Star Trek: Discovery - Mirrors & Whistlespeak & Erigah - Reviews

Star Trek: Discovery 5.05 “Mirrors” – Review:

Mirrors continues the Star Trek trend of teasing the Mirrorverse this season without fully diving into it – this time, we see Burnham and Book embark on a stealth mission in search of the next clue and Moll and L’ak – who have got there first. It’s a fascinating pairing once again of the show’s core characters – and I really like that this show is focusing around giving them some time together to work out who they are now. It’s also a lot of full-circle moments for the both Burnham and Book as we look at how far they’ve come; and we learn what happened to the ISS Enterprise.

The Enterprise, of course, being the ship that Spock was on. We’re well aware of their mainline adventures but this is the first time that we’ve seen Burnham reference her more famous brother, Spock, in a while – and it’s the Mirror version of him. Yet the Enterprise is stuck, abandoned, which the Terran forces were sworn never to do, only as a last resort – prompting them to wonder why the ship would have been abandoned in the first place. And it’s thanks to Saru, who’s Action Saru in every universe – who led the evacuation. We don’t know what happened to this ship’s crew – but Mirrors suggests a possibility that they’re out there, somewhere – although I did feel like this episode sagged a bit; especially with so much of it set on the Enterprise – this felt like the kind of budget-saving episode where the writers wanted to keep using the same set that Strange New Worlds, the spinoff that has rapidly become the flagship Trek show, and keep it going. But it’s cool to see it there – even if there’s not a direct crossover, the nostalgia is plenty successful in drawing us in. There’s a lot of nostalgia here – the reference is clunky to Spock, and it feels rushed exposition at best. The show could have flowed a bit better five seasons in – I don’t think this is one of Discovery’s strongest episodes.

We get to learn how Moll and L’ak met in this one, and the chemistry between Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis is strong. The way that Book and Moll confront the fact that they’re related gave them both some breathing space – Moll has too much going on in her head to fully comprehend the dynamic that Book and her father had, and the connection between Burnham and Spock allowed her to explore their dynamics. Discovery is all about connections after all – maybe a bit too much of them – the older Booker left Moll on her own at 14, and Moll has only scars of the past. It’s an episode that explores the choices that they made and how they shape them – Moll and L’ak’s past choices almost come close to them handing themselves into the Federation as long as they remain together, and for a second, you think it’s possible – but their escape keeps the series’ status quo very much the same. The big reveal this episode comes that L’al is a Breen – and we learn that no matter what the deal is with the Federation, it can’t protect them from the Breen blood bounty.

I really like how we showed Rayner taking command of Discovery and you can see him relaxing a bit more. He’s still the stern Captain he ever was, promising rounds to the quickest crewmember to solve the case, but this is part of his charm – ruthless and efficient in getting the job done. And a good number one to have; Saru may be missed but it’s a credit to Discovery that his absence as a regular isn’t felt – bringing Tilly back on a regular basis makes the transition easier.

Star Trek: Discovery 5.06 “Whistlespeak” – Review:

Whistlespeak is the closest that Trek has come to matching the feels of 90s Trek in a while. It’s a callback to the second series episode of New Eden and has Tilly and Burnhm investigate a pre-warp technology where the prime directive must apply. They take on board the appearance of the natives – in search of an ancient Denobulan scientist on a planet of Hemenlo. The clue towards the endgame of this puzzle is allowing a nice series of case of the week narratives for us to follow – and I like that for all the end-of-the-world possibilities that Discovery is teasing, it *has* kept things pretty low-key on an episodic nature. This feels like Who Watches the Watchers, a throwback to the era of The Next Generation past, and Burnham has to talk down a crazed fanatic from sacrificing his daughter.

It's pretty harrowing stuff. We also get to see Tilly thrust into a situation where she is the one in danger, balancing the knowledge that Starfleet isn’t doing enough to look after her new recruits and learning to let go. It’s thrust her in a problem where she has to get to bond with Rava, played well by a June Laporte – and I liked that they experienced the trials and tribulations of the rituals together. Rain will come whether sacrifices are made or not and the fact that Tilly opts to refill Rava’s bowl gives Rava a fighting chance – and the two bond over this to complete the trials, Rava has a chip on her shoulder wanting to fight for something to prove which may be her undoing, yet what this episode proves is that the show remembers the Tilly/Burnham bond is so strong – right back from day one, when they were bunking together, and it shows again – just how far both of them have come. The show’s remembered Burnham has more relationships than just with Book and I like that the show uses them to flesh Tilly as a character out more – and it shows why Burnham is willing to go above and beyond to break the Prime Directive. It’s a Captain’s moment that Burnham hasn’t had much of, and she gets to really take centre-stage here.

Adira and Rayner are working together and I do like that both have solid points here – it’s a good episode for them both. We’ve seen what Adira can do without Gray and we’ve seen them come into their own. Rayner is slowly making a Shaw-like journey – and now that the Adira/Gray relationship has been resolved we get to see more of a focus on the Hugh and Stamets one, the chemistry between Cruz and Rapp on point. It’s good! It’s healthy! Rapp has been one of the unsung gems of Discovery, he’s the Rayner before Rayner was a thing – and I like that Cruz has allowed him to show warmth and compassion on his arc. All the relationships at play in Discovery have had their own different journeys – and this is a character-centric show first and foremost, each with their own growth.

Star Trek: Discovery 5.07 “Erigah” - Review:

This one felt a bit abrupt but we pick up now with Moll and L’ak now in custody having been captured by the Federation, but L’ak is wounded and treated by the Federation. It’s a way of raising the stakes and moving toward the end of the Moll and L’ak plot but it did feel a tad rushed to accomplish this, and a fusion of the two universal political structure and the problem-solving pathway of old-school Trek – the blend of the 90s iteration that we saw so much of in Whistlespeak, and this time out in Erigah, which puts our team in the middle of coming up with a way to use the Breen against them.

The dynamic between Moll, L’ak and Book is put to the test here as L’ak comes up with a way to get out of the Federation stronghold but Moll doesn’t like it – he’s wanted by the Breen so they can stake their claim to power over the throne, but by bluffing off the pretense of working with the other Breen faction; it’s a scheme to get the upper hand of L’ak that Burnham almost wants. It’s a culmination of sorts – the end of the path we’ve been headed towards.

The Breen dreadnaught enters Federation space and puts them on a collision course with the vision of the future that Rayner and Burnham saw earlier in the season, and no wonder – Rayner is on edge, he believes that the Breen cannot be reasoned with, cannot be bargained with – there is no negotiation with them. He’s an orphan; somebody whose people he’s lost to them. Rayner’s edge gives him the viewpoint of a hardliner, and creates further conflict with him and Burnham. Callum Keith Rennie is the MVP of the Discovery crew in this episode – his scenes of a past live coming back to haunt Rayner giving Rennie plenty to work with. This show likes to have these characters talk about their feelings – because god forbid, people don’t talk about them – and Discovery doesn’t let Rayner down.

I really liked just how surprised I was by the show taking L’ak off the table with his accidental overdose, pissing off the Breen who were supposed to rescue him and generally creating an unpredictable hole in Burnham’s plans. It was a last minute switcheroo that worked wonders, and taking the direct descendant of the Breen emperor out of the picture really pushed things over the edge in the way they haven’t been before. All that brinkmanship was a joy to watch prior though – the stand-off between T’Rina, Vance and Burnham and the Breen soldiers was peak Discovery and one of the strongest group moments in the series so far – Tara Rosling acing the character T’Rina to perfection in her confrontation with the Breen.

It’s also a real joy to have Tig Notaro back and she’s one of the most underused actors on the series. That’s because she’s a very busy actor/comedian, but she owns the scene every time she shows up and that’s no different, bluffing her CV with knowledge of rare books but finding a workaround for Burnham and co all the same: an ancient space library is on the agenda, dedicated to protecting knowledge and floating through the stars without one location tied down. Sounds like a dream come true really, and the perfect opportunity for another spinoff series.