The price of peace

“Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard, I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you can fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life. And you're so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It's your superpower. There is danger is this room, and guess what? It's you! You feel it?”

Wasn’t that a beautiful moment in the Star Trek Discovery episode “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”? Oh wait…

Seriously, I have to believe that Kirsten Beyer took some inspiration for Saru’s story from the Doctor Who episode “Listen,” which is absolutely fine by me, as it fit perfectly, not just with Saru’s bred-as-prey, ruled-by-fear character, but also with a major Disco theme: learning to embrace your flaws, turn your weaknesses into strengths, and accept that, without the things that have hurt you, you wouldn’t be who you are. This has emerged in every single character: Burnham’s emotional repression, Tilly’s atypical social manner, Lorca’s closed-off hardness, Stamets’ pigheadedness, and Tyler’s…well, we’ll see about Tyler. At any rate, Saru’s ass just got kicked hard. Given the opportunity to just walk away from his fear, he jumped at it, and now he’s got to live with that knowledge. But presumably, also with the knowledge that he must embrace who he is, fear and all, in order to be a great Starfleet officer.

Since Disco is very much about Burnham’s journey, there’s a sense that we get all this from her POV, even when narratively we move away from her. It’s almost as though everyone else’s experiences and lessons are hers, too. As the other characters gain insight and self-awareness, so does she. We started this story watching her be completely torn down, brick by brick, and we can never escape the sense that we are watching her rebuild herself better, stronger, with greater self-awareness.

That’s the beauty of the way Disco is telling its story, starting with the Shenzhou. It takes patience to let the story unspool, but I’m finding that the rewards so far are worthwhile. The suspense of not quite knowing whether a development is good or bad, a character is trustworthy, or a choice was correct is enjoyable as long as you feel the payoff is coming. The payoff doesn’t have to be a simple answer, or the answer you were hoping for, but it does have to provide a sense of closure. So far, I’m optimistic that that’s what we’re going to get.

Also: The whole in-your-weaknesses-lies-your-strength theme? Now where would be a fascinating place to explore that? Maybe, like, an alternate universe where characteristics like empathy, compassion, and mercy are seen as weaknesses? Just saying.

Also again: L’Rell wants to get over to the Discovery awfully bad, doesn’t she? I wonder who is over there that she’s so eager to hook up with, and what they could possibly be up to, hmmm?

Which brings me to the question of the fall finale, as they’re promoting next week’s episode. They’ve set up three big reveals, and I really hope we get at least one of them. There’s Lorca and his mysterious motives (about which I’ve speculated extensively and have already been proven at least partly wrong — I, and I suspect a good chunk of the audience, want so badly to see him justify himself and emerge a sympathetic character, which is a tribute to Jason Isaacs’ charismatic portrayal — but his actions toward Cornwell remain unredeemed, and things are just not looking good on that front); Stamets and his mysterious Sporegasm®-induced, mirror-related condition; and Tyler, who’s been throwing off not-who-he-says-he-is signals right and left. The only prediction I’m willing to make at this point is that, whatever next week brings, Burnham is going to be using everything she’s learned since the Shenzhou to save the day…unless the day-saving is entirely reserved for the latter half of the season. Either way, it’s going to be a loooooong hiatus.