Wings: Discovery's Klingon Bird of Prey

 Ah Discovery. Remember seasons one and two when it all went down? 

Yep, me too and I hope that in season five we'll get back to some of the quality that the first two batches of episodes provided.

For the time being though I can still gaze longingly at some of the models that were produced by the now-extinct Eaglemoss as I round out the last splatterings left in the "IN" pile. Oddly though it seems the right moment to look back since several sites are not selling these editions plus we have masterreplicas.com promising more on the way.

Now these are going to be older models that most people who followed the collection will have but for the sakes of my own completism and desire to ensure that everything from them I've got is documented, here are the last of the regular series Discovery ships I have.

These were actually purchased in that last gasp for breath sale the week before it all went Pete Tong and I had to pick quickly!

First up there's the rather impressive if unwieldy Bird of Prey. One of the things levelled against it is that it looks nothing like the classic design nor does it even come close to anything that's been seen since The Search for Spock, even in Enterprise. Still, it fits with the rest of the fleet - as it was designed to  and that's what counts. After all we're not reviewing the model design, more the model itself as a replica of what was on screen in both detail and construction quality.

The Bird of Prey is, honestly, one heck of a beautiful design for the show. From the front you can very clearly see the distinct shape of a classic version of the vessel but that's where the similarities tend to stop.

As we'll see in all the Discovery designs and models, the detail is mind-boggling. Just taking in the wing shape and features here is a task in itself. Aside from the dirt and weathering which is good but not overbearing,.

Constructed in metal, the curving wings have a very textured finish with ribbing extending from the centre of the ship out and just beyond the edges. These are distinctly raised on both the upper and lower surfaces and coloured bronze against the brown base coat. There's also a clever feathered effect at the wing edge which you just can't appreciate on a TV screen but certainly can here. That bronze edging is in evidence right across the Bird of Prey from the wings into the main body and then into the neck and head section. There's a distinct Gothic feel to the way in which this has been designed and that shows through in the model itself.

But there's also an organic piece to the Bird of Prey as running down the centre is a structure that can only be described as its spine replete with a protruding "bone" structure. Again, the detail is just magnificent although, when compared to the images in the magazine you can see that some of the higher level texturing has been lost to the weathering effect.

Some of the detail is there, notably along those feathered wing edges but into the main body the paint finish is smoother just as the bodywork itself tends to become more complex. 

The neck and head section are masterpieces when it comes to modelling with the translucent blue section touched up with bronze detail to seem an integral part of the vessel. There's something almost Alien (intentional capital) about the shape of the ship's body as if it would genuinely open up and strike out a razor sharp tongue. Everything about it says aggression and Eaglemoss managed to replicate its onscreen persona pretty closely.

Plastic models are unforgiving when it comes to cost though and sadly that real finishing texture that's so evident in the magazine does get lost a little. 

Where there is a bit of a tragedy is that these Discovery ships seem to have very little if any annotation to give you an idea of what parts are what. I can work out from the images that the wings do fold with the ship displayed in attack but what's the little piece that sits under the wings and has a piece of transparent blue at its centre? 

The design might look good but fans do want to know there's thought behind some of the features and why certain things are in set places - it's just the way they are!

The only real letdown as far as the Bird of Prey goes are the two forward facing antenna that are fairly obviously much larger than they should be. Any thinner and we'd be approaching Solar Sailor levels of delicate but these two protrusions are fairly solid. The ship is well put together with the metal and plastic sections both curving and meeting with very little indication towards the front of the sweep.

In the magazine the coverage of the design is the clear highlight with the first section only covering the Bird of Prey as part of the Klingon fleet and the actions they were used for in the first season of Discovery. At least with the design article there are a good chunk of pictures to illustrate the extensive work to create this new take on a classic starship. Even goes as far as working out the scale!

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Home Run: S1 E15: Will You Take My Hand?

It all comes down to this.   

The Klingons are heading for Earth as the war appears to be coming to a divisive conclusion. However while they’re going one way, Discovery is heading the other with the plan to spore jump beneath the surface of Qo’noS.  Did we also fail to mention that the Terran Emperor Georgiou is posing as her Prime Universe self? Well, she is, leading to more than a few palpable moments of tension and wordplay between her, Burnham and Saru with just a few jibes around eating the Kelpien. 

The rest of the crew are oblivious to this Georgiou’s real origins and when she’s out of sight the differences are striking - especially for L’Rell who ends up receiving a pasting as the Terran Emperor ‘seeks’ information to help with their mission. Georgiou also singles our Tyler due to his rather messed up origins and chews out the former Starfleet officer/Klingon Torchbearer placing him in an uneasy position ahead of what could be a deadly situation.

That deadly mission is to use a drone to map out the Klingon homeworld and viable military targets to end the war and strike at the heart of their power base. An away team of Burnham, Georgiou, Tyler and Tilly take the drone to the surface in search of a temple which will allow them access to the network of tunnels and caves beneath the surface.

The visit to the Orion black market doesn’t quite go to plan however with Georgiou getting laid, Tilly getting high and Tyler and Burnham having a rather belated and inappropriately timed heart to heart. What does transpire is that the drone isn't a drone but a bomb that Starfleet - and Admiral Cornwell - are well aware of and if it's dropped into the tunnel network and activated then it's bye bye Qo'noS.

Burnham manages to turn the potential catastrophe around by giving the bomb trigger to L'Rell so that she can use it as a rather powerful bargaining chip to unite the 24 Houses and rule a reforged Klingon Empire.

So the season ends (well, not quite but we'll come to the closing minutes shortly) and after 15 episodes this, I'll be quite honest, felt like a bit of a flat ending. The adrenaline pumping moments just weren't there, it seemed almost tame in comparison to earlier episodes however, it was packed with some cool references to The Original Series and the movies as well as having perhaps one of the most truly Star Trek conclusions of any Discovery episode to date. Did you spot the Ceti Eels? How about (now) four time Star Trek guest star Clint Howard drinking what we all suspect and hope is Tranya? What about seeing Spacedock apparently under construction? This was an episode that any fan of the franchise minutiae would have wet themselves over and probably been hospitalised in the last 90 seconds. 

Burnham is the undisputed star here, using the episode and the Mirror Georgiou to get her to reflect on her actions and experiences since the Battle at the Binary Stars and look how far she has come from that time. Michael is a different person; more level-headed and not just driven by logic. Her humanity has come to the fore and her relationships with Tilly and Tyler have affected her in different ways but yet both have ultimately made her more human.

Will You Take My Hand? may not be high-octane but it could well be the finale that Discovery deserves, rounding out all the aspects of the season neatly with just a sprinkle of set-up for season two - but let's come back to that even later....

I was surprised that none of Tyler. L'Rell or Georgiou ended up dead reflecting on the body count for the season but this in turn means that any or all of them could pop up again at any time in future years. Having settled everything with Burnham while Tilly took a "trip", the ending for Tyler is a little less signposted with him not really sure of what he is or where his life is going to lead. It's somewhat bitter-sweet in that while he has exorcised the personality of Voq it still has such a hold on him that he feels he is more at home on Qo'noS than with the Discovery and Michael. To be fair I had questioned where they could take him in a second season so this closure felt the best option.

Perhaps that isn't the case in relation to Georgiou who is now just running all over the Klingon homeworld. Again keeping her alive and allowing her to flee means we will almost certainly hear from her again as Burnham's permanent shadowy nemesis. A bold move not to kill off but hey, this season has all been about bold moves.

What did succeed was that there was some form of solid conclusion to the war and to the year as a whole rounded out by Burnham's most Star Trek of Star Trek speeches at the HQ in Paris. It felt worthwhile celebrating not just the success of Discovery's mission but also the mind-blowing success that has come from this first, fledgling year of the show. Both Stamets and Tilly rightly received promotions while Burnham is back at her Shenzhou rank although not in the position of first officer - and then there's the fact we are getting a new captain for the new year. Who? Start your bets now.

Maybe we should really look at this finale as a series of moments and scenes rather than a piece of storytelling as a whole. It's an odd one where I felt that the parts were great but just didn't add up to a better and more satisfying whole. I can dig out some great speeches, sublime events and effects but overall episode 15 left me a little hollow even when it went for the emotional tug of saying goodbye to Tyler.

And then it came right back at the end and slapped us all round the face without even the slightest warning.

I've been a big fan of the subtle hints and nods to the rest of the franchise, even accepting the whole Spock/Sarek/Michael thang that's been going on so the arrival of a certain Constitution Class ship was something more than a little special. We know that Pike is in command but it's the slight tweaks to the design that have fans talking. The engines are a little more NX-01 than The Original Series and those pylons have more in common with the movie refit than than the spindly appendages of the classic.

Whatever you think, the return of the iconic starship has to spell big things for the second season and this year is gonna drag...

What was your favourite moment from the finale of Discovery?

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Setting It All In Place: S1 E14 The War Without, The War Within

For all intents and purposes it appears the war is lost. The Klingons have control of over 20% of Federation space and there's also the small matter of Emperor Georgiou to accomodate.

The Discovery has returned to its universe of origin but nine months late. The arrival of Admiral Cornwell and Sarek is somewhat unexpected with both shocked to see the return of the Crossfield Class starship - a craft that the senior Starfleet officer saw for herself destroyed by the Klingons.

Of course it wasn't and now the return of the ship and the information concerning how to overcome the Klingon cloaking technology is going to come in very handy. Cornwell's attitude towards the Mirror Georgiou is another matter and the presence of the emperor provides a chance to find a new way to combat the warrior race since the Terrans have left Quo'noS a blackened ball of dust and conquered more of the galaxy than the Federation has yet to explore.

With 24 separate houses taking on the Federation, Starfleet is feeling the pressure and their trip to Starbase 1 reveals that the station has been overrun by the Klingons so the plan is hatched to jump the Discovery inside their homeworld, map it and its defences and then jump out. Since the ships’s mycelial forest has been wiped out, Stamets terraforms a barren moon into a source of spores thus also creating a brand new supply for future use in a matter of minutes.

But it doesn’t stop there because a deal has been struck that sees Mirror Georgiou step out onto the bridge of the Discovery in full Starfleet captain’s attire, announced to the crew as the rescued commander of the Shenzhou who will lead them to Quo’noS and begin the end of the war.

Another week and another bunch of twists to take stock of. The return of both Sarek and Cornwell was unexpected but logical in the big scheme of things. The admiral isn’t quite the military commander I thought she would be, seeming to lose track when the overrun Starbase 1 is seen and her moves within the episode being more political than tactical leaving the finer and riskier decisions in the hands of the Discovery crew. The vapourising of Lorca’s fortune cookies was a cool touch drawing a line under that arc and any further use of his name in the episode. 

Now that we are back in the main universe it does feel that the trip to thE Mirror Universe was a nice sojourn to relieve the tension of the bigger season arc which hasn’t lost any of its impact. The break cleverly has allowed for a lot of changes to take place off screen and for the plot to actually be accelerated from the opening of the war to what will more than likely be the final gambit in the finale next week. 

What is glaring from this episode though is how much the main cast tend to take a backseat to the driving force of Cornwell, Sarek and L’Rell. While these three do not dominate the episode, there are a great deal of the key moments of this episode dedicated to them. It's even more obvious in the way in which Doug Jones' Saru has a much more subtle part to play here but his evolution as a character is eloquently understated with him stepping in to assist the out-of-depth Cornwell in a moment of weakness to help steady the ship. Every episode since the break has made me re-evaluate the brilliance of Jones and the writing for the Kelpien officer making him now one of the highlights of the show even when he's not at the forefront of the story.

Admiral Cornwell’s reintroduction to L’Rell is a pivotal point in the episode. Contrasting starkly to Saru’s one on one in which he stated the Klingons were on the back foot (albeit in a Mirror Universe) here the admiral switches the other way admitting that the war is actually going pretty well for her people. The challenge with L’Rell has been to keep her interesting and fresh even though she has spent nearly half the season confined to Discovery’s brig. Placing her here has worked phenomenally well and applauds the amazing work of  the writers, directors and it goes without saying, Mary Chieffo to use L’Rell as the continuous Klingon voice and presence reminding us of the greater threat that has loomed across the season. Her character may have not altered much but having her present has opened up the opinions and thoughts of the Starfleet crew in regards to the war and what has happened to Tyler/Voq. 

Sarek's relationship with Michael receives a little more screentime this week with him realising just how much she has had to endure through the time since her incarceration for mutiny. Their final scene together in which they bid each other farewell feels very...final...and somewhat ominous however I can't believe that they would kill off Martin-Green's Burnham seeing as she is the series' main character. Surely the finale will offer her the chance for some form of redemption back into the official ranks of Starfleet or are we going to need to wait until season two for that? 

Shazad Latif also deserves a ton of recognition for his work here and throughout the season. My god has he been through the mill virtually every week. This time we see the aftermath and the shell that has been left behind following Voq’s exorcism. Tyler is even more broken than the apparently post-conflict officer we met back in Choose Your Pain and now faces the rest of his days carrying the memories of his transformation from Klingon to human and his brutal, emotionless murder of Doctor Culber. The encounter he has with Stamets is incredibly telling and a powerful moment as he attempts to apologise for such a gruesome act that he did not willingly commit. Indeed, Tyler is almost ostracised by the crew in the mess hall only to be rescued from solitude by Tilly and then the other bridge crew.

That scene in reflection to the meeting with Stamets are like chalk and cheese. One where we recognise it's not Tyler's fault and the other seeing past that but still not being able to come to terms with the individual they see before them. This also goes for Burnham whom Ash almost killed in the Mirror Universe.

Her declining of Saru's request to visit the recovering Tyler almost reminded me of the decision by Worf in The Enemy not to give blood to save the life of a Romulan; it came across that harshly but you can see where she's coming from. For no fault of his own (in some respects), Tyler could not control the Klingon inside - what I do wonder is how this is going to be fully wrapped up in episode 15 and if Tyler does stay around, what will his character get up to next season?

Episode 14 is a huge amount of set up for the finale without question and with the run time of 49 minutes (minus a few for the lengthy recap), a lot of work is set up here to close off the year neatly. If you think about it there's actually nothing rounded off this week. It's all about the planning, the preparation for the spore drive jump to end all jumps and the war at the same time.  The War Without, The War Within isn't a big hitter for the season, more the chance to catch a breath and take stock of where the show has been and come back from. 

Now we stand at a key time in the war, the Federation is on the backfoot, all is at stake and we have just one more hour of Star Trek Discovery left to conclude this amazing first season...

What are your expectations for the season finale?

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Goes Around Comes Around: S1 E13 What's Past is Prologue

After three episodes of build up, it felt like this week's Discovery was the big pay off when it comes to the Mirror Universe.

With the hugely signposted reveal that Lorca wasn't Lorca but in fact Mirror Lorca, the Terran Empire looked to be on the backfoot especially when the deceitful captain released his troops from their Agonizer booths including one Commander Landry. Ooooh - can't you see how this is all coming together after 12 episodes of set up?!

His plan is simple, remove Georgiou and take control of the Empire and while he had counted on Michael Burnham, Lorca had ironically not counted on Michael Burnham.

It's a fraught battle through the city-sized starship with some of the best phaser fights we've ever seen in Star Trek as the two sides clash. The rebels are countering forcefields, facing sentry guns and there's more phaser fire than in any single episode of the franchise ever.

Burnham is caught in the middle of a more metaphorical cross-fire however as she is forced to choose between two captains who have their own designs on her future. Her final decision is, of course, most logical and the ensuing hand to hand combat as Georgiou is brought before an apparently victorious Lorca is spectacular. If you thought that the fight in Battle at the Binary Stars was good then this is a whole new level of brilliance and showcases Michelle Yeoh's abilities even more. The sharp, cutting direction from Olatunde Osunsanmi is probably the best of the season as he keeps the lights low, playing off shadows and even just the lights of the weapons to keep the viewer in the thick of the story. It all makes the action sequences sizzle here and you can soon see that there actually isn't that much to the story this week.

Also for note is the parallelling of the badges that both Georgiou and Burnham have kept the insignia of their fallen comrade. The link, as Burnham notes, is strong across any universe.

Sonequa Martin-Green may be the star here but it is the two more senior actors who steal this week's show and not just because of their final, bloody confrontation. Isaacs' full Mirror Lorca is a calculating and driven individual with his motivations much more open and his thoughts less concealed than they were (and had to be) in the Prime Universe. Yeoh on the other hand seethes in every scene, making for easy comparison to her Prime counterpart and probably being the character who is most diametrically opposite to her alternate self.

Mirror Stamets really is a slimy creature in the Mirror Universe, selling himself out to whichever side he sees fit. His demise comes as more of a relief in What's Past is Prologue but serves also to remind us of where Prime Stamets started out in Context is for Kings with his aloof stuffiness and disdain. He might not be a fan of Lorca but he realises which way the wind is blowing pretty quickly.

While the visuals are the best we have seen in Discovery and therefore easily the best in the franchise as a whole, the narrative as a whole is a little weak. Lorca turns too quickly from his colder ‘Prime’ facade into an all out bad guy with great haste. Perhaps too much and perhaps stereotypically going from shadowy captain to full out "villain" (is there a distinction in the Mirror Universe?) may well be the biggest leap of the show's short run. Could Lorca have been more of a freedom fighter than looking to seize the Empire? Possibly but then again I think we might have thought less of his dark motivations if this was the case.

Any remorse or regret for his actions and those he plans to carry out simply disappear away and there seems to be not even the slightest concern over anyone's welfare except his own. His demise however was a real shocker and something i never saw coming from Star Trek. To kill off the captain in 13 episodes is unprecedented by Star Trek standards with only Kirk (bridge collapse) and Sisko (being the Emissary) as previous examples but both survived at least to the end of their respective series!

As for Prime Lorca  he may have swapped places with Mirror Lorca during the explosion on the Buran as it was escaping from the Charon. Maybe he died on the Prime Universe version of his old ship but I don’t think we will see him again. Isaacs is in full Terran mode here bolstered by the leathers, bruises and a heavy hand on a phaser. It becomes more evident that he has been forging the Discovery into a weapon and its crew into soldiers. Will he be back? I hpe not because the return of Lorca would weaken the impact that Isaacs has had on the show and cheapen the franchise. Let him lie.

What we do see is that Burnham’s connection to Georgiou in whichever universe is much stronger than the one she had begun to forge with Lorca. Delivering Phillipa to him plays on his weakness for Michael but there is alterior motive. Their relationship in the Mirror Universe is so pivotal to Lorca that he will accept anything to have her onboard in any form.

Over on Discovery we have some real character growth and development with Acting Captain Saru. Devising a plan to destroy the ISS Charon and return them to the correct universe all at the same time, the Kelpien commander has earned the trust and respect of his crew during a testing time. THAT speech and then his subsequent actions as the Discovery attacks the Charon are so far removed from the self-doubt he demonstrated in Choose Your Pain you absolutely believe the journey he has come on. Indded, his issuing of commands and again, the direction of this scene is sublime. The speech? Top five for me alongside "Risk is our business" and Sisko's "place where I belong". Magnificent.

The action on the Discovery also provides ample chance for the assembled bridge crew of Detmer, Airiam and Owosekun more time than before and certainly more dialogue than before. It's more than welcome and Mirror Owosekun even gets to meet a disintegration-end thanks to Lorca.

So with Stamets back from his spiritual walk in the mycelial network and able to navigate the Spore Drive to get the ship home there's just one thing that needs to be done (makes all that part about interphasic space and the like was quite pointless doesn't it?).

The challenge is that the Charon is siphoning power from the mycelial network thanks to the work of Mirror Stamets and this in turn could cause the collapse and destruction of the whole multiverse. Y'see, the Mirror Universe is all about short term vision and short term goals with no long game. This does allow for some great spacebourne action that Discovery has been missing with the ship weaving in and out of the Charon before finally escaping and using the residual energy wave from its destruction to get home - with an unexpected guest.

What’s Past is Prologue delivers in every aspect that Star Trek should. There’s intense action (and trust me, reading this back I was surprised how often I used the word), surprises all along the way and even the ending isn’t quite what you would expect although with two weeks to go it was never going to tie up everything neatly and we have Klingon war to end. As for being the best of the series so far, I'm not sure because I really loved Despite Yourself and actually have a yearning to watch the first two episodes again for comparative reasons. What's Past is Prologue ends just one piece of the first season arc and the trip back to the main universe is perfectly timed leaving us not wishing for our adventure on the other side to come to an end. The revelation that Stamets has dropped the ship back nine months later than they left is lump-in-the-throat inducing with the slow realignment of the territorial map exposing the cost of the war. The Klingons, it appears, have won.

Discovery has definitely grown and in this episode we really see who its standout cast are. Saru has never been given the right amount of screen-time but his step up into command during this Mirror Universe adventure has redefined the character from such humble origins. His use of "my friend" when speaking to Burnham is incredibly telling of the cyclic nature of their relationship from The Vulcan Hello, through her mutiny, arrival on Discovery and actions since. Cudos to the writers for playing out a long game on that one and it certainly pays off in the most subtle of ways.

Discovery is showing every week how brilliant a show it is with each twist, turn and Easter Egg. What we can expect from episodes 14 and 15 I have no idea but does anyone else suspect we might get to here about a little place called Axanar?

How do you rate What's Past is Prologue? Best of the season?

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Two By Two: S1 E12: Vaulting Ambition

With the revelation that Georgiou is the Emperor of the Mirror Universe, the future doesn't seem to be too positive for Burnham.

And rightly so since her former - and dead - captain is in this universe a seditious ruler who feeds her guests Kelpien ganglia on chopsticks for dinner before having them carted off for execution; but that's only the start of the troubles in this shorter than usual 37 minute episode (35 and a half without the recap). 

The main thread of this week sees Lorca brought before Georgiou as a traitor to the Terran Empire before being dumped into another agonizer chamber to suffer lengthy punishment until death. Meanwhile Burnham dines with the Emperor whom, we discover, became something of a mother figure to her and Michael's safe return from this foolish mission to capture Lorca has put her mind at ease. 

Or it would have had Georgiou not surmised that Mirror Burnham had actually been conspiring with the Lorca from the Terran Empire to bring about the Emperor's downfall. To save her own skin for another day, Burnham reveals that she is from a different universe, using the schematics of the spore drive on the Discovery as a bargaining chip for her freedom. Thing is it's during this final exchange with Georgiou that Burnham suddenly puts together the pieces and realises that her captain is not actually the man she thought he was.

It is Burnham's desire for this Georgiou to be like the captain she knew both acts as her downfall and the tool by which the Mirror Emperor manipulates her into a position that will benefit the Terrans and the Terrans alone in acquiring the technology on the Discovery and simultaneously killing their plans to use interphasic space to return to their own universe. Michelle Yeoh is better here as her bitter Mirror self than she ever was as the captain of the Shenzhou, playing Burnham at every angle while Michael is totally blinded by the belief that her dead captain's duplicate could be the same woman she knew. My thought is whether or not Burnham would be this blinded considering what she has witnessed in this universe along with the mental butchery she has encountered with Tyler/Voq that nearly got her killed last week.

Back on Discovery we have two arcs which both use Saru as their crossover point. He's not doing such a bad job commanding the ship but now he has not just Stamets to be concerned about because Tyler is having some major internal conflict with Voq.

In regards to the former, Stamets is somewhere on the mycelial network with his Mirror Universe counterpart from the ISS Charon (Emperor's ship) who helps him to understand more about the spores and helps him to escape back to his body. From the perspective of Tilly and Saru his return is nothing less than miraculous and does suggest that there might be a chance of getting back using the spore drive - that is until Stamets checks the mycelial forest which is already decaying. With one stroke we get Stamets back and the hope of salvation but with the other it’s dashed by the news that there are no spores to harvest. At least with this story thread we can't say we know how it's going to pan out which leads nicely to my next point...

OK, let's deal with the biggie here and move on. Lorca.

Is actually Mirror Lorca. It's not come as the biggest shocker of all time since the signposts have been very obvious and it's been difficult to avoid the rumours and theories right across the Star Trek crevices of the internet. It's well executed here with Lorca choosing to not give in to one of his captors whose sister, it seems, lost her life in Lorca's service. His choice to take the pain right to the end where he is freed in error by said officer shows his determination but more than anything we as the viewer feel vindicated that the un-Starfleet-like nature of Lorca can be easily quantified because he isn't Starfleet. It explains the war room, it explains the eye drops, it explains the Burnham fascination; it explains everything and Isaacs does a superb job of ditching some of the "Prime Lorca" facade when he gets out of the Agonizer booth, putting the boot into his former torturer - and also remembering the name of the girl who died thus confirming he is the Mirror version.

It all kind of makes sense when you piece together a lot of other bits too because god knows how many times Lorca has gone against Starfleet's wishes - his rescue of Sarek, that war room, his obsession with defeating the Klingons - it's all there and sets his apart from not just Picard and Kirk but also strides away from even the darkest aspects of Sisko. What's the score with the "real" Lorca though? Is he still alive? Will he be back for season two or will Mirror Lorca continue to command the Discovery with only Burnham knowing the truth - this would in turn allow for some future twist and meet up of the two of course.

This season has been almost exclusively about hidden layers, multiple layers to personalities, switching roles which is, very effectively, all summed up by the appearance of the Mirror Universe. If nothing screams out about two sides to everything then I don’t know what does and Vaulting Ambition represents the culmination of that with both of Burnham’s most recent commanding officers both being seen here in Mirror form and both having more to reveal than we first see. Everyone has two sides be it Burnham with her Human and Vulcan upbringings clashing or a more literal one in the form of the Tyler/Voq equation, Discovery has firmly been about the diversity not just of its cast but of the range within each of their characters. One thing I can guarantee is that I'll be watching Context is for Kings pretty much bang on after the season finale just as a means to compare the start and end points aboard the title starship.

Vaulting Ambition is a good episode but after the tumult of the last two weeks this face to face with the Emperor and the Lorca reveal feel a lot slower even in a 37 minute story which should help speed things up.  Lorca’s secret has been signposted and called out a long time ago and perhaps this over emphasis on being clever and plot twisting has taken a little of the wind out of Discovery’s sails. For me this week didn’t have the same level of tension, excitement or character when it came to the main story.

Saying that, even the subplots felt a bit plodding. Stamets and Mirror Stamets within the mycelial network was interesting and at least gave us an understanding of what the he has been seeing in his visions as well as what all the Mum kings about forests and palaces was about but add this into the pot with the Lorca reveal and it feels as if we were privy to a 37 minute info dump with not a lot behind it.

The Tyler/Voq and L’Rell story seemed to be wrapped up at lightning pace although it does mean Doug Jones gets another excellent monologue opportunity. In fact he does get a lot of the best lines doesn’t he?

Voq is clearly unstable within the confines of Tyler’s body, destroying not just sickbay but his own body leading Saru to come to a deal with L’Rell to save what is left of one of the personalities crammed into the one body. It’s actually rather terrifying how much Shazad Latif manages to throw himself around here but the end result, a bit of sciencey bobbins from L’Rell sees, it seems, the Voq personality die although I’d put money that this will show its face again. Amazing how she's the only one who can sort it out and it's all resolved in less than two minutes.

The inclusion of the Klingon Death Howl does signify the finality of the Voq storyline and leaves Mary Chieffo’s character as the sole remaining Klingon in the show and also at something of a loose end in Discovery’s brig. She now has truly sacrificed more than Voq, allowing her lover/co-conspirator to be eliminated for the sake of a Starfleet officer. 

Vaulting Ambition does take something from it’s title in that it is openly ambitious in its scale. The acting and action are great all through and while those twists have been anticipated we now have the question of What Now?

What exactly is going on and how is this season going to come to a close? Where will this ship end up and will it be the same Universe they left in episode nine? We as fans might have worked out the twists so far but with three episodes still left to air there has to be more coming our way.

What were your impressions of this week's episode?

Track back through our reviews of every episode HERE

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Never Forget a Face: S1 Ep11 The Wolf Inside

My initial thought that Despite Yourself was going to be the pinnacle of season one were blown out of the water with The Wolf Inside.

Burnham is fully undercover as her Mirror self although she is beginning to lose herself within the facade. While this isn't a wholly evil universe she is struggling to come to terms with the casual racism, slavery and the brutality that the Terran Empire has brought to the galaxy.

Tyler is proving to be her only support since Lorca (whom we see very little of and may be compromised) is still locked away in the Agoniser booth. The challenge Burnham faces is to pass the heavily encrypted data files on the USS Defiant and its passage to the Mirror Universe back to the Discovery and has that weight added to with the Empire demanding the destruction of a suspected rebel outpost.

Burnham sees an opportunity to reach out to the rebels and save them in return for an understanding of how the alliance of Klingons, Andorians, Tellerites and Vulcans was formed. When Burnham and Tyler do get down to the surface and avoid being blown apart by the rebel forces, they discover that the fabled "FireWolf" is in fact Voq, the Klingon we saw back in the first trio of stories as the Torchbearer and heir-apparent to T'Kuv'ma.

Also there, suitably goatee-adorned is one Sarek of Vulcan aka The Prophet. He confirms via mind-meld that Burnham is telling the truth about her origins however Voq's words manage to activate whatever has been laying dormant within Tyler. Of course the reimagined Andorians and Tellarites are as big a draw for fans in these scenes as that legendary Mirror Universe beard and I think that the makeup artists of 2017 have done a stunning job in adding their own twist to these classic Star Trek aliens. Heck, the Tellarites get better every time they're resurrected.

Yes, it's finally out that Tyler is Voq (picture to the right via Entertainment Weekly). The Starfleet version goes hell for leather at his rebel-leading Mirror self but the real issue chimes in when we get back to the ISS Shenzhou because the facade of Tyler slips and the Klingon comes to the surface, attempting to kill Burnham and only being stopped by slave Saru.

The fight is great as are the more graphic flashbacks to Voq's transformation into the traumatised Starfleet security chief but after all the ramblings of the internet it does feel that Discovery's worst kept secret is a bit of a let down because, well, we all worked it out back in episode four.

Sentenced to death Tyler is spaced only to be quickly "rescued" by the Discovery. Seems Burnham had slipped the disk with the Defiant data on it onto the disgraced officer...

The Mirror Universe isn't quite that straight mirror that The Original Series made it out to be because here we see the strain of maintaining that false front, to act like the "savages" we might believe them to be. Burnham is placed in a horrible situation and looks certain to circumvent genocide however the arrival of the Emperor puts paid to that. The roles of her and Lorca are totally flipped within this Mirror Universe arc with the captain and prisoner in opposite places. Sonequa Martin-Green is the driving force behind this episode, commanding a dark starship, facing the news that her lover is not what he seems and, erm, that final one which really screws with her world.

With Burnham's life being pulled down around her, the tour de force of the episode comes from Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler. My god this guy is pushed to the limit playing a range of both Tyler and Voq's aspects as well as, effectively, playing both the sides of the character on screen in the same episode. The sequence in which he finally trips into Voq is truly chilling as his Klingon beliefs and motivations come to the fore. Breathtaking.

The Mirror Universe given the life it is here is being given the chance to breathe more than ever and for us as the viewer to explore more than ever before. The inclusion of the nameless Saru here and the systems of contempt in operation drive home the darkness but at its core, is The Wolf Inside really about seeing past the layers to what's really at the heart of us all?

In a literal sense the title is shouting out the plot twist around Tyler/Voq (Wolf inside...get it? Voq's the WOLF inside...yeah...you see where I'm going...) but it also betrays what might be lying deep within Burnham too. Her action to sentence Tyler to death may have an alternate reason to it however there's not even a flicker of regret when he gets spaced. It's a far cry from her voiced concerns during the diary entry at the start of the show (and part of the longest pre-titles sequence ever?). Plus there's the fact she omits to tell Saru on the Discovery about his Mirror self while he in turn decides not to reveal that Culber is dead allowing that to be left to the vengeful Tyler/Voq. Cleverly it seems that the main characters are taking much darker turns in personality since crossing over and the reorientation back to normal life on the de-Empire'd Discovery could be a treat to behold.

While all this is going on aboard the Shenzhou, Saru is left in command of the eponymous starship and allows Tilly to attempt to save Paul Stamets. The lieutenant is at the cliff-edge after discovering that Culber has been murdered (Tyler admits this to Burnham before trying to kill her) but Tilly believes that she has the solution to bring him back. Her answer, probably one of the most technobabble filled explanations of the whole series, at first looks set to get her on the command track but ends up killing Stamets. Never fear because he's soon back to life however he's out on the mycellial network and encountering his alternative self. More on that I suspect, next week.

It is a much smaller part of the episode but the final scene of Saru and Tyler plus the speech which he gives the troubled officer/Klingon is one of the best of the series to date and reminds us just what Starfleet is about even though the ship is stranded in a morally-corrupt universe. If there was doubt about how the writers' room sees Star Trek this was the 30 seconds that proved they know precisely what they are on about.

On another note it's important that we see Saru in this command role given just how much indecision and troubles his last attempt at command was when Lorca was captured by L'Rell. He has come on a great deal although there are still a few seconds of wavering judgement in there around whether or not to provide medical aid to Stamets or allow Tilly to get her way however it's a far cry from where he was.

From the pacing and the feel of the episode I suspect we might be in the middle of a min-arc that will come to an end next week ahead of the final three episodes that will, I would think, close off the Klingon War and the Voq storyline. While The Wolf Inside is a great indulgence episode that gives a lot of nods to fans, there are some inherent issues with it which come from the two plot twist revelations however amazing they are on screen. They are, sadly, predictable because of the wonders of the internet in regards to Tyler/Voq and because, well, it just had to be that character as the Emperor didn't it? I mean, there was such a big thing made about That Person being included in the cast! As stated already though, the decision not to drag these "revelations" out any longer is a wise move and viewers will appreciate it.

I firmly believe that episode 12 will end the Mirror Universe line and return the Discovery home but not as cleanly as we might have expected. I think there will be casualties and maybe a crossover but that might be reading into things way too much. What we are promised is that the season will end but not as we might expect and for the sake of the show I really do hope that the twists and turns that come up are as unexpected as Culber's untimely demise...

How do you rate The Wolf Inside? Predictable or gloriously indulgent Star Trek?

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