‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Recap – ‘An Obol for Charon’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

I think it is safe to say at this point, that it is extremely difficult for television shows to surprise us in this day and age. After all, fandoms everywhere pay incredibly close attention to everything they watch these days, and said fans usually pick up on subtle clues and are easily able to call a particular twist or turn when it is finally revealed on the show in question. But, believe it or not, once in a while, it is still possible for a series to stun us on the fly and well, last night’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery, ‘An Obol for Charon’, just so happened to qualify as that exception to the rule since it outright stunned me with all kinds of pleasant and lovely surprises.
 
Because initially, it seemed as though this particular tale was going to be a continuation of ‘The Search for Spock 1.0’ storyline that’s been brewing all season long since Number One dropped by the Discovery to inform Captain Pike on the progress being made on Enterprise’s repairs before dropping off a little information on Spock’s whereabouts, meaning the crew was headed after this iconic character, and that’s when the surprises started kicking in. Because shortly after setting a course for Spock’s shuttle, the crew found themselves trapped in front of a massive and ancient sphere and it appeared to be conducting an all-out assault on the ship, since systems were beginning to fail on every deck shortly after the sphere answered their hail.
 
Which meant that the ship was mired in chaos for a better part of this episode, with everyone dealing with some kind of crisis, and down in engineering Stamets and Reno and Tilly were having to deal with the surprise resurgence of ‘May’, who latched herself onto Tilly as part of her ongoing efforts to ‘deal with’ Lieutenant Stamets. Because it turns out, that her issues with the Lieutenant come from the fact that Discovery’s jumps are damaging her universe and revenge was seemingly the only way to set her world right again, and despite Stamets best efforts to apologize and close off the ship’s ability to connect to the Mycelial Network, ‘May’ remained defiant and went so far as to kidnap Tilly to who knows where…

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​But truly the centerpiece of the night and the biggest surprises of all in this episode, related to Commander Saru’s storyline, since he became ill shortly before encountering the sphere, and his illness was related to something truly dire. For Saru came to realize he was suffering from Varahai, a syndrome that his people on Kaminar experienced before they met their respective end at the Ba’ul, and now that he was faced with the prospect of death, we saw the character shine like never before. Because Saru pushed himself to new limits to help save the crew from certain doom and well…what made this part of the story and the episode so surprising, is how Saru’s potential demise, ended up providing the audience with moments of incredible beauty.
 
For Saru was quite reflective in this state, and pondered upon his life after leaving Kaminar and all the wonder he had experienced in his travels, and how he came to realize just what Starfleet and the Federation meant to the galaxy, since both offered so many species a chance at something better and as it turns out, he asked Commander Burnham to ensure that his legacy lived on by sharing his story with others and well, that’s when it dawned upon both of them, that the sphere wasn’t trying to harm them…it was trying to share its own story before dying. And after a little back and forth, the crew was able to gather a 100,000 years’ worth of data before this creature passed into the great beyond and Saru was also given a disturbing and bittersweet gift after the crisis came to a close. For what he believed to be his biological end was nothing more than another stage of growth, wherein Kelpians shed their threat ganglia and in turn, their fear and this revelation will likely change Saru’s life in ways he never imagined.
 
If anything, I would venture to say that this was by far, the most Trek oriented episode of Discovery to date since it featured all kinds of powerhouse moments related to everything that the franchise stands for and I really enjoyed this episode through and through. In large part thanks to its positive commentary on immigration and also because, it just ended up being so incredibly uplifting when all is said and done. This really was a story filled to the brim with beautiful moments, and that was quite the unexpected surprise and also, major props need to go to Doug Jones who turned in one hell of a performance in this tale and I am quite curious to see what Saru’s journey is going to look like from here on out, now that he is free of the fear that has controlled him for so long. Until next time.   

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