Spoilers Discovery's thesis about humanity, looking back over two seasons

[Midquest]

So here we are, two seasons in. I don't know how others feel, but I feel like a chapter of the Star Trek narrative closes with "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2." In one go, Disco appears to have put everything we known about this world behind her. So what's it all about? What's Discovery's thesis about humanity after two seasons?

I should preface this by saying that, overall, I like Discovery's willingness to not spell out its big themes for us. Up to this point, Discovery has generally avoided the morality play model used by a lot of prior Trek from TOS to Enterprise. These days, we don't often get a pithy line of dialogue at the end of each episode to tell us the point. There's no Picard turning thoughtfully to Riker or Nimoy's Spock serving up a bit of solemn wordplay. Instead, Discovery is more like a novel that wants you to do some literary analysis to look for character parallels and motifs to find meaning. I know not everyone's a fan of this method, and that's fine. But for me at least, Trek has sometimes taken its pop philosophy too seriously, and I enjoy that the current show eschews some of its high-minded moralizing for more complicated season-spanning patterns (sometimes imperfectly). For instance, the season starts with a sister talking to a brother and ends with a brother talking to a sister, but the show doesn't point it out awkwardly. Similarly, I know that a lot of folks feel that this season's Burnham was too emotional and melodramatic, but we now know via Sonequa Martin-Green that this was deliberate, depicting an off-balance Burnham grappling with her new freedom to feel. I really like that at no point did any character turn to another and say, "Hey, Burnham is going through a tough time." So don't mistake me--I really like how the show operates more like a novel that wants you to analyze it. Discovery is playing a long game with its characters, confidently assuming that we'll be willing one day to look back and enjoy the big picture without needing it all telegraphed for us along the way.

So, yeah, I like that a lot. However, it is still nice when the show comes out and asserts a point of view, and I think that "Sorrow" gave us what is probably the show's overarching thesis about humanity:

Spock: If we learned anything, we learned we're not yet ready to learn everything.

Spock says a whole bunch more about this idea in the epilogue, but I would argue that this line captures the big idea in a nutshell. Here, Spock both rebukes humanity and suggests that the rebuke isn't permanent. From Burnham's misapplication of the Vulcan Hello to the misuse of the Tardigrade, from the spore drive to the Sphere data, from Control to the time suit, these two seasons have all been about this one thing: We are not yet wise enough to act responsibly when faced with power, but we are trying to be. We might be. One day.

And that's very Trekkian. It's both a quiet critique and an optimistic promise. Bring on the 33rd century.

 

[Mudd]

We are not yet wise enough to act responsibly when faced with power, but we are trying to be. We might be. One day.

That would fit nicely on a Hallmark card, yes.

It's the kind of sentiment that, stated in round tones, has the ring of profundity without authenticity.

That is, like the opposite but remarkably similar chestnut from old horror and sf movies - "There are things that Man is not meant to know" - it's in no way a usefully true statement about human experience or the choices we're confronted with.

We're eternally dealing with what we know, when we know it, and the power that is inescapably the result of our present knowledge. Walking away, putting off, is - however unfortunately - never an option.

We always navigate the world as it is now and however responsibly or irresponsibly we manage, we face the consequences.

 

[Harpsichord]

Similarly, I know that a lot of folks feel that this season's Burnham was too emotional and melodramatic, but we now know via Sonequa Martin-Green that this was deliberate, depicting an off-balance Burnham grappling with her new freedom to feel.

I really felt the change in SMG's performance from S1 to S2 and I thought it was believeable. Season 1 Burnham would channel her emotions into her hands, I'd noticed. A lot of clenched fists and fidgeting during emotional scenes whereas S2 Burnham is unregulated, she's learning how to properly express human emotion again. Fantastic job from SMG in my opinion.

 

[SJGardner]

I've generally found Discovery much more idealistic than the 24th century shows, at least for a given meaning of idealism that I might have misunderstood, but basically, the TNG era is just way too perfect for me to actually find it idealistic. The way the Federation is constantly described as a paradise, with all of society's ills and personal conflicts resolved, with all these perfect model Starfleet officers of "evolved moralities" living in it, it doesn't even merely cross the line where it stops being idealistic and becomes full-on escapism for me, but rather crashes through it at Warp 9, never to look back.

The people of Discovery feel more like people for me not because they are better written (on which your mileage may vary), but rather because they are allowed to have the emotional issues, the anxieties, the baggage, the conflicts, etc. that were always pushed into the background or outright suppressed in the TNG era. Watching all these supposedly perfect people never felt uplifting to me, and they were often downright condescending in their preaching about how Humanity has grown past its negative passions and their constant, snooty fixation on high culture.

Discovery instead has imperfect, fallible people with good intentions and motivations, fighting to make the world a better place even if they fail sometimes or the road is bumpy. Not to mention the very heartwarming message of friendship, emotional support and generally being there for each other. Simply put, Discovery feels more idealistic for me because its portrayal of humanity I can actually believe as being us ourselves. In Discovery's era (and the TOS era, I'd wager), I'd feel like a human out of time. In the TNG era, I'd feel like a fossil.

 

[BillJ]

I've found the show thematically empty for the most part. But I'm a simpleton.