Star Trek Discovery 2.11 'Perpetual Infinity' review
Perpetual Infinity
The eleventh episode of season 2. After the revelation at the end of the previous episode, I was wondering how they were going to explain the 'match to Burnham' issue. Via the mitochondrial DNA? I guess that works, but there would be other differences. That aside, this was an improvement upon the previous episode, but only a little. As in the rest of the season there are at least two plot threads. Aboard Discovery, aboard the Section 31 ship (especially with Control!Leland) and on the planet.
Aboard Discovery, younger Burnham goes through older Burnham's mission logs. (Although surely that would take more time than is stated, given that they're audio, rather than text.) This makes her think that she knows her mother. (Given the length of time since she saw her mother, a lot can change. Especially as one grows older.) See below for how that works out. But this plot thread needed more work. That the Sphere Data would protect itself from deletion makes sense, given that the Sphere wanted it to survive.
But that Control had gained control of Leland (using technology similar to that of the Borg) is certainly interesting. Control trying to manipulate Leland into compliance via the use of holograms (including one of himself) was very well done. But some scenes were a little, visceral, for my tastes. (more to expect for the Picard show if the Borg are involved there, unlikely as that sounds.) However, the former Empress being onto Leland not himself is believable, given that she would have had to be an expert at the nuances of body language to survive being Empress.
Doctor Burnham is appropriately desperate to stop Control. (Basically: Delete the Sphere Data! Please delete the Sphere Data! For the love of everything divine, DELETE THE SPHERE DATA!) Of course that is not all that happens with her. There are her interactions with her daughter, and with
the former Empress. Both of those were done rather well. Of course the younger Burnham discovers that her mother has moved on, and is now motivated purely by her desire to change history so that Control doesn't destroy all life.
It is interesting that the Empress would sacrifice herself to save Burnham (even if she doesn't believe it herself). Overall, it is an interesting (if a little gruesome) episode. That Control!Leland escapes the Discovery's destruction of the facility was a foregone conclusion... 8/10.