Star Trek Discovery: Do No Evil
Is Michael Burnham the Conscious this Show so Desperately Needs?
I’m happy to report this has been the most Star Treky episode yet.
First off, a couple of points I loved about this last Episode. What an amazing opening. I pondered at what the lightning and explosions were thinking it was some overactive nebula somewhere in space, but to see it as the inner workings of a replicator is amazing. It brings together one of the themes of Discovery, the macro and the micro are deeply intertwined. It was, apart from being visually stunning, thematically important to connect the molecular with the day-to-day. Remember, it was not so long ago we got a quote about biology and physics being the same thing from Paul Stamets.
One of my main issues with this episode is the plot contrivance here. There was a little of plot for plot’s sake. As we know, the Federation is still at war. You’d think that a colony that exports 40% of the Federation’s dilithium would be better protected. You know dilithium, that thing that all the ships in the Federation need to operate. I mean, the admiral does state, “the Klingons ambushed the blockade that was protecting the colony,” but you’d think this base would be extremely fortified. If a simple ambush (I counted 6 Klingon ships—maybe there were more) can take such a sensitive position the Federation is in deep, deep trouble. Honestly, it is not a very thoughtful obstacle in plot development, but, hey, it got the Discovery to do that twisty “Black Alert” thing.
Another of this week’s theme did a wonderful job of exploring the idea of loyalty and redemption. The parallelism between Michael and Voq are intriguing.
On the one hand, Voq is struggling. He can’t feed his crew. He can’t power his ship. He has the tech and mandate to rule the Klingon Empire and here he is powerless figuratively and physically. His moral purity is not allowing him to degrade himself by using the enemy’s technology. We can pause here to mention that they ate poor Phillipa, yikes. Tear. So when Kol, clearly a master tactician, transports aboard, he quickly surmises the situation and sets his plan in motion. Meanwhile, Voq overcoming his sensibilities (thanks to his lady Klingon friend) transports to the Shengzhou and finally gets the dilithium he needs.
The irony here lies in his moral compass, which both led him to mistreat his crew and finally get betrayed by them. If he hadn’t hesitated and done what he needed to do earlier (get the dilithium and stop worrying about T’Kuvma’s precious purity) he would have been able to keep his ship powered, moving, and supplied. Instead, he reflects on T’Kuvma’s teachings and starves his crew. That’s a recipe for mutiny.
When he gets back to his ship, well, mutiny. Kol has fed Voq’s crew and they have abandoned Voq. Kol now has the technology (cloaking) and T’Kuvama’s symbolic ship. Voq’s morals led him astray.
Then we have the born-again Michael Burnham. Her journey from death to life as seen above is mirrored by Voq. They are on opposite but linear trajectories in this episode. While Voq listens to his conscious Michael does not.
The consequences of Michael ignoring her conscious results in a Federation victory. However, is this how the Federation wants to obtain victory? Is this how we want the Federation to obtain victory? While Stamets is worried about the possible catastrophic results of the Black Alert jump possibly injuring large swaths of the crew, the captain is worried about the Federation. Michael, though, is worried about the creature they brought in from the Discovery’s sister ship.
The creature, Ripper, demonstrates herbivore and passive characteristics. Michael tries to inform Commander Landry but she won’t listen and while Riper is most certainly a herbivore he has some serious defense mechanisms. Landry’s death is a consequence of her cockiness and misguided obedience. Acting out of a selfless impulse to help the miners and find something to get the upper hand on the Klingons, she throws herself on the mercy of a creature who took out 12 Klingons without suffering any damages. Dumb move.
Meanwhile, Michael learns that the creature has a special connection with the fungus because she studies it objectively. She is not motivated by a morbid fascination to beat the Klingons, as she was in the first few episodes. She has stepped back. Her fall from grace might have taught her to hone in on the mix of human-Vulcan qualities that are specific to her. Sure she goes in there with the creature that had just killed Landry, but she does it from a place of understanding and fact-finding; not thirst for revenge.
As she learns that the creature literally holds an archive of the universe in its head/body, that information is used to move the Federation’s goals forward and save the day. No one thinks to observe Ripper’s reactions. His pain. Only Michael. Her conscious, plastered on her face, is tugging at her. This creature is clearly suffering. The Federation is harming a, possibly sentient or rare and complex, creature against its will to win a battle, a war against its enemies. Michael’s redemptive arch, as we see when facing Phillipa’s holographic ghost, gives Discovery its much needed conscious. Is she going to stand firm to her principles as she rattled off in the previous episode or is she going to let the needs of the moment destroy the ethos of the future?
