Star Trek: Discovery - Season Finale || Hugh Culber apparently doesn't matter but he fucking should
Massive spoilers for Star Trek Discovery season finale so skip this post if you don't wanna see those
Well, where do I even START
I mean, first of all I should make clear that I like discovery and I feel like it's a good series that did a nice job in finding its own space in the franchise. I absolutely adore the cast, the disco fandom has been enjoyable and I truly appreciate the fun I've had these past couple months. That being said.
Hugh's arc, or its lack thereof, is bullshit.
I started watching Discovery 100% blind. I didn't read a single article, review, or watch any of the trailers before sitting down to see episode 1. I'm personally not very fond of spoilers (read as, I despise them) so that approach usually works for me. Needless to say, when I got to episode 5 and realized that oh ....OH..... THEY'RE NOT FRIENDS SHARING QUARTERS THEY'RE A COUPLE I might've freaked out completely. The idea of an interracial gay couple carrying out very normal lives seemed (and still seems) completely amazing and thoroughly groundbreaking when considering the context of the Star Trek franchise.
Watching their relationship unfold subtly (and to be quite frank, beautifully) on screen was marvelous. However, as the narrative progressed I couldn't shake off the feeling that they were going to put culmets in the blender. Granted, you can argue that's a way to include them in the major narrative, instead of making them sit on a pedestal (as that could be interpreted as including a LGBT couple solemnly for brownie points). That's a valid point of view but not one I totally agree with.
Episode 9 happened, Paul was in a catatonic state, Hugh was worried as hell. I thought our problems would be gone once Paul magically came back to his senses. The scenes where Hugh was taking care of Paul were heartwarming, and to be honest, that was enough angst for them. The point would be made. All couples go through a tough time. Yet they love each other a whole lot, so they managed to get around the issue. See?
And considering how Ash/Michael were also going through tough times, to single out culmets as the suffering-gay-couple trope wouldn't really fly.
Then Hugh died, in a scene that made little to no sense in the great scheme of things. Hugh's death was purely for shock value. It had virtually no impact on the long scale of the narrative, and that is blatantly visible in the way almost none of the main characters even cared to address the situation more than once. It certainly leaves a bad taste, the 1/2 of the gay couple (the latino guy at that) had to be the one to be tossed just to prove the point of how dangerous Voq/Ash was. Being frank, how different would it be if Ash had murdered a random crew member? A red shirt? That's how unnecessary Hugh's death was. It had NO impact besides the scene where he helps Paul get the Discovery back to the prime universe. "But Hugh's help was vital" Trek has always been about using technobabble to get around situations, it's obvious writers could've figured out a solution that did not involve using the ghost of the gay latino guy.
Performances were impeccable and I simply adore Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp, but god I'm frustrated and....hurt. Like it SUCKS to say this as I'm very much into trek but this fucking. hurts.
I understand how this is supposedly a very "epic love story" but those stories don't need gratuitous murder. It's very hard to market discovery as a series that does it job with LGBT representation when culmets had this fate. "oh so this show has a interracial gay couple and its awesome but the latino guy is dead dont worry he might come back though" doesn't have a nice ring to it.
Besides, casual fans don't really engage with the cast on Twitter. For a good chunk of viewers, Hugh's death seems very final. And to be honest, they can reassure us all they like, Hugh's still dead and will most likely remain so until well into season 2. It sucks that they pushed culmets as the "groundbreaking couple" when they literally met the same fate as many other LGBT couples with the bury-the-gays trope.
Again, they will most likely solve this on season 2. But this doesn't erase the fact that Hugh had to be the one to go. There's still one year left until season 2, and until then Star Trek's first gay couple will be well buried under the attempts to shock the audience with continuous twists.
(Feel free to yell with me on Twitter @oceanyia)
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