Star Trek: Discovery -- "Vaulting Ambition"

Lots of things happened this week.  I only have the energy to talk about one.

Apparently, Captain Lorca, commanding officer of the USS Discovery, has been a sleeper agent from the Mirror Universe this whole time.  Remember how I said that mirror Lorca was presumed dead after attempting a coup against Emperor Michelle Yeoh?  Rather than dying, he escaped into our universe where he assumed command of the Discovery with the intentions of 1) regaining the services of his right-hand woman, Michael Burnham (albeit "our" Michael Burnham) and 2) using the mushroom drive to get home and finish what he began.  I guess I should be happy that there is a reasonable explanation for the gratuitous mushroom jump home that "went wrong," sending Discovery into the Mirror Universe (it was an intentional inter-dimensional jump orchestrated by alterna-Lorca), but...

Now, not only is it commonplace for starships to cross over from our Universe into the Mirror Universe, but Terran officers from the Mirror Universe are involving us in their intrigues.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record: how did Captain Kirk not know about this?

It is starting to seem obvious that the point of this season was to tell a Mirror Universe story.  I'm not sure I find that interesting.  Insomuch as alternative universe stories (and I'm not just talking about Mirror Universe stories; in "Parallels," Worf visits dozens of alternate universes, each unique) are fun, they are fun because they give us a brief glimpse of how things could have been if the stories we know had not unfolded the way we know them (what if Captain Picard had not de-assimilated himself by sheer force of will at the end of "Best of Both Worlds"?).  That is why I give Deep Space Nine's "Crossover" a pass: it was interesting to learn what the result of Captain Kirk's heart-to-heart with fascist Spock were.  They weren't an unalloyed good.  This current story lacks that context.  There are no stories to unfold differently because we haven't been told any stories, yet.  This is the first story.  By extension, whatever happens in this story will have, at best, limited effects on the stories we will be told later.  Yes, the characters we are supposed to live with during Discovery's run as a series will have lived through alterna-Lorca's betrayal and coup (and yes: I understand that characters are the heart of any story, but I am, before all things, a Tolkien fan, and thus a world-builder), but all of these events will take place in a Universe that (I hope) no one will visit again for ten years.  The Federation-Klingon war will play out however it will play out without Discovery.  Assuming Discovery ever gets home*, no one will know or care how its crew spent the last three months.  Their actions will have no consequences in the world around them.  The stakes seem very low at this point.

*If the entire run of Discovery plays out in the Mirror Universe.... let's not contemplate that outcome.

My final thought is that it seems that Star Trek has wandered into dangerous waters previously charted by Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" and HBO's "Westworld."  Captain Lorca has been behaving very erratically lately.  When we first met him, he was, to put it mildly, an impersonal stereotype of a Military Man.  All he looked for in a colleague was "how good is she at killing Klingons?"  At the mid-season break, a phase change occurred.  Lorca became a sympathetic commander interested in relating to, motivating, and supporting his crew (you know: a Starfleet Captain).  It didn't make sense at the time, but so few things about this show made sense that I let it pass.  Now we learn that there was a reason for the shift: Lorca was close to getting what he wanted and needed to use manipulation rather than brute force to close the gap.  Unfortunately, if the explanation "he's actually his Mirror Universe self" (or "he's a Doll" or "he's a Host") is now a reasonable explanation for erratic behavior, what is the point in trying to evaluate anyone's actions?  I have not yet met the actual Mirror Tilley.  I am told there is such a person.  Am I sure the Tilley we know isn't the Mirror Tilley?  I know that I am stretching here.  The show went to great pains to introduce us to the fascist versions of everyone except Burnham and Lorca, but, given the rate of trans-dimensional crossing lately (how did alterna-Lorca get into our Universe, anyway?), are we supposed to hold every new character to this standard?  What Universe is Admiral Cornwell from?  Show me your papers!

I am being petulant.  When I heard there was a new Star Trek series coming, I was excited to see what has happened in my second favorite fictional Universe since that unfortunate incident in which an attempt to clone Captain Picard produced Tom Hardy instead.  I am not really interested in what is going on in (yet another**) alternative fictional Universe to which I have no allegiance.

**Abrams Trek: I am looking at you.

Star Trek: Discovery -- "The Wolf Inside"

Wow... that was close.  I had literally resorted to googling "Worf Klingons don't" to figure out how I was going to refer to Tyler this week.  Thankfully, to the exact opposite of surprise, Starfleet Lieutenant Ash Tyler was revealed this week to be a surgically altered form of the Klingon Voq infiltrated into the Discovery's crew as a sleeper agent (for which foible, it is worth pointing out, Captain Lorca seems to have accepted no responsibility).  I am very glad we are done with that part of the series.

Unfortunately, the part of the series we are not done with is the part where we are in the Mirror Universe.  So, how did we get here (where "here" means "the same place we were last week")?

Captain Burnham (remember: she's the captain of the fascist Shenzhou) receives orders from the Imperial flagship.  Imperial intelligence has located the "Fire Wolf," their code name for the leader of the multicultural resistance fighting the Terran Empire.  The Shenzhou is to travel to that planet and blow up the rebel base (Governor Tarkin will be so proud).  Captain Burnham, not being a native of this universe, is not very keen on murdering rebels who appear to embody the ideals of the Federation, so she convinces her crew to let her and Lieutenant is definitely a Klingon Tyler beam down alone, "infiltrate the rebel base and get the intelligence we need to crush the rebellion once and for all."  They'll blow up the base after that, she assures her first officer.  Burnham's true goals are twofold: buy the rebels enough time to escape, and learn how to negotiate with Klingons.  The Fire Wolf is a Klingon.  Burnham thinks that if she can learn how the Fire Wolf overcame Klingon culture's apparently innate belief in its own supremacy and rose to the lead an alliance of Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellurites, then maybe she can use that experience to come to an understanding with the Klingons in her own universe and convince them that the Federation does not mean to annihilate them.  Because all Klingons in all universes are all the same, obviously, regardless of the context in which they are living.  Burnham and Tyler, who, again is totally a Klingon (it just feels so good to say that), make contact with the Fire Wolf, who, for obvious reasons, does not trust them.  Fortunately, the Fire Wolf has a prophet "whose wisdom pierces all illusions; nothing can be hidden from him."  That prophet is Sarek.  His "wisdom" is a Vulcan mind meld.  Sure.  Why not.  Alterna-Sarek mind melds with Burnham, sees that she was raised by... him, and vouches for her intentions.  He does not try to explain where she came from or who she claims to be.  He just says "she means us no harm," which is true enough.  The Fire Wolf agrees to negotiate, and Burnham begins her trans-cosmos exchange of cultural undstanding.  Unfortunately, the Fire Wolf is actually alterna-Voq (i.e Tyler's true self).  Seeing a version of himself compromising the purity of Klingon culture finally breaks the thin veneer of human programming and Lieutenant Tyler attacks alterna-Voq.  Alterna-Voq wins the fight and is about to order both Tyler and Burnham executed when alterna-Sarek reiterates his firm belief that Burnham, at least, means the rebels no harm.  Burnham is, at this point, understandably confused.  Why did Tyler just violate her orders and attack alterna-Voq?  Nobody knows.  If only there were some way to meld with his mind to see what made him lash out at his host, seemingly unprovoked.  Alas, the prophet's wisdom is an apparently limited resource, and the question of Tyler's motives is left an unanswered question as he and Burnham beam back aboard the Shenzhou having warned the rebels and promised not to torpedo them from orbit until they've had time to evacuate, a plan which, I'm sure, Captain Burnham's crew should have no problem executing (actually, no one says anything about it).

[Something else no one says anything about: alterna-Sarek's son is the first officer of the Fascist Enterprise.  What gives?]

Back aboard the Shenzhou, Burnham asks Tyler what happened down on the planet and Tyler finally snaps.  "I am Voq, the torchbearer" he proclaims.  He attacks Burnham.  She survives.  Burnham executes Tyler Imperial fashion, by beaming him into empty space, except that Burnham arranges for Discovery to be there and beam him on board before he can suffocate (at a probability of 2^267,709 to 1 against), at which point he is escorted to the brig to await trial for the murder of Doctor Boyfriend.

Meanwhile (yes, there's a meanwhile), Lieutenant Stamets is dying.  His brain is trying to exist in all universes at once, I think.  It is unclear.  Regardless, the only treatment is to expose him to more space mushrooms, a procedure which almost kills him, except, after his heart stops beating, he wakes up in a psychic mushroom forest with the fascist version of himself, who chides him for not being ready to get back to work.  I guess we are about to see the two Stametses collaborate on trying to swap our Discovery and Fascist Discovery restoring some semblance of order to the universe.  I'm not sure that I care.

In the final act of the episode, another ship appears next to the Shenzhou and torpedoes the rebel base before the appointed time, presumably killing all of the rebels.  It is the Emperor's ship.  More specifically, it is Emperor Michelle Yeoh's ship (so surprised... no, wait; I meant the opposite of that).  She is not happy that Captain Burnham delayed carrying out her orders and she wants to see Captains Burnham and Lorca (if I didn't mention it, our Lorca is masquerading as Burnham's prisoner, since fascist Lorca apparently committed treason some months ago) immediately.  Fade to black.

This needs to end.  The longer we spend in the Mirror Universe, the more we have to accept the idea that a society where assassination is the principal means of social mobility could last for more than a few months.  It was a cute idea in "Mirror, Mirror" and "Crossover."  At this point, it is starting to strain my suspension of disbelief.  I am not entirely clear why, as soon as Burnham and Tyler beamed down, Burnham's first officer didn't torpedo the rebel base on her own, claim (truthfully) that Burnham was killed in action, and take all the credit for killing the Fire Wolf in the name of the Emperor.  That seems like a totally reasonable thing to do in Fascist Starfleet, and yet, somehow, this civilization conquered the galaxy and remained in power until our Captain Kirk taught them about democracy.

Furthermore, I am starting to feel that the existence of the Mirror Universe as it is being fleshed out by post-Captain Kirk Star Trek undermines the core ethos that Star Trek was meant to represent.  Naively or not, Star Trek is based on the idea that plurality and tolerance and multiculturalism are not only morally superior but materially superior.  Everywhere that Voyager goes, it (not just the Federation, but Voyager itself) is the most technologically advanced civilization in the Delta Quadrant that is not the Borg.  Back home, the Federation is a utopic Great Power.  They have the most vibrant economy and one of the three strongest militaries in the galaxy.  Everyone wants to be the Federation.  The idea of Star Trek is that the Federation is strong because the Federation is made of diverse cultures working together and that idea is greater than any one culture standing alone, making an exclusive claim to superiority over all others.  It is the thing white America tells itself that it is so that it can sleep better at night.  In the Mirror Universe (before fascist Spock's rebellion), the humans are the only evident Great Power.  All the other species we see have been relegated to a rag-tag Maquis-style rebellion.  There is no Klingon Empire.  We haven't met any Romulans.  Vulcans are all either rebels (alterna-Sarek) or collaborators (fascist Spock).  Now the lesson of Star Trek is not "multiculturalism always wins," but "humans always win."  Earth is the City on a Hill carrying the rest of the Federation along on its back.  We would be doing just fine without any of those other species, thank you very much.  That is a much weaker vision of Star Trek than the one I thought I was growing up with.  Then again, I suppose I could replace the words "Star Trek" with "America" in that last sentence, and it would be just as appropriate.

Star Trek: Discovery -- "Despite Yourself"

"I'm impressed... but not how you think"
-- Captain Kirk to Dr. Korby in "What are Little Girls Made Of"

We and Jonathan Frakes, who directed this episode, so he'd better know what he's talking about, were right: that last mushroom jump pushed Discovery into the Mirror Universe, an alternate universe in which the Federation is fascist and everyone else is a slave.  This universe was first introduced in the Original Series episode "Mirror, Mirror," playfully revisited in the Deep Space Nine episode "Crossover," and beaten to within an inch of its life in four subsequent Deep Space Nine episodes that shall not be named here.  Unfortunately, Discovery made this mushroom jump before broadcasting its cloak-breaking algorithm to the rest of Starfleet, so the longer they stay stuck in the Mirror Universe (and it looks like the answer to that could be "for quite a while"), the worse the Federation is going to get beaten by the Klingons back home.  This is the part where I remind everyone that Admiral Cornwell was safely taken to a Starfleet hospital in a bloody shuttle craft before Discovery attempted its ill-fated mushroom jump.  As I've said before: Starfleet is terrible at being a military.

Fortunately, Discovery materializes in the middle of a battlefield where its fascist counterpart (which, presumably, has ended up in the "real" universe) just finished slaughtering some Klingon-Vulcan-Andorian rebels trying to overthrow the Terran Empire (which is what the Fascist Federation calls itself).  Lieutenant Tyler, who hates both your tea and your house, salvages the computer core from one of the rebel ships, Specialist Burnham reads it (with almost no effort), and everyone aboard Discovery is quickly brought up to speed on where they are (an alternate universe), what that means (there's a fascist version of yourself out there killing and torturing people), and, somehow, what their fascist opposites are up to these days.  As in "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad," at least the writers did not waste our time figuring out what happened.  Say what you will about this show (and I will): at least they don't beat around the bush, except about that one thing, which we will get to two paragraphs from now.  The plan that is hatched in response to this intelligence is to pretend to be the fascist Discovery long enough to gain access to Imperial Intelligence.  It turns out (how do a bunch of rebels know all of this?) the USS Defiant (not Sisko's Defiant; a 22nd century Defiant) has already tunneled through into the Mirror Universe and encountered the Empire,which means that it is possible to cross between universes without a mushroom drive.  Lieutenant Stametz is still in sickbay, recovering from the failed jump that brought Discovery here.  If Burnham and company can just get the full Imperial report on that incident, they can figure out how to get home, give the Federation the cloak-breaking algorithm, and win the war.  This isn't as crazy as it sounds (yes it is), because Michael Burnham is the Captain of the Shenzhou in the Mirror Universe, so it should be fairly simple for her to infiltrate Imperial Starfleet Command.  As we go to black, our Burnham is installed as the Captain of their Shenzhou and we are all told to settle in for a good two-to-three-to-four episode romp through the Mirror Universe.

I'm impressed: the producers have found a way to make this show, already creaking under the weight of a spoiled reveal, even more gimmick-dependent, having spent an entire half-season introducing us to a crew of new characters, apparently just for the shock value of spending another half-season introducing us to their fascist opposite numbers (the "next time on Star Trek: Discovery" trailer promised fascist Sarek; he has the same beard as his son).  That is one way to make a science fiction television show.  It does not seem like a very clever way, nor is it very respectful of the canon they claim to be a protecting.  Now, in addition to "Harry Mudd has the ability to rewrite time," we must add "there is an alternate universe in which the Federation is fascist, and it is fairly easy to get there from here," to the list of things that Captain Kirk clearly did not know but probably should have.  At least they have now justified their choice to make a prequel rather than a sequel Star Trek series.  At the end of "Mirror, Mirror," our Captain Kirk convinces fascist Spock that fascism is bad and the Empire should probably be collapsed from within.  By the time Doctor Bashir and Major Kira return to the Mirror Universe in "Crossover," the Empire has fallen and a sado-masochist alliance between Klingons and Cardassians has gone about enslaving the last surviving humans.  If the plan for Discovery has always been to tell a story in the Mirror Universe where the Terran Empire was still in control, they had to do it as a prequel.  That is a terrible reason to make a Star Trek series.  I hope for everyone's sake that I am being unfair to the creators of this show.

I will say one good thing about this episode: my days of having to think of snide ways to refer to Lieutenant prune juice is that icky thing my grandfather drinks to stay regular Tyler may have come to a definite middle.  While harvesting the computer core from the rebel ship, Tyler experiences another PTSD flashback, causing him to confront L'Rell in Discovery's brig.  Somehow, L'Rell convinces Tyler to lower the shield on her cell; they almost but not quite make out; then she starts reciting the Klingon Pater Noster.  Tyler echoes her in Klingon, but the de-programming doesn't take.  Tyler leaves the brig still thinking that he's a human, while L'Rell protests "the prayer was supposed to make you remember!" [shocking piano sting].  Fast forward twenty minutes of show time.  Tyler is in sickbay, reviewing the results of a new physical he asked Doctor Boyfriend to run on him.  Doctor Boyfriend has found evidence that the scar tissue originally written off as the result of Klingon torture, may have been the result of body-altering Klingon surgery.  Doctor Boyfriend spouts some meaningless psycho-babble about alternate personalities layered on top of rather than beneath true personalities and relieves Tyler of duty.  "But they need me!" protests Tyler.  "You might not be you," warns Doctor Boyfriend, at which point the audience hears a Klingon voice speaking in the distance, and Lieutenant Tyler, who always bluffs, kills Doctor Boyfriend.  Our long national nightmare having to pretend that we don't know what we all know may finally be over, but they killed Doctor Boyfriend!  I liked Doctor Boyfriend, and now, the first gay couple in Starfleet history (reckoned by airdate chronology) has been reduced to a widower who may or may not still be metamorphosing into the Traveler.  It would appear that the only thing wholly joyful left in this iteration of Star Trek is Cadet Tilley, and I doubt that will last, given that her part in the Master Plan is to pretend to be the captain of Fascist Discovery.  Insert overused Nietzsche quotation about staring into the abyss here.

A few months ago, as the thirtieth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation came and went, the internet was riddled with "best of Star Trek" lists.  Deep Space Nine kept topping the lists, which made no sense to a Next Generation partisan like myself.  I asked my best friend, who had recently finished a rewatch of Deep Space Nine, what I was missing.  "People have a tendency to confuse darkness with quality," he said.  Apparently, the creators of Star Trek series are also "people."  It's going to be a rough month and a half.

PS Throughout her exposition dump on the Mirror Universe, Specialist Brunham kept referring to a "faceless Emperor" running the show.  In the real world, there have been rumors that Michelle Yeoh is not done on this series.  My wife and I would like to call it now (because that is how you win the internet): Michelle Yeoh is the Emperor.  Done.