Star Trek - Discovery - 2.12: Through the Valley of Shadows

[Dave]

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"The future hasn't been written yet," says Michael Burnham.

A fourth signal leads the U.S.S. Discovery to an insular world, the Klingon planet Boreth, where Pike is forced to make a life-changing choice. Burnham and Spock investigate a Section 31 ship gone rogue, leading to a discovery with catastrophic consequences.
SOURCE: CBS

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[Dave]

Pike looked like he was going on an East 17 visit to Hogwarts

Worf went to Boreth for an "extended period" but he never experienced any prescience nonsense there or found any time crystals. Strange that! Maybe Worf ought have taken Alexander with him, let him grow up faster, and solved a lot of his future problems.

I pretty much expected that Pike would see his Delta radiation accident with the cadet training exercise in his future, so no surprise there. However, that future did not allow for the end of Discovery. Or does it? Or is in still unwritten? Knowing how and when you will die (or at least in this case, when you will leave Starfleet service) would actually be quite constructive. You know that up until that point, you are invincible.

So, his future is written, or is it? And meanwhile, Michael is dealing with the exact same question. Kamran Gant/Control says that he can see every possible future of Burnham and daughter, but he cannot see what Spock will do just a few minutes later? He/it is lying. He says he can also cross a room in 0.8 seconds, but then he stands around and hides behind a console, while Spock arrives and does his nanite magnetism tricks. Yes, clearly there is something Michael can do to stop control, and that is the reason why everything that has happened has had Michael at the centre.

it seems the refit/repairs to the USS Enterprise are taking a very long time. It is captain-less while Pike is on Discovery and Spock is still off duty and out of uniform doing his thing.

 

[Narkalui]

And I cursed myself for failing to spot the Gant Twist. I did say to myself: What a coincidence that's it's someone from the Shenzhou! I just put it down to lazy writing, and it was my belief in that lazy writing which shielded me from the predictable twist...

 

[Dave]

And I cursed myself for failing to spot the Gant Twist. I did say to myself: What a coincidence that's it's someone from the Shenzhou! I just put it down to lazy writing, and it was my belief in that lazy writing which shielded me from the predictable twist...

Don't worry, I did the same. I thought, *all these Shenzhou crew everywhere, how likely is that?* but as you say, it makes sense to win Michael's trust. There has been no explanation of how Control learnt how to create nanites and "build" organic beings. Nanites were still a novel science development when Wesley worked on them in TNG. These people are perfect copies that fool their closest colleagues.

 

[Cathbad]

WOW!

We are finally on the Thrill Ride!

This was the best episode of the season, and in the top three for the two seasons! I was impressed by every single moment and aspects of this show.

After Season 1 put everything together so neatly, I'd been worrying about this season. Now it is all coming together!

And if this episode was a thriller, the next seems to be heart-stopping! Big Battle coming!

Only problem I had with this episode came at the very end, as the stage was set for that big battle:

30+ Section 31 ships?? What in the h*ll for?? They're an espionage unit, right??

 

[ctg]

So Control went rogue and escaped, but why is then, since its rogue that they haven't given a sector wide alert for the Section 31 ship? It would make life very difficult for the AI to live within Alpha sector or within the Federation space. Space is a big place, and its ship cannot run forever without a crew, fuel and maintenance parts. I'll doubt their service ships in the Romulan space or for that matter, would be willing to bend over for an AI overlord.

I am troubled by this picture or rather what it represents. The reason is that if you look at the previous series, no shuttle can do warp, no ship has been allowed to engage warp in vicinity of other vessels. If you look the movies, you'll see that back in the time, they had go far away from the others, before they were allowed to jump, but Michael jumped 2 seconds after she left the ship. Maybe the rules have changed in the ST universe.

I went and read a bit about ST shuttles, before I continued watching the series. The thing I found out that it is maximum of warp 2, and there is a small warp core at the bottom of the shuttle. It is just that now that I'm thinking they've shown the ST shuttles doing extraordinary feats, like for example running away from the Discovery.

However, I am more troubled by the seemingly indestructible AI and its nanobot. I am glad that the nanobots can be destroyed by magnetism, and if I would be in Cpt Pike's shoes I would set the battle-ground near a Magnetar. First, to make it harder for the AI, and second to send all that nanodust at the heart of that most powerful magnet in the universe.

One question: How does Pike's head get attached to a robot? ST is not Futurama.

 

[ctg]

And meanwhile, Michael is dealing with the exact same question. Kamran Gant/Control says that he can see every possible future of Burnham and daughter, but he cannot see what Spock will do just a few minutes later? He/it is lying. He says he can also cross a room in 0.8 seconds, but then he stands around and hides behind a console, while Spock arrives and does his nanite magnetism tricks.

Exactly. Michael is a smart woman, but she was fooled by the limitation of the physics. Spock wasn't. All his actions were logical. Michael was confused by her feelings. She was growling like an animal, when she was blasting the nanobot wave.

If the nanobots had a hive inside the Gant's body, Michael surely destroyed it, and she continued destroying them as they approached her, but it is like they regenerated all the damage in a flash. Are the nanobots indestructible and if so, why don't they build ships out from them? </sarcasm>

And I cursed myself for failing to spot the Gant Twist.

I didn't see it either. I was betting for the Control to arrive in the stolen ship and do something else.

it seems the refit/repairs to the USS Enterprise are taking a very long time.

Yeah. A very long time. Maybe the towing service doesn't do warp, while everything else does. In JJA's movies, the ST crew watched Enterprise being rebuilt in that interstellar starbase, and it was happening fast.

30+ Section 31 ships?? What in the h*ll for?? They're an espionage unit, right??

Yeah, but if you look Murica's intelligence elements, you'll soon find out that it too has a huge number of ships, boats, cars, planes and satellites. And most of them are classified. I bet there's more than 30 of them.

 

[Cathbad]

I don't think the nanobots were 'killed'?

One question: How does Pike's head get attached to a robot? ST is not Futurama.

?? I must have missed that!!

Yeah, but if you look Murica's intelligence elements, you'll soon find out that it too has a huge number of ships, boats, cars, planes and satellites. And most of them are classified. I bet there's more than 30 of them.

But battleships?

 

[ctg]

Pike, the cyborg.

Nanobot destruction. I am assuming that every blast is disintegrating the mass, and Burnham lopped there at least 20 - 30 rounds. Yet, its mass remains constant. It might also be an artist mistake.

But battleships?

Please, define battleship (with your own words).

 

[Cathbad]

That's not a robot, @ctg ! It's the very chair he has in TOS! Complete with the yes/no lights! His whole body is in there - as useless as it is (will be).

None of the vessels owned by S31 shown this episode looked like transports or science vessels, and the reaction of the bridge crew seemed to indicate they thought they were facing an unbeatable array of ships. In previous episodes of various ST incarnations, science vessels were not equipped with a lot of torpedos, and their shields were inferior. Transports are even worse. Yes, I may be asuming, but those ships were ready to do battle with one of the Federations most powerful ships. It just seemed odd, that's all.

 

[ctg]

None of the vessels owned by S31 shown this episode looked like transports or science vessels, and the reaction of the bridge crew seemed to indicate they thought they were facing an unbeatable array of ships. In previous episodes of various ST incarnations, science vessels were not equipped with a lot of torpedos, and their shields were inferior. Transports are even worse. Yes, I may be asuming, but those ships were ready to do battle with one of the Federations most powerful ships. It just seemed odd, that's all.

Sun Tsu said: "All warfare is based on deception." The Section 31 is surely one of the masters of deception. It doesn't matter what tactics they are using as long as the strategy works. If they need to zap Discovery with phazer fire, so be it. The problem on their side is that they have to stop the autodestruct ... or die. So, in Captain Pike shoes, since he's the defender, he has to choose his battleground, and whatever to inform Klingon's or the StarFleet about upcoming clash. The problem on his side is that Discovery wasn't designed to be marauder, but a slinky ship that sneaks at the background. It has torpedoes, and phaser banks, but no way without using the spore-drive they have the upper hand.

31 against 1 is a gamble.