Weekend Trek “Battle At The Binary Stars”

I think I get why the first half of this two-part premier bothered me as much as it did.  The episode basically only focuses on Michael Burnham, and I don’t find her particularly compelling as a character as a human raised among Vulcans.  Beyond her, there’s Saru and Georgiou.  And that is it.  Who are the other people on the Shenzhou?  I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters.

What does matter is the Klingons, who take forever to say much of anything, have all come together to listen to one outcast spew nonsense about Klingon unity through war, and the only thing to do is attack the Federation.  That means, basically, opening fire when Starfleet ships show up and declare that they come in peace, even later ramming an admiral’s ship because he asks for cease-fire to discuss terms.

I get that Starfleet is not made up of soldiers, preferring to be explorers, but man…these guys are really not getting the memo on the Klingons, are they?

Actually, Starfleet holds its own.  There’s casualties, most notably the Shenzhou, but it was an old ship when Burnham joined the crew seven years earlier.

I said that the first episode really showed what Saru could bring to the table, and while he has some really clever moments here, most notably when he comes up with a plan to disable the Klingon ships by using a piloted photon torpedo, this second part is more Georgiou’s episode.  Michele Yeoh brings a real warmth to the character, someone who seems to enjoying what she does, finding times to talk to Burnham with a twinkle in her eyes and a small smile on her face.  At the same time, she is absolutely not someone to mess with, such that Burnham, probably someone who knows a good deal about Klingons, is sent to the brig and relieved of duty for trying to take over the ship.  Yeoh is an old pro, someone who knows what she is doing, and she’s charming to boot.

Naturally, she gets killed on a disastrous mission to take the Klingon leader alive, all in order to prevent him from becoming a martyr.  Burnham, in the closing minutes, pleads guilty to a host of crimes, most notably mutiny, and that means she gets a life sentence.

So…war with the Klingons and the series’s lead character is going directly to jail without passing “go” and earning $200.

I think the thing is, after two episodes, Burnham doesn’t do much for me as a character.  Georguiou and Saru were both more interesting, and it isn’t much of a series if Burnham stays in space-jail.  I mean, the title of the show alone suggests more exploration and the like.  I will say the show doesn’t make Burnham perfect, that “human raised by Vulcans” doesn’t give her superhuman knowledge or anything.  She had plans, all of which failed.  She attacked Georgiou to try and fulfill those plans.  There’s a war on, and while the Klingons lost their messianic leader, that actually made things worse from the looks of things.

That said, I don’t know if I would have gone forward with this show after these two episodes.  I will from here, but that has more to do with the fact am working my way through the franchise.  Hopefully, I’ll like what I see when I get to the end of Discovery.