'Star Trek: Discovery' Recap - 'Lethe'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

For the most part, television shows as a whole, work incredibly hard to maintain a particular tone and design because brand recognition and knowing what you're getting into when you settle in to watch is an important part of the T.V. landscape these days. But the boldest of television shows love to buck that trend and surprise their audience through and through, and that's precisely what's happening right now with Star Trek: Discovery. Because for the past two weeks, this stunning new entry into the Trek universe is evolving right before our very eyes as it begins to shift away from dark and gritty stories in order to tell hopeful and heroic tales that explore the human condition.

It all started last week since 'Choose Your Pain' was a tour de force in storytelling where we finally saw Commander Michael Burnham start her long road back to redemption, and it was also filled to the brim with heroic moments that spoke to the Federation's values on life as a whole and well...all of that truly signaled a tonal shift for the show and last night's episode, 'Lethe', continued this new tradition of uplifting storytelling by once again throwing heroism into the mix, all while adding a brand new wrinkle to the fold by digging into the age old concept of our past, and how it can control us if we never bother to confront it. 

It accomplished all of this by unfortunately putting Sarek in harm's way since his ship was nearly destroyed by a logic purist while he was on his way to attempt to negotiate a peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire and thankfully, in his injured state, he was able to reach out to Burnham mentally and make a request for help, one that Captain Lorca was happy to grant. Which sent the crew into a nebula to rescue the injured Vulcan and well...while that alone should have been enough to provide us with another uplifting and heroic story, because really, how can you go wrong with bravery, this episode decided to go above and beyond and instantly began to dig into the notion of confronting our past by way two key characters, Captain Lorca and Commander Burnham. 

Now what truly made this portion of the story so worthwhile, was the fact that it offered us two varying perspectives on what happens when we are forced to face the past and Burnham's journey, ended up being the more positive of the two. Because last night, we learned that Michael's quest to be the best and go as far as she can in Starfleet comes from one key moment from her past, the day that she was rejected from the Vulcan Expeditionary Group. She saw this harrowing moment as the grandest failure she could ever accomplish in life, since she didn't fulfill Sarek's hopes and dreams for her and she clearly was not good enough to achieve such an honor on her own, but as it turns out, there was more to that memory than she was aware of and thanks to a scientifically designed mind meld, she was finally able to discover the truth in that...Sarek lied to her on that fateful day.

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She was never rejected, nor did she fail, instead her surrogate father was forced to make one heck of a decision in that...only one of his children would be accepted into the Group and in an effort to save face and preserve the Vulcan way, he chose Spock over Burnham. This revelation allowed for Sarek to finally open his mind so the Commander could save his life, and the truth in many ways set Burnham free. She came to realize that she had dedicated her life to serving other people's designs as to who or what she should be, and by confronting this memory head on and realizing that she is indeed good enough, she can now carve her own path in life and take the days as they come and it was refreshing to see Michael confront her past and learn something valuable from it rather than allow for it to continue to haunt her. 

Which brings us to Captain Lorca, whose sorted past served as the engine to drive a harrowing tale of what can happen when someone refuses to deal with their past in the slightest. Because after weeks of bravado, and odd decisions and disobeying orders, the Discovery received a visit from Admiral Cornwall while Burnham searched for Sarek and well, it was here that we learned that the Admiral not only cares for Lorca on a professional level, but a personal one as well and that care prompted the Admiral to flat out ask if the Captain is doing all right considering everything that's happened to him in the past few weeks and months, and of course, Lorca says he's doing just fine. But after a romantic evening together, Cornwall comes to discover that he is most certainly NOT all right since he pulls a phaser on her after she accidentally wakes him up. 

The revelation that Lorca has in essence lied his way back into the command chair after experiencing trauma puts his career in jeopardy since the Admiral is ready to make a leadership change aboard the ship until disaster strikes. Because with Sarek unable to attend the potential peace negotiations thanks to his injuries, Admiral Cornwall takes his place and wouldn't you know it, it's a trap so that the Klingons can get their hands on a high ranking Federation official and really, one has to wonder if at the end of the episode the discipline and restraint that Lorca shows when it comes to rescuing the Admiral is related to him learning a lesson, or him taking advantage of an opportunity to keep his career thriving and I hate to say it, I think it's the latter. Because Lorca in essence refuses to deal with anything from his past, he just pushes forward and lets the pain grow and grow, firmly believing that somehow sitting in that chair and doing good deeds for the war effort will free him from the burdens of yesterday.

If anything, Lorca's storyline made for some sobering moments to say the least, ones that served as a reminder of how hard it can be to hold the rank of captain, and here's to hoping Lorca gets the help he needs and soon, because the Admiral is right. At some point, he could become a liability with how hard he's pushing his crew. But when all is said and done, this was quite the wonderful character study and it was fascinating to learn what makes these two characters tick and it should be equally as fascinating going forward to see how they apply what they learned in this episode when it comes to their future. Either way, it's wonderful to see this series moving into more traditional ground storytelling wise, the kind that does the franchise proud and I cannot wait to see where this powerful story goes from here as Burnham continues to piece together this crazy thing we call life. Until next time.

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