Lorca is captured by the Klingons but Burnham is seriously concerned about the Tardigrade…

By some measure the best episode of Discovery to date, this is going to get remembered for two firsts within the Star Trek TV canon – the same-sex relationship between two humans, Culber and Stamets (although it’s the last shot of the episode that you’re likely to remember far more about that scene); and the first use of the f-word, about which no doubt there will much discussion and condemnation from those who have never watched Star Trek, and certainly haven’t signed up to CBS All Access or Netflix to see it. The former isn’t the first gay relationship in Star Trek – albeit in a different universe (Sulu in Star Trek Beyond) – and I suspect that had there been a successor series to Enterprise, it would have happened sooner. As for the latter, it worked fine contextually for the character and situation, but I somehow doubt we’ll get Lorca deciding to “blow those f***ing c*** Klingons out of the sky” any time soon. (NB – Jason Isaacs would probably deliver that extremely well though.)

There’s already been some comment online about the level of violence in this story, and it’s certainly a step up from the choreographed fighting that has appeared in earlier iterations. It’s harsh, but again, within the context of the story that’s being told, it’s what is required. Shazad Latif’s Ash Tyler brings an interesting counterpoint to Lorca onto Discovery (both ship and series), and if you didn’t know that he was going to be a series regular, you’d wonder if he was going to make it out of the prison ship alive.

Both Lorca and Tyler leave people behind on that Klingon vessel who are, to put it mildly, pissed at them – Tyler’s female Klingon, whose scene with Lorca reminded me heavily of the torture scene in The World is not Enough (and loved the use of the lights in this); and Harcourt Fenton Mudd. I’ll admit freely that I wondered if that might be a step too far in terms of tying the series in, but Rainn Wilson’s performance was spot on – the look on Mudd’s face when Lorca and Tyler turn the tables (both times) was pure Roger C. Carmel – and I really want to see him with Lorca again.

As for the star of the show, Michael Burnham, she gets to demonstrate once again that the Starfleet ideals are at her heart. The relationships she’s building on Discovery are credible (love Tilly’s reaction to the “it’s not you, it’s me” line), and the thawing between her and Saru is very promising. And as I suspected, we did get a version of Doctor Who‘s The Beast Below – and I prefer the Discovery take on it, very much a Star Trek angle.

Verdict: With no Klingon subtitled scenes slowing things down, this felt like the best paced episode yet. 8/10

Paul Simpson