Like every fan of Star Trek, I was anxious about the series premiere of Star Trek Discovery. Since Enterprise aired its last episode in 2005, there hasn't been another show in the Star Trek universe on television. Fans have had to content themselves with the rebooted movies. Star Trek began by beaming itself into our home on a weekly basis and while television may not necessarily mean the same extensive special effects as the large screen, it encourages longer engagement with the universe and its characters.
I found myself surprised to discover that Star Discovery doesn't wrap itself around the captain of the vessel but around first officer Michael Burnham. After watching Sonequa Martin-Green in action, I can almost forgive her for becoming zombie food on The Walking Dead. But how does Michael stand out as a human on a ship that has an inter stellar cast? It turns out that Michael was raised by Vulcans after being discovered in the wreckage of a Klingon attack. Through flashback, we learn that she has never gotten over the trauma of this event and has struggled to maintain the false veneer of pure Vulcan logic, even as her human heart compels her to feel emotions she would much rather ignore; Michael cares despite herself.
Vulcans are meant to be emotionless - it is ingrained into their very nature and despite knowing this, fans always want some display of emotion be it love, anger or hate from a Vulcan. It's why towards the end of The Original series, writers seemed to look for excuses for Spock to display emotions. Fans love their Vulcans but they also want them to step outside of the coldness of logic sometimes. It's why having Michael be a human raised by Vulcans is something that fans are going to easily embrace.
Michael's past trauma becomes part of the plot when the USS Shenzhou, captained by Philippa Georgiou, are forced to confront the Klingons. It's worth noting that Start Trek Discovery takes place ten years before the original series and therefore, the Klingons are very much a threat. Michael's sense of panic is so strong that she reaches out to her former Vulcan guardian Sarek, to learn how it is that the Vulcans and Klingons came to an agreement. Unlike the Federation, whose mission is "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before", the Vulcans already have a pretty good handle on space and by their nature, learn very quickly from each interaction. After being attacked by the Klingons, each interaction that Vulcans had with Klingons, they made sure to fire first. It may seem counter intuitive to fire first if what you want is peace, but strength and aggression are what matter to Klingons.
After meeting with Sarek, Michael takes her suggestion to Georgiou, only to be shot down. Georgiou refuses to break Confederation guidelines and be the aggressor. Michael makes the mistake of challenging Georgiou's decision in front of the crew and when that doesn't work, attempts to knock Georgiou unconscious using the Vulcan nerve pinch and order the crew to fire on the Klingon ship. Before a shot can be fired however, Georgiou stumbles onto the bridge holding a phaser and filled with rage. Georgiou's confrontation with Michael is cut short when the Klingons attack. Even though Michael's experience would come in handy, attempting a mutiny is enough for Georgiou to order Michael sent to the brig.
As aforementioned, Star Trek Discovery takes place a decade before the Original Series and this means that not only has the Federation not made peace with the Klingons, the Klingons themselves are not exactly united either. There's been much infighting among the Klingons and the ruling family's seem to have lost a communal identity, though they all believe in their superiority based in identity. T’Kuvma has a more inspired vision for the future of the Klingon race and believes that the path forward was set out by none other than Kahless, the first Klingon emperor, who created the codes of conduct and honour. We've seen Klingon death rituals before in the Star Trek: Next Generation episode Heart of Glory, in which Worf roars at the sky to let Sto-Vo-Kor know that a warrior is coming. What is interesting about Star Trek Discovery, is that Klingons heavily honour their dead and even collect them after the battle. T’Kuvma's ship even has caskets filled with rotting Klingons attached to his ship.
Fans of the Klingon language are surely thrilled by how much actual Klingon is spoken in the first two episodes. It's also exciting to see the beginning of how the different family's finally align. It's not at all surprising that the Klingons find the Federation's standard message of coming in peace to be duplicitous and a call to arms. Klingons may not be able to agree with each other about a lot but they can however agree that battle is glorious and that anyone who isn't like them needs to be conquered. The USS Shenzhou presents the perfect target for T'kuvma to use to start a war.
Throughout the battle, Martin is locked up in the brig but Sarek manages to reach out to her again. Sarek makes it clear that this is costing him greatly and that he is not doing it to make an emotional goodbye but to encourage Martin to be of use. Sarek's visit is all the inspiration that Martin needs to make her way back to the bridge. Unfortunately, when Martin arrives at the bridge, she finds that the battle is over and that The USS Shenzhou has been all but destroyed. Georgiou begins to think about what to do next and actually quotes Sun Tzu, which btw had me rolling my eyes. For the record, The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise and Georgiou is Malaysian. Michael is quick to advise against killing T'Kuvma because that would not only make him a martyr but something for the Klingons to rally around. Georgious instead orders Saru to beam a bomb onto one of the dead Klingon's bodies. Everything goes to plan and the bomb disables the ship and all that is left is for Michael and Georgiou to board the Klingon vessel and capture T'Kuvma.
