"Burnham’s choice...affects Starfleet, affects the Federation; it affects the entire universe..."

[Mudd]

So, a huge deal was made of this "world altering decision" in interviews during the PR run-up to the show. Which left me wondering: what exactly was that all about?

• Was it deciding to go on a recon and then accidentally knocking a Klingon into his knife?
• Was it the mutiny that went nowhere and did nothing? Or,
  
• Was it booby-trapping a dead soldier?

 

[Kemaiku]

The line in the trailer for episode 3 mentions over 8000 dead in a few days, so this death toll thing is implying a war that will kill tens of thousands before the end of the season.

That would change a few peoples worlds, having bits of it blown off.

 

[BillJ]

It was just fappin' material for people who couldn't wait for more Star Trek!

 

[dahj]

Shooting and killing T'Kuvma.

Instead of capturing him and possibly preventing a war, she killed him and ensured a war would happen.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I think it was the first one. Had she followed orders, no confrontation with a Klingon, no turning on her thrusters to make Klingkebabs, and Shenzhou may have been in a better position to see what was going on, as opposed to worrying about an unstable First Officer floating out in space and not being able to concentrate on the full situation.

 

[Mudd]

It was just fappin' material for people who couldn't wait for more Star Trek!

Yeah, it strikes me as a wild exaggeration at best. Acting on emotional impulse or bumping someone in space is not exactly making a choice of great importance, is it?

Georgiou's choices, in fact, drive the story so far. That, I suppose, is the thing about being the Captain.

 

[Jarvisimo]

Shooting and killing T'Kuvma.

Instead of capturing him and possibly preventing a war, she killed him and ensured a war would happen.

I think it is this - she changed the setting of that phaser, quite deliberately! Blue to red before firing.

 

[Longinus]

Shooting and killing T'Kuvma.

Instead of capturing him and possibly preventing a war, she killed him and ensured a war would happen.

This.

 

[captainkirk]

But remember, they said it was the hardest choice she'd ever made, which means the mutiny is the only possibility.

 

[BillJ]

I imagine it was the choice of breakfast she made that morning. The oatmeal gave her the energy she needed to attempt a mutiny. If she had the eggs and sausage, she would've been logy and in no shape to have a go at it.

 

[Long Syntax]

I think it was the first one. Had she followed orders, no confrontation with a Klingon, no turning on her thrusters to make Klingkebabs, and Shenzhou may have been in a better position to see what was going on, as opposed to worrying about an unstable First Officer floating out in space and not being able to concentrate on the full situation.

I'm not so sure I agree. Now, I do agree she didn't follow orders, but it seems to me the Klingons were coming, regardless of how they made contact. In any case, the Shenzou wouldn't have been in a position to see what was going on because of the distortion field, which was the reason to have the recon in the first place.

 

[the Sisko]

The Klingons had a plan. There were only three things that she initiated which changed the plan.
1) Killing Torchbearer 1, forcing a less universally accepted torchbearer.
2) Red Alert + Locking weapons: Forced the Klingon's hand and timeline and making the first salvos on a shielded ship (as other star fleet vessel were in sync with Shenzou.
3) Killing T'Kumba: Making his movement leaderless (excluding the torchbearer), raising the potential of the movement being coopted by a different faction AND making a religious radical (and maybe his ideas) more universally accepted.

The torpedo idea which was not hers likely caused centuries of Klingon brutality as the Federation ships are not seen as beaten until they are destroyed.

 

[Amalak]

Those few minutes of mutiny made war more likely.

 

[saladdays]

T'Kumba's group would have sooner or later tried to make war with the Federation it seems. Burnham only forced their hand. I think killing T'Kumba was the biggest thing, although the idea to keep him prisoner was Burnham's suggestion anyway.

 

[CorporalClegg]

This is why that whole "show vs. tell" thing is so important.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

This is why that whole "show vs. tell" thing is so important.

Not completely. It could have been handled in flashback effectively and not use 2 episodes telling what happened.

 

[Mr Awe]

So, a huge deal was made of this "world altering decision" in interviews during the PR run-up to the show.

Since when does PR use hyperbole? Oh wait, never mind!

It you're looking for a real answer, it was killing T'kumva and guaranteeing the war and a martyr.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

It was instructing Georgiou to shoot a phaser rifle through Bedrock, thus destroying Fred's house.

 

[Mudd]

Since when does PR use hyperbole? Oh wait, never mind!

Very true.

Oddly, there are fans here who insist that because producers say a thing - like, say, that this isn't a reboot - that makes it true.

Of course Burnham was the only one concerned about Tkumva's martyrdom to begin with. So far, the action provides no evidence that she really has a fucking clue what she's doing.

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

Yeah. She attempted a mutiny... which failed. She screwed up... her own plan, resulting in basically what her captain's original plan was intended to do. But still, if she had chosen to follow through with her own plan, the result might have been different. That's the closest I can see to what they claimed.