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The Sounds Of Thunder Keep Star Trek Discovery At Warp

As promised a few weeks ago, we are now getting to see a new side of Commander Saru. An encounter with a dying entity in ‘An Obol for Charon’ initiates vahar’ai in the Kelpian officer, causing his threat ganglia to wither and fall off and his fear to disappear along with them. At the time he felt outrage for his people who believed they needed to sacrifice themselves to the other species on Kaminar the Ba’ul when vahar’ai began. That left us knowing eventually we’d be looking a bit deeper into this, and here we are.

The red angel that Spock and the Discovery crew have been separately chasing all season long appears briefly above Kaminar, leading Discovery to the planet before disappearing. Kaminar is protected by Starfleet general order one - no contact with pre-warp species. The crew decide, thanks to some newly impassioned arguments from Saru, that the need to follow any lead in the angel investigation takes priority and Saru and Michael beam down to the planet.

Once there Saru encounters his sister Siranna. She and the rest of the village Saru grew up in believed Saru to be dead with only Siranna questioning if there might have been more to the story, having seen a flash in the sky the night Saru disappeared. It’s easy to understand her anger then when Saru informs her that he hasn’t returned to let her know that he isn’t dead but instead just needs some information before potentially disappearing again. The Ba’ul are also upset with the return of Saru because it means the return of the natural predator of the Ba’ul people. In the past, once a Kelpian underwent vahar’ai they became a hunter species. The Ba’ul worked to rid the planet of the evolved Kelpians, and convinced the unevolved that once the change began, they needed to sacrifice themselves to the Ba’ul to maintain ‘the great balance’. In order to maintain their control over the Kelpians, the Ba’ul demand that Discovery turn Saru over to them or else they will wipe the species out.

Saru, wanting to both stop the sacrifice of his people but also see if there is a way both species can go forward, turns himself over to the Ba’ul against the actions Pike has taken to protect him. We get to see a bit of the newly fearless Saru thanks to some restraints and threats to his sister, but we almost immediately return to the Starfleet Saru who decides that the only way to move forward is to have every Kelpian go through vahar’ai. This doesn’t strike me as much of a bartering chip in the negotiations with the Ba’ul about being able to coexist peacefully, nor does it strike me as particularly fair to the Kelpians who not only aren’t aware that they can survive vahar’ai but are given no choice as to whether they want to go through it or not.

And what are we left with? Well, a newly fearless Kelpian race that has an uncertain future that may or may not get explored much at all. This is the problem that I’ve had with the second season of Discovery. The mystery of the red angel and the whereabouts of Spock feel like they are getting underserved in the plot so far, and plotlines like the Kelpian evolution and the rebirth of Doctor Culber feel like they need more time than they will be allowed. It’s good to see that we’ll finally see Spock next week (or at least that is what I assume from the preview), but it feels like we’ve been kept waiting a bit too long and that we are dropping everything we were in the middle of to get to him.

Star Trek Discovery Review

WARNING - MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

The wait is finally over, and ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is underway. Last night saw the premiere of the first two episodes. ‘The Vulcan Hello’ and ‘Battle At The Binary Stars’. As has been mentioned everywhere, this ‘Star Trek’ comes in a very different television landscape than any other ‘Trek’ series. As such, the storytelling methods have changed, as well as the medium of broadcast. Theis ‘Star Trek’ promises to tell more of an arc of a story than any of its predecessors (with the except of the later seasons of ‘Deep Space Nine’). Now the question is how will the series hold up in viewers minds.

We spend these first two episodes getting to know First Officer Michael Burnham and Captain Phillippa Georgiou and to a lesser extent Lieutenant Saru. Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, and Doug Jones bring a good familiarity to the roles and manage to make it feel as though they have been serving aboard a ship together for years. The shock of the two episodes (which I’m not going to specifically reveal) comes as a disappointment as a result of this comradery. Hopefully, we’ll still somehow get to see more of it.

As a show lead, Martin-Green brings a humanity to Michael Burnham that we haven’t necessarily seen in previous shows. Characters like Kirk, Picard, etc were expected to be leaders and as such almost incapable of misstep. Perhaps it’s the freedom given by not having Burnham in charge that allows for such an immediately real character. It will be interesting to see the progression of this character, who has such a shift in standing right off the bat.

The Klingons are at once new and familiar. The portrayal of the race is similar to what we have seen since ‘The Next Generation’. The 24 houses of the Klingon race appear to each have their own characteristics instead of being solely family divisions. What appears to be a unifying trait should sound very familiar in the current political environment. The Klingons want nothing to do with the Federation because they feel that they will lose something of themselves if they do. Being set 10 years before the events of the original series, we know that peace won’t be achieved, but getting to a neutral zone will be the challenge.

‘Discovery’ is off to a compelling start. The storytelling is tight with a much more modern feel than previous ‘Star Trek’ series. It does seem to benefit from being freed from network restrictions and tells a more adult story. With the costs of war being portrayed so realistically, the drama is that much more compelling. The uncertainty of the road ahead almost demands you pay it attention, which is what any show should do.