DISCO S1E2 "Battle at the Binary Stars" Review by AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

Burnham is sent to the brig as Georgiou chooses to try to make nice with the Klingons. It fails, and a unified Klingon force attacks the Federation. We get to watch as T'Kuvna and the albino (not dead!) pull off this amazing united front. In fact, we become sympathetic to their cause a bit, especially when T'Kuvna stands up for giving a place on his ship to the outcast albino (which is immediately nullified by a tirade about how sickening it is that Star Fleet has different races working together). Plus, we know the Klingons. We know they eventually become our allies. So it's clear the bad guys on this series are not purely evil like the Borg. They are...complicated, with a rich cultural history and a decent point about the Federation slowly encroaching on their territory. We can be sympathetic with these bad guys.

Meanwhile we get even more backstory on Burnham while she's in the brig. She came on board the ship (mostly against her will) seven years prior, and was much more Vulcan then, complete with the awful haircut and everything. Sarek paired her with Georgiou because she also had suffered tremendous loss, but had retained her human optimism. Sarek visits her in the bridge via a super mind meld previously unknown of, and tells her to get off her butt and do something to help. So she tricks the computer Kirk style to let her out and heads to the bridge.

Meanwhile the Klingons have backed off their attack after a clear victory and an agreement to a cease fire with an admiral. But it's a trick just show T'Kuvna can show off his cloaking device by ramming an invisible ship into the admiral. It's an amazing scene with stunning visuals. The rest of the Klingons take off back home to spread the word, and T'Kuvna goes about the business of collecting the dead and sticking them to the outside of his ship like a macabre bedazzling. The Shenzhou mounts an attack by beaming a bomb into the body of a dead Klingon and detonating it inside the ship. Then Georgiou and Burnham beam about to take T'Kuvna hostage. You see, they determined that killing T'Kuvna would make him a martyr and a rallying point for the Klingons. But taking him prisoner would shame him and bring the united Klingon empire into question.  But T'Kuvna stabs and kills Georgiou, and Burnham loses her cool and shoots T'Kuvna. As predicted, he is immediately named a martyr. The albino will likely take charge now, and T'kuvna's death will be remembered by all Klingons as a reason to war against the Federation. Everything is so much worse.

We end with another cliffhanger as Burnham is sentenced to life in prison for her mutiny. Overall this is a Good episode of Trek. Watching the Klingon ship tear the Star Fleet ship in two as it dropped out of cloak was amazing and horrifying. Watching Georgiou and Burnham both risk their lives to team up and board the Klingon ship was also a powerful moment. We dove a little deeper into Burnham's backstory, and it's all very fascinating. Even though we all know she will be getting out of prison and eventually get her own ship, I can't wait to see how we get there. My only criticism is that so far this really isn't a science fiction show so much as it is an action show. I imagine that will come as the series settles into a groove. At any rate, I'm hooked!

Published Sept 27, 2017