Season 2, Episode 12: ‘Through the Valley of Shadows’

The most problematic episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” have involved Klingons, and “Through the Valley of Shadows” continues that trend of writers on the show having difficulty getting themselves out of self-created holes from past episodes. But I’ll say this: The scenes on Boreth, the sacred Klingon planet, gave a depth to Klingons rarely seen in the Trek franchise. Instead of lusting for battle and honor, we see a thoughtful, contemplative version of the race. (We’ve spent time on Boreth before, in a “Next Generation” episode called “Rightful Heir.”)

But I was distracted by how we got to the planet in the first place. The crux of the episode was about a new red signal appearing over Boreth — and Discovery, with L’Rell’s help, goes to investigate. L’Rell tells Pike that there are time crystals there — very casually, I might add. This is a huge revelation.

Some plot holes you can live with — even the best iterations of Trek have them. But L’Rell openly making contact with Tyler and facilitating the trip so Pike could visit their son — when both Tyler and their son are supposed to be dead — was too much for me to bear. When we last left L’Rell, her hold on the Klingon Empire was tenuous at best. Powerful forces in the Empire saw her as a tool of the Federation, and her companion, Tyler, as too human to have honorable intentions.

So L’Rell hatched a plan in “Point of Light” to fake their deaths — when in reality, Tyler was sent off and joined Section 31 and the infant to Boreth. If L’Rell’s rivals find out that Tyler and their son are still alive, the entire Klingon race could once again be plunged into war. And yet here L’Rell was openly appearing in the same room as Tyler. This season, the Klingons have been shown themselves to be sophisticated enough to dabble in manipulating time. They’re definitely skilled enough then to track who L’Rell speaks to. (On top of that, she must have crew members and security who have some questions about what the chancellor is up to.)