‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Recap – ‘Through the Valley of Shadows’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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

There are a great many reasons to like Star Trek as a whole, since the franchise has always offered us a look at a world where mankind has truly evolved to become an outright better species, one that believes in the value of life, and is willing to sacrifice everything in order to ensure the safety of others since we’ve seen Starfleet crew after Starfleet crew put their lives on the line to save countless worlds and untold lives. But alas, that kind of nobility hasn’t quite been available to the characters of Star Trek: Discovery just yet since their missions have led them in different directions over the past couple of years.
 
But at long last, a chance to risk it all and put lives on the line finally arrived on this particular series since last night’s episode of the show, ‘Through the Valley of Shadows’, put Michael and Spock and Captain Pike specifically, within harm’s way all in the name of the greater good, and the end result of the situations they found themselves in, led to quite the epic tale, one that quite frankly left me on the edge of my seat with its perfect balance of fan service, danger and heroism and really the storyline that I want to talk about first, is the one involving Captain Christopher Pike. Because his journey in this tale, managed to provide us with all of those elements.
 
For a new signal brought the U.S.S. Discovery to the Klingon planet of Boreth, where Ash and L’Rell left their son to grow safely, away from the drama of the Empire and this place mattered for several reasons, but the most important one, is that this planet is home to a vast abundance of Time Crystals. Something that Pike firmly believed would help the crew accomplish their mission in sending the Sphere’s data deep into the future, and he insisted on beaming down in the hope he could retrieve one. Which surprisingly, he could, but for quite the price. For in order to bring one of these crystals back to the ship, Pike would need to see a potential future for himself, one that could be prevented if he were to leave the crystal on Boreth and well…he saw his unfortunate fate, and stood by the mission regardless and was gifted the crystal, and the knowledge of his sorrowful future. 

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While Christopher dealt with that, and a tense reunion between L’Rell and Ash, Commander Michael Burnham was on a mission of her own, one grounded in revenge. Because she was not good with Leland ruining the reunion between her and her mother and she was privy to a strange aberration in Section 31’s deployment logs that gave her a potential opportunity at bringing down Leland and Control. But all she found was terror and deception on her mission, one that thankfully Spock accompanied her on. For everything was a trap laid by Control to assimilate Burnham into Control’s new collective (because let’s be honest, there’s no better phrase to attach to that), and this ugly encounter prompted both Spock and Burnham to realize that perhaps she is the real X factor in this fight and keeping her out of Control’s waiting arms, may be the key to defeating it.
 
Yet while it was supremely cool to meet the son of Voq and L’Rell and see the great man he’s become, and see Burnham and Pike stand tall in the face of adversity, this one ended on quite the sour note. For Control is amassing a fleet of Section 31 ships to capture Discovery and the valuable knowledge stored within her databanks, prompting Pike and Burnham to agree that the time has come to ask for Enterprise’s help in evacuating the U.S.S. Discovery before the crew scuttles her, setting the stage for a grand showdown next week and my goodness, did I thoroughly enjoy this episode, for so many reasons. For starters, I’m a sucker for any Trek episode where the odds are against the crew, because it brings out the best in them, and the deck was unfairly stacked in this one and everyone performed admirably.
 
However, Anson Mount’s powerhouse performance in this tale is what stands out the most, because the nobility that Pike expressed when faced with an awful fate reminds us that he is one of Starfleet’s finest, and a good man through and through and that, combined with Burnham’s newfound resolve, just makes for an episode that speaks to what this franchise stands for, and man, I really cannot wait for next week’s story. Because this is it, the beginning of the showdown we’ve all been waiting for, and this crew seems ready to make incredible sacrifices to ensure a future where the galaxy and its many living species thrive, thanks to the brave leadership exhibited by Pike and Burnham here and well, I cannot wait to see how this crew will stand up to Control and save billions of lives in the weeks to come. Until next time.      

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