out over several episodes.  I guess, in a way, it was.  Airiam has been getting more screen time, but it’s not really the same thing.

It’s a pretty solid episode, overall.  Spock, Airiam and other characters get enough screen time that it’s not entirely the Michael Burnham Show.  It also does nicely to progress the storyline and set up the next episode, in which we maybe learn the identity of The Red Angel.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 5 (Saints of Imperfection)

Some episodes are pretty straightforward.  There’s one main story and maybe a side story.  It might be personal growth that parallels a major conflict.  It might be a minor conflict that interferes with a normal mission.  Then, there are episodes like Saints of Imperfection.  It’s like, “Ok.  Put down what you’re doing.  I need you to pay attention.”

The main thread here is that Tilly, the overeager captain-in-training, is trapped in mycelial space.  It’s up to Stamets to save her.  Ash Tyler is now posted to The Discovery as a liaison to Section 31.  The ship finally catches up with Spock’s shuttle, bring it on board and…it’s not Spock.  Instead, they find Georgiou, who’s also looking for Spock.

So, the reason that Tilly was brought to mycelial space was that the spores needed her to slay a monster.  It’s not clear why Tilly, specifically.  However, this monster is killing mycelial life forms and has to be stopped.

Stamets finds a way to bring the Discovery into mycelial space and rescue Tilly.  Before going back, they find this monster that the spores want killed.  As a click-bait article might promise, you won’t believe who the monster is!

All of the story lines are tied together by things that are out of place.  Georgiou is not of our universe.  Tilly is trying to find something not of the mycelial universe.  Ash appears human on the outside, but is really Klingon on the inside.  He’s not really welcomed in either world and it’s about to get more complicated.

Speaking of the mycelial network, it seems like we’re never really done with that.  We get a full-on promise never to go back…until we have to again.  Then, that’s the last time…until the next time.  But this is the last time.  We mean it!

And for those of you reading these reviews as you’re watching the series, I feel your pain.  You can’t wait to see Spock.  I’m a few episodes ahead of you.  You’re not going to have to wait long.

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