What's Past Is Prologue

When Star Trek is good, it can be very good. Unfortunately with all the spin offs after ST: The Next Generation, there was a creative vacuum that was clearly on display in Voyager and Enterprise.

Discovery the series has so far not been consistent but this installment was astonishingly good. It even nearly threw in a tribute to Doctor Who with the 'reversing the polarity' quip!

Lorca reveals his true colours and it is not that different from Jason Isaacs other famous character Lucius Malfoy, a believer in racial purity which Empress Georgiou has diluted. Lorca has no time for the namby-pamby Federation.

Burnham feels compelled to help Georgiou and both need to work together to stop Lorca while the crew of the Discovery have to figure out how best to get back to their own universe.

When you have a martial arts actress such as Michelle Yeoh you might as well use her for some kick ass action and that is exactly what Georgiou does here.

What does it mean when an episode is so good it feels like a finale but there are still 2 episodes left?? This episode, similar to the last 1-2 episodes, has done a great job of explaining some of the "canon" complaints of Trek purists. Even though they didn't have a leg to stand on to begin with, some loose ends getting handled are welcome.

DSC is having the best 1st season of any Trek series ever. The story telling is superb, the characters are well written and supremely well acted. Doug Jones is mind boggling with how he can emote wearing his Saru makeup. The man can ACT!

It's nice to see people who initially, and blindly, jumped on the hate bandwagon finally realizing how incredibly wrong they were and admitting they are enjoying DSC. And the remaining purists are now far outnumbered and keeping to the shadows hugging their "great bird of the galaxy" dolls. DSC is here for the long haul!

I'm tired of the comparisons to Oroville, Oroville is not Trek, amusing as it is. It's not even similar to TNG, DS9 and Voyager. It's a parallel universe that's not being discussed in Trek at the moment. When Discovery runs into the Oroville or characters from it, let me know. Meanwhile, let Discovery be about Discovery.

"It's harder for an Uncivilized Man to pretend to be Civilized, than it is for a Civilized man to pretend to be uncivilized." - Mr. Spock, "Mirror Mirror"

But when that uncivilized man is Lorca, we find that what is difficult is not impossible, Mirror Lorca finds himself in the Prime 'Verse, and was able to take command of one of two experimental Discovery class ships, and even manipulate Stametz to find ways back to the Mirror 'Verse. When Admiral Cornwell started seeing through it, she was talked into taking over Sarek's dangerous mission, which put her out of the picture. She was Mirror Lorca's biggest threat.

We can go back and watch the previous episodes, and see that something was off with Lorca from the start. It all seemed so logical, but everything Mirror Lorca did, foreshadowed what was to come.

Georgiou, a merciless Emperor facing deposition, although not like Prime Georgiou, is still a competent commander knows her ship, is integrated into it. As vicious as she is, she still has feelings for Michael, which may or may not make her Manipulate-able.

Mirror Stametz work was a perversion of the Spore drive, and is destroying the whole network. Is there a solution to this, which will open a door back to Prime Verse, that won't blow up discovery?

For this to happen, Michael has to work on Mirror Lorca and Georgiou, a three-way conspiracy. And Michael makes a tacit commitment to keep Mirror Georgiou alive.

The Character who wins Most Improved award is Saru, who has become a more than adequate Captain. And this also pushes actor and stuntee Doug Jones into a starring role. I'm very impressed, from Abe Sapien to Saru. Doug has been a multitude of weirdly designed angels and daemons in several Guillermo del Toro films. My favorite being the Angel who saves Hellboy in "Hellboy 2 The Golden Army." I have to admit, although I like the actor and the character, I had issues when he took command and was trying to "score" his performance by comparing to Captains April, Archer and Pike.

Getting back to the Prime Verse is only half the problem, it all depends on when they get back. With only a couple of episodes left, can we really say that the Mirror 'Verse is done with us yet?

This has been the longest incursion into the Mirror Verse of all Trek, and the elongated storyline was quite a welcome thing.

Lorca launches a coup against the Terran emperor.

This is an enjoyable and visually spectacular action adventure that feels closer to Star Wars than Star Trek.

Lorca leads a rebellion against the Terran empire and Burnham, supported by Discovery plays a crucial role in how the events unfold. As an example of thrilling spectacle it is pretty strong, but I get the feeling this might bother Trek purists who prefer the franchise to have emphasis more on characters using their brains to resolve problems (with the odd Vulcan neck pinch or double-handed hammer punch thrown in). Saying that there is some tactical manoeuvring on display, along with the obligatory technobabble, but a lot of what happens comes down to shooting, stabbing, martial arts and explosions.

Visually it is stunning with more wonderfully composed shots, great lighting and colours. This not only creates atmosphere but makes you feel the crew are in a different place, but importantly it conveys the story well. The camera moves a lot more in Discovery than traditional Star Trek, which is a plus point for me.

The only negative aspect is the exposition heavy dialogue that creeps in here and there. It's not as heavy handed as in others, but it still sounds forced and unnatural when it happens.

All performances are good, especially Jason Issacs, Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh and Doug Jones.

From the first episode of the original series, through all the others, I've always marveled at the explanations as to why things work or don't. Because this is major episode, I hung in there and I know now that the good guys pretty much ended up on top. But exactly why, I don't know. The whole plot with the spores functioning as weaponry is beyond my simple mind. But it was thrilling and sets up a fact at the end that will have to be addressed