Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x14 - "The War Without, The War Within"

Something just occurred to me about this episode. Unless I'm forgetting something, there was no onscreen combat of any kind in this episode. No phasers were fired and no punches were thrown (that I recall). This is a rare (though not particularly meaningful) feat for any Star Trek series, let alone Discovery. So I thought it was interesting.

Edit: Well, a phaser was fired. At fortune cookies.

 

Just like Tilly in the Mirror Universe, while Saru acted as CO. Only, Georgiou is both smarter (obviously since the PU Klingons destroyed the I.S.S. Discovery so easily) and more dangerous than any iteration of Tilly.

 

I think you're forgetting the harrowing on-screen murder of a bowl of fortune cookies.

 

Dang it, how could I forget that? I could say that no phasers were fired in anger, but she was in fact waaay past angry.

 

Which is a saga unto itself. Why did Cornwell have that bowl moved from Lorca's Ready Room to this completely different meeting place (which is identical to the one she had aboard that unnumbered starbase in "Choose Your Pain") for that "spontaneous" act of angry destruction?

And why does she destroy the bowl of her own beloved real Lorca when she's angry at the impostor?

Timo Saloniemi

 

Maybe Lorca left it in the room.

 

I dunno, that doesn't sound that rare. Seems like TNG would have plenty that had neither.

 

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..While moving the tribble? It's probably like one of those brain-twisters where you have three mutually incompatible things (beasts or the like) and you have to juggle them across a river in a boat or whatnot. Except Lorca does it with just two, and his cookies remain uneaten! Not even Robau or Chuck Norris could do that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

That and the crew still believe her to be the real captain.

Gonna be hard to mutiny that one.

 

Okay, looking back, the first season alone of TNG is littered with episodes in which there's no real combat (that I recall). There was usually a high degree of peril, however. It was also, coincidentally, the worst season in the history of television. But TNG did have a lot of episodes (including some very good ones) that didn't rely on the five minutes or so per episode of fighting that's been pretty typical in every other series.

 

DS9's Duet also springs to mind as a punch/phaser free ep. TNG's The Drumhead too, if it weren't for Worf's single palm-punch.

 

No punches maybe, but wasn't there a murder by stabbing in Duet? I'll agree that the "pacifism" of TWWTWW is far less groundbreaking than I initially claimed.

 

Wow, you really don't have a very high opinion of the UFP. Seems like in your book it's inept at defending itself, hypocritical about its core principles, and arrogantly elitist about species diversity. Why would anyone want to live there?

For my money, I prefer to continue to think of the UFP in the more traditional "utopian idealism" mold that's been part of Trek from the beginning. It may not be perfect, but it's still the best government we've ever seen — post-scarcity, post-capitalist, post-imperialist, post-racist, and generally doing the most good it can for everyone involved. It's that optimistic vision of our capacity to improve ourselves and our society over time that makes the whole thing interesting. Without that we might as well be watching nuBSG, telling us that we can't avoid making the same stupid mistakes over and over again.

How so? That's not a facetious question: I'm completely serious. What actual difference does it make that it's a "different universe"? You can get there (and back again) by starship and by transporter, as we've seen more than once. As such, it's just another place. Heck, it's a more accessible place than (say) the other side of the Milky Way, despite that being (relatively) close in terms of our own universe. So if there are certain principles of law and justice that are so important that they transcend the dividing lines between one place and the next... town, or state, or country, or planet, or star system... why should "universe" be any different?

(And whether the system imposing justice is "threatened in any way" has nothing to do with it. It's not about self-defense, it's about upholding principles of civilization.)

Yeah, on this I'm inclined to agree with you. Technically I think it's arguable that Georgiou wasn't a head of state any more, as she'd been deposed and was not in a position to take the throne back... but it was still kidnapping, against Georgiou's will, as expressed only a few seconds earlier, that she wanted to stay and fight. However, as the Terran Empire is now presumably engulfed in civil war and has no functional government, jurisdiction over Burnham's actions would fall to the UFP... and I think it would be likely to hold that Burnham's offense was mitigated by the stakes involved — i.e., saving the life of a sapient being through the only means available — and by the fact that she released the abductee to proper legal authorities at the first opportunity.

 

I haven't read every post on this thread so this may have been tread on before:

But Goergiou talking off screen with Sarek. Yes she offered him better tactics for her freedom... she offered him more than that. When she says freedom can't she be talking about freedom for two people. And as to why Sarek would listen?? Because she is now, after the deal, essentially according to Starfleet the real Georgiou. That means she is fully capable of explaining Burnham's action the day of the mutiny and actually changing the narrative (as in no mutiny .... continuity people will love that). Essentially the emperor can now free Burnham as well and actually have her returned to her full rank of Commander as never having mutinied. So the reason she told this to Sarek (and not Cromwell) is because she knows that he raised Burnham as a father and will do anything to save her from a life in prison. Scratch Vulcan logic thinking this is a bad idea .... add Sarek actual emotion for how he has wronged her in the past and now has the opportunity to make up for that with what logically is not the right decision. All the series arcs with them lead to this.

Even the whole conversation when he was leaving about not being afraid to love points this way. He actually made a deal with the devil to save Burnham because he does love her. And almost exciling himself from her because of what he has now done (maybe even telling Spock to never speak of her again). Closes loop of continuity and gives Burnham closure if only had been one season.

 

It was a rescue, not a kidnapping. Georgiou was likely going to be slaughtered, until being saved by Burnham. It's not her fault that returning to the "Terran universe" will be impossible in the short term.

 

Quit moving the goalposts.

 

Also ... didn’t see emperor becoming captain coming. I actually jumped out of my seat when Cromwell introduced her.

 

You know, while there are some legitimate complaints about DSC, I really don't get the 'it's not Star Trek' brigade.

Optimism and brilliance in the face of adversity is shown in every episode, almost to the point of being offensive.