DISCO S2E9 "Project Daedalus" Review by AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

It's certainly an odd choice to only get to meet a character that has been around for two seasons in the episode that kills her off. Prior to this episode, Airiam was basically a piece of scenery, and I didn't even know her name. But here's what we learned about Airiam in her debut/farewell show:

1. She was once a normal human
2. She eloped
3. She crashed
4. ?????????
5. She is mostly robot



Oh also her robot brain isn't big enough to house all of her memories, so every week she must purge what's not important. That actually sounds pretty horrible. But amazingly, with so little time to get to know this character, her death still comes as a major emotional blow. It's actually very well done, and I was surprised how much it affected me, even though I just met this person. It's quite a shame to lose this character, because she turned out to be much more interesting than I had imagined.

What is less emotionally resonating for me though is the ongoing bickering between Spock and Burnham. He is angry, and exclusively takes it out on her. He accuses her of making everything about herself, which seems to be a fair point. That is, until Airiam, seconds before getting blown out of the airlock by a left-for-dead Nhan, tells her that everything is because of Michael. By "everything" I guess she means the Red Angel, the robot squids, and Control going full Skynet.

Control is a computer that helps Star Fleet make decisions. However, it has gained sentience (as computers so often do) and is manipulating people into carrying out only its wishes, with no human oversight. In fact, it has killed the humans in the secret location that houses it. Control is apparently responsible for the end-of-world vision that the Red Angel has shared with Spock. This is heavy stuff.

It's nice to see Admiral Cornwell again, and refreshing to see an admiral going against the stereotype of getting in the way and being a jerk. She is there to help, and every time we see her we get a comforting feeling. Even though we see her interrogating Spock, we know that her intentions are good. Pike even offers her the chair, and she declines.

"Project Daedalus" is an Adequate episode of Trek. The short and sweet Airiam storyline was well-done, but felt rushed. The bombshell that the computers are in control of Star Fleet just kind of hung there while most of the attention still remained on Spock and Michael fighting like.. brother and sister. In this serialized version of Trek, this is another episode that just feels like it's on its way somewhere, but by itself isn't that great.

Published May 3, 2019