Star Trek: Discovery 1.11

[selenak]

In which we meet more doppelgangers, and I adore the way Michael Burnham and Sylvia Tilly combine smarts with compassion. This is how you do dark storylines while still being true to Star Trek giving us a vision of how we can be better than just going for survival of the fittest.



Seriously, I know I complained about some of her actions way back in the pilot, but Michael has become rapidly one of my favourite Star Trek characters, and it started in episode 3 when she thought Lorca wanted her for her supposed lack of ethics and said no. She's been consistently refusing an "the ends justify the means" attitude, and it's never been easy for her. Since the characterisation for Michael has been so firm, I did anticipate her not beaming VoqTyler into space but onto Discovery, but what I hadn't ancipated yet should have was that this was also her ingenious way to transport the Defiant data to Discovery. Because contrary to some clichéd perception, "good" doesn't mean "stupid". And all hail Michael Burnham, who even when her heart is broken and her mind is reeling comes up with a way to use a terrible situation to her mission's advantage.

As I speculated, at first everyone thinks Stamets killed Culber in a mindless attack, though they know better by the time the episode ends. That Tilly still is focused on helping Stamets heal and actually finds a way by using the mushrooms has both been fairly set up (Tilly as Stamets' assitant in the whole spore drive thing from the episode they were introduced) and, as with Michael, highlights her mixture of compassion and inventive smarts in a beautiful way. You better reccommend her for that command track, Saru.

(Sidenote: Our Stamets meeting Mirror Stamets in the universe connecting mycelian highway as a result of this was of course an intriguing cliffhanger re: Stamets. Mirror Stamets wears the full Imperial gear, which makes it unlikely he's a dissident. Otoh he's been anticipating our Stamets and thus Discovery, while clearly no one else in the Mirrorverse has, so maybe he's an Independent? Also, given that we the audience know Culber DIDN'T lower the force field, and that AshVoq wasn't in a condition to when leaving the sick bay, I can only conclude Our Stamets did it using that mushroom-transformed brain in order to get to Culber. Since Our Stamets in this episode is dead for the proverbial clinical minute or two before reviving, I see this also as in indication of him gaining either superpowers or knowledge or both which he'll later use to revive Culber, though I'm also still fond of the time travel theory.)

Back to Michael, who meets Mirrorverse Sarek and Mirrorverse Voq-as-leader-of-the-Resistance (more about this in a minute) and gets those words of praise from Dad she's been longing for. Mind you, I still want to know how, if Mirroverse Sarek is with the anti Terran rebellion and not a double (which presumably Michael would have noticed during the mindmeld?), his son ends up serving on the MirrorEnterprise, but I think I have a pretty good idea. Because MirrorSarek vouched for Michael even after TylerVoq attacked Mirror Voq. And by the end of the episode, due to the Emperor's arrival, much of the rebels end up wiped out which to the survivors has to look as if Michael has broken her promise. I wouldn't blame them for concluding MirrorSarek must be a traitor. This doesn't augur well for the long term survival of MirrorSarek, if he's made it off planet. Whether or not MirrorSpock is already with the Imperial Fleet, that might settle it.

Because she's Michael, she sees this whole multi-people-rebel-alliance thing as a chance to gain some insight into the Klingon mind set and asks MirrorVoq about it, which together with seeing MirrorVoq at all triggers Ash Tyler for what turns out to be the final time as Our Voq's personality reasserts itself for good. I had been wondering whether the show would handle the character somewhat like Boomer in s1 of BSG (who does not have access to her old personality's memories at all even after noting all the blackouts), but they seem to go for something else instead, to wit, Voq with the memories of his time as Ash Tyler as an integrated personality. By the end, he's not glitching any longer, he's Voq. Now I also think he didn't lie in the last moments when the Tyler personality still was there when telling Michael he loved her, but I'm not surprised Voq immediately shuts that down and focuses on Michael having killed T'Kuvma instead. Given his lack of enthusiasm for his survival at the end, I'm guessing he probably wanted to die at that point, both as Voq and as Tyler. Instead, he gets to live. And Michael gets insight into the Klingon mindset in a way she really hadn't wanted.

I thought confronting TylerVoq with MirrorVoq - who has learned something better than T'Kuvma's doctrine of Klingon purity - was an inspired choice on the part of the show, too. Michael, while still blissfully unaware of Tyler's true identity, tells Lorca that the key to ending the Klingon/Federation war back home could be in understanding how a Klingon gets to see being part of a multi-people-alliance as a good thing. Now if eventual Klingon-Human peace happens solely because Ash Tyler fell in love with Michael and Voq has those feelings still stored somewhere, that would not be good storytelling. Otoh if it also happens because Voq (and, providing she survives and isn't killed off as part of a stupid love triangle, maybe also L'Rell) learn to question the entire purity doctrine via their interaction not solely with humans but with other people, including in this case a Mirror counterpart, that's far more interesting.

Addendum: I'm also glad this episode had Michael and everyone else realise the truth about Tyler's identity, because if they'd dragged this out for several episodes now that it was settled he's Voq, it would have been annoying.

Especially since I'm now swayed to the "Lorca is actually Mirrorverse Lorca" theory, for several reasons. 1) Him persuading Michael that they shouldn't make their escape just yet now that they've gained the Defiant intel (I mean, his argument that they should ascertain they can decypher the data first because once they leave, their cover is blown and they have the Imperial Fleet after them isn't wrong, but...it still looks suspicious, especially since given he's just had a week of torture behind him you'd think he wants to get out of that situation as quickly as possible), 2) him at first telling Michael she needs to go along with the rebel executions in order for their plan to succeed, 3) his utter lack of a surprise when the Emperor shows up and is revealed as MirrorPhilippa Georgiu, as many a viewer hoped she would be. I could be wrong, but didn't even a corner of his mouth lift to a slight smile? Which would fit with the theory that the original reason why Lorca went to considerable lengths to a) recruit Michael, b) win her loyalty and c) keep her alive at all costs was because he needs her for a successful coup against the Emperor.

The one counter argument I could still see is this would mean we have two impersonator storylines running simultanously (though Tyler didn't know he was one until last episode), which is a bit overkill, and since Michael just went through the Tyler-is-Voq discovery and now is confronted with Evil-but-alive-Philippa, finding out that Lorca is really Mirrorverse Lorca would be something of an anticlimax for her, emotionally. Not to mention that if this ends in somehow finding Standuniverse Lorca and taking him home once the Discovery returns and that Standard Lorca is an upstanding guy would be, err... dull? I want to keep Lorca shady, that's part of the pointn of the character.

Oh, and another thing arguing for Our Lorca to not be Mirroverse Lorca: Lorca's thing about his eyes, keeping them damaged as a memory/punishment for what happened with the Buran. Now one of the few things we know about Mirroverse Lorca is that he lost his Buran, too, except killing your crew rather than let them fall into enemy hands would hardly be angst inducing for a Terran, would it? And at any rate, Mirrorverse Lorca has no reason to mourn for the standardverse Buran members. They weren't his people.

Otoh: maybe if our Lorca is Mirrorverse Lorca, it will then turn out Standardverse Lorca died years ago and there's just one Lorca left in the 'verse, who eventually decides to stay in "our" universe, be it because the second coup attempt fails as well (or maybe someone else becomes Emperor whom he didn't intend to) or because he's been swayed just the tiniest bit more to the light side?

Either way, Lorca telling Michael she's not alone and has him in her Mirroverse spying lot is less than reassuring form a Watsonian perspective, but Doylist wise I must admit I'm thrilled the writers give us more scenes with the two of them together. They have developed such a captivating dynamic, not despite but because they are the most ethical and the most shady character on the show, respectively.

Comments

[conuly]

Maybe MirrorLorca just didn't want anybody operating on his eyes because that's a good way to get assassinated, so he ran with the first excuse to come to mind and now he's stuck with it.

[selenak]

You know...that would actually work!

[kernezelda]

This begs the question - who can be trusted in this society? Who are the dentists, opticians, ear-nose-and-throat doctors, pediatricians, plumbers, academics, archaeologists, etc.? Or is promotion by assassination an isolated thing for command track in the military?

Can a TA kill his professor and assume his position, or can only people already certified/qualified in their field challenge others above them for tenure/promotion?

I'm thinking of a Tumblr post I read about the phrase "hotly debated" applied to academia. :)

[conuly]

I have so many questions about civilian life in the Mirrorverse, and they'll never, ever be answered.

[4thofeleven]

I'd guess slaves fill a lot of jobs, and they can be 'trusted' since they've got no opportunities for advancement.

The sciences and research seem to have stalled in the Empire - they got a hundred year head start from the Defiant, yet seem to have squandered it so they're no more advanced than the prime universe now.

[conuly]

No opportunities for advancement, but a lot of motive for straight-up murder.

[selenak]

My guess is the proper way for a TA to advance is to discredit their professor, however they manage to do that, thereby proving they're smarter and have learned all they could from the professor in question. :)

But yeah. This whole "promotion via assassination" concept is very much the type of world building that doesn't hold up if you think about the practicalities like that...

[vilakins]

You were right about the Emperor being Georgiou too! Because I'd seen your speculation I wasn't surprised.

Lorca being from that universe is intriguing, but how would he have ended in ours to begin with?

If a lot of those rebels were killed, then that feeds into my objections to mirrorverses in general - to always have the same people in them, no one can ever die before producing the offspring who have to be in place. Perhaps people can only be killed if either they have/will have no children, or are dead already, like Connor. This of course puts a huge restriction on the number of assassinations and murders one assumes are common.

How did Burnham get the information to Discovery to both transport Voq and extract the data?

I see this also as in indication of him gaining either superpowers or knowledge or both which he'll later use to revive Culber, though I'm also still fond of the time travel theory.
I was thinking that if Culber's in stasis, something like this might happen. We can hope. But what do you mean by the time travel theory?

Would the imperial fleet have a half-Vulcan? Did I miss something there?

Right, I can't wait to see what's going to happen with the two Stametses, and just what our one saw happening in the palace. Plus what the forest is. Another thought I had was Stamets communicating somehow with the Pahvo forest in our or mirrorverse. There's another possibility for Culber resurrection.

[selenak]

Yay, you've caught up!


Lorca being from that universe is intriguing, but how would he have ended in ours to begin with?

Possibly through whatever happened with the Buran in both universes. What we know about Mirrorverse Lorca (whether or not "our" Lorca IS Mirrorverse Lorca) so far is: 1) He attempted a coup against the Emperor and failed, 2) he, too, was in command of the Buran, and it was destroyed. (We learn this when Lorca asks Michael whether the Buran still exists in this universe, and she says no, "you lost her here, too".) Maybe when both ships got destroyed simultanously in both universe, that inadvertendly triggered a reaction allowing for a spontanous swap. In that case, it could be that Prime Lorca actually went down with his ship and crew when he ordered the self destruct, but Mirrorverse Lorca did not because he ended up transported to the Primeverse.
...or maybe Mirrorverse Stamets is responsible? After all, he seems to have had his eye on the Discovery for a while, and we don't know whether he worked with Mirrorverse Lorca.

How did Burnham get the information to Discovery to both transport Voq and extract the data?

Well, we've seen her early in the episode communicating with Discovery via that holotechnology they use. (When she first spoke to Tilly, then, after Tilly told her the channel was secure, to Saru.) At this point she already had the data on that red quadrangle thing she just couldn't transfer it other than physically because it was too much. After Mirroverse Saru saved her from Voq, and Voq got dragged away by MirrorKeyla& Co., I guess Burnham must have immediately notified Discovery. I'm also assuming Discovery is following the Shenzou (just far enough not to be spotted), because after all if all had gone well according to their original plan, they would have needed to transport Burnham, Lorca and TylerVoq back immediately once the data was retrieved. Because as opposed to how they arrived on the MirrorShenzou, Our Heroes would not have been able to have a good excuse why would all three needed to go back to the Discovery. So it pretty much has to be via an emergency beam out. Which, in turn would mean someone on Discovery needs to to listen all the time just in case Burnham gives the signal.

Time travel theory: came into being because when Stamets and Lorca were discussing how the mycellium connects the universe(s), they mentioned time as well as space. So, in theory if Stamets learn to move through time as well as space via the spores, he could go back and retrieve Culber before his death. Or, if he wants to preserve the timeline, arrange something sci fi medicinal so Culber survives a neck break but seems to be dead and in stasis and can be woken up at a later point. Who knows? We will find out.

Would the Imperial Fleet have a half-Vulcan? That's what we're all wondering, because they do, on a flag ship, ten years later. (Discovery takes place ten years before TOS, and in the TOS episode Mirror, Mirror, MirrorSpock is the First Officer on the ISS Enterprise. (Though his Kirk doesn't seem to like him much and at least once snarls racist abuse.)

Several possible explanations:

- Mirroverse Amanda has a high enough position that she could make this happen (maybe since Prime Amanda lived Vulcan style with Sarek, integrated into his culture, Mirrorverse Sarek at first lived with Amanda, completely absorbed into her culture, before becoming a rebel?)

- or: MirrorSarek is a double and that's why MirrorAmanda could make this happen

- or: MirrorSarek will now get blamed by the rebels for conspiring with Burnham against them (since he vouched for her, twice, and from a rebel perspective they have no way of knowing that planet bombing was carried out by the Emperor, not the Shenzou); this will cause Sarek to return to the Imperial fold for real

- or: Spock's decision to serve in the Imperial Fleet is this universe's Spock's idea of rebelling against his father, and he got enlisted both because he's half human and because he delivered intel on his father, causing Sarek, until then a secret dissident, to go underground as a rebel?

I do hope we find out more.

[vilakins]

Ah, so there's only one mirrorverse? I didn't remember about the TOS one, or Spock being in the empire fleet. They're certainly connected as their populations have to stay matched (which as I said must put a crimp in the killing in the evil empire) so maybe Lorca swapped places. They're stretching out the arc so long, it could be. In fact he could be one of the good ones - in comparison - which is why he seems so un-Starfleet at times.

I know that Burnham was in contact with Saru on a secure line, but wondered when she had the chance to contact him and to set up a signal - were they just on watch for anyone spaced?

Re Stamets, I suppose anything's possible. [is hopeful]

Georgiou seems to know Burnham - and suspect that she wouldn't carry out the order to kill all the rebels - I wonder why. Would an emperor bother checking on a captain? Plus I assume the other Burnham could well be out there, and the other Discovery. That could get dicy.

[jainas]

I enjoy your episode reviews, analysis and speculations a lot!
Turns out you where right about the Emperor... I'm still not convinced about Lorca being from the mirrorverse though, but there is definitively something very shady going on with him, I saw the smirk too!

I think we will see mirror!Saru as well in future episodes, I assume that Michael using his name and him saving her may be preparing the ground for upcoming plot-points ...

[selenak]

MirrorSaru will probably be the equivalent of Mirrorverse Spock in the original Mirror, Mirror episode, and of Mirroverse Sisko in the first DS9 Mirrorverse episode, i.e. the Mirrorverse character who via contact to Our Heroes changes his views and becomes a rebel. (Though mind you, it's pretty depressing to realize that the alliance between all the non-humans which gives Michael Burnham so much hope and which she calls the closest thing to the Federation the Mirroverse have will, after they successfully overthrow the Terran Empire, turn into the next Evil Empire themselves.) (In the first DS9 Mirroverse episode, we find out this is what happened after Kirk & Co. returned to the Primeverse and MirrorSpock joined the rebels)

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the Voq plot is settled, but now I am dying to know what Lorca's actual plan is. I just really want to know what he's trying to accomplish, and then they can take as many episodes as they want for Michael to thwart him.

Really loved the Tilly plot in this one, but again, a cliffhanger! I'm hoping that whatever we learn from Mirror!Stamets will shed some light on Lorca too. But in terms of Mirror!Stamets, wouldn't it make sense for him to serve as an amoral mirror by being completely disconnected from what happens in various universes? Oh, and is the mirror image who didn't quite follow Stamets in the earlier episode supposed to be this Stamets?

Michael is such a great character, and her focus on trying to maintain her moral standards in terrible situations compelling. I can't imagine Lorca not being from the MU at this point; in addition to all you mention and the fact that he last week was the one to figure out suspiciously quickly that they were in the MU, that (very well-played) smirk was just too much. Another site also pointed out that Mirror!Burnham's ready room is also decorated with weapons and alien skulls, like Lorca's. But I'm kind of hoping that if that's true, standard Lorca is dead.

I also thought (artificially) straight blond hair was an interesting gender-swapped update of the old Mirrorverse facial hair trope. Among other things it makes Michael's (fabulous) hair serve as a differentiator, a moral marker, even when she's playing a part.

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

On further reflection, I think the fact that Emperor Georgiou's ship was undetectable by sensors at the end of the episode is important; Mirror!Lorca seems to have spent the entire first half of the seasons getting the information he would need to take her down. And Burnham, who has to be key to the plot somehow.

Also, and more chillingly, if this is mirror!Lorca, then maybe he killed his entire crew in order to eliminate the people who would best be able to tell he wasn't himself.

[selenak]

I think the fact that Emperor Georgiou's ship was undetectable by sensors at the end of the episode is important

I suspect so, too, given that it was Lorca's idea to figure out a way to detect a cloaked ship via that multijump mapmaking he manipulated Stamets into doing, that he manipulated that last jump into the Mirrorverse just after he finally had achieved this, and there's no particular reason I could see why the Emperor having an undetectable ship should otherwise be important to the plot. Also, whatever Lorca wants has to be important enough for him to volunteer for a week (so far) and potential more weeks of torture. If he'd just wanted the data on the Defiant, he could have remained on Discovery, and Michael's excuse for the secret survival of Mirrorverse Burnham could have been that she pursued and killed Lorca, instead of capturing him. So: whatever Lorca wants needs his personal presence near Michael, and it's worth subjecting himself to a long time of incredible physical pain.

But, you know: there's always the possibility of overthinking this. lizbee pointed out that volumes of meta and speculation were written about that "gleam" in Dumbledore's eyes after getting evidence of the Harry/Voldemort connection, and then it turned out to signify not Dumbledore being a secret villain or something like that but "Harry is the last Horcrux".

Still: at this point, Lorca being Mirroverse and plotting a second, more successful coup against the Emperor makes more sense than anything else.

...I still want an explanation of why he wouldn't get his eyes fixed in that case, though and prefers to live with constant physical pain and second rate sight. I mean, yes, Mirrorverse Terran paranoia could cover much, but we know he was able to fool a Starfleet psychological examination post Buran, at which time I assume he had to go through a physical medical check up as well, and so he had to let a lot of physicians up close, even without them operating on him. Leaving aside masochism kinks: if he's Mirroverse Lorca, there's no reason for him to mourn the Primeverse Buran crew (whether or not he's responsible for their deaths), because they're strangers.

Also, what he did re: Katrina Cornwell once she became a threat to his command of Discovery is very shady for a Starfleet Captain, but downright tame and fluffy for a Mirroverse Terran. Surely a Terran would have simply tried to kill her by, say, planting a bomb on her shuttle? He could have blamed it on the extremists who had already tried to blow up Sarek, too, theorizing that maybe they wanted not just to sabotage Vulcan/Human relationships but peace negotiations, ful stop. Suggesting Cornwell should take Sarek's place was a gamble on the Klingons being Up To No Good, but he couldn't have known they were. (Since this depended on Kol having taken command in the Klingon Empire, which in the middle of a war Lorca could have had no way of knowing. I very much doubt it'll turn out he had a secret spy among the Klingons; if he had, he would have gotten the intel on cloaks a hell of a lot faster.) Nor could he be certain Cornwell would take that assignment. He could be reasonably sure since it was an emergency situation and she was the sole high ranking Starfleet officer in the area, but she could have just as well insisted on speaking with Starfleet Command about him before making that trip. It was all a big gamble, and from a coldly pragmatic pov, killing Cornwell and blaming someone else for the deed (maybe some leftover bombs from the assassination attempt on Sarek?) would have been far more efficient - if Lorca is Mirroverse and Cornwell was simply a double to whoever Mirroverse Cornwell is to him.

Again: maybe I'm just overthinking this in the other direction. Only 24 hours more, and we'll find out! (I hope.)

[nenya_kanadka]

I think that Lorca went (as you say) light and fluffy in Mirrorverse terms re: Kat Cornwell because at that point he still needed his cover as a Starfleet officer. I guess he weighed it all up and went with what he figured would pass for "shady behaviour from captain under stress" instead of "final disposal of obstacle (which could go wrong in a lot of ways)" even if it was less efficient. He'd gotten her off the ship, and then he pointedly didn't rescue her later, so for the moment he had control of Discovery and there was a pretty high chance that she wouldn't be coming back (he knows how bad Klingon captivity can get). And even if she did, he was super close to his plan coming to fruition, so maybe he figured it was worth the risk?

(Or maybe he had some kind of soft spot for Katrinas Cornwell because he knew her double. Mind you, I'm about 95% convinced that Mirror Katrina Cornwell was to the profession of psychiatry what Mirror Bones McCoy was to physical healing, which leaves one to wonder exactly how one could have warm and gentle feelings about her, but that's just speculation.)

In any case it's kind of fascinating that in his own terms he was going easy on her and at the same time in terms of my reaction, that was the moment he crossed the moral event horizon for me. (Also the moment I became extremely invested in Kat's survival.) There would have had to be a goddamn good explanation for that for me to like Lorca again after that. But in Mirror terms, it's just Tuesday.

[nenya_kanadka]

I'm reading these entries later and your predictions are all pretty awesome, both in reasoning and how close you got to what they actually ended up happening. To take one example, L'Rell and Cornwell was definitely way more interesting than just "AshVoq fell in love."

(Also agree so hard that non-shady PrimeLorca would have been anticlimactic, despite the many people of my acquaintance who really want more Jason Isaacs. I mean, I do believe that a non-shady Gabriel Lorca existed who Kat Cornwell cared about, but I also am not especially invested in seeing him.)