Star Trek Discovery: Project Daedalus (S2E9)

A classic episode of Discovery but not in a good way — it’s up to its old tricks of a sort of nearly really good episode mixed with lazy and sloppy elements. Much is revealed but a bit too much to review this without spoilers, so proceed no further if you want this unspoiled!

So Airiam. At last a member of the bridge crew gets a bit more backstory and a bit more insight into their character…so that they can be killed tragically. There’s been plenty of opportunity to add these little elements to Airiam as a character, her daily routine to delete memories or her previous life. The glimpse of Ditmar, Tilly and Airiam as a social group is effectively just dropped into this episode instead of being established over time. Yes, it’s a bit better than how older TV shows might just drag in a wholly new character so they could kill them off but not by much.

Meanwhile, Ethan Peck’s Spock is still not convincingly Spock but the dynamic between him and Michael works. Stamets and Spock perhaps less so, but Spock evading Stamet’s emotional advice by providing Stamet with insight into Doctor Hugh’s emotional state was nicely played.

And the big bad is a rogue AI. A tad disappointing and maybe this reveal is a diversion. It’s more of a cliche than a trope but arguably it is one Star Trek is borrowing from itself. Having said that, it seems now impossible to come up with any kind of sensible timeline for AI development in the Star Trek universe but as Discovery has added time travel to that mix, I suppose the lack of any sense to it does actually make sense.

Admiral P’tah of Section 31 is a Vulcan ‘logic extremist’ it seems. An admiral aligned with a known terrorist organisation? Weird but aside from the name, we’ve been given no insights at all into what these Vulcan ‘logic extremists’ might be. Given how people with extreme views are granted respectability in our own society, perhaps it is not such a stretch.

So lot of action and emotions and tension but in a fragile framework that does not bare close examination. Nowhere is this clearer than the final climatic sequence aboard the Section 31 base. Airiam goes rogue, a fight ensues and Michael traps her in the airlock and is faced with the choice of letting Airiam download data to Section 31’s AI or blow her out of the airlock. Very tense, very moving. Oh but what about security officer Nhan? We last saw her gasping for breath because Airiam had pulled off her breathing implant. Does anybody check on her? Nope. Mind you, they’d be right not to because SHE IS WEARING A SPACE SUIT which presumably provides her with air she can breathe if she switches her helmet back on. Or Discovery could just beam every back aboard (I’ll concede I may have missed a reason why they couldn’t). Yes, yes, the camera ignores Nhan so she can make a surprise reappearance but it’s lazy writing and plotting.

Rankings

1. An Obol for Charon (e4) – Classic Trek on a magic mushroom trip
2. Point of Light (e3) – season one Discovery is back for revenge
3. Brother (e1) – an action orientated fresh start for the Discovery crew
4. If Memory Serves (e8) – A sequel to The Cage and a prequel to The Menagerie
5. New Eden (e2) – The Next Generation of The Next Generation
6. Saints of Imperfection (e5) – Let’s get the old gang back together!
7. Project Daedelus (e9) – Airiam we will miss you, though we barely got to know you
8. Light and Shadow (e7) – Michael goes one way, Discovery goes another
9. Sound of Thunder (e6) – Non-consensual medical procedures on a whole species

Bits and Pieces

• Looking at other reviews I see that the Section 31 boss’s name is spelt ‘Patar’ but surely it is P’tah? ‘Patar’ doesn’t look Vulcan and won’t inspire anybody to form a 1980s pop group.
• Yes Tilly we do adore you. We may have hit peak Tilly idolatry now that the scriptwriters are openly using her adorability as a possible way of saving sentient life in the universe.
• The bridge crew’s looks to each other after Admiral Cornwell tells Captain Pike that they kept him and the Enterprise crew out of the war so as to save the very best (ethically) of Star Fleet. Yeah, maybe not something to say to the crew that you do did the exact opposite with. ‘Pike, you are the very best of Star Fleet – unlike the hive of scum, villainy and expendables that is the Discovery crew.’
• The rest of the bridge crew are now living in mortal fear of getting any extra backstory.
• It looks like Star Fleet will have to concede that holograms are just plain evil which is why they stopped using them and certainly didn’t later install AI-complete holodecks on all their big ships. Phew! Disaster averted!
• Speaking of adorable, Tilly trying to explain to Admiral Cornwell how she really didn’t mean to be a fugitive was also adorable. In the final twist of the season it turns out that Tilly is the evil AI from the future and has been manipulating everybody’s emotions all along – including mine!