Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x11 - "The Wolf Inside"

[SJGardner]

Rated 9, only subtracted one point for the Discovery parts feeling a bit hollow, but even then I'm glad they gave Tilly something to do and it was good to see her on the initiative and taking the risk. It did cause the Shenzhou parts to become a bit tighter than ideal, but overall the emotional rollercoaster at the end was completely worth it for me. Glimmers of hope immediately followed by everything being apparently lost then all turning hopeful again, with a huge unexpected twist at the end shattering the plans. The Emperor's sudden arrival caught me off guard but I wasn't surprised to learn who they were. The rules of drama practically demanded it would be someone close to Burnham which narrowed it down for me to the only possibility.

I absolutely loved how Voq basically resurfaced with the inadvertent help of his own counterpart. From his flashbacks, it looks like he was there in the operating theater with Tyler... it looks like he remembers both of Tyler's and his own torture at the same time. Seeing that DSC Klingons don't have hair I can't help but think that Voq's bones were shortened so that Tyler's skin could be grafted on his now smaller frame (which could maybe even fool superficial surface scans)...

As for Lorca, he managed to toss us some tasty theory material again with that smirk he gave Georgiou at the end. Certainly enough for me to keep me wondering which universe he's from which is good. I don't like my theory-senses being unoccupied for long.

 

[Noname Given]

Yes, that was my thought as well.

But if the Terran Empire hates aliens, how could Spock rise to his position?

Anyway, a good, though a very predictable, episode. 8/10.

I said in an earlier post that Sarek (after mind melding with Burham, didn't divulge much to Voq about Burnham's origins (and with all the flashbacks during the mind meld we were treated to, it's obvious Sarek would know she's from a different Universe with a VERY different Human lead Federation of Planets - much like MU Spock quickly discerned after a short and fast Mind Meld with PU Dr. McCoy in TOS - "Mirror, Mirror".

My point? It could easily be that Sarek is in fact a spy infiltrated into the Rebel camp working for the Empire.

 

[Refuge]

Yes, Star Trek has never done that before...

That standard answer is redundant. In this scenario - take the prisoner scum to the brig. There was time. It's the mirror universe, bash on the head and drag him off.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

It's Star Trek. Unneeded people on the bridge in an everyday occurrence

Oh...I'm completely OK with unneeded people being on the bridge. As you said, that's a Star Trek staple.

I was simply pointing out that the reasons being given by @Vger23 and @cultcross (as if a reason needed to be given) would not necessarily address the point @Refuge was making.

But as has already been pointed out, if we want to start faulting Star Trek for illogical scenes and character actions, then the entire Mirror Universe has made no sense for 50 years.

 

[plynch]

I'm getting tired of plot-as-mystery. Each week, find out a bit more of what's actually going on.

I too pine, as someone upthread does, for episodic, strange-new-worlds Trek. So it goes. I did like Saru's ethical moment with Tyler. We've hardly seen starfleet as good guys this series.

 

[Noname Given]

Holly Goodhead. Ah, now that was some good old-fashioned 1970s sexism.

In that Bond vein nothing beats: "Pussy Galore".

 

[F. King Daniel]

I too pine, as someone upthread does, for episodic, strange-new-worlds Trek. So it goes.

Isn't there some show on FOX like that?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Saru explained that when he told Tyler:

We are stranded in a cruel, anarchic world, but we are still Starfleet, and we still live and die by Federation law.
No matter how heinous your crimes.​

Yeah, I get they didn't want him dead, but they could've beamed his body aboard if things took a little longer to play out.

 

[MacLeod]

Leaving him alone in the ready room would have been weirder...

Agreed.

 

[Ovation]

Leaving plot holes to move the action along and let the fans fill in the blanks

Or it’s not Explain. Every. Single. Point. (Which implicitly says they think the viewers have a single digit IQ and can’t connect any dots on their own).

I am ALWAYS happier when the filmmakers, authors, etc. understand that I’m not an idiot and they don’t bring the story to a screeching halt with unnecessary exposition (eg—I’m so very grateful they did NOT, for example, explain how the Discovery avoided detection as, clearly, they did avoid detection and that was the only relevant point—how was NOT germane to the story).

 

[fireproof78]

That standard answer is redundant. In this scenario - take the prisoner scum to the brig. There was time. It's the mirror universe, bash on the head and drag him off.

Nah. This is the MU. Trophies are more fun.

 

[Kevin Wolff]

Or it’s not Explain. Every. Single. Point. (Which implicitly says they think the viewers have a single digit IQ and can’t connect any dots on their own).

I am ALWAYS happier when the filmmakers, authors, etc. understand that I’m not an idiot and they don’t bring the story to a screeching halt with unnecessary exposition (eg—I’m so very grateful they did NOT, for example, explain how the Discovery avoided detection as, clearly, they did avoid detection and that was the only relevant point—how was NOT germane to the story).

I see what you are saying and wholeheartedly agree that every detail doesn't need exposition. But this was not that. Going from Burnham's terror that she can't even get a moment alone much less work on an escape to easily handing off Tyler while bringing DSC up to speed on everything without explaining how she did it is way too much of a leap and a missed opportunity for nail-biting drama.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

I could be wrong, but I do not think the Defiant is in the Imperial flagship. It might be in an Imperial museum of famed starships or something similar.

 

[Ovation]

I see what you are saying and wholeheartedly agree that every detail doesn't need exposition. But this was not that. Going from Burnham's terror that she can't even get a moment alone much less work on an escape to easily handing off Tyler while bringing DSC up to speed on everything without explaining how she did it is way too much of a leap and a missed opportunity for nail-biting drama.

Once it was established she could have contact with the Discovery, as we saw, we don’t need to see it again. As the Discovery was able to grab Tyler, then it is clear there was some prior communication. Instead of watching that redundant moment, we got to see something else.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

That standard answer is redundant. In this scenario - take the prisoner scum to the brig. There was time. It's the mirror universe, bash on the head and drag him off.

Now you're advocating for characters to be tortured? What happened to your federation values?

 

[Kevin Wolff]

Once it was established she could have contact with the Discovery, as we saw, we don’t need to see it again. As the Discovery was able to grab Tyler, then it is clear there was some prior communication. Instead of watching that redundant moment, we got to see something else.

You have a point. I forgot that she successfully contacted Saru previously.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

The Discovery could have been hiding in one of the magnetic poles of Harlak, concealing its presence to other starships. The Shenzhou could then get within the transporter range of the Discovery, which might be as much as 40,000 kilometers, before Tyler was beamed into space.

The speculaton above is based on what has already been established in the canon about starship capabilities.

 

[SJGardner]

Seeing Burnham apparently proceed to execute Tyler got me thinking for a bit whether she was starting to allow the Mirror Universe's darkness get to her and if she, in her emotional state, allowed herself to do this, perhaps as a first step down the slippery slope. Seeing her apparent emotional conflict (and it all turning out to be a moral way to look like she executed him and even getting the intel back to the Discovery at the same time) was certainly more interesting to me than a bog-standard 'Racing the clock to contact Discovery and hope they arrive to extract her before they find out she's an impostor' plot or something similar would've been.

 

[David]

I think we are seeing what's left of real Tyler. You can't make an omelette without breaking some bones.

The producer on After trek said they made Voq “human” implanted Tyler’s memories and messed with his DNA to make it pass initial inspection.

 

[David]

I think we have the real Tyler. I think what has happened is a combination of the two people, leaving a hybrid of sorts. The surgery scenes in this week's episode seem to imply that the two beings were involved in combination (you see Voq being cut open at the same time).

I think what you are seeing is Voq become Tyler.