Star Trek: Discovery 1.10
Hiatus over, the second half of the season starts by quickly resolving two open questions from where we let off.
To its credit, the show doesn't waste time by letting the characters puzzle endlessly about where they might be while 99% of the target audience have guessed it already, and still finds a way to make the quick deduction logical. Yep, we're in for another return to the Mirrorverse, and I must say, this one already is way better than the last two or three DS9 eps dealing with same. (The first two DS9 Mirrorverse episodes were great, but then it deteriorated, badly.) TNG never did a Mirrorverse episode though Diane Duane wrote a TNG Mirrorverse novel. Same with Voyage (no episode, novel exists). Enterprise did an episode which I actually watched, and this episode uses this bit of canon to its advantage (the Defiant incident), but what the new episode mostly pays homage to is of course the original TOS episode. Agony booths, attempted assassination of undercover pretend Captain in elevator (should have known this was coming since Connor had Chekov's job), while still coming up with a Discovery specific plot. Both Michael Burnham and Tilly role playing their evil selves was every bit as fun as you want from a Mirrorverse scenario, while highlighting their strengths and smarts. (Michael knocking out gravity in the elevator to deal with Connor!) Mind you, the reveal that Mirrorverse Tilly murdered her way up to a Captaincy already unfortunately means one has to be afraid for her life again in our universe, since it means Stamets addressing her as "Captain Tilly" a few episodes ago wasn't him having a flash forward but a sideways flash.
Given that the episode makes a big deal about the identity of the evil Mirrorverse Emperor being a secret to the rebels and Stamets repeatedly saying "don't go to the palace", and the info that Mirroverse Burnham is a favourite of the Emperor's, I'm as sure as I can be that everyone's hopes, including mine, for a Mirrorverse Empress Philippa Georgiu will be fulfilled, and Michael is in for some major angst next week or whenever she'll meet Evil Philippa.
Meanwhile, Mirrorverse Lorca appears to be the sole known Terran among the rebels against the evil Empire and has disappeared, presumed (but not proven) dead. You know, I'm not that fond of the theory that "our" Lorca is Mirrorverse Lorca (who presumably ended up in our universe by accident and saw the spore drive as his ticket home), not least because I want Lorca's shadiness and ambiguity to have no "he's not himself" explanation, but that could be a basis for that explanation. Otoh, it could simply make a point about "our" Lorca that his Mirrorverse counterpart is so far the sole non-completely-evil Terran we've heard of. In any case, Burnham and Lorca being both disappeared (one presumed dead, one not) in the Mirroverse provides our versions the chance to come up with a plan to infiltrate the Mirrorverse Shenzou using ye olde "escaped prisoner returned" scheme, and I must say, I don't ship them, but there's certainly a vibe for fanfic to explore with pretend evil Burnham putting pretend (?) mirror Lorca on his knees. RP fun aside, their earlier scene emphasizes (with Michael saying destiny didn't free her from prison, Lorca did) that she has come to not just respect but care for him. Did I mention Michael is in for future angst? And then some, and that's before we even get to the big cause.
The other open question was of course the "is Ash Voq?" theory, and that, too, is answered witha resounding "yes, he is" in this episode. As has been theorized, both via surgery and the implant of an artificial personality (presumably with the real Ash Tyler's memories, or at least a very good approximation thereof) and with no awareness on Tyler's part that he's a secondary personality until the misson on the Ship of the Dead starts to trigger flashbacks to L'Rell and the surgery. L'Rell in this episode uses the code words meant to bring back Voq's original personality, but it doesn't quite work; Tyler seems to be glitching between Tyler and Voq, with Voq only showing up when his existence and mission is under direct threat, more about what happens in a minute, as this needs to be discussed separately. I don't think that by the end of the episode, he's Voq play-acting Tyler now, but Tyler aware he has blackouts and that there is something terribly wrong with him beyond PTSD but clinging to being Tyler for now. Michael covering up his second PTSD episode, btw, is as Tilly covering up Stamets' sideeffects a lesson on why you really shouldn't do that for someone you care about, you're NOT doing them a favour, and disaster will follow.
Sidenote before I discuss the big thing: in terms of world building, I like that the episode highlights Tyler was checked both for physical identity and for brainwashing (Manchurian protocol indeed) when he first came on board (incidentally: since only a deeper examination lets Culber realise Tyler wasn't, as originally supposed, tortured, but had extreme surgery everywhere in his body it means either those early scans were shallow or that Klingon surgery is really good), and that there are protocols on how to deal with crew members who suffer from PTSD (of course, with Lorca in command, these might as well not exist).
The big issue: Tyler, when Culbert spells out the truth, has one more Voq flash and immediately breaks Culbert's neck. This, to put it mildly, is majorly upsetting on a Doylist level, given Culbert is one half of the first on screen gay couple. Otoh, googling quickly let me to an article wherein Wilson Cruz (who plays Hugh Culbert) swears this is not the end of either his character nor the Stamets/Culbert romance and that it will be an epic love story of grief and redemption. Okay, that sounds better, so let's see what possibilities decades of ST canon offer, given that neck twist looks pretty final:
1.) Mirrorverse Culbert turns out to be not evil and joins the crew when they get back to "our" universe. Obvious downside: it would be a different person. Him and Stamets falling in love as well could be told credibly as long as this fact isn't disregarded, or it could be incredibly tacky.
2.) Stamets goes Gary Mitchell (he already occasionally does the eyes) and via godlike powers resurrects Culbert. Culbert then has the task of bringing back Stamets from traditional megalomania that always comes with godlike powers in ST. Could see that happening, and remember, we still need a reason why the spore drive will never be used again.
3.) Time travel! Stamets goes back in time via the spore drive and saves his beloved. This would also explain why the scene ends immediately after the neck brekaing and Stamet's verbal reaction and the next time we see Tyler he's befuddled, doesn't disguise that and says he has no idea what happened. Yes, that could be because he's glitching between Tyler and Voq, but it also could be because Future Stamets in a sequence we'll later see alters events.
4) The miracles of modern medicine: Culbert survives a broken neck and is healed with futuristic means. Since TylerVoq presumably left quickly without checking on Culbert further, I suppose this is theoretically possible.
Lastly: if Culbert's death remains for a while longer what it seems, I'd speculate that the Discovery crew will first believe Stamets inadvertendly killed Culbert, since Tilly witnessed a zoned-out Stamets reacting violently against Stamets earlier in the episode.
Addendum: rewatching the pilot made me realise that it goes to some lengths to parallel Voq with Michael - they're the dedicated Faithful Lieutenants to their leaders who tell them about their future - Philippa tells Michael she'll get the Captaincy now, T'Kuvma makes Voq torchbearer; they have identical scenes where their respective leader is in conversation with hierarchic superiors (Starfleet admirals and the Klingon house leaders respectively) which they unceremoniously interrupt with an outburst in front of the hierarchical leaders; they're both orphans (Voq is "the son of no one") desperate to prove themselves in their chosen society. Both experience the deaths of their respective beloved leaders as a major catastrophe, after which the promised good future doesn't happen, but six months of isolation and shame do. In both cases, there's also another faithful lieutenant around - Saru and L'Rell respectively. L'Rell is in the pilot, I only noticed during rewatching; she's the second Klingon after Voq to proclaim T'Kuvma, and stands on T'kuvma's other side. In the third episode, Voq brings up whether she's not resentful that T'Kuvma didn't annoint her his successor, given she served with him longer, which parallels (one of) Saru's issues with not being Georgiu's first officer the way Michael was, though L'Rell says she'd rather be the grey eminence instead. All of which makes me speculate again that TylerVoq and his relationship with Michael will contribute to the resolution of the war.
Though it also makes me fear one particular storyline I really really do not want. L'Rell was already startled that her code words did not work as intended (though Tyler replied correctly) and upset her beloved accuses her of torture and rape. I can't imagine she'll be thrilled once she finds out about the Tyler/Burnham relationship. (Which would not bother her if it's just the artificial personality, but if she believes it's Voq as well...) And I really really REALLY do not want a scene where Tyler chooses to be Tyler, not Voq, by killing L'Rell to save Michael. All that swearing he'll protect her no matter what makes me extremely distrustful this is in the cards. Do not want, show. Do not want. L'Rell is the sole interesting Klingon-as-Klingon you've given us so far, and if Klingons continue to be a big deal on this show, she must live.
Further speculation: given we now know for sure "our" Tyler is Voq, could we meet Mirrorverse Tyler and Mirrorverse Voq as two different people? Since the battle of the Binary Stars did not happen in the Mirrorverse, where the human Tyler perished in ours, there's no reason to suppose Mirrorverse Tyler is dead. Presumably Mirrorvers Voq is alive as well, and part of the anti Terran rebellion. If "our" Tyler meets either, it could push him into complete realisation for good. Or, conversely, if another member of the Discovery crew meets either, it might give them a clue.
And another thing: Lorca coming up with this whole infiltration idea that includes him posing as a rebel does not make much sense if he's really Mirrorverse Lorca who knows that means he's in store for gruesome torture. Then again, it's Lorca. Entirely capable of setting himself up for torture if he believes he'll get what he wants at the end of it.
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1265119.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.
To its credit, the show doesn't waste time by letting the characters puzzle endlessly about where they might be while 99% of the target audience have guessed it already, and still finds a way to make the quick deduction logical. Yep, we're in for another return to the Mirrorverse, and I must say, this one already is way better than the last two or three DS9 eps dealing with same. (The first two DS9 Mirrorverse episodes were great, but then it deteriorated, badly.) TNG never did a Mirrorverse episode though Diane Duane wrote a TNG Mirrorverse novel. Same with Voyage (no episode, novel exists). Enterprise did an episode which I actually watched, and this episode uses this bit of canon to its advantage (the Defiant incident), but what the new episode mostly pays homage to is of course the original TOS episode. Agony booths, attempted assassination of undercover pretend Captain in elevator (should have known this was coming since Connor had Chekov's job), while still coming up with a Discovery specific plot. Both Michael Burnham and Tilly role playing their evil selves was every bit as fun as you want from a Mirrorverse scenario, while highlighting their strengths and smarts. (Michael knocking out gravity in the elevator to deal with Connor!) Mind you, the reveal that Mirrorverse Tilly murdered her way up to a Captaincy already unfortunately means one has to be afraid for her life again in our universe, since it means Stamets addressing her as "Captain Tilly" a few episodes ago wasn't him having a flash forward but a sideways flash.
Given that the episode makes a big deal about the identity of the evil Mirrorverse Emperor being a secret to the rebels and Stamets repeatedly saying "don't go to the palace", and the info that Mirroverse Burnham is a favourite of the Emperor's, I'm as sure as I can be that everyone's hopes, including mine, for a Mirrorverse Empress Philippa Georgiu will be fulfilled, and Michael is in for some major angst next week or whenever she'll meet Evil Philippa.
Meanwhile, Mirrorverse Lorca appears to be the sole known Terran among the rebels against the evil Empire and has disappeared, presumed (but not proven) dead. You know, I'm not that fond of the theory that "our" Lorca is Mirrorverse Lorca (who presumably ended up in our universe by accident and saw the spore drive as his ticket home), not least because I want Lorca's shadiness and ambiguity to have no "he's not himself" explanation, but that could be a basis for that explanation. Otoh, it could simply make a point about "our" Lorca that his Mirrorverse counterpart is so far the sole non-completely-evil Terran we've heard of. In any case, Burnham and Lorca being both disappeared (one presumed dead, one not) in the Mirroverse provides our versions the chance to come up with a plan to infiltrate the Mirrorverse Shenzou using ye olde "escaped prisoner returned" scheme, and I must say, I don't ship them, but there's certainly a vibe for fanfic to explore with pretend evil Burnham putting pretend (?) mirror Lorca on his knees. RP fun aside, their earlier scene emphasizes (with Michael saying destiny didn't free her from prison, Lorca did) that she has come to not just respect but care for him. Did I mention Michael is in for future angst? And then some, and that's before we even get to the big cause.
The other open question was of course the "is Ash Voq?" theory, and that, too, is answered witha resounding "yes, he is" in this episode. As has been theorized, both via surgery and the implant of an artificial personality (presumably with the real Ash Tyler's memories, or at least a very good approximation thereof) and with no awareness on Tyler's part that he's a secondary personality until the misson on the Ship of the Dead starts to trigger flashbacks to L'Rell and the surgery. L'Rell in this episode uses the code words meant to bring back Voq's original personality, but it doesn't quite work; Tyler seems to be glitching between Tyler and Voq, with Voq only showing up when his existence and mission is under direct threat, more about what happens in a minute, as this needs to be discussed separately. I don't think that by the end of the episode, he's Voq play-acting Tyler now, but Tyler aware he has blackouts and that there is something terribly wrong with him beyond PTSD but clinging to being Tyler for now. Michael covering up his second PTSD episode, btw, is as Tilly covering up Stamets' sideeffects a lesson on why you really shouldn't do that for someone you care about, you're NOT doing them a favour, and disaster will follow.
Sidenote before I discuss the big thing: in terms of world building, I like that the episode highlights Tyler was checked both for physical identity and for brainwashing (Manchurian protocol indeed) when he first came on board (incidentally: since only a deeper examination lets Culber realise Tyler wasn't, as originally supposed, tortured, but had extreme surgery everywhere in his body it means either those early scans were shallow or that Klingon surgery is really good), and that there are protocols on how to deal with crew members who suffer from PTSD (of course, with Lorca in command, these might as well not exist).
The big issue: Tyler, when Culbert spells out the truth, has one more Voq flash and immediately breaks Culbert's neck. This, to put it mildly, is majorly upsetting on a Doylist level, given Culbert is one half of the first on screen gay couple. Otoh, googling quickly let me to an article wherein Wilson Cruz (who plays Hugh Culbert) swears this is not the end of either his character nor the Stamets/Culbert romance and that it will be an epic love story of grief and redemption. Okay, that sounds better, so let's see what possibilities decades of ST canon offer, given that neck twist looks pretty final:
1.) Mirrorverse Culbert turns out to be not evil and joins the crew when they get back to "our" universe. Obvious downside: it would be a different person. Him and Stamets falling in love as well could be told credibly as long as this fact isn't disregarded, or it could be incredibly tacky.
2.) Stamets goes Gary Mitchell (he already occasionally does the eyes) and via godlike powers resurrects Culbert. Culbert then has the task of bringing back Stamets from traditional megalomania that always comes with godlike powers in ST. Could see that happening, and remember, we still need a reason why the spore drive will never be used again.
3.) Time travel! Stamets goes back in time via the spore drive and saves his beloved. This would also explain why the scene ends immediately after the neck brekaing and Stamet's verbal reaction and the next time we see Tyler he's befuddled, doesn't disguise that and says he has no idea what happened. Yes, that could be because he's glitching between Tyler and Voq, but it also could be because Future Stamets in a sequence we'll later see alters events.
4) The miracles of modern medicine: Culbert survives a broken neck and is healed with futuristic means. Since TylerVoq presumably left quickly without checking on Culbert further, I suppose this is theoretically possible.
Lastly: if Culbert's death remains for a while longer what it seems, I'd speculate that the Discovery crew will first believe Stamets inadvertendly killed Culbert, since Tilly witnessed a zoned-out Stamets reacting violently against Stamets earlier in the episode.
Addendum: rewatching the pilot made me realise that it goes to some lengths to parallel Voq with Michael - they're the dedicated Faithful Lieutenants to their leaders who tell them about their future - Philippa tells Michael she'll get the Captaincy now, T'Kuvma makes Voq torchbearer; they have identical scenes where their respective leader is in conversation with hierarchic superiors (Starfleet admirals and the Klingon house leaders respectively) which they unceremoniously interrupt with an outburst in front of the hierarchical leaders; they're both orphans (Voq is "the son of no one") desperate to prove themselves in their chosen society. Both experience the deaths of their respective beloved leaders as a major catastrophe, after which the promised good future doesn't happen, but six months of isolation and shame do. In both cases, there's also another faithful lieutenant around - Saru and L'Rell respectively. L'Rell is in the pilot, I only noticed during rewatching; she's the second Klingon after Voq to proclaim T'Kuvma, and stands on T'kuvma's other side. In the third episode, Voq brings up whether she's not resentful that T'Kuvma didn't annoint her his successor, given she served with him longer, which parallels (one of) Saru's issues with not being Georgiu's first officer the way Michael was, though L'Rell says she'd rather be the grey eminence instead. All of which makes me speculate again that TylerVoq and his relationship with Michael will contribute to the resolution of the war.
Though it also makes me fear one particular storyline I really really do not want. L'Rell was already startled that her code words did not work as intended (though Tyler replied correctly) and upset her beloved accuses her of torture and rape. I can't imagine she'll be thrilled once she finds out about the Tyler/Burnham relationship. (Which would not bother her if it's just the artificial personality, but if she believes it's Voq as well...) And I really really REALLY do not want a scene where Tyler chooses to be Tyler, not Voq, by killing L'Rell to save Michael. All that swearing he'll protect her no matter what makes me extremely distrustful this is in the cards. Do not want, show. Do not want. L'Rell is the sole interesting Klingon-as-Klingon you've given us so far, and if Klingons continue to be a big deal on this show, she must live.
Further speculation: given we now know for sure "our" Tyler is Voq, could we meet Mirrorverse Tyler and Mirrorverse Voq as two different people? Since the battle of the Binary Stars did not happen in the Mirrorverse, where the human Tyler perished in ours, there's no reason to suppose Mirrorverse Tyler is dead. Presumably Mirrorvers Voq is alive as well, and part of the anti Terran rebellion. If "our" Tyler meets either, it could push him into complete realisation for good. Or, conversely, if another member of the Discovery crew meets either, it might give them a clue.
And another thing: Lorca coming up with this whole infiltration idea that includes him posing as a rebel does not make much sense if he's really Mirrorverse Lorca who knows that means he's in store for gruesome torture. Then again, it's Lorca. Entirely capable of setting himself up for torture if he believes he'll get what he wants at the end of it.
This entry was originally posted at https://selenak.dreamwidth.org/1265119.html. Comment there or here, as you wish.