Discovery came back with a bang. There was so much in the Winter premiere, it’s hard to know where to start. A lot of questions I have posed in previous posts were answered in this episode, however, the answers only opened up more questions. This second half of the season looks like it is going be quite the ride.
Everything is a little bit off when we join the crew and as they begin providing data about the area around them it quickly becomes clear that the fan speculation was correct and the crew has ended up in the Mirror Universe. I am really excited for this because we are going to see more of this universe than we have ever seen before. Rather than getting a single episode here and there, like we have had in the past, we are going to get several episodes (I assume at least the remainder of this season) to see what this dark twist on our universe is really like. We will get to see how our crew responds to this kill or be killed society and find out if anyone may fit in better here than they did in the prime universe.
My speculation about Tyler seems to have been confirmed as well. He is clearly a transformed Voq, but something has gone terribly wrong. L’Rell attempts to trigger his memory, but does not get the result she expects. As a result, Tyler is unable to know who he is as either Tyler or Voq. He has a mismatch of memory, goals, and desires and he is clearly becoming very unstable. We see this from his growing flashbacks, his inability to think clearly when speaking with L’Rell, and culminates in his murder of Dr. Culber. Tyler is not only a threat to himself, but also to Discovery (we can tell somethings changed as Suru’s threat ganglia trigger when Tyler enters the bridge), Burnham, and L’Rell. Tyler/Voq is a Pandora’s box and the result of opening it could lead the show in a number of directions.
The death of Culber blew me away. I did not expect it and could only sit in shocked silence after it occurred. I really enjoyed the character and liked watching the relationship between him and Stamets. I don’t think this will be the last we see of Culber, but I don’t think it will be this Culber. I have no doubt we will get to see the Mirror Culber before the season is over, but I will still be sad to have lost Culber Prime. I think this death served an important role in the story of Discovery and it’s place in Star Trek. First, I think this really raised the bar on how this series will operate and the fact that no character is safe whether in the war with the Klingons or in the Mirror Universe. Both have a high potential for casualties and the writers have told us that anyone could be taken during the telling of this story. Second, I don’t think we have ever seen one of our main characters kill another main character, and particularly not in such a brutal way. This puts the fans in a different spot than they’ve ever been before as a main character is now an undisputed murderer. This will require fans to weigh what Tyler will come to do and the decisions he makes against this act of violence. If he seeks to be redeemed, will the fans accept it or will he forever be tarnished? If he doesn’t seek redemption, does that make it easier for fans to look at him as the bad guy we love to hate? I don’t know, but it will be interesting to see how this impacts Tyler and the rest of the crew as what happens comes to light. Finally, it will allow us to see another side of Stamets. When he recovers, we will get to see how he deals with the death of his partner. This could break Stamets or lead him on quest for revenge. In either case, we may see a Stamets completely different than we’ve seen up to this point.
What the Heck…Hell! Hold your Horses! It’s Captain Killy! I don’t know if anything in Star Trek has ever made me more excited than finding out that Tilly is Captain of the Discovery in the Mirror Universe. I hope that having to play this role will help make Tilly more confident and assertive. This may be the best thing to force her character to grow. She is clearly uncomfortable with the role, but she must fill it to help her crew and perform her duty. I think we will quickly see that this will help her find a confidence she never knew she has. She has the facade with lines like “I’d cut out your tongue and use it to lick my boots,” but we will have to wait and see if she can internalize that strength and confidence to be a more effective Cadet Tilly.
The revelation of Captain Tilly also filled in one of the lingering questions from a few episodes ago when Stamets referred to her as Captain. I speculated that he was seeing the future, and he may have been, but he was definitely seeing the Mirror Universe. Stamets connection to the Mirror Universe is clear and he definitely has additional insights into it beyond knowing that Tilly would be the Captain in this universe.
This episode had a couple nice nods to previous Trek. I particularly liked when Lorca posed as the chief engineer of Discovery and adopted a Scottish accent. It was unexpected and humorous. Also, there was a mention of the Defiant crossing over from the Prime Universe into the Mirror Universe, which was established in “The Tholian Web” (TOS) and “In a Mirror Darkly” (ENT).
The big lingering question I have after watching this episode is who will be the Emperor in the Mirror Universe? I’ve seen some interesting speculation. There is a lot of comments on the internet saying that it could be Georgiou. I think this is a real possibility and would give us a chance to see Michelle Yeoh again, which would be a real treat. The other interesting speculation I saw related to the Emperor was not about who is Emperor but who would become Emperor. There is a lot of people saying that they believe that the version of Lorca that is on Discovery is originally from the Mirror Universe and somehow found his way to the Prime Universe and replace Lorca Prime. He purposefully got Discovery to cross over and his goal is to kill the current Emperor and take their place. I can see where this argument makes sense and even helps us feel more comfortable with the way Lorca was acting as Captain when Discovery was still in the Prime Universe. However, as interesting as I think this could be, I don’t think this will be the way the story unfolds. But only time will tell.
LLAP
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