Star Trek: Discovery – Brother Review

I was raised on Star Trek. I’ve watched every series (save Enterprise) from beginning to end (yup, even Voyager). While I wouldn’t call myself a Trekkie, I do think I know enough about Trek to be able to decide if a series is worthy of the moniker and the history that has come before it. I also watched the entire rocky first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and reviewed it all. It had some great moments, but ultimately fell short as a whole (which tends to be what happens when a show swaps out showrunners midseason, and never really figures out what the main arc of the season is – is it the Klingon War or a battle with another dimension?)*. So, I came to season two of Discovery a bit wary. I was worried about the series leaning on established characters from elsewhere in the cannon (Captain Pike and Spock) to create a story that would resonate with fans (cutting corners to avoid doing the legwork to flesh out the show’s already established characters), and, to be honest, that worry only grew with the episode “Brother.”

*I should note that the show’s second team of showrunners, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, were fired early on in production of season two after allegations of abuse in the writers’ room, so we could be in for another season of mixed arcs as their influence becomes less felt in the stories. But it wouldn’t be Star Trek: Discovery without a set of fired showrunners, right?

Let me say upfront, this was a great episode of Star Trek. It has everything that makes Trek great: a compelling crisis, charismatic characters, an interesting guest star, and actual stakes (yes, we all knew Burnham and Pike weren’t dying, but the surprise of seeing the Red Shirt live over the cocky Blue Shirt was a great twist). Tig Notaro’s guest appearance was also great, and I really hope her character shows up again this season. It also managed to flesh out some of our major characters. The Burnham-Spock dynamic was heavy handed and not the best use of time (yes, we got to see just how Burnham joined the family, and why Spock resents her, however it all felt a bit “movie of the week” and not naturally flowing with the rest of the story), but the Tilly-Stamets B-storyline was a great use of character.

Stamets has been one of the weaker characters in the series to date (Anthony Rapp can be magnetic on stage, but doesn’t seem to have his character figured out yet on screen), and this was the first time we’ve really gotten to see the emotional core of the character. He’s gutted by the death of his partner (as he should be, because that was a shitty decision of the show that I’m still disappointed about), so him wanting to move on makes perfect sense. Tilly coming into her own as an officer (the passage of time has been a tad confusing on the series, so it appears she either graduated between seasons, or is in a special Wesley Crusher-esque program where she gets a rank despite still being at the Academy) was a nice touch – she needed to get some confidence, and she needed to get some respect from her friend and commanding officer Stamets. The arc accomplished both, and Mary Wiseman did an excellent job with Tilly.

Also great? Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike. We don’t know a ton about Pike from his previous incarnations on screen, as he’s always about to die so Captain Kirk can take over the Enterprise, so it’s going to be nice to spend some time with the character (even if it’s during a search for Spock situation). Mount is charismatic, winning, and has the requisite compassion that makes for a great Star Trek captain. It actually makes one sad to know what’s ultimately in store for the character (although, judging from the timeline, and his relative youth, we’re still a ways away from his death). But here’s where my worry starts to creep in.

Sonequa Martin-Green has done a lot to anchor Discovery, especially as it went through its growing pains last season. She’s been tasked with playing an incredibly complicated character who often lacked a great deal of character development (when so much of what makes the character who she is is from her past, which we just hear about, it’s hard to really get an understanding of what makes the character tick). The Burnham from the beginning of season one was different than the Burnham at the end, but that growth seemed less an extension of everything she went through and more an act of the writers saying “Here, Burnham learned so much and made friends along the way!” There’s still something about Burnham, as a character, that feels hollow and manufactured. And Martin-Green is doing the best she can with the character, but it just never feels like a fully inhabited performance. Which is all the more noticeable next to Mount’s Pike. Now, not every character should be easily accessible for the audience, and sometimes we need to work to understand a person. But after a season, we should have a better emotional handle on who Burnham is and what she wants in life.

Do I honestly believe she suddenly wants to connect with her foster brother Spock, after apparently spending an entire childhood and most of her adult years at odds with him? Nope. I do believe that it’s a convenient plot point that will bring a fan favorite character into a show that has struggled to find an audience (because it’s housed in a streaming system that most people don’t want or need because they don’t want access to these CBS shows). Perhaps the addition of Spock and the family baggage that comes with him will invigorate Burnham as a character and give Martin-Green the perfect story to sink her teeth into (I really hope it does), but the best moments Martin-Green has had have been the smaller ones – this week, her brief moment with Tilly was wonderful, and a great look into who Burnham is now (a leader who cares about her friends, even if she has trouble with the emotional aspects of those friendships). Star Trek is also often at its best when it relies on smaller, intimate emotional moments over larger ones (think Kirk and Spock’s interaction as Spock dies from radiation poisoning in Wrath of Kahn). I worry bringing Spock into the series will overshadow all the great supporting characters and turn this into a prequel to The Original Series rather than a stand alone series that just happens to be set prior to it.

Having said that, I’ll admit I’m also a bit worried about the season (or at least half-season, as the show tends to space itself like that) arc tied to Spock. Anomalies in the quadrant that defy explanation? Not super compelling. Past adolescent drama between Spock and Burnham over which child Amanda loved more? Even less compelling. The season preview also included more Klingons, which, yeah, I’m good with leaving that really bad arc in the past where it belongs. But, the promise of more Mirror Georgiou (who now works for Section 31 and is getting a spin-off) sounds pretty damn awesome to me (I’m still disappointed the show killed of real Georgiou so early in the game). The danger with committing to long arcs in Trek is that you need interesting characters committed to completing an interesting mission. It worked so well in the later seasons of Deep Space Nine because a war is a compelling arc that touches on every character (plus, the villains were great- the Cardassians, Vorta, and Jem’Hadar were scary, smart, and brutal). This arc will need to do the same, and make sure we understand why searching for Spock is worth the time and energy of this ship (just knowing how important he is to another show in the future isn’t enough). I’m going to keep watching, but Discovery still has a lot to prove in season two.