16th October 2020 (Released 16th October 2020)
The Hope That Is You - Part 1 (written by Michelle Paradise, Jenny Lumet & Alex Kurtzman, directed by Olatunde Osunsnmi)
Discovery is weird anomaly in the Star Trek Universe. At once reviled and loved in equal measure by the fandom and the casual viewers, it straddles several camps at once yet presents a certain mystery. Is it Kelvin? Is it OS? It's own thing? Last season seems to point towards OS, but who knows. More importantly, who cares? Can we just like it because it's good? Part of the problem is that Discovery represents what would seem to be a new kind of Trek – a woke Trek if you will. I find this dismissive, myself. Especially since Star Trek is one of the wokest fictions out there. It's central message is one of exploration, knowledge and inclusion so I find it really difficult to grasp the accusations of it being 'too woke'. I guess maybe it's the wrong kind of woke for some? At the same time, it gets accused of being too dark (Lorca's creepy alt-universe romance with Burnham in Season 1) and trying too hard to be edgy and 'adult' (people swear). It's almost as if we can't decide as an audience what we want or how we want it, so if we get something that offers a variety of ideas and approaches, that's going to a problem. And of course, there are those that don't like because they just feel it's not very good. And as long-time Trek fans, they're entitled to their opinion. We don't have to share it. Nor do we have to spit at those who don't like what we like or discard entire fandoms because the latest iteration isn't for us. 50 years of Trek means there's lots out there to choose from. Besides, fictional universes don't just sit dormant like dead planets if we move away from them. They live. Grow. Evolve. They boldly go. And this season of Discovery looks set to go bolder and further than any before.
FOR A SHOW THAT RODE THE REMIX / REBOOT WAVE, DISCOVERY NOW TAKES A GIANT LEAP FORWARD
For a show that has ridden the wave of remix and reboot culture, Discovery now takes a giant leap forward from the 'past' of the 23rd Century to the 32nd – a massive jump for any show and beyond the fictional borders that the Trek canon previously established for itself. Burnham has travelled through time – supposedly with The USS Discovery in tow – 900 hundred years in the future in attempt to remove a key portion of data from the 23rd Century in order to stop an evolved A.I. Consciousness from destroying the federation. But can she reconnect with the Federation? Does it even still exist? And what has become of Discovery? Like all good fictions, this episode asks questions then plays out in an attempt to answer them. And the most important one it asks is ‘what happens after the end of the world?’ Burnham crashes through a passing ship then crash lands on a planet, only to find possible enemies in a future where the technology is evolving beyond her imagination. It's great to see an episode play out with only one character we know to anchor us to it. It also puts Burnham in the position of the neophyte, the learner and thus brings us back to the values that drive Star Trek in the first place: Curiosity, exploration, connection. We run a gamut of scenarios for Burnham – the prisoner, the combatant, the explorer. Even at one stage the drunk, self-analysing worry-er that's usually more Tilly's style as she gets a dose of truth serum.
Strangely for a Discovery episode, what this outing mostly gets to be is fairly self-contained like the Trek of yore. We get resolution, at least on a small scale, as Burnham connects with Book, a courier who has a side-line in a strictly environmental form of smuggling. As with most Trek stories, all is not what it seems and we're introduced to evolved forms of life whose existence may seem like magic. There's nothing wrong with this. Fictional universes have trouble surviving if the don't change and it helps to borrow a little from other forms of fiction. And with things that transport you across space atom by atom, Trek's science was always a little on the magi-tech side. Sure the wokeness is present, in that Burnham's mission is non-violent and assumes peace until the people she meets show her otherwise. Amusingly, it's why she often ends up in trouble and this episode illustrates that perfectly. She's open to the point of gullibility. This doesn't stop her from being an enjoyable character to be around. If anything, we can empathise and laugh because we all want to take things at face value. Book represents the more cynical and knowing versions of ourselves. David Ajala plays a Han Solo with a heart and a curious addition to the Disco mythos. One also hopes that since we're now in time-travel territory that the return of Rainn Wilson's Harry Mudd isn't too far away. For now, we have what is essentially a two-hander (plus supporting cast) and a low-key start to what looks to be the biggest season yet. I'll certainly be looking forward to Fridays from here on in!