The primary plot for this episode soon takes a back seat to the what seems to be a secondary
thread as the crisis of the day is overshadowed by the inter-character drama unfolding on
screen. Star Trek Discovery has identified its most prominently liked characters and
places them in tense situations and for this episode, it works.
At first I’ll touch on general points and feedback, but this will be a spoiler review
in the latter part so be warned. After the last episode being a dip in the lighter tone
of the show, I was worried that the series was returning to the styles of season one
which would be a mistake in my view as season two has been leaps and bounds better.
Episode four, “An Obal for Charon” is strongly about the bonds between the crew.
The allusions to mythology don’t end with the title either and my first thought on the
malfunction of the universal translator was the story of Babel, and I’m glad to see
Pike make the same quip to Saru. This was a good example of setup and payoff too as
Saru’s fluency in 94 languages, a seemingly throwaway line from previous episode becomes
an utilised plot point. Nice, evidence of not just a long term primary plot, but these
smaller instances and character development. Saru’s plight elicits a very strong response
in Burnham and Soniqua Martin-Green is able to let go of the stoicism that is overlaid
onto Burnham’s character. Yes, more of this! These scenes go a great length to make Burnham
relatable which is something the character needed and it’s reassuring to see that Martin-Green
can bring those depths to bear, something not always clear in the more emotionally repressed,
Vulcan-raised Burnham. The compassion on display from Anthony Rapp
would do Doctor Culber proud and Mary Wiseman’s Tilly continues to draw my empathy as she
is continually confronted with the unknown. It’s also fun to see that “Jet Reno, Engineer
Extraordinaire” is still alive and remained aboard the USS Discovery as another engineer.
Seeing her classic technology and pride in her handiwork reminded me of some other engineers
we’ve seen. Her clashing with Stamets views on environmentalism reminded me of real life
stances on . I also like that Stamets can still be a prickly
git on the outside too. Of course the centre of the show was Doug
Jones whose character I can’t really get into without spoilers, so warning from now
on, sufficed to say ouch my heartstrings. Okay, so I knew Saru would survive, but in
the moment I forgot what I knew and felt that his life was genuinely ending. The stand out
moment for me in this episode was not the triumphant survival of the Discovery, nor
the perilous spore-dweller, but the moment where the crew stood for Saru, as he left
the bridge, possibly for the last time. I was reminded that although the crew respects
and accepted Pike, Saru was the captain they chose, they saw something in him and now we’ve
all seen it too. He may be young, but he’s the commander they turned to when the night
was darkest. No wait that’s game of thrones, but you get my point. He is very much the
anchor point for most of the crew and the majority of fans agree that he is a linchpin
for the show. His survival after the supposed zenith of
his species’ life cycle raised troubling questions that the show was quick to highlight.
Throughout the Kelpien’s life, they expected to die after they’ve reached a certain point,
but in truth, it seems to be a new stage in their life cycle. I guess the notion is that
they reach an age where they are no longer subject to a prey-like mentality and the Ba’ul
have convinced them that they cannot live beyond this time so they are butchered and
eaten. But Saru, apart from his society has discovered that once the Vahar’ai passes,
they emerge from the other side a far more stable individual, without the constant urge
to fear. I look forwards to seeing where this will take him. Look how far he’s developed
with a handicap, now it’s gone, what’s he to accomplish now and how’s he going
to bring this knowledge to his people? In theory the Prime Directive may forbid him
from interfering as a Starfleet officer so could he even be forced to resign his commission?
Interesting roads ahead I think. Meanwhile, we get introduced to Number One,
still without official name, played by Rebecca Romijn. And that’s about it, she doesn’t
have much to do in the show, merely stopping by to update Pike on the status of the Enterprise
and supply him with some data on Spock. She maintains the cool, calm attitude that was
part of the character and I do get the sense that her and Pike are old friends, which I
guess is all we can expect from such a short cameo. There is the suggestion that she’ll
return later in the series though. There’s also another retcon discussion and Pike orders
that while they’re retrofitting the Enterprise, to pull all the holo-emitters as they don’t
seem to be helping the ship and in fact may be the cause of cascading power failures.
And they remind him of ghosts. Or perhaps illusions? A little forced, but alright, I’ll
by it. I mentioned in a comment, I’m curious to see how they’ll retcon events, but I
can’t tell if I’m curious ‘excitedly’ or ‘morbidly’.
Finally, Tilly’s arc has taken a turn from menacing to terrifying for her. The simple
fact that we don’t know the spore-dweller’s intent mirrors the situations the Discovery
finds itself in with the dying entity and perhaps it’s because I just got finished
watching Nightflyers, but I didn’t trust the big glowy space blob. Nor the spore-blob.
Stamet’s finally breaks through in communication with it and we learn that his Spore Drive
has maybe been damaging the lifeforms that live in the Mycelial Network. This would help
explain why the Federation abandoned this avenue of research but not every power that
knows of the Spore Drive, cough...Klingons. Cough, share the same principles. So I still
feel that more needs to be done to physically cut off the network, perhaps that’ll be
Stamet’s next struggle. Isolate the network and undo his life’s work against destroying
another intelligent culture. This episode was overall a pretty great addition
to the narrative and built on the characters that we’ve come to know by exposing them
to new aspects of their personas. Tilly’s fear, Burnham’s Grief, Stamets becoming
the emotional support instead of needing the support and Saru’s mortality most of all.
A very well done to the cast for this one and although still hurried in some places,
this is just going to be an overall criticism of the show based on conscious choice, it
seems. Though the majority of this episode was slow and paced well where it needed to
be, Saru’s goodbye and Stamet’s singing with Tilly to calm her for example.
On a personal level, I’m feeling less inclined to take a microscope to Discovery and point
out all its flaws as the show seems to be doing its damndest to make me like it. So
alright, you can have a little slack now, just don’t make me regret it. Not that I
actually have any power over the direction of the show and that’s probably an entitled
point of view, which is why it’s here at the end of the review and not during. So thanks
for watching and I hope to hear what you thought of this episode and the overall season two
so far? Thanks again and until next time, I’ve been Ric, Goodbye.