I used to look at new
Star Trek Episodes like:
From now on my
attitude is more likely going to be:
So the Discovery just
ended up in a new place, completely unknown and Stamets, their Magic Mushroom
wizard is alternating between catatonic and mumbling about castles. And
apparently being able to throw Culper across the room
Wait, is it possible
Sarek isn’t super strong? Do the writers just not know how hard it is to
actually throw another human being?
Also Tyler is setting
off Sarek’s threat ganglia which sounds like it should be a euphemism. Tilly is
trying to annoy Stamets back to consciousness which doesn’t work - she worries
Culper may blame her for not revealing that mushroom jumping was smushing his
brain. Culper assures her he doesn’t blame her. Unlike Lorca who he blames 200%
and politely invites him to fuck himself twice with a cactus of his choice
(well the sentiment is there). Lorca makes noises about official protocol being
that a new doctor not connected to Stamets should be called in. Culper points
out protocol also says don’t melt your crew member’s brains arsehole so guess
they both need to do some studying (perhaps not in so many words).
Culper is not a
member of the Lorca fanclub
Lorca continues to be
extra shady, with ongoing hints that he did this dimension jump on purpose, a
seeming desire to derail them into exploring this world rather than hurrying
back home where said shadiness could result in some richly deserved
consequences and even a moment which MAY be a touching moment of faith and
loyalty between him and Michael but to me kind of feels more like he’s trying
to remind her who she owes/where her loyalties should lie especially since he
can see her and Tyler are having a Thing (and way more than mutual oral
hygiene practices).
So what is this shiny
alternate world? Well when they arrive they get attacked by a ship - a Vulcan
ship. Which is rather unusual - but they’re rescued by another Human ship who
seems quite casual about killing Vulcans. They do some exploring and find a
klingon ship with Vulcan tech and Andorran bodies and doing some exploring of
the data there they get the information:
There is no
Federation. There is the Terran Empire. A human empire that loathes all things
other, a fascist Empire controlled by a shadowy Emperor that revels in
brutality and strength and murder
 |
| Because Star Trek Discovery needs to go even more Grimdark |
The visible shock of
everyone is perhaps the biggest exploration of the values of the federation
that this is the very opposite of everything they hold dear: this whole episode
exploring the shock of it shows more of what the federation is than they’ve
really covered all season. Especially with Michael’s excellent speech to Tilly
about how the Terrans are strong because they have to be - because they’re
constantly afraid and under threat; while they’re strong because they support
each other
Of course this means
they also have to interact with the Mirror world Terrans who would rather stab
all the things. They realise their mirror world counterparts have disappeared
so the plan is to imitate them to fit in. Which means the Discovery is
controlled by Captain Tilly
Yes Tilly. Who is a
brutal massacring horror show of a captain. This does not fit Tilly well but
her acting it is slightly hilarious.
The research does
identify another Federation ship that came to the alternate world - one that
doesn’t have a magic mushroom drive so should tell them more how to get back
without needing Stamets to be conscious. But this means accessing top secret
files on a Terran ship.
Time for Alternate
Michael! So it seems Michael is presumed dead - she is the captain of the
Shenzhou (yes Gerogiou’s old ship) and was dispatched to find and kill Lorca -
who was a captain who led a coup against the Empire and it Did Not Go Well.
Lorca’s ship was destroyed complete with crew (in every universe it seems) and
Michael was presumed dead.
Ok, side topic which
may apply to Star Trek generally - but am I the only one who finds it kind of
weird how each Captain seems to be basically autonomous? They have their ship
and basically set off and do their own thing, the upper chain of command only appearing
occasionally to be annoying. It’d be like an Admiral sending an aircraft
carrier into the Pacific and saying “fuck it captain, do your thing, whatevs”.
The master plan is to
have Michael reclaim the Shenzhou claiming to have faked her own death to get
her hands on Lorca. So she, Lorca (as prisoner) and Tyler (as guard) can then
explore her ship’s database for more information.
But before we get to
their adventure on the Shenzhou we need to catch up with Tyler, the plot line
everyone saw coming from a 100 miles and I kind of didn’t run with it because
it seemed far too obvious but yeah serves me right.
And some seriously
bullshit.
So Tyler keeps
returning to L’Rell to fight his desperate Stockholm Syndrome, Flashbacks and
why he finds her compelling and she pretty much confirms that he’s actually the
Klingon Kol turned into a human to infiltrate. Except the process has gone
wrong and when L’Rell recites her prayer of turning him back it all goes wrong
and Tyler just has more flashbacks
Michael offers to
help him with that, assuming it’s PTSD but he begs her to let him handle it -
because technically procedure requires him to be quarantined until treatment
and the closest medical centre is like a dimension away (I’m assuming the
Terrans don’t have medical centres and just stab people in the face). Their
relationship is definitely growing to an almost unhealthy level - Tyler seems
to be clinging to Michael like a life raft.
Tyler decides to get
to the bottom of this and asks Culper to examine him - who discovers he has
undergone extensive surgery oh and his personality is not real. And he is
totally not going into dangerous missions when they don’t even know who he is.
Tyler reacts to this by snapping Culper’s neck and murdering him
RIP one of Star
Trek’s two gay characters ever. We barely knew ye. Literally, you had like 10
minutes screen time (in case you missed it, the OTHER gay character is
currently burbling and labotomised)
We will be returning to this. With a hammer. I would say when I’ve calmed down but that’s not happening. Possibly not in the whole of 2018.
Tyler, Michael and
Lorca go onto the Shenzho and Michael has a moment recognising one of her,
dead, colleagues is now captain of the ship. It’s emotional for her - even more
emotional when she has to kill him when he tries to stab her to hold on to the
captain’s seat. Her old colleague back from the dead - but as a space fascist
and now she murdered him all over again. Ouch. Her new crew even gives her a
round of applause for her murder
But this also makes
me wonder how the Terran Empire works. Yes I get it they’re ruthless, but how
does any empire function when the chain of command is changed on the edge of a
knife all the time. When no-one can trust each other at all and every encounter
requires looking over your shoulder.. This seems just a little too extreme to
produce a functional society capable of bringing down every other alien race
So I’m kind of
intrigued in some ways to see this alternate world. But part of me thinks it’s
the 10th episode of a brand new show: we haven’t seen enough of the actual
world before bringing in these kind of gimmicks, even if Tilly the merciless
amuses.
I am disappointed by
the Tyler twist given how predictable it was and how I hoped they were going to
do something more unexpected
And here endeth my
moderate commentary
You. Are. Fucking.
Kidding. Me
After blowing up gay
media announcing that oh-so-inclusive Star Trek had finally, belatedly
acknowledged that LGBTQ people exist and touting it through the gay media and
you give us one in a fecking coma and one fucking DEAD. Yay kill your gays,
AGAIN. And don’t give me this advertising bullshit about “gay love story that
is transcendent and epic” Bullshit! They finally moved their relationship on from toothbrushes to kissing just before you destroyed them
- it’s the epitome of Happiness as a Death Sentence
Last week - LAST WEEK - Star Trek did the media promotion thing by splashing their so vaunted gay couple on the cover of the Advocate. They were shilling this right up until the body dropped.
I
mean, I’d be pissed if any show did this - but they made such a thing about the
so-vaunted-inclusive Star Trek finally deciding to acknowledge LGBTQ people,
they really sold this inclusion - and this is what we get? This fucking around
with one of the most toxic tropes.
And
while the show does have several POC who aren’t in comas - the fact we’ve lost
Culper, Georgiou and Landry is noteworthy
Even
if they do resurrect Dr. Culper at this point (which shows the desperate straws
I’m clinging to) I’m not forgiving them playing with this trope - nor for them
just using a truly vile tool to basically plot box him. Because even if,
as they desperately tried to peddle in the face of a whole lot of “you did
fucking what?!” their story isn’t over, there is absolutely no reason it had to
include this trope at all! It adds nothing, it’s completely unnecessary and at
very least will result in the gay characters packed away with the added not-shocking-shock-value
of murdering a gay character
