Conversations abound in an episode of tactical planning.
In its first season,Star Trek: Discoveryhas made reinvention its calling card.
Paradigms have shifted numerous times, and often to great effect.
Credit: Jan Thijs/CBS
Sarek verifies Sarus account after performing a mind-meld, though plenty of questions about next steps arise.
But frustratingly, the episode depicts many one-on-one conversations and backroom negotiations.
We are fodder for their futile savagery, Sarek observes.
The situation becomes more dire when Discovery arrives at Starbase 1 or whats left of it.
Rather than a Klingon Empire crest, the Starbases hull is emblazoned with the insignia of House DGhor.
This is where The War Without, The War Within gets bogged down with dialogue.
Some of the conversations to transpire are crucial to the plot.
For one, Cornwell visits LRell to pick the imprisoned Klingons brain about the Federations strategy.
The Federation admiral is particularly curious why the zealous Klingons wont cease their quest.
After all, she successfully beat them in her universe.
The Klingons are like cancer cells: constantly dividing, she tells Burnham.
You must destroy the tumor at its source.
But Georgious instructions to Sarek go beyond infiltrating the Klingon home planet QonoS.
You face annihilation, she explains to the Vulcan as she insinuates a more violent strategy.
Is it not logical to do anything you could to save the lives of your kind?
As these strategic developments unfold, Discoverys crew engages with Tyler whom LRell purged of Voq in predictable ways.
Stamets, unsurprisingly, is less eager to forgive Tyler, considering the officers murder of Dr. Culber.
Reclaiming life, she says, its punishing, its relentless, and its solitary.
In other words, shes dumping the guy who tried to murder her seems like a natural choice.
and the plan only gets increasingly stranger as the episode progresses.
The way-cool special effects mask the outlandishness of the mission.
But the episodes most bizarre scene is its final one.
Their ultimate decision is a highly illogical one.
Rather than keeping the threatening figure contained to quarters, they opt tomake her the captain of Discovery.
What exactly will Georgiou add to the mission?
The show doesnt really explain, beyond her pure, xenophobic ruthlessness.
But audiences will find out come next weeks season finale.
