The creators of this series have been telling us all along that they are dedicated to the positive vision of Star Trek. But the complexity of character and narrative, combined with the gritty subject matter of war and violence, have turned off a lot of old school Star Trek fans who think it’s too dark. Obviously, they’re entitled to think what they like about it. But that’s not what I’m seeing.
The title of this episode, “Into the Forest I Go,” begins a quote which continues, “to lose my mind and find my soul,” widely attributed to naturalist and enlightened spirit John Muir. And that pretty much sums up every part of our story so far.
The unifying theme that's emerged over the first half of the season is anything but dark. It’s about becoming. It's about self-determination; self-realization; self…DISCOVERY. (Ha! See what I did there?) It’s about people who would seem to be one thing, but who choose to become something else. Something greater. Something better.
It’s about institutions — the Federation and Starfleet — trapped in circumstances that seem to be forcing them down a bad path, compelling them to be militaristic, defensive, paranoid about a hostile universe. But instead, they will choose something else — to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. (Ha! Did it again!) If we don’t actually hear those words by the end, I’ll eat my hat.
And institutions are made up of people whose journeys are microcosms of that larger one.
Michael Burnham. The first two episodes constitute a prologue in which she is trapped in the role of mutineer, which launches her on her journey of self-discovery. She is forced to redefine herself, to put aside self-recrimination, to abandon the idea that her identity was crystalized at one moment in time. She must move on.
Saru. Seemingly condemned by his very biology to a life of fear and timidity, he has chosen instead what must seem to his people to be an insane path: risk, danger, war, exploration, leadership. On Pahvan, he confronts a choice: to take the selfish route and numb his ever-present fear but contribute nothing to the larger mission, or to embrace his own nature and overcome his limitations. Only with some outside assistance does he choose the latter (Spock; “This Side of Paradise”; it’s really a beautiful version of the same story). Star Trek has a long history of giving us aliens whose characteristics reflect both the gestalt and the aspirations of our times; the Kelpiens are a brilliant addition to the line-up. (More about that here.)
Sylvia Tilly: Conventional wisdom wouldn’t cast a garrulous, nervous, socially awkward person in a leadership role (and from the 21st-century audience’s POV, a woman at that). But she’s chosen her own path. She’s going to be a captain, she’s going to figure this out, and somehow, we don’t doubt she’s going to make it. That’s why she’s the character everyone loves to love; her dedication to her self-actualization is pure, her ability to overcome obstacles is endearing, and her commitment is unwavering. We instinctively get that she is, in fact, exactly who we would want as captain.
(At this point, I feel like I ought to be able to say something about Hugh Culber’s character arc, but I can’t because there’s so little. So far he’s just a foil to Stamets, so all I’ll say is, writers, please give this character a story before he withers and dies on the vine, because Wilson Cruz deserves better.)
Now we get to the characters who are on more obscure, subversive journeys of self-realization: Lorca, Tyler, and Stamets. These are the characters who harbor secrets and about whom we’ve been teased with a lot of clues. At this point, the discussion of their arcs is all wrapped up with theories about what hasn’t yet been revealed, so from here on:
SPECULATION SPOILERS
Like the others, these three characters are tightly connected to the theme of self-determination, but with an added layer of mystery and deceit. They may not be who they say they are, or they may be turning into something they haven’t been before, but I suspect that each of their stories will hinge on one question: Who do they want to be?
Ash Tyler: The speculation here is pretty well known at this point: He’s Voq. (More here, with intriguing screen shots of Tyler’s flashback.) The common assumption, under which until now I’ve been operating as well, is that Voq was whisked off to L’Rell’s family house to be surgically altered to appear human. There, he either willingly adopted the identity of Ash Tyler or, as seems to be more likely given recent events, he had his mind altered to really believe he is Ash Tyler, and as such is a sleeper agent to be activated at some opportune moment. But the events of “Into the Forest I Go” suggest to me something else: Ash Tyler really is both Ash Tyler and also Voq. L’Rell took a real human prisoner named Ash Tyler and implanted Voq’s mind in him. She told Voq he would have to give up everything, and she didn't just mean temporarily: Voq is no more. His mind is now entirely buried within Ash Tyler’s, waiting to be awakened. Tyler’s memories of L’Rell’s sexual obsession with him are true; she loves Voq, and therefore has a pretty fucked up relationship with Tyler/Voq, which includes both torture and sex. Voq can’t be restored in his own body, and therefore Ash Tyler is her only connection to him. My prediction is that, when this all becomes clear to Tyler, he will battle the duality in his head and choose to be Ash Tyler. I also think that this will fuck him up really badly, and he’s going to need help. It’d be cool if that help comes from Admiral Cornwell, who is ALIVE! YAY!, and singularly qualified to help him. So perhaps he will not remain on Discovery and Burnham will lose her love, but not in the horrible way we thought she would.
Captain Lorca: Not only is he really determined to stay on Discovery, but he’s also been tracking the data from Stamets’ jumps really closely to figure out how the spore drive is creating access to the multiverse. After initially rejecting it, I’ve been leaning toward the Lorca-is-from-the-mirror-universe theory for awhile (ever since "Lethe," as I wrote about here, including speculation that Cornwell suspects he’s an imposter and the real Lorca actually died with the crew of the Buran). As I’ve pointed out, not everyone from the mirror universe is evil. Mirror Spock isn’t, and even more significantly, neither are the Halkans, the pacifist race who refuse to sell dilithium to the Federation (in our universe) or the Empire (in the mirror universe). In fact, while it’s been pointed out that the Pahvans in Disco are reminiscent of the Organians, a superior race that impose a peace treaty between the Klingons and the Federation in “Errand of Mercy,” in many ways they are more like the Halkans, pacifists unwilling to be caught up in someone else’s conflict in "Mirror, Mirror." Lorca is determined to defend them at all costs. What if he’s a mirror-universe guy who always secretly hated the brutality of the Empire, and who is trying to win this war for the Federation and protect the spore drive tech, not because he wants to get back to his own universe, but because he wants to make sure this universe doesn’t go down that same road? In other words, like all the others, Lorca’s arc is very much in keeping with the overarching theme; he is waging a personal battle to become who he chooses to be rather than what circumstances have made him -- to define himself on his own terms, and in so doing, to contribute to the greater good. Granted, this is all more of a stretch than Tyler; the clues aren’t as clear, and there are a whole lot of other possibilities. But I suspect we’re going to find out pretty quickly after the hiatus. At least, we’d better, because this suspense is fucking killing me.
UPDATE: An eagle-eyed fan found this: "Lorca totally hits an override command when he puts in the coordinates for where they are jumping to next. Seriously, this happens fast but if you go back and watch it, and pause when Lorca is punching in the coordinates you’ll glimpse a list of Spore Jumps, and then a command that says: OVERRIDE, LORCA, G. SPORE JUMP 133— UNKNOWN."
So I was right that he’s from another universe, or at the very least is aware of another universe, but wrong that he’s been trying to avoid going back or prevent others from there following him here. Now he’s back there, so what’s his game? I still feel he’s not just a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He did, after all, stick around long enough to basically end the Klingon war. He protected the Pahvans rather than throw them under the bus and manipulate the situation to just steal their natural transmitter, He did the right thing. But what’s his private agenda? I don’t think it’s as simple as just getting home. Maybe also rescuing his doppleganger and sending Discovery home with her “true” captain? Assuming I was wrong about that Lorca having actually died with the crew of the Buran? Because I really hope the thing about having killed his own crew isn’t true.
Lt. Stamets: This theory was new to me this morning and is already one I’m wholly committed to. This NEEDS to be true. Stamets is becoming the Traveler of TNG. It all makes sense, up to and including all that stuff Lorca says to him about being an explorer. So again, self-actualization; the process of becoming; embracing a new identity. It’s a beautiful piece of the larger theme. (Side note: It also immediately reminds me of Jack Harkness becoming the Face of Boe in Doctor Who, raising some interesting questions about casting non-hetero characters as creatures destined to transcend the limitations of human mortality and to attain the wisdom of the gods — a subject for another long post on another day.)
Only six more episodes to wrap all this up. I should mention here, I have a really shitty track record when it comes to speculation. So if even a fraction of all this comes to pass, I’ll be very pleasantly surprised.
One more thing: I think the criticism of Disco that’s most justified is that there’s a lack of cohesive world building, which leaves the audience feeling always a bit at sea. The big thematic, plot, and character arcs are there, but they feel like they’re sort of floating in a void. What’s the hierarchy on the Discovery? We know Dr. Culber, but he’s not the chief medical officer, right? Whom does he work for? Tilly is a cadet on the fleet’s prized ship. Whom does she report to? Are there other cadets? Tyler is head of security. Does he have a staff of — I dunno — security officers? Where does he work? Where does anyone work? Where is stuff in relation to other stuff — like, physically, how is this ship laid out, and how does everyone have a huge personal space with an awesome view of the stars? And what about all those characters we’ve now seen onscreen over and over again who seem really interesting, but who don’t even have names, unless you look them up online? Like, the entire bridge crew? It feels like the writers have been content to just vaguely sketch in a lot of stuff, and that’s disconcerting to the audience. I realize they have to achieve a lot in limited screen time, both in terms of story and showing off the cool fx we’re paying subscription fees for, but the nuts-and-bolts storytelling is critical. I hope we’re about to get a lot of that stuff filled in.
Add Bill and Heather to the list in Who as well.
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