Star Trek: Discovery Episode 8— “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”
The Jokerside.com review
From an explosive beginning, Discovery’s eighth episode splits they crew to tackle some of the great tenets of Star Trek lore. In the rush to the mid-season finale, can the series maintain its momentum? *Spoiler alert*
Episode log: Star Trek: Discovery 1.8: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum | Series: 1 | Episode: 8| Duration: 41 minutes | Ship: USS Discovery | Teleplay: Kirsten Beyer | Director: John Scott
“Is this what harmony and balance look like?”
Last week we were transfixed by the episode title Magic to make the Sanest Man go Mad, but now Discovery’s pulled out the Latin. Hardly the first time Trek’s done that - and we’re a space-tonne of episodes into the franchise by now - but the meaning of here (“If you want peace, prepare for war” - taken from Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus’ work of the 4th or 5th century), continues Discovery’s simple work. The crew may be split, there may be bold takes on huge parts of Trek-lore, but the narrative is entirely dedicated to building to that mid-season finale. And with a Vulcan’s complete lack of surprise: things are going to get much worse.
Unfortunately, it appears that far too many eyes were on that prize, and as pleasing as the episode’s cliffhanger is, this is clear front-runner for season dud. Dull, nonsensical, or patchy plot enhancement is only magnified by lofty stabs at shaping the history of Star Trek.
We join our new favourite ship in another Kobiyashi Maru, notably real unlike the drill earlier in the season. Wonderfully rendered, although it’s still very difficult to get a grasp on those Klingon ships, it’s a fantastic shorthand for the the losses of the war (“souls” as we’re told once again), as well as a reminder of how cocky the USS Discovery can be, Black Alerting in and out — unlike other, surely envious, ships of the Fleet. The rescue fails, ambiguously pinned on a notable lack of Bridge finesse, as — quite astonishingly — the some-how trio of wet first officer, prisoner of war, and mutineer are off serving up the show’s first ”classic” away team mission (of note). It’s a mission seen through a modern prism; reflecting the eco-sci-fi that’s emerged since Star Trek was last on the small screen, most notably Avatar.
The majority of Star Fleet action falls on these three planet-based officers, taking some bizarre turns to a simple pay-off, while falling into a disconcertingly disparate structure. Discovery’s sometimes seemed bullishly arrogant about continuity, but this pushes it to an extreme. While the structure softens in the overall shape of the series, and on repeated viewing, there’s a jarring jump between the away team on planet Pahvo and L’Rell’s return to curry favour — or not — on the Ship of the Dead. And not to mention the curious snippets of Stamets unravelling, or deravelling, back on ship.
Klingon ingratiation
Part of the problem lies in the episode’s dedication to ramping the twists and ambiguity. Like many series before, but never a Star Trek one, mystery is a defining trait of Discovery. This episode shows the risk; at times it feels as if the show’s clever game has caught up with it.
I’m not averse to the new Klingons, nor the weight added to pushing their story through screen-time and subtitles, but that dedication makes it particularly difficult to tell what they’re up to. While mystery is a nominally good thing, it’s only effective with the right grounding. It’s difficult to take any of L’Rell’s actions sincerely, whether she’s betraying someone or not. In her interactions with Kol and Admiral Cornwall, it pushes the Barge of the Dead out a little too much to be compelling. Ont he way, the odd, lingering camera shots and jumps that lead up to and past Admiral Cornwall’s apparent death fall flat. Who on Q’onos can really tell what happened on that Klingon ship, or who is playing who?
It’s difficult when L’Rell later discover’s her dead colleagues in the Klingon morgue (odd on a Sarcophagus ship), but unforgivable when Kol plays his horrid little trick near the end and we’re not afforded a reaction shot of L’Rell’s blood-stained face. There’s underplaying, and then there’s shoving under the edit carpet. Compare that to Burnham’s later reaction shot, when interrupted and defended by Tyler on the Discovery Bridge, and it’s clear we’ve been robbed.
The direction and editing take a drop as the episode wanders into confusion and sluggishness far too often. And it’s worse on the ‘planet of the conflicted away team’ where, away from sub-titles, even the script deserts them. At one point Sonequa Martin-Green does remarkably well with the horrific question, “So you’re saying we have permission to complete our mission as planned?”
Star Trek shaping
The plummet caused by these planet-based scenes, and the awkward Klingon skulduggery far out in space, can only be measured by the lofty aims of the episode. There’s no doubt about it, this is a hugely crucial moment in Star Trek history: During the one-sided battle that ends in a dramatic and fatal error — we see the war’s the toll rise a good 5% with the destruction of the USS Gagarin — Star Fleet discover that Klingon vessels cannot cloak and fire at the same time. We wouldn’t have Star Trek VI without this! The away mission who are already, and coincidentally, attempting to nullify the threat of cloaking technology, or invisibility shields, with a planetary solution are one side of an equation. Posited as the the Federation’s only chance of victory, it’s just as more compelling on the other side of the equals: a technology Kol can trade to buy loyalty, and therefore Klingon unification. The stakes are high, the canon also.
On Pahvo the trio are also, in part, conflicted by the first major incursion of another Trek staple: The Prime Directive, or as Chief Officer Regulation terms it here, General Order One. Discovering an alien race and applying that order is one of the few things that makes sense on the planet.
Errands of Unhelpfulness
“Didn’t know you were such a sprinter, Mr. Saru”
.The Pahvo excursion demands great suspension of disbelief as it’s littered with aberrations and inconsistency. From the cloth covered shelter on a planet inhabited by non-corporeal lifeforms, to the huge, single natural transmitter that had previously proved so unattractive to Star Fleet they hadn’t even deduce there may be something more to the planet than meets a scanner. The organic mast shouts antenna of course, and you’d have thought the Fleet could have found massive benefits in it for communication, travel, or all sorts of innovations before the current conflict.
But what’s most difficult, especially when trying to explain it, is the non-possession of Saru. In putting the Kelpian and his abilities and struggles centre-stage, this epsiode’s a throwback to the character-led episodes of old. Come the end, there’s no indication that Saru was under full possession and his act of treason left mildly ambiguous. While it’s damning this is inconsequential in such a serial-based show, it’s worse that on the face of it, his betrayal is far worse than Burnham’s at the start of the series.
The most likely suggestion, and not an uninteresting one, is that Saru, for all his heightened and hurting sense of prey finds the idea of peace irresistible. But in the tangled web of arc, it’s not as drawn as it could be. And that’s true of every component in the piece. The writer, Trek-fiction veteran Kirsten Beyer was apparently most inspired by the idea of peace in the middle of war. In light of far more successful stories in Deep Space Nine, the result suggest that Discovery is incapable of exploring these themes successfully, even having broken from the standalone single episode mould. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum then, exposes a fault in Discovery - and for this devotee, that in itself is an achievement.
The shift in circumstances, and some choppy scene jumps leave many components underexplored — including the effect on Burnham and Tyler burgeoning, or quite advanced, relationship. But mainly, it squanders the final revelation: the distinctly Pahvan response to the humanoid conflict raging in space, and their need to pursue transparency and peace, renders this a quasi-remake of the Original Series classic Errands of Mercy — none other than The Original Series introduction for the Klingons.
Getting Theoretical: What are the latest theories?
Dwelling on Captain Gabriel Lorca. We’ve seen drills before, and the performance of this bunch of Bridge muppets was particularly dire… Which brings us back to the Lorca who doesn’t quite live up to his reputation. Maybe that Klingon syndrome is catching, but who quite believed Lorca when he told his Bridge crew that they could mourn later? It was only in captivity we saw Lorca bite and bark. There’s more there than meets his battle damaged eyes…
Rating: C -
The needs of the many…
Yes, even a mildy new spin on that concept makes it in... Oh the intention is there, but it’s the lore that clogs the whole thing up while wasting some fantastic tributes. there was much anticipation for the show’s first full away mission, but it shows that Discovery relies on a certain claustrophobia. The weight of both major plots, from Saru’s epiphany to L’Rell’s decieit are utterly irrrelevant in the scheme of things.
With its tint of brushed away goblydegook, this is the kind of covert mission in the midst of war that Deep Space Nine excelled at, but Discovery lacks that roominess as all sights are set on that mid-series finale. A huge strength, an occasional weakness.
Aside from anything else, it’s an odd, far too contrary, return to the character spotlight of the week approach — and compared to the shows pivot point, Burnham’s initial mutiny — the Eve moment — that’s not really the way to get behind Saru’s threat ganglia. It says a lot that episode eight most resembles the first episode of the series and marks how far the series has come.
All that being said, that shot of Saru running through the forests — that’s ace.
