“The only emotionally competent man in three galaxies”: Sarah Jaffe and Adam Kotsko discuss Star Trek: Discovery

[Each week, Sarah Jaffe — a new Star Trek fan who came to the franchise through Discovery — and Adam Kotsko — a long-time obsessive who has spent way too much time thinking about Star Trek — have been chatting about their impressions of the newest episode. Since we fell behind again, this post covers “Project Daedalus” and “The Red Angel.” A full archive can be found here.]

AK:
Hello!

SJ:
HELLO
where should we even begin

AK:
We know where you want to start

SJ:
haha yes but we have two episodes to cover

AK:
All those times I referred to “Robot Head Person” now feel so disrespectful.

SJ:
Well to be fair it’s the show’s fault
I wonder if they’re going to do this with all the supporting cast now

AK:
Kill them all, you mean?

SJ:
well give them like one in-depth episode and then…

AK:
I still feel weird about how they gave the one character a Luddite background and did nothing with it, even in the episode itself.

SJ:
Yeah, I wonder if there’ll be more on that later?
But yeah I mean her whole story (even though we still don’t really know what happened to her husband, I guess) was intense

AK:
(Her name is Owosekun.)
In a way, I don’t know how you stretch it out over the whole series and then give it that impact.

SJ:
yeah I mean there is a tendency for shows to do this thing where they want to kill someone to make you have feels but obviously they don’t want to kill a major character so instead they pack a lot of backstory into one episode and then kill them
but I suppose they did kill Rickie so
for a minute anyway

AK:
I liked it because it made it feel more like a self-contained episode.

SJ:
yeah I mean it was a good episode

AK:
I think it’s in my top 5 or even 3

SJ:
they also tried to give a little more backstory to that one character whose name I don’t know but the other one who came in with Pike

AK:
Nahn
Well, not backstory, but some kind of role other than vaguely lurking. She was clearly suspicious of Airiam for several episodes.
Oh, you mean her species and the need for her implant things!

SJ:
yes

AK:
That species had appeared on TNG, as it turns out. I tracked down the episode, and their breathing issues aren’t even a major theme. This was a deep dig into the lore — all so she could be realistically disabled for this one scene!

SJ:
for a minute I thought she was just going to be dead too and no one cared
like why did Burnham just forget she was there for a while???

AK:
She was having a triggering moment and taking all responsibility onto herself
She was about to lose someone again and got tunnel vision
The inclusion of Nahn also gives us someone who doesn’t go way back with Airiam and thus can do the deed more easily.
So again, they had Pike bring this character — of a very specific, preexisting, but unremembered species — all for this one scene.

SJ:
Maybe she’ll actually get character development.
I also don’t understand why they didn’t just beam Airium back to the Discovery like they did with Tyler last season when Burnham airlocked him

AK:
Their shields were up because of the mines.
And they had no way of knowing they could neutralize her fully — by her own account, the only way to solve the issue was to kill her.
… though then they wind up taking her body onto the ship.
And what about this heartfelt funeral?

SJ:
I thought they had to put their shields down to get through the mines

AK:
They put them back up when they realized they were fiercer than before.
Or it wasn’t acting like it was supposed to, basically.
But do they beam them over to the station for the away mission or take a shuttle?

SJ:
I really should not hang my analysis on whether the science makes sense when none of it makes sense

AK:
Actually, the more I think about this the more I’m now leaning toward the idea that they wanted to make sure she was dead.

SJ:
but that was just my reaction–like, why not try and save her? they tried to save Tyler even after he tried to kill Burnham
IT JUST FEELS VERY UNSTARFLEET

AK:
I think because she has a unique ability to take over the ship and no control over her actions, plus the technology is from the future so they have no way to counteract it.
Anyway, in the moment I didn’t question the necessity to vent the airlock.

SJ:
but as you said, then they bring her back onto the ship even though if it’s in the technology it shouldn’t matter if her physical human body is dead
I AM BEING DIFFICULT

AK:
Even when I rewatched, though, the objections didn’t occur to me in the moment. It’s really well done, and as you say, the magic technology ultimately never makes sense.
The funeral in the next episode reminded me of the tributes to Tasha Yar — a first season TNG character who was also killed off without much development. But those tributes were super cringey, whereas this was more tolerable.

SJ:
It also felt like an attempt to give Detmer etc more to do

AK:
Yes.
And can we have a moment of silence for the young men on the bridge crew, who get even LESS attention and fewer lines?

SJ:
no
men should be seen and not heard

AK:
I didn’t think so.
Anyway, they have a lot of fodder for “Lower Decks” type stories, if they ever decide to use those characters.
But anyway, I kind of don’t care, because I’m finally sold on the Red Angel story!

SJ:
because it’s Burnham? Or not Burnham? OR WHO KNOWS?

AK:
It was so amazingly deflationary that they revealed it was Burnham so straightforwardly, even before the title credits.
That’s a definite cliffhanger revelation, and they just… tweeted it out.
But why should it be any one person? It’s a suit, guys!

SJ:
yeah
but also MOMMY ISSUES
to go with everyone’s daddy issues

AK:
Glad to see Kima from the Wire!
Great casting, too, because I initially accepted her as an older version of Burnham
My theory is that it will turn out that the suit had Burnham’s signature in it as a homing signal so she could find and rescue her, rather than an indication that Burnham WAS the Red Angel

SJ:
who knows
but yeah I am intrigued
also do you believe Section 13 guy?

AK:
Well, apparently there was one big detail of the story that he didn’t share — namely, how Mrs. Burnham survived!

SJ:
or did someone take the suit back and save her secretly
or something
I don’t know time travel stories also make no sense

AK:
Seriously.
I think this was probably the most surprising outcome they could have done that wouldn’t have been completely random.
Like my Seven of Nine idea — which, alas…

SJ:
hahaha
or fanservicey

AK:
Right.
I think the idea that it was Michael was falling apart before our eyes anyway — for instance, wouldn’t she remember this whole gambit?

SJ:
Right
it’s so strange

AK:
But it kept you moving the whole time — and motivated some good Tyler time

SJ:
thank you for setting me up there
OH GOD WHY DISCOVERY WHY MUST YOU PLAY WITH MY HEART

AK:
I mean, we all have those moments with our ex where we let down our guard because we’re distraught about the prospect of exposing ourselves to death in order to lure our own future selves into a time-trap.

SJ:
And because your ex is the only emotionally competent man in three galaxies even though he’s a totally traumatized half-Klingon

AK:
ha
I do think Spock has good emotional insight into her, though.

SJ:
He does. And Tyler is the only one who’s ever gotten through to her hero complex
the only one she’s ever admitted relying on

AK:
Having Spock around to deflate the hero complex has been refreshing.

SJ:
And I mean beyond the hero complex it’s obviously a sign of deep trauma.
She doesn’t rely on anyone because she’s lost everyone she ever relied on.

AK:
Exactly.
She has been the victim of two terrorist attacks AND was caught up in the beginning of a catastrophic war AND was trapped in an evil alternate reality where she had to play an evil version of herself AND AND AND

SJ:
and got her surrogate mom killed and had her surrogate dad turn out to be evil and now has to deal with the evil version of her surrogate mom who still sort of loves her in a weird way
good lord the fact that she’s upright and not curled up into a ball like Culber was when they found him is shocking

AK:
I like that she can also admit she’s scared to die

SJ:
But it takes so much for her to do it and only to Tyler.
And then she appears to be telling them not to come save her (though is she or is Spock actually just…terrible)

AK:
I think we’ve gotten to the point where we can trust Spock isn’t glad to have a chance to kill of Burnham, right?

SJ:
Can we?

AK:
I do, at least. I detect real affection between them.
He’s ribbing her as a sister, no longer so bitter and harsh.

SJ:
So why is he the one who insists on leaving her out there?

AK:
To complete the mission

SJ:
“complete the mission” doesn’t really seem like a good enough answer
literally everyone else is rushing to save her when they all want to “complete the mission”

AK:
Spock understands that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few — or the one!

SJ:
….

AK:
I think that the others may still have in the back of their mind the idea that the Red Angel is somehow bullshit or whatever, but it’s been a huge part of Spock’s life.
It’s an interesting counterpoint to the Airiam episode
A total inversion — everyone is begging Burnham to space Airiam but she won’t, and then everyone is begging Spock to save Burnham but he won’t.
I would add, in Spock’s defense, that he is also the only one who has witnessed a first-person vision of the destruction of all sentient life.

SJ:
yeah I guess
I don’t know it didn’t quite scan for me

AK:
Maybe it’s my bias as a long-time fan that I “know” Spock can’t be like that — even though the whole point is to show us a different, less mature Spock.
If he was just some random other adopted Vulcan brother, would I feel the same way? Not sure. But I do think the arc has been to bring them to a mutual appreciation — kind of like with her and Saru
Okay, so is Leland dead or what?

SJ:
That’s his name. I always forget.
Clearly they didn’t solve the problem by killing Airium
(SEE)

AK:
Well, I think the implication is that their hare-brained scheme actually provided Control with a way back after they had eradicated it
I did like that they blew up the Control station off screen.
Not sure that stabbing you in the eye would kill you, though, in any case. My prediction is that he will sport a wicked eye patch from now on

SJ:
depends on how deep I suppose

AK:
Would they pass up the chance for a wicked eyepatch, though?
That is the question.
Anyway, isn’t it weird that yet another apparently unrelated character turns out to be intimately connected to Burnham’s family?

SJ:
Right. So Section 31 is apparently her evil fake mom, her ex-boyfriend, and this guy who got her parents killed

AK:
And her ship was just commandeered by the dude who happens to be her estranged brother’s captain

SJ:
and they end up with the admiral who was sleeping with her old daddy/captain/boyfriend/whatever Lorca was
when you look at it this way it does make sense that she’s the Red Angel
everything IS about her

AK:
Yes, if the Red Angel was some random person, it would be too coincidental

SJ:
but it is particularly weird

AK:
Yes.
I do wonder how they will pull it off.
But I do quietly note that they have now introduced a SECOND magical transportation technology in the TOS era.
One that doesn’t even require a ship, but also enables time travel.
Although I guess we don’t yet know how the suit really functions.

SJ:
I guess we’re about to

AK:
I do notice that it seems to work just like their space suits when she steps out of it in the end
It could be that Burnham isn’t the messiah, but she’s caught up in all this because of who her mother is
Here’s a question: Is Admiral Cornwall one of the good guys?

SJ:
They can’t seem to make up their minds about her.

AK:
She did see through Lorca before anyone

SJ:
I mean
she was literally sleeping with him and didn’t figure out he wasn’t that guy, she just thought it was trauma
which to be fair “you’re your evil self from a mirror universe” I guess is not that plausible
though I have occasionally wondered that about exes

AK:
ha
Yeah, no one should be faulted for not seeing the Mirror thing coming (at least in-universe).
There’s one TNG episode where they bring back the actress who plays Tasha Yar via some time-travel nonsense and Captain Picard says: “But that’s absurd!” I think someone should have said the same thing about the MU at some point.

SJ:
hahah

AK:
So any predictions on where we’re headed? This is about 2/3 of the way through the season.

SJ:
Honestly? Not sure.
I mean we know who the Red Angel is, sorta, now.
Though it just opens up more questions.
I like Culber in his gothy suit wandering around having feelings

AK:
I asked My Esteemed Partner why they didn’t use the regular doctor for any of this, and she suggested that he’s the dispensable doctor.
I predict that they will spin out Tyler and Culber for the Section 31 show.

SJ:
well they used him because he’s an actual character

AK:
And Captain Pike and Spock will go back home to the Enterprise, enriched for their character-formative and totally canonical time on the Discovery.
Other than that, I have no clue where things are going.
It feels very open-ended, but in a compelling way, not a frustrating way.
For me, they had to rebuild some trust after the first season finale and the rocky first few episodes of this season — but I do trust them now.

SJ:
I mean I was going to keep watching regardless but yeah, it’s gotten back on track I think.

AK:
Man, remember when L’Rell brandished a decapitated baby-head, though?

SJ:
I miss L’Rell.
that whole baby ish was baaaaad though and I really hope it doesn’t come back
let’s just collectively forget about it except to make occasional bad abortion jokes

AK:
I think I saw some Klingons in the “next on,” though…
Anyway, maybe we can call it a day.