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For good and ill, ‘Prologue’ brings the crazy
“What’s Past Is Prologue” is an apt title given all that has happened on this season of Discovery. It’s ironic when considered in the meta-context of this season’s twists and turns, which render entire characters as discarded prologues. The more I look at this season, the more I think the whole thing must be a prologue to a more normalized second season, because this level of crazy just can’t be sustained. This episode is proof of that; after having spent 10 to 12 episodes setting up the pieces that lead here, we promptly close the book on a number of them, for good and ill.
This episode is simultaneously better and worse than I had expected. It makes a mockery of my concept of episodic star ratings, because serialized mysteries and deferred payoffs, while intriguing, are hard to grade from week to week with any sort of consistency. I enjoyed watching this episode probably as much as or more than any this season — and at the same time I was also more annoyed by it. Discovery has shown itself to be a compulsively watchable nuts-and-bolts plot-moving vehicle. And the writers surprise here with a visceral hour that burns through the rest of the Mirror Universe arc at an almost stunningly furious pace, leaving the last two episodes of the season to deal with other business. The writers should be commended for not prolonging this needlessly. It’s an efficient job, and frequently exciting.
Latest ‘Discovery’ twist sheds light, casts long shadow
The twists and reveals are coming fast and furious as we reach the home stretch of this first season of Discovery. “Vaulting Ambition” is another entertaining hour of an entertaining — albeit significantly flawed — season, and it dives right into the encounters between Burnham and the mirror version of her mentor, Philippa Georgiou. But it will probably most be most remembered and discussed for the reveal in its final minutes regarding Lorca, who, as many had theorized, is actually from the Mirror Universe and has been an impostor playing the part of his Prime Universe counterpart all along.
This reveal and its implications are likely to overshadow a lot of better material in this episode, including tense dialogue scenes between Burnham and Emperor Georgiou, and intriguing scenes within the mycelium spore network between Stamets and his MU counterpart — as well as some emotionally resonating scenes between Stamets and a spore-network presence (in whatever form) of Hugh Culber, who somehow talks to Stamets from beyond the grave.
Reflections reveal ‘The Wolf Inside’
The issues of one’s identity in the Mirror Universe, effectively established in last week’s "Despite Yourself," heat up in the crucible that is "The Wolf Inside," which uses the MU through Burnham’s perspective to ask the question of what it means to live a life of lies while here. Can you lose yourself in a brutal world where you have to pretend to be one of the brutes to survive? Will the brutality chip away at your humanity and your soul?
These questions are explored early through a voice-over narration that tells more than it shows. But what this monologue may lack in demonstrated on-screen action is made up for with sheer narrative economy. We know where Burnham stands and we’re able to see the madness through her eyes, and it’s a troubling place. If the MU provides reflections on our characters, no one is seeing the potential for more horrifying potentials than Michael. This is interesting, because self-reflection has been a key point for this character since the fallout from her role in those first two episodes that landed her prison. But now it rears its head under even more dire circumstances.
Identity crises abound in the mirror universe
"Into the Forest I Go" was an hour that brought a lot of pieces together in this uneven first season of Discovery, and it ended with a final twist that we now see serves as a sharp left turn into a new arc set in Trek‘s Mirror Universe. The MU was of course famously established in TOS‘s "Mirror, Mirror," before lying dormant for decades until DS9 picked up the mantle for its annual hijinks. Then in its final season, Enterprise also ventured into the arena with "In a Mirror, Darkly," which featured some time-bending that brought the USS Defiant back from the TOS era into the Enterprise‘s prequel era. The events surrounding the Defiant are specifically referenced in "Despite Yourself," which is a solid outing that sets up this new setting and looks to be just the beginning.
‘Orville’ season finale: A real god complex
“Mad Idolatry” is one of the best episodes of The Orville this season, and certainly the most ambitious. It also takes me back to the very first episode to explore this series’ primary baggage, which is: This show tries very hard to be Star Trek (except populated by Average Joes), which means it sets itself up for comparisons and expectations that are among some of the best examples of televised sci-fi.
In the case of this episode, it uses TNG‘s “Who Watches the Watchers” and Voyager‘s “Blink of an Eye” as starting points to examine its own take on the hazards of cultural contamination. It’s a worthy tale that borrows aspects of classic episodes from those respective series. It thus invites the scrutiny of serious science fiction, even while employing characters that come off as amateurs. Can it survive that scrutiny?
Star Trek: Tarantino — say what?
So, apparently discussions of Quentin Tarantino directing an R-rated Star Trek movie are underway, which is possibly the most unexpected headline I have seen this week, and that’s in a world where Donald Trump is president.
I don’t know what to say at the moment. Does this actually have a chance of happening? Can Tarantino pull something like this off? And what should we make of the fact he wants to hire a screenwriter, which he never does with his films?
This is very strange, very intriguing, and possibly very impossible. I’ve said that Trek can be many things, but can it really be the product of Tarantino’s style?
Some characters reveal ‘New Dimensions’
"New Dimensions" is a split-tiered story chronicling a day at the office aboard a Union starship, merged with a TNG-era tech story that sets the record for technobabble on this series (although it’s certainly not record-setting when compared to TNG or Voyager). It’s like a workplace drama/comedy mixed with middlebrow sci-fi. The narrative shifts can at times be jarring, albeit not nearly as jarring as some of the early comedy/drama tonal clashes seen on this series.
Let’s start with the workplace drama, which is of considerably more consequence. Part of what this episode does is offer a take on how the workings of ship-wide personnel are conducted.
Killer clowns from outer space!
Any episode that features an establishing shot of a homicidal space clown seen way down at the end of the hallway in a stylistic homage to The Shining — followed by that clown charging full-tilt toward the protagonist — can’t be all bad.
The shot gets your attention, that’s for sure. It’s laughably weird and head-scratchingly bizarre, but it tells you we are in strange territory. It happens because, as we eventually learn, anything here can happen. It’s a strange moment that threatens to bring down "Firestorm" before the story has even had a chance to take off. But you know what? I remember that shot more than anything else. It stands out.
‘Into the Forest’: Through the looking glass?
At last, here’s the Discovery episode I’ve been waiting for all fall — something that feels exciting and compelling and goes a long way toward addressing many of my bigger questions about this series. (“Answering” might be too strong a word, as certain aspects remain open-ended and new questions are raised.) This is easily Discovery‘s best episode so far. It moves the plot forward significantly and resolves some notable points, and then presents a twist that hints at all kinds of possibilities (depending on how far they pursue the idea) — even though where we actually go from here remains to be seen.
Ed and Kelly are feeling awfully blue
The title for "Cupid’s Dagger" tells you a good deal of what you need to know about this episode. It’s in a long tradition of farcical comedies about people falling in love for reasons outside of their control, leading to broad silliness and embarrassment. Usually the question for a show like this is: Did I laugh or did I cringe? Maybe both?
Indeed, I saw this plot just earlier this year with Grimm‘s "Blind Love," which was a fun example of good-natured silliness as a humorous detour. It made me laugh, especially when a character fell in love with himself and sang into a mirror. That was a good twist. On the other hand, the cringe example that always immediately springs to mind is DS9‘s "Fascination," which was just an awful collision of characters rushing to the front of the line to embarrass themselves.