Scream for Me: S1 E8 Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

There’s a sense of desperation in this week’s Discovery with our motley crew seeking solutions in every corner to defeat the surging Klingon war machine.

As it goes there’s not a lot of war war in this story besides the opening few minutes but it’s certainly one of the most energetic bridge combat scenes I think there’s ever been in Star Trek. We even manage a little touch of ascerbic Lorca in there as the Discovery jumps into the middle of a battle between the Shepard Class USS Gagarin and it’s overpowering Klingon adversaries. This scene get busy, anxious and right at the edge helped by sharp cutting of camera angles and brisk no nonsense dialogue. It also contrasts starkly against the rest of the episode which is, for the most part, quite sedate.

The bulk of this week takes us to the idyllic forest planet of Pahvo. A world where everything is peaceful and in harmony so much so that the world has its own melody that fills the air due to the natural vibrations given off by every element. It all sounds perfect but as you would guess, it isn’t quite so.

The reason we are here is because there’s a crystalline structure which radiates this melodic signal into space and Starfleet believes that it might give them the upper hand against the cloaking technology employed by the Klingons. Indeed, the tech that Kol has stolen from T’Kuvma’s Sarcophagus Ship is now being replicated across all the ships of his allies and is undetectable by the Starfleet vessels.

So it falls to Saru, Burnham and Tyler to investigate but their trip to the seemingly uninhabited turns up some kind of lifeform which turns it into a first contact situation led by the Kelpien first officer. Trouble is he gets a little too involved and the planet seems to take control. His inate skepticism and fear as a prey species vanished and we have a more confident and relaxed Saru who appears incredibly at peace with himself which puts him at loggerheads with his companions. He wants to stay and Burnham and Tyler are more than prepared to leave but Saru’s connection makes this seemingly impossible. 

Doug Jones rules this episode from the very start whether he’s dealing with the inner conflict resolution thanks to the Pahvans, crushing communicators or speeding at up to 80mph through a forest, we learn so much about Saru in this episode and makes up for his sparse appearance and use in the last couple of weeks. It’s an emotional journey here as he finally feels - for a short time - free of fear - to the point where remaining on Pahvo becomes more important than completing the mission and helping to save the Federation. 

At moments it does come across as Saru has received enlightenment and at the conclusion his desire to stop Burnham from contacting Discovery sizzles off the screen as he races to halt communication. His relationship with Michael is put under even more stress since it is she whom wants to put a stop to his choice to remain and contact their ship.From the beginning their one-upmanship has been a staple of the story with each playing off the other and genuinely getting under the skin of their colleague/superior/former superior where possible. Here it is a much more confrontational and direct issue that hasn't been seen before due to Saru's prey species nature. It also echoes that already this character has been on an extensive journey in just eight episodes from a promotion, change of ship, being placed in a difficult command position and now leading a crucial away mission. His development has been more under the radar than others but in Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum all of these elements come together.

The relationship between Burnham and Tyler also rises to the surface here if only briefly. Last week they forgot their first kiss from one of the multiple 30 minute timeloops and get to live it again (for the first time?) providing Burnham the perfect opportunity to recite a bit of classic Star Trek dialogue about needs of many (or the one). It's an even more relaxed moment in the episode that parallels the seemingly paradisaical nature of the harmonious planet. I'm convinced this is a doomed relationship the more I see it - it's too good to be true.  

Stamets and Tilly only get a little bit of screentime this week (boo!) yet it remains relevant to the arc with the mycologist beginning to return to his normal "grumpy" self following his DNA restructuring. We do get to see how he "logs in" to the spore drive which has been made a lot more comfortable however his conversation with Tilly in the mess hall reveals that he's losing cohesion with the world around him the more he's using the drive - something isn't quite right and it's getting worse. Prediction on this one - at some point this is going to cause a bit of dimension hopping which will, of course, bring us into line with the Mirror Universe as has already been hinted. 

As this seems an episode significantly about double acts (and then Saru acting alone), there's one more that really sets this story alight and for me eclipsed the A story. L’Rell and Cornwell are electric here and leaves a lot of questions hanging for the mid-season finale. Jayne Brooks and Mary Chieffo are definitely the highlight of this episode as both come to realise that there is more to the other than they first thought but L'Rell's carefully laid plans are shattered forcing her to take an alternative path - that equally doesn't look like it was a good choice. 

Her foil in Kenneth Mitchell's Kol is the perfect nemesis being just as devious as L'Rell and both of them in fact being uncharacteristically underhand as Klingons. At least with L'Rell she can account for that being due to her heritage as part of the House Mokai who were described as spies and liars back in Battle at the Binary Stars. Side point - we do have mention that Voq has abandoned her however given that this episode covers quite a bit of deceit and more than meets the eye when it comes to more than one of the duos we are observers to it seems that this might need to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum is a good episode although I did feel that there was a significant weight of overhype due to it being written by Voyager novelist Kirsten Beyer. Did it live up to the emotional sledgehammer that we expected? No. It was good and it's a lot of "middle" to set up the mid-season finale which is coming next week. What I would say is that every part of this story contributes to the whole and there's no filler present which I believe has been shaved away thanks to the reduced season length (26 to 15)Doug Jones is great here taking centre stage as Saru giving his a lot of depth to himself and his species but that Cornwell/L'Rell partnership really does resonate more after the credits have rolled. As character pieces go I still prefer Lethe and after some of the higher octane episodes so far it did feel a little more relaxed even at the more intended moments of tension. Not Discovery's finest hour of the season but not terrible.

How did you rate Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum?

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Cheyenne Bright Like a Diamond: The Official Starships Collection Issues 108 and 109

Man have we been busy with ship arrivals!

There was the Aventine, then there was the Titan plus I had late deliveries of the K-7 station and a replacement for my Bird of Prey with a bent gun. 

Now the second of the Wolf 359 fleet has docked with the Cheyenne Class USS Ahwahnee, another of the kitbashed background wreckage from the classic The Best of Both Worlds, Part II. 

The fact it’s kitbashed is fairly evident from outside of the box before you even get your hands on it. The Galaxy Class saucer is shouting at you from a distance but the odd point here is that this primary hull - the only hull really - is two bottom halves of a Galaxy Class saucer mated together. Take a look and you’ll see the recessed square windows near the centre on both the top and bottom pieces plus the curvature of the saucer from outer edge to centre starts a couple of centimetres from the rim rather than the doming effect of the top of the Enterprise-D saucer.

As a comparison just pull your Eaglemoss issue one Enterprise alongside to check out the parallels on the detail and you’ll see. In fact it’s brilliant that the producers of the collection have gone to the effort of replicating that saucer detail on both sides from the original source material. To be fair the source is probably the AMT model kit for the D rather than the studio starship!

There’s also a stupidly big ship registry and name emblazoned across the front of the hull here. I mean, jeez, it’s massive. Maybe there’s a Federation standard size for ship numbering fonts but this is out of proportion to the rest of the damn ship. Also if you like your starship comparisons the top of the saucer is in metal while the flip side has a plastic insert. 

Detail-wise they are identical in quality with one exception in that the topside has the bridge module in centre spot and probably massively out of proportion while the bottom appears to have a captain’s yacht docked. Otherwise there’s only the rim to mark out where the plastic and metal come together being the obvious difference. 

Spot also the aztec paint job again as a comparison to the Enterprise-D saucer. While this ship was designed and built to be a floating blob in the background of a scene rather than a centre screen hero ship it was still afforded a decent finish!

So, moving backwards there’s the double cobrahead lifting the quad nacelles above and below the oval main hull. Now with these engines in their formation here it does make the Ahwahnee look like the lovechild of a Galaxy Class starship and a Babylon 5 Starfury but that’s not a bad thing(?!).

We do have a reduced number of windows in the double cobrahead as with the saucer since these are supposed to be much smaller than the model class they were pillaged from. 

What I do like here is the inclusion of the Starfleet pennant atop the engine pylon assembly. It draws the design together and the simple red edging down the cobrahead and also on the engines lifts out the two tone shading on the hull. 

This whole rear section is a scratch build from the splitter engine bar and out into the nacelles themselves. As with the New Orleans Class USS Kyushu back in issue xx, the warp engines are heavily disguised marker pens but if you didn’t know you wouldn’t guess since the work to hide them is so good with golden vent detail, warp grilles and bussard collectors all attached to the four extremities. 

At the rear you might have thought that the designers would have slacked off but there appear to be a shuttlebay fitted to the rear of each of the splitter pylons and sitting either side of a tragically unpainted impulse engine block. It’s an ugly oversight and the only thing going for it is the fact that you’re not likely to have it displayed with the backend facing out. Personally grab a red Sharpie and colour it in. 

For me the consistency of detail top and bottom especially when it comes to a ship that was only ever window dressing is stunning. She does look total class even if she is simplistic in execution and for fans of all things Borg the Ahwahnee is a certain addition.

As for stand positioning, the clip slides over the whole of the rear four warp engines’ pylons. There is some lateral movement so you might need to give it a gentle nudge to centralise and the end result is pretty good to look at.

The issue packed in the box with the ship gives a skant overview of the ship since it is a background kitbash. Even though it is only glimpsed for a frame or two in the season four opener of The Next Generation there's enough info to at least give some meat on the bones and provide fans with something of a background to the only starship that was salvaged from the battle. 

Instead of a section dedicated to designing the ship, we have a guide to the craft that were involved in at Wolf 359 and have, to date been "officially identified" either in the episode at the time or in references since. It's a good, full section that nods to starships we know are due in the next few issues plus some others that we have yet to hear about. Offering some details on their construction, reasons for naming and other sprinkled facts makes this a fantastic inclusion to this expanding library.

Ok, next up is something equally incredible to look at in the shape of the Borg Queen’s Ship from Voyager. 

This has to be up there as one of the most intricate designs ever to cross from the screen into the collection given all the angles, textures and pointy bits that mark every surface on the model.

The first thing that struck me is the paintwork. While there is still the metal/plastic combo in play it’s hard to tell what is what because of the textured paint finish that makes ALL of the quadrahedron look as though it’s brushed metal. It’s a really impressive finish on the ship to the extreme that actually telling the metal and plastic apart becomes challenging. A cursory glance won’t help and even to the touch is testing.

However, the two component parts don’t have a defined top and bottom here rather they are worked together into the main frame each forming two ‘sides’ of the outer skeletal structure. It’s a new step for Eaglemoss with this process rather than doing certain pieces in metal and others in plastic as we see with a lot of Federation starships.

In the Borg Queen’s Vessel the parts are virtually indistinguishable since they all have the same surface panel detail, appendages and fantastic brushwork. It all combines for an impressive overall visual effect that really works. 

At the centre of this unique design is a core again painted in the brushed metal effect. The main thing to spot here are the ‘glowing’ green sections which gave the craft more depth on the screen. The challenge here is that the translation from screen to model means that the depth of the centre block and the indication that it rotates does get lost somewhat due to the restrictions of cost if nothing more.

The energy signatures spotted around the surface of the ship in green emphasise the Borg nature of the diamond-shaped ship plus it brings some life to what is a brilliantly realised model. This has to be recognised for the great paintwork at the least - that and some of the rather sharp edges. 

Of all the Borg ships this, for me, is probably the most accurate and has the right feel to it. Both the Sphere and the Tactical Cube suffered from being 100% plastic and losing something of the ‘weight’ that the metal brings physically and metaphorically to the Borg Queen’s Ship. While not totally metal the overall effect that is carried across the whole surface is fascinating and varied from one side to another and creates a very unique and distinctive product. The intricate little interior details, cutouts and prongs are just perfect and add depth to the visual experience here. It feels alive and it looks spectacular at every angle - which is a good thing since it is supposed to be fairly symmetrical.

The stand is equally as unique as you would expect for a Borg ship being two pairs of vertical prongs into which two sides of the outer diamond framework slot. Solid and secure in this one with my only note being that the base needed a slight bit of filing to fit snugly into the black base. 

Into the pages of the magazine as always after a good examination of the model and we have a big focus on Dark Frontier. Luckily we’ve only examined this from the perspective of the Hansen family when Eaglemoss released the Raven but here we have more attention to the Borg. Recounting some great background to the Queen’s Ship, the opening section does well to stay away from simply telling the episode plot as many of these can. That’s left to some of the fact blocks scattered through the issue while we have a section that looks at the design of the quadrahedron.

Being Borg it’s all about picking the right geometric shape for the occasion and then adapting it to the look of the Star Trek nemesis. Actually a fairly straight forward process we still manage to pull out two pages and some initial sketches!

Dominating this issue however is the analysis of the journey of one USS Voyager. Covering pretty much every successful attempt to shorten the journey from Caretaker through to Endgame it’s a rather useful overview of the show with some great nuggets of information to tuck away for that rainy day Star Trek conversation. In fact it is a decent read and I did feel by the end of not just this issue but also the mag with the Ahwahnee that the collection has now found itself a great niche in offering condensed - and relatively model related - fact dumps each issue. The last few I’ve found particularly good and refreshing.

While I did have to wait a little longer than expected or desired (!) for these two they were well worth the wait and have made me even more eager for the remaining Wolf 359 ships AND the hope that there will be a more accurate Borg Cube coming soon to complete that set. Great month, cracking ships and a firm flag planted that this collection is maintaining its quality and providing some real oddball stuff that’s got fans clambering for more. Send me more NOW!!!!

Best Borg box to date? Loving the Wolf 359ers?

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Don't Have the Time: S1 E7 Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad

With the whisper of a time loop the collective Star Trek fanbase muttered in concern; Are they just rehacking Cause and Effect?

No, because the ladies and gents behind Discovery have a brain and know that reworking a classic from The Next Generation would be heresy at the least. We actually get a break from the war here (although it does warrant a mention or six) but on the whole this is a cracking bottle show that breaks a lot of Star Trek walls and keeps the show fresh to the core.

So while Lorca has been successfully dropping his lover into the clutches of the Klingons it seems a certain galactic conman has been working his magic. But more on that shortly because it’s party time on the Discovery with some serious classical music in play and drinks all round. Just as it looks like Burnham and Tyler might take their relationship to stage two, a call to the bridge has them rescuing a Gormagander space whale thing that is more of a Trojan Horse than anything. 

Spewing out a spaceman it comes to pass that the mystery man in the Andorian helmet is Harcourt Fenton Mudd seeking to unravel the secrets of the Discovery and flog it to the Klingons. Cleverly he’s learning more and more about the ship each time he visits it - because he’s stuck it into a 30 minute time loop and each cycle he gets a bit more information about the spore drive. 

In essence this is similar to Cause and Effect only in that the destruction of the Discovery marks the end of the loop although why it needs to blow up isn’t really explained since Mudd is able to reset the timer should he not achieve his goal to fully understand the secrets of the ship. In that 1992 episode no-one fully remembered each cycle and there were only echoes to help them work out what was going on.

Stamets is key to the whole ‘discovery’ element of the episode being the only crew member who retains memories from one loop to the next because of the tardigrade DNA which means he’s somehow not totally linked to this dimension. His character is becoming more and more central to the story with his personality diverting into some very new and varied avenues - it’s almost like he’s permanently stoned (magic mushrooms...?!) but it has added a welcome lighter element to his rather rigid attitude that we saw in Context is for Kings.

The lieutenant is our guide here giving clues and working out a solution to get the right people in the right place to save the Discovery and her crew before it’s (cliche) too late. Personally Stamets is a highlight of the show and his interactions with Burnham here are fantastic to watch as he both advances the story and makes Michael realise some of the other little bits that are going on around her.

Lorca’s darkness isn’t that heavily on show this week although we get another look around his mancave research lab/secret room but he actually has very little to do in this story after last week’s antics. Watch out again for the massive galactic map on his ready room wall and see how many familiar locations you can make out. Plus - where’s the Tribble gone?!

However, it’s Rainn Wilson AGAIN that owns this episode without question. His Mudd is still as good as it was last time and each loop is slightly different. There’s a cocky swagger to the later incursions as he has things so downpat to the point where he can avoid crew because he knows exactly where they will be and when. The sequence in which he recounts the 53 times he’s killed Lorca is very well directed with the highlights flashed before us - several shootings and a spacing. If you watch it through there are quite a few different ways that Mudd exterminated members of the crew and his line about the apparent design flaw in the Discovery which means that he can find new ways of blowing it up is inspired and certainly a rather hefty nod to every other time a hero starship has bitten the dust.

Indeed it is Mudd’s arrogant overconfidence that proves his unravelling here as Stamets with help from Tyler, Lorca and Burnham in multiple loops finally work out how to con the conman. The ending, if I’m honest is a little on the cheesy side but nods distinctly to I, Mudd for its reference material. Does it nod directly to The Original Series? Maybe but I don’t think this will be our last encounter on Discovery with Wilson’s rogue trader.

While Stamets continues to develop due to his link with the ship’s drive system, it almost seems that Saru is getting more and more sidelined with very little for him to do last week or this. His role here is minimal and purely down to stating computer data although you would suspect from next week’s preview that this imbalance is going to be substantially addressed. 

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad is the cleverest script from Discovery to date and succeeds in providing a breather from the war but still continues an established element with Harcourt Fenton Mudd and starts to ramp up the intimacy between Burnham and Tyler. Is this a doomed relationship? I’m inclined to believe that there’s elements of betrayal and distrust set to invade this pairing but that might be biase from the supposed twist we all know about. 

Each of the loops is kept fresh and different because of the choice of differing camera angles, chopping around dialogue and having the uncertain element of Stamets popping up at unexpected times to change the direction after the Disco disco. For me that scene feels distinctly non-Trek while the plot is something you would easily expect to find on Voyager or The Next Generation. Indeed there’s a lot of fraternisation that we never saw on any of the previous shows - in fact this kind of below decks downtime was Barry even registered except for maybe Lower Decks but then that was an incredible tame game of poker. 

I still feel happier with Lethe as an episode over this one. While it is good and there’s just about everything bolted in here - romance, action, intrigue, twists, tech, aliens and more, Lethe was a more satisfying 50 minutes that expanded the mythology. Did we learn more about Mudd here? Well he was a more sinister character which we established in Choose Your Pain but there was very little else added for depth leaving Rainn to chew some scenery and play up at every opportunity. The yawn he gives on the last loop is so telling of his lethargy over the repeats and there’s even his line about being sick of gloating since it’s been going on for so long.  

Saying that this isn’t really linked into the main arc is perhaps a little bit incorrect because the suggestion does seem that Mudd has been allowed out for the express purpose of securing the Discovery. Previews for episode eight indicate that we will be seeing Cornwell in the hands of the Klingons and Would you believe that the warrior race would buy the starship off Mudd rather than just kill him and take it? The latter is more likely with him being played to get a result. 

As episodes go, it’s a good one with a good balance of light and dark moments which show that Discovery isn’t all doom, gloom, killings and Klingons. What I think we can say by this point is that this is the most solid first season of a Star Trek series since Kirk was in command.

Top quality or rewriting a classic? What's your opinion on episode seven?

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All images from Google Images

Elba's Pool Car: The Official Starships Collection Special Eight

Another one of those late arrivals to SKoST Towers is the Altamid Swarm Ship from that rather good motion picture Star Trek Beyond.

Bloody shame then that the model of the enemy craft is such a shower of s**t. Honestly, I think this is the worst special edition that's come out of the Eaglemoss catalogue. I might even suggest a large scale Malon Freighter over this one.

Delivered in its standard special box with polystyrene packaging, the Swarm Ship feels like a bit of a lump when you pull it out. There are a lot of spindles striking out from the central hull but these extremities don’t manage to distract from the rather blocky and dull craft that this is.

Take the central section and let’s work outwards from there. The two shades of brown that act as the paint scheme are very blocky and there’s a striking line between each of the colours right over the hull rather than blending into each other organically. 

The mound itself is fairly sound and steady with average detailing of the panel lines but there’s just something here that hasn’t translated from the screen to the model. It’s almost the same result that we saw from the regular issue Species 8472 bioship and on an even larger scale it’s painfully evident that Eaglemoss can do metalwork but not stray too far outside that remit. The cockpit windows in the centre of the body are all blacked out to avoid having to detail the interior and that’s just something we have to live with here although it does mean the pilot area blends in with the rest of the hull making it almost unnoticeable.

The paintwork is just far too regular and inorganic which doesn’t help that golden final effect. Texturally it doesn’t look right even though the angles and markings are probably perfect and taken from the movie reference material. 

The definition of the claw-like nose section is pretty good with all the separation points and mechanics signposted but that blotchy brown colour scheme seems to cheapen the result. Much like this craft attacking the Enterprise, there’s nothing subtle about the lines of the Swarm Ship especially at the pointy end.

Moving slightly rearward there has been an attempt to form the mechanics around the wings and how they are supposed to fold into the craft. The larger scale works both for and against here allowing Eaglemoss the chance to be more creative visually around the workings but then are inversely beaten back by the apparent restrictions of their own manufacturing plant/processes/costs which mean that they can’t go into too much detail in this joint. Don’t get me wrong, you can see the vision here and some of the cut lines that mark out the sections but it feels incomplete. 

The wings feature that distinct and defined sand and brown colour scheme again. I actually love the form of the two side pods and have to say that there’s no structural rigidity lost here. The tips are clean and fresh with no evidence of moulding which can be tricky when you get to pointy parts. Fortunately that is one thing Eaglemoss have been strong on and with a ship such as this where the protrusions from the main hull make it so distinctive, a sloppy finish would have been awfully obvious. Great to see that there’s strong panel definition right up to the tips as well which can’t have been the easiest thing to produce. 

My next challenge with the Swarm Ship comes with the rear prongs. Remember the Xindi Reptilian Warship and those slender fins to the rear? Yep? Well there’s the same flexibility here which just can’t be avoided. Seeing how this kind of work is replicated absolutely backs up the conclusion that the Narada from the 2009 movie is going to be a series impossibility due to the high fin count. The prongs/fins don't feel stupidly bendy and the front ones are thicker - just watch those ones to the back.

Over on the belly there’s not much more to say than we’ve already noted about the topside of the Swarm Ship purely because the colour scheme is identical. The patterning is different on the underside of the wings with a sharper and more complex geometric pattern contrasting against the dark brown slab of the main fuselage. The detail shows the nose mechanics once more and you can barely make out the join lines between the upper metal hull and the partial lower plastic parts.

Stand positioning is a secure grip to the rear of the main hull with the Swarm Ship's nose slightly elevated. No movement so this one should stay in one piece and it does make for a good display pose however even that can't make up for its shortcomings.

Apart from two pages giving brief background on the Beyond ship, the 16 page magazine is filled out with Designing the Swarm Ship. There's a lot going on in here so it's a good read because these little craft went through a lot of changes before they made it onto the screen. In fact more than you might first expect due to a significant part of the story which required them to do something very specific. Here's a point to note - the magazine contains a ton of fantastic production images, sketches, storyboards and ideas about how these ships should be developed but there's not a single shot of the ships from the movie - not one - so comparing between the model and the "real thing" is a little harder this month. What you do notice even between the mag pics and the model is the wear and tear evident on the CG photos that just doesn't come out at all on the diecast craft. While the Franklin benefitted from some dirtying up, the Swarm Ship is devoid of such finishing but really would have worked given a bit of aging - it might have taken the edge off the paint scheme,

Look, it’s not that I don’t like the ship nor the model but I wanted more from this one and it doesn’t deliver because it feels like a lump of plastic. There’s nothing exciting about it, nothing that draws you to examine it again and again as the best of the collection, beit specials or regular issues, manages to do regularly. The film might have been a great experience but this model leaves something to be desired and probably sits more than comfortably in my bottom five of all time. 

How did you get on with the Altamid Swarm Ship? Waste of plastic? Nice space filler? Decent model?

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Save Our Sarek: S1 E6 Lethe

Opening with a stunning new visual of Vulcan, Lethe chooses to take Discovery on its most Star Trek path so far in a story that delivers character moments and reveals in spades and continues to evolve the season long arc at the same time.

The basics are this - Sarek is off on a Secret Mission (which we discover later is to act as a negotiator between the Federation and the Klingons) but ends up the target of a Vulcan extremist sect who attempt to assassinate the ambassador.

While their attempt, of course, fails Sarek is left stranded in the nebula and only his link to Burnham could save him. This begins the rescue mission which forms the majority of the episode. 

Lorca’s faith in Burnham here is incredible. While everyone else is pushing her to the wayside or warning the captain not to utilise her because of her mutinous past, he fully embraces her differences and sees the opportunity to exploit in her abilities. At his core Lorca is a user, surrounding himself with useful people who can do extraordinary things that could well turn the tide of the war. 

Burnham herself is absolutely committed to finding Sarek and the Trek-dump of references to canon material is near overwhelming from Spock to the Enterprise to a background shot of a ship identical to the T’Plana Hath right to the inclusion of Amanda it’s all here. 

James Frain does seem to be a little stilted as Sarek and while he carries off the part OK, the American accent just doesn’t carry well and at times seems off. He certainly plays out the emotionless Vulcan effectively but I did find his performance here a lot more wanting than the brief encounter we had in The Vulcan Hello. While the search itself is fairly rudimentary, the connection between Sarek and Burnham on the mental plain is incredibly insightful. Opening up a lot more background into the path that Burnham’s life has taken it reveals just why Sarek might have been so opposed to Spock attending Starfleet and not entering the Vulcan Expeditionary Force. It actually develops the character of Sarek perhaps more fully than ever before since we really do get to see the inner psyche of the ambassador more than ever in the classic movies or even in more open moments from The Next Generation. 

The exterior work for the graduation scenes is very welcome and a refreshing change from the claustrophobia of Starfleet and Klingon ships out in space plus we get some very cool visuals of Vulcan. 

In turn of opening up Sarek’s mind we also get to invest more in Burnham and how she ticks and exactly how the relationship between her and her adoptive parents is balanced. Mira Kirshner doesn’t have a vast role as Amanda acting only to fight Michael’s corner when it comes to her apparent rejection from the Expeditionary Force. Even here in Discovery it seems that the distrust for Humans that existed in Enterprise is still alive and kicking in some parts of the Vulcan people. Great callback and used effectively for the purposes of the characters here.

Also returning for Lethe is Lieutenant Ash Tyler. After a session of Klingon zapping Laser Quest with Lorca he’s quickly set up as Landry’s successor as Chief of Security being a superb pilot, brutal fighter and outshooting Lorca on the simulator (erm...holodeck....?).

There’s a lot of emphasis on Tyler’s background and Lorca making sure of who he is before he offers the lieutenant the job. Tyler also makes a fair impact on Burnham and Tilly here although there seems to be a much stronger connection between the mutineer and the ex-POW by the end of the episode. These three form quite an interesting new Trek trio aboard the shuttle searching for Sarek.  

While we have the Burnham squad out hunting for the ambassador the second story here turns to Lorca and his very personal relationship with Admiral Cornwell. To begin with Lorca sticks the bird to Vulcan Admiral T’Rel and decides to go on the rescue mission with Starfleet’s most advanced ship and then gets cornered by Cornwell who dresses him down in more ways than one.

Clearly there’s a long term something underpinning these two but why doesn’t Lorca remember their trip together? Is this an Easter Egg? Anyways, it’s soon a lot clearer to the Admiral that Lorca isn’t firing on all thrusters to coin a phrase from Doctor McCoy and she goes all rank-pulling with the possibility that the unstable Lorca would lose his ship.

This was a key moment in the show so far not just the episode because of how Cornwell takes Lorca right to the edge and dangles everything he values over the precipice. There’s a crack in the captain at this instant and he’s portrayed at his most vulnerable - maybe even one of the most vulnerable moments we’ve ever seen a captain face on board their own ship but Gabriel Lorca then puts even Sisko to shame.

You could debate that Lorca sees Cornwell as the perfect replacement for Sarek on his Klingon mission but in no uncertain term I’m 100% convinced he knows it’s a trap and what could happen. The calculated nature of Lorca’s decisions and suggestions is chilling. He willingly gives up a former lover and Starfleet admiral just to cover his own posterior. Full credit to him it’s genius but in the same breath a terribly dark chapter in proceedings. 

Handing Cornwell over to the Klingons keeps this episode locked into the bigger arc while providing a more wide-reaching story. The implications are massive whether she lives or dies but this all plays back into the fact that Lorca will go all out to win the war; this guy has no boundaries to get the job done.

Lorca's actions here actually tend to overshadow the main Burnham plot and information which really does readjust your view on The Original Series. His choice of carrying the phaser trouser-tucked should things have gone south with Saru coupled with his driven desire to remain as captain of the Discovery all point to darker times ahead for this man. The power of the final couple of scenes is stunning even if you do have this inkling that it's not all going to work out for Cornwell in her meeting with the Klingons.

Easily Lethe deals with the characters of Discovery more effectively than any of the others to date. There’s minimal external CG work here with the full concentration of the episode being on people and their interactions. While I’ve not mentioned Cadet Tilly in too much detail she was again a great part of the episode bringing in much needed vibrancy and optimism in  a place where not much exists at the moment. Her apparent role as Burnham's sidekick is becoming very noticable as she starts to forge her career in Starfleet and definitely has more of a focus and direction by the close.

It's a damn cool episode that relies on its people rather than "groovy" effects and action to make its mark. If this is the kind of quality we're going to get then this series will be around for a while - well, we know we're getting a second season at the least. 

This episode will probably offend some fans of The Original Series because it "fills in" some blanks and changes the nature of an established relationship but we have to move on and accept that Disvovery is going to go in new ways and explore things differently. Surely that's part of what Star Trek and good Star Trek at that is all about.

Is Lethe the best that Discovery will offer?

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