Monday, April 19, 2021

Star Trek: Discovery Review: 2x11 "Perpetual Infinity

Before I start talking about 2x11, I wanted to mention that I've filmed a review of episode 2x10 instead of writing a blog post. I haven't edited it yet though. That will probably happen in a few days, which is why you're seeing this before you do that one.

The episode starts with Michael having a nightmare of the day her parents died. She wakes up and learns that her mother actually is the Red Angel, which is understandably shocking to her. I can't even imagine what something like that would feel like. Her mom has been anchored to a point 950 years in the future when all sentient life has been destroyed, which sounds like one of the most horrifying situations a person could be in. Even though she keeps going back in time, she can never stay more than a few minutes.

Control decides to take control of Leland’s body. I admit that my memories of that scene actually made the whole thing even scary than it actually was for some reason.

Georgiou is suspicious of Leland/Control right away, and what we get of her working against him are some of my favorite moments in this episode, especially when she contacts Ash and gets him to help her as well.

We get a lot of complexity in Georgiou’s character in this episode. Control tries to use her affection for Michael against her, picking up on it despite how she tries to hide it, and Dr.  Burnham says something similar when she thanks Georgiou for protecting Michael. It’s great seeing her character get even more fleshed out.

Dr. Burnham demands that they destroy all of the Sphere's data to defeat the AI. While many of them, especially Saru, are reluctant to do this because of how much data they'll lose, it was definitely the right thing to do in my mind. I don't think I would have hesitated to do it. No matter how much data that Sphere held, it was either that or Control wipes out all sentient life.

The Sphere, however, tries to protect itself by encrypting data. This episode made me more curious about the Sphere too and what exactly it was. I doubt it's an AI like Control because its motivations seem entirely different and who would have created it? But we'll probably never understand it more, which does make me sad.

Spock also learns that his dyslexia is why Dr. Burnham appeared to him and no one else, which is a detail that I'm absolutely in love with. Spock had spent most of his life feeling ashamed of himself because of it, so it's satisfying to see that turn out to be such a huge strength for him.

This episode ends with everything high tension. Control is still out there, and Ash is serious injured. It's almost tempting to start mentioning things that I know happen in the next episode, so I'll stop here before I blurt out too much. But I am interested in knowing what I think about it the second time around.

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