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ladybusinessWhen last we left our heroine, her superior officer and friend was dead, she'd martyred an important Klingon, and a war was about to start. So, where do we go from here?
Prison Fashion Week
Soooooooooo straight off we have to talk about the most important element of this episode - that jumpsuit.
I mean, seriously. That costuming has Bryan Fuller's 'I left you some guidance' notes all over it.
Going beyond the jumpsuit, HOMG, I looooooooved the opening shots of this episode. I loved them so much! Michael's downcast, inward looking expression. The close framing. The movement in the background. The mustard jumpsuit which is both off-putting and attractive (Fuller rides that visual line so well). The fact that Michael is marked out by prison fashion from the other cons. Eeep! I'm sure there's a good storytelling reason for her different clothing (Star Fleet marking out their own prisoner?) but mostly I like that the creative team wanted to make sure we all known Michael is different from these other crims, and decided to underline that point with costuming. Such a Fuller inspired move.
Just, yeah - that jumpsuit. I'm not ok.
You Can't Sit With Us
Moving on, in Context is For Kings Michael Burnham arrives on the S. S. Discovery, and everything gets super Mean Girls super quickly.
She wanders through a cafeteria looking for a table; picking up stares like a newbie in high school. She sees an old crewmate who becomes flustered and then cuts her dead. Even the other criminals don't want her at their table (which they signal by trying to kill her). Later, there's the 'assigned seats' debacle with Tilly. It's all very 'You can't sit with us.' Again, I kind of loved it. Star Trek doesn't need to get too tricky and referential (and if it wants to get referential it can just get self-referential) but I kind of dug the choice to mix in a bit of high school drama styling here.
Speaking of Tilly; Michael's new roommate - thoughts? I find her awkward but charming (which I think is the best way to sum up many of the characters in Star Trek: Discovery) but I really don't know enough to say whether her portrayal as a neuro-atypical character is a positive move from the show. I'd love to hear thoughts from people who know more about this.
The Full Ramifications of Michael's Actions Are Revealed
The reason why everyone, including murdering criminals, don't want Michael at their table? It turns out that not only does Star Fleet blame Michael for mutiny, endangerment, and the death of Georgiou, but the whole world blames her for the death of the Europa's crew, and for starting the war with the Klingons.
Michael has taken the decision not to fight back against these allegations, because (as we can tell from the way she's kept precise count of the dead) she believes she deserves condemnation for starting the war. Which, yeah…
I am very behind Michael's acceptance that mutiny has consequences, and I dig her as an extremely stoic character who is prepared to accept a punishment she feels she deserves. However, I am already a little frustrated by the way she accepts it when people accuse her of starting a war. She really didn't start the war, and she didn't cause the death of those Star Fleet officers. She activated an enemy trap, and led a failed mission to try and prevent a war. That's a very different set of circumstances even if the results look largely the same. Guilt isn't logical though I suppose (which surely means Sarek should be turning up any day now to instruct her in a more logical response).
Michael and Saru
This relationship is already killing me because I love it so.
I love that Saru still respects Michael's abilities, and has no problem talking to her like an equal (even sharing his food with her). And I love that Saru has no problem requiring that Michael address him by his new rank without it ever seeming like points scoring. I love that he has no problem cutting her with honesty, again without it feeling like he's out to beat Michael down. I feel like Saru is always very true to himself, and doesn't factor emotions into his actions, which makes him similar to the Vulcans. And yet, somehow, even when delivering his 'I fear you' speech, and that slam line about 'I will do a better job of protecting my Captain than you did protecting yours' he manages to avoid coming off as cold. Their relationship fascinates me, and I'm intrigued to see how Saru will react when he discovers Michael is staying on the Discovery.
Do we care about Captain Lorca Yet?
Mmmmnnnnnmmmnnn - not so much. I actually think he's the non-Klingon villain. Good guys don't have terrible, macerating space aliens brought aboard their ship, and talk to them like house cats. Traditionally, it's the villains that have the cats. And while I suspect Lorca is supposed to be more of a morally complex antagonist than a villain, I don't think viewers will be called on to care for him as they have traditionally been encouraged to care for every other Star Fleet Captain. In that sense, Lorca may be one of the biggest departures this series makes from traditional Star Trek templates.
I am really interested to see how Michael and Lorca's relationship develops. He's enticed her into his plans by appealing to her basic 'the universe is amazing' and 'help me make everything better' soul but he's obviously not a universally popular Captain. Saru and & Commander Landry seem to be Team Lorca (great to see Rekha Sharma appear as Head of Security) but Paul is incredibly hostile. Will Michael and Lorca clash? Will Michael be able to defy a Captain considering what happened with Georgiou? What will she be called on to do, and how will Lorca enforce his command of her when she is perfectly willing to return to her prison exile? Or will he become an important force in her life because he understands the root of why she mutinied on the Shenzhou?
To be honest, if Lorca keeps saying things like that I might come around to him. What a fantastic way to characterise Michael's actions, and again separate them from 'the ends justify the means' school of action hero thinking. Michael is about self-sacrifice, not just rule breaking - YES! This also makes her a very political heroine in our current cultural context. I mean, I say this with the full knowledge that Lorca's comment that 'context is for kings' is still very concerning. VERY concerning. Like, this is the kind of thing mercenaries say.
Context is For Kings opens up more questions than it answers so we'd better keep exploring just like Michael Burnham. On to episode four.
Prison Fashion Week
Soooooooooo straight off we have to talk about the most important element of this episode - that jumpsuit.
I mean, seriously. That costuming has Bryan Fuller's 'I left you some guidance' notes all over it.
Going beyond the jumpsuit, HOMG, I looooooooved the opening shots of this episode. I loved them so much! Michael's downcast, inward looking expression. The close framing. The movement in the background. The mustard jumpsuit which is both off-putting and attractive (Fuller rides that visual line so well). The fact that Michael is marked out by prison fashion from the other cons. Eeep! I'm sure there's a good storytelling reason for her different clothing (Star Fleet marking out their own prisoner?) but mostly I like that the creative team wanted to make sure we all known Michael is different from these other crims, and decided to underline that point with costuming. Such a Fuller inspired move.
Just, yeah - that jumpsuit. I'm not ok.
You Can't Sit With Us
Moving on, in Context is For Kings Michael Burnham arrives on the S. S. Discovery, and everything gets super Mean Girls super quickly.
She wanders through a cafeteria looking for a table; picking up stares like a newbie in high school. She sees an old crewmate who becomes flustered and then cuts her dead. Even the other criminals don't want her at their table (which they signal by trying to kill her). Later, there's the 'assigned seats' debacle with Tilly. It's all very 'You can't sit with us.' Again, I kind of loved it. Star Trek doesn't need to get too tricky and referential (and if it wants to get referential it can just get self-referential) but I kind of dug the choice to mix in a bit of high school drama styling here.
Speaking of Tilly; Michael's new roommate - thoughts? I find her awkward but charming (which I think is the best way to sum up many of the characters in Star Trek: Discovery) but I really don't know enough to say whether her portrayal as a neuro-atypical character is a positive move from the show. I'd love to hear thoughts from people who know more about this.
The Full Ramifications of Michael's Actions Are Revealed
The reason why everyone, including murdering criminals, don't want Michael at their table? It turns out that not only does Star Fleet blame Michael for mutiny, endangerment, and the death of Georgiou, but the whole world blames her for the death of the Europa's crew, and for starting the war with the Klingons.
Michael has taken the decision not to fight back against these allegations, because (as we can tell from the way she's kept precise count of the dead) she believes she deserves condemnation for starting the war. Which, yeah…
I am very behind Michael's acceptance that mutiny has consequences, and I dig her as an extremely stoic character who is prepared to accept a punishment she feels she deserves. However, I am already a little frustrated by the way she accepts it when people accuse her of starting a war. She really didn't start the war, and she didn't cause the death of those Star Fleet officers. She activated an enemy trap, and led a failed mission to try and prevent a war. That's a very different set of circumstances even if the results look largely the same. Guilt isn't logical though I suppose (which surely means Sarek should be turning up any day now to instruct her in a more logical response).
Michael and Saru
This relationship is already killing me because I love it so.
I love that Saru still respects Michael's abilities, and has no problem talking to her like an equal (even sharing his food with her). And I love that Saru has no problem requiring that Michael address him by his new rank without it ever seeming like points scoring. I love that he has no problem cutting her with honesty, again without it feeling like he's out to beat Michael down. I feel like Saru is always very true to himself, and doesn't factor emotions into his actions, which makes him similar to the Vulcans. And yet, somehow, even when delivering his 'I fear you' speech, and that slam line about 'I will do a better job of protecting my Captain than you did protecting yours' he manages to avoid coming off as cold. Their relationship fascinates me, and I'm intrigued to see how Saru will react when he discovers Michael is staying on the Discovery.
Do we care about Captain Lorca Yet?
Mmmmnnnnnmmmnnn - not so much. I actually think he's the non-Klingon villain. Good guys don't have terrible, macerating space aliens brought aboard their ship, and talk to them like house cats. Traditionally, it's the villains that have the cats. And while I suspect Lorca is supposed to be more of a morally complex antagonist than a villain, I don't think viewers will be called on to care for him as they have traditionally been encouraged to care for every other Star Fleet Captain. In that sense, Lorca may be one of the biggest departures this series makes from traditional Star Trek templates.
I am really interested to see how Michael and Lorca's relationship develops. He's enticed her into his plans by appealing to her basic 'the universe is amazing' and 'help me make everything better' soul but he's obviously not a universally popular Captain. Saru and & Commander Landry seem to be Team Lorca (great to see Rekha Sharma appear as Head of Security) but Paul is incredibly hostile. Will Michael and Lorca clash? Will Michael be able to defy a Captain considering what happened with Georgiou? What will she be called on to do, and how will Lorca enforce his command of her when she is perfectly willing to return to her prison exile? Or will he become an important force in her life because he understands the root of why she mutinied on the Shenzhou?
To be honest, if Lorca keeps saying things like that I might come around to him. What a fantastic way to characterise Michael's actions, and again separate them from 'the ends justify the means' school of action hero thinking. Michael is about self-sacrifice, not just rule breaking - YES! This also makes her a very political heroine in our current cultural context. I mean, I say this with the full knowledge that Lorca's comment that 'context is for kings' is still very concerning. VERY concerning. Like, this is the kind of thing mercenaries say.
Context is For Kings opens up more questions than it answers so we'd better keep exploring just like Michael Burnham. On to episode four.
