Kobayashi Marie Ongoing Series

Kobayashi Marie #12: Star Trek Discovery Ep. 13

Kobayashi Marie

Kobayashi Marie continues its discussion of the first season of Star Trek Discovery with Episode 13 – What’s Past is Prologue

Hello Jason Isaacs, so you want to be Emperor now? And of course, you’ll need your right-hand person for that – welcome back Rekha Sharma as Commander Landry! I know it’s not exactly the same, but it was such a welcome surprise to see her emerge from the agonizer. Of course, Lorca has A Plan.

This episode channels the legend that is James Tiberius Kirk a number of times; firstly, the exp-Lorca-nation of how Gabriel originally crossed from one universe into the other – ion storm, transporter malfunction et voila! Parallel universe – just like Kirk and the landing party in the Star Trek TOS episode Mirror, Mirror.

Also, Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) both agree that they do not accept the no-win scenario – something that Kirk is famous for disregarding too. So some nice touches. Oh and by the way, what’s the significance of that one little spore that lands on Tilly’s shoulder? Hmmm.

Now that we know the truth about Lorca, the story arc can draw to a conclusion, and so naturally there is and it’s worth it just to see Michelle Yeoh in fight action because she is brilliant! Anyone she faces doesn’t stand a chance, and then to see her dispatch Lorca with a ginormous sword is magnificent. What’s going to happen to Emperor Georgiou now though is up for grabs. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) has brought her into the other universe so that she wasn’t responsible for her death a second time, but I don’t think Philippa is right-hand about that.

One of the good things to come out of the alternative universe storyline is the opportunity afforded to some people we haven’t seen that much of. What I like is that characters such as Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) actually get something to say in this universe. They’ve been sitting around on the bridge long enough being little more than background artists so it’s good to see them get to do something more.

Arriving into a universe where the Klingons appear to have the upper hand though is certainly going to set them all an unexpected challenge.

Kobayashi Marie will be back on Friday with an all new column continuing its on-going journey to (for now) recap Season 1 of Star Trek Discovery

You can catch up on the prior columns here!

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