'Star Trek: Discovery' Recap - 'Battle at the Binary Stars'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

When we last left the intrepid crew of the U.S.S. Shenzhou on Star Trek: Discovery, the situation was grim. They were isolated from their Starfleet brethren at the edge of Federation space, staring down the barrel of a flotilla of Klingon vessels, unsure of the Klingons overall intentions and considering how tense and powerful the closing moments of the series premiere turned out to be, I think all of us had plenty of questions on our mind.

First and foremost, what would become of Commander Burnham after her Captain was forced to point a phaser at her for mutiny and whether or not she was right about the Klingons and that they had war on their minds and thankfully, Discovery was more than happy to answer those burning questions in epic fashion. Because 'Battle at the Binary Stars' turned out to be quite the jaw dropping episode as once again, this series took us to new places in this universe and completely cemented an idea I floated about yesterday, in that this series is going to be a tale of redemption for the Commander.  

But before we get too deep into that portion of the story, let's discuss the Klingons and what came about of their plan. Because T'Kuvma's lighting of the beacon did indeed attract a ship from every house in the Klingon Empire and he was able to express his belief in the prophecy and how it more or less dictated a need for the Empire to go to war against the Federation and while at first it seemed his ideas were being dismissed as nonsense...all it takes is for one Klingon to be intrigued and his passion piqued the interest of several House leaders and it didn't take long for conflict to erupt, shortly after the Shenzhou's reinforcements arrived. 

Now ship to ship combat is nothing new to this franchise, and we've seen the darker side of it on several occasions over the years as well. But this battle, had a different feel to it simply because, we've rarely seen the Federation be surprised in this kind of fashion and there truly seemed to be a sense of confusion and shock emanating from Captain  Georgiou as she watched the situation unravel before her eyes and kudos to the series for giving us a prolonged and breathtaking battle, and for taking a moment to show us the mental effects this kind of unexpected combat would have on a crew as well since that brief scene in the Brig with Burnham and her shipmate was utterly heartbreaking to say the least. 

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But this episode had plenty more to offer outside of sheer action and harrowing moments. As I made mention of before, redemption is the name of the game and in order for someone to be redeemed, they have to reach rock bottom and that's precisely where Commander Burnham went in this episode, in the most unexpected of fashion. Because shortly after escaping the Brig mere moments before she would have been blown out into space, Burnham was able to help the Captain formulate a plan to capture T'Kuvma as the battle came to an end and quite frankly, the plan in question was pretty darn brilliant.

Since T'Kuvma is all about providing fallen warriors with a proper burial, Captain Georgiou has a photon warhead beamed onto the corpse of a dead Klingon Warrior mere moments before T'Kuvma pulls the body aboard, leading to a spectacular explosion that cripples his vessel, allowing for the Captain and her first officer to beam aboard the ship to grab the intrepid Klingon leader and bring him to justice, because to kill him, would rally the Klingon Empire in a way few could imagine and unfortunately, the best laid plans don't always work out the way you want them to and after watching Captain Georgiou die at the hands of T'Kuvma, Burnham makes another critical error and kills the Klingon leader, giving the Empire a rallying cry for war...

Which brings us to the low point for Commander Michael Burnham. Because with her Captain dead, and the Shenzhou abandoned and adrift in space, Burnham faces a court-martial and is stripped of her rank and sentenced to life imprisonment and well...there's no where to go but up from here and that's where this series becomes supremely Star Trek. Because every mistake Michael has made over the past two episodes have been grounded in her fears and insecurities and now is her opportunity to re-discover the ideals of the Federation and how to face those darkest parts of her soul and in doing so...lies the road to redemption and maybe, just maybe, in the midst of one of the Federation's darkest hours, she can finally be a hero.  

Regardless, after this two episode premiere, I am completely and utterly sold on Discovery. It may be darker, it may be grittier, but everything we love about Star Trek is present here. There's adventure, there's action and most importantly, the always important elements of pushing for a better future and improving who we are as a people can be found here as well and I'm already counting down the minutes to Sunday's brand new episode. Because after years of so-so entries in the saga, we finally have an incredible new tale before us, one that fits the times and boldly goes where no other Star Trek adventure dares to and I cannot wait to see what incredibly storytelling awaits us in the weeks to come. Until next time. 

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