Alright so after my first two reviews have been spoiler free, this episode I will be
going into spoilers later on in the video, there will be a warning. So let’s get on
with looking into Star Trek Discovery Season 2 episode 3, Point of Light.
This episode did feel very hectic. There were a lot of plot threads being strung along as
well as two new ones being introduced, so I count at least four main plots at the moment
and a whole host of subplots and I’m wondering, can Discovery juggle this many narratives
without making a mess? There’s the Red Angel primary plot with Burnham, Spock subplots.
The Klingon arc involving not only the internal struggle of the empire, but the Ash/Voq dichotomy.
Georgiou has returned bringing with her a whole new dynamic in section 31 and the Spore
Drive storyline with Tilly’s visions, Stamets direction in life and those are just the ones
present after three episodes. This was the first story that I had to watch twice to pick
up on everything. Right now, episode three subsisted of much
setup for the future of the series and as speculated, the return of the Klingons brought
with it a darker tone. I will say that I’m curious to see where the writers are taking
the Klingon narrative as at the moment it seems a little pointless, just a continuation
of characters from series one. Tyler’s story seems relevant potentially but maybe it’s
way too early to say after only one episode. But it’s a question I feel compelled to
ask due to the crammed feeling of this 48 minute run.
We get to see Klingons with hair, something I’ve been whining about since they were
first introduced and I’m not sorry for it. I think that if this was how they appeared
from the get-go, it would have done much to curb the notions that the look more like orcs,
now they look more like, well… funny looking… Klingons, but I digress. They even come up
with a backstory for the origin of the D7 battle cruiser, the warship of choice for
the Empire, the symbolism behind it is a notion I can get behind, it’s all about unification,
but in Klingon fashion, it’s through construction of a new battle fleet.
L’Rell and Voq/Tyler face a great deal of resistance from the houses of the Empire,
especially around the house of Kor, who is now led by Series one Kor’s father. Naturally
as Kor was the leader for much of the Klingon’s campaign against Starfleet, he feels somewhat
spited by L’Rells notions of sweeping changes to the structure of the houses. However, it
seems it’s all dealt with by the end of the episode and this is one story arc that
I wouldn’t have minded they spend some more time on. Again, raising the question, where
are they taking the Klingon narrative? Or is this it, but there is some lingering setup
the suggests otherwise. We also learn more about Spock’s predicament
and it’s a mixed bag that requires some further digging, but again, we still haven’t
encountered him so alright I’ll bite, I want to know what the hell’s going on.
Burnham gets to share the spotlight with Amanda, Spock’s mother who does a good job playing
a worried mother using what influence she has to pry what little information on Spock
she can from a tight lipped Starfleet Medical, after all Spock wanted his situation to remain
quiet. And finally Tilly’s comedy here takes a
back seat to some more dire circumstances as she’s understandably freaking out about
seeing her old childhood friend. Her panic is palpable and the scene where she voices
her concerns to Burnham serves not only to make me empathise with her but go a long way
to humanising Michael, who in her own stoic Vulcan raised matter tried to provide solutions
rather than just a shoulder to cry on. So we’re moving into Spoiler territory now,
but sufficed to say this episode took a bit of a dip in the season for me, not really
because of any real lack of quality, but because there was too much being forced into a single
episode turning major plot points and setup into a single blink or you’ll miss it scene.
Exacerbated all the more by camera work that literally starts upside down, sideways in
a mystifying attempt to disorientate the viewer. Why? There’s already so much going on as
it is, I don’t need to be trying to work out which way up is or what the smeg I’m
looking at. Alright then still here? First off, what’s
up with the lighting in that first scene? Is that part of the training or was it meant
solely to represent Tillys’ mind-set. I couldn’t tell. As I said, her scenes in
this episode were very empathetic and I’m glad she made the choices she did when she
did, like a responsible, sane person. Though I want to know how she had something that
size insider her and never noticed, unless it expanded when it was removed? Also the
removal seemed a little hasty, shouldn’t Stamets have gone to get a medical professional…
oooh. Still though. His solution of effectively just “rip it out” seemed very contrived
and just for the sake of “get it done, next scene”.
Right. So next up is Spock. I understand that this series seems to be attempting to deconstruct
the character of Spock and looking at it through a human lens. He is after all, half human,
a stance many modern tellings of Spock like to remind us of. So when Amanda reflects the
medical concerns that Spock may have grown up as a psychopath its based very much from
a human point of view. A Vulcan could appear that way to a human, a fact McCoy would constantly
point out in TOS. This combined with his alleged acts of violence and murder seems more like
a cover up for something else and spoken to purely shock audiences into talking about
Spock. Amanda, Burnham and Pike, all of whom know Spock, and therefore reflecting our opinions
of him, are all incredulous of the idea he could be as unstable as the medical files
are suggesting. But that could be one more thing Discovery is playing with to mess with
audience preconceptions. After all this is a Spock 8 years before we see him so perhaps
they’ve overhauled him too? Gasp! I hope not and that it’s all smoke to get people
speculating. Ash/Voq is in an interesting place, he seems
able to Klingon with the Klingons, but still reaching out to humans when he needs advice.
The themes of finding a place to belong are here anything but subtle and I’m curious
to see if Section 31 brings him into the fold. It’s a nice touch to see him argue that
L’Rell needs to treat him like Voq and that the other Klingons cannot see deeper than
his form. So the problem lies with others. However upon kissing him he pulls away saying
that the human side of his trauma filled psyche finds her actions repulsive. So it’s quickly
pointed out that his journey of belonging is going to be one of finding himself as much
as dealing with others. Empress 31 goes on to point out that the Klingon
people may have a hard time accepting L’rell as the first female chancellor and that she
may have to adapt her approach. The former Terran Empress’ ruling advice is taken to
heart by L’rell, despite Mirror Georgiou not being the best source of virtue and equality.
Yeah she said Klingon men have small minds, but she also ate a Kelpien so she’s pretty
against anything that’s not her. So when L’Rell declares herself not Chancellor
but Mother of the Klingon Empire apart from Georgiou’s advice, it could be allusions
to the Klingon’s original allegory for Russia during the cold war era tensions. She’s
realised that perhaps she’ll have better time ruling over the houses if she admits
that she’s different from the norm and the adoption of the Mother moniker goes some way
to raising parallels with the motherland ideas. The government, the ideal that all those who
fight for her are her children. This is just speculation, but it was a notion that was
suggested on discussion with others so I have no idea if that was the intent or not.
Pinning everything on Ash was a clever move, if a painful one, but it removes Tyler and
her child as a weakness, earns her more respect (as Klingon family ties matter a lot, so the
loss of her heir would be seen as a great sacrifice). What’s more, saying that Kor’Cha
died for her adds legitimacy to her claims and invalidates his previous arguments.
And as a final Easter egg, they leave Voq and L’Rell’s infant on Boreth, the same
home of Klingon monks that await the return of Khaless as frequented by Worf. The legend
of Khaless said that before he vanished, he raised his hand to the night sky and gestured
to a star that turned out to be Boreth. “Look for me there, on that Point of Light”.
That’s was a nice touch. So all in all, that’s my review of episode
three. A strong opener for Discovery but this episode revved things into overdrive a little
suddenly for my tastes. I did enjoy seeing familiar elements creeping in but the setup
with the child seems like the only continuing plot point with the Klingons that I can see.
But we’ll have to wait. Thanks for watching so until next time, I’ve been Ric and QaPla!