Captain Pike stares down the unknown object

Star Trek: Discovery’s season two episode, “An Obol For Charon”, gives us a meaty serving of old school Trek with all the new flavors of Discovery so far. That is to say that the format of mixing more classically-minded singular Trek stories while advancing the larger season-long story arc is, for the most part, working. The adventure of this episode involves a major encounter with a sentient planetoid/thing which cripples the USS Discovery. The situation allows Michael Burnham to come to terms with her adoptive brother. No, not Spock. I mean her other “adoptive brother”, Saru. It is a sudden, dramatic moment born from a subtly simmering dynamic between these two characters across the entire run of Discovery so far.

But, before we get into the tears and the turmoil, let’s step back for a moment.

We do have to mention that this episode felt a bit more “classical” in terms of Star Trek and older sci-fi tropes, at least more so than Discovery’s typical outings. From the episode’s mythological title down to the wise, ancient planetoid that seemingly threatens the ship, this story could have lived comfortably in the original Star Trek series. The concept certainly has an Isaac Asimov or an Arthur C. Clarke vibe to it. And this element is balanced well enough with this season’s need to advance its larger story arc, that of the Red Angels and the Mycelial Network. This balance, we predict, will likely define the whole of season two of Discovery.

The title, “An Obol For Charon” is yet another Roman/Greek mythological reference by Discovery. In this case, an obol is a coin you pay to the boatman to carry you across the River Styx to the underworld after you die. Various cultures that included this view of the afterlife would place coins in the hands or over the eyes of deceased loved ones to ensure their passage across the river. In the case of Star Trek: Discovery, it is simply a reference to making an offering in order to pass successfully to the next life. We get to watch both the sentient planetoid/thing and Saru approach death in this episode, each offering up something personal to the proverbial boatman.

USS Discovery faces its mysterious captor

The mysterious sentient planetoid offers up the sum of all of its knowledge and experience over its 100,000 year long life history. It is a final act of a dying organism and this act initially creates chaos and confusion on the USS Discovery. It takes a while for the crew to work out what is going on, but they do figure it out. In the meantime, panic and blinking lights take hold all over the ship.

This long-lived, mysterious intelligence fits in beautifully with other similar creatures in Star Trek. The Iconians, the Bajoran Prophets, the god of the Edo (TNG’s “Justice”), the Caretaker organisms from Star Trek: Voyager, the god-creature from Star Trek V: The Voyage Home — lots of advanced, highly intelligent but mostly unknowable beings inhabit Roddenberry’s multiverse. This sentient planetoid fits right in. And it seem expected that some plot point or another in a future episode this season will reach back to the cache of data that was downloaded as this organism expired. Maybe there is even a file on the Red Angels themselves.

Saru’s life in particular takes a turn for the worst as a result of the encounter with the sentient planetoid. Specifically, he begins the process of Vahar’ai, which is the process of death among Kelpians. Something about the ultraviolet light through which the planetoid is communicating triggers this death process in Saru. And this sudden situation forces him and Burnham to come to a quick reckoning about their relationship. It is here, in this relationship between Saru and Burnham, that the episode gets truly interesting.

Saru examines a flower from Kaminar before his “death”

We’ve seen hints of the sibling-like relationship between Michael Burnham and Saru from the very first episode of season one, “The Vulcan Hello”. They tease each other in a brother-sister kind of way right in the opening scene. Saru is later hurt, even angered, by Burnham’s mutinous actions aboard the USS Shenzhou. That creates a rift that they would eventually close in season one, as Saru admits he is envious of Burnham’s favored status by Captain Georgiou. Georgiou was a kind mother figure for both Saru and Burnham.

Later, on planet Pahvo, Saru comes under the influence of a planet-wide sentience — the Pahvans, for lack of a better term — and briefly enjoys a moment of a fearless existence. It is something that initially disrupts, but ultimately strengthens, the relationship between Burnham and Saru. These two characters are basically family to one another.

So, Burnham is understandably shaken when Saru announces his imminent death. The meatiest bits of this episode deal with the fallout of Saru’s situation. It is a positive, loving moment between these two characters. And Saru’s situation reinforces the notion that Burnham should try to mend her relationship with Spock. With the help of Saru’s dying wish, of course.

But did we feel, as viewers, that Saru’s death was really a possibility? Well, maybe.

Star Trek: Discovery has killed major characters before. We’ve seen Captain Lorca meet his demise and we’ve seen Commander Ellen Landry meet a grisly end at the hands of a defensive space tardigrade. Discovery doesn’t seem to be shy about offing characters who appear to be major cast members. So, as Saru’s ordeal unfolded, one couldn’t help but to wonder…will he leave us, too? The silent ovation from the bridge crew as Burnham helps Saru to his quarters really drove it home; maybe he really could die?

Discovery’s bridge crew gives Saru a silent farewell as he leaves the bridge

But, Saru didn’t die. Instead, he transformed into Saru 2.0, into a Kelpian who isn’t driven by fear; a Kelpian who feels “power” (yea, that’s not ominous at all). This death fake-out maybe didn’t surprise members of the audience who don’t believe that Discovery would kill off a fan favorite, but it sure surprised Saru! Was this meant to indicate that Saru represents a special circumstance? What Saru seems to draw from the experience is that his culture’s religion is fake. However, there is more going on, more to uncover about Kelpians and their cattle-like circumstance. As we watch Saru transform, more will certainly be revealed.

We are only guessing, but perhaps the Kelpians are the larval form of the Ba’ul, the species that supposedly herds and culls Kelpians like cattle. That would be a cool twist. Or, perhaps the Ba’ul are actually the Red Angels. It’s a long shot.

If the contrived imminence of Saru’s death was unbelievable to some, then hopefully the payoff in terms of character development might be worth it. Saru, from now on, will be quite a different character. His near-death experience has given him a new lease on life, maybe even a new personality.

Saru’s predicament in this episode raises some interesting Prime Directive questions. Primarily, if the Kelpian death process is a lie, and Saru goes back to inform his own people of that, does that violate the Prime Directive? Does it count if he is liberating his own people? It is similar to the challenge poised by the humans of Terralysium two episodes back in “New Eden”. Season two of Discovery has managed to ask some subtly interesting questions about general order one, something that didn’t seem possible after half a century of this franchise.

Burnham stays with Saru during his “death”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ship, Paul Stamets, Jet Reno and Sylvia Tilly are having a trip all their own. The Mycelial Network creature posing as Tilly’s childhood friend, May Ahearn, manages to capture Tilly. This despite the various attempts Stamets and Reno make to free her of May’s grasp. In the process we more Jet Reno jabs and even get some quick psilocybin mushroom action, which lasts long enough for Reno and Stamets to get over their initial distrust of each other. By the end of the episode, May has Tilly and is apparently taking her to her home in the Mycelial Network.

The central complaint that May is expressing here is that the spore jumps Discovery has been making are damaging her home in the Mycelial Network — and that Stamets is the person responsible. This would be the beginning of an explanation as to why we don’t see the Spore Drive in the subsequent century of Star Trek. But it is also reminiscent of the environmental message in TNG’s “Force Of Nature”, where the argument is made that Warp Drive technology is actually damaging the fabric of space. Jet Reno and Paul Stamets actually touch on this, in a way, when they get into their quick, initial argument over whether the Spore Drive is more environmentally sound than the Warp Drive. It is an interesting side note that connects to our own fossil fuel consumption and imminent climate crisis.

And speaking of the great mushroom highway, it is still possible that there is a connection between these inhabitants of the Mycelial Network and the Red Angels. We’ve seen in “Brother” and “New Eden” that the Red Angels seem to be manipulating events so that Discovery can intervene and save the day. Perhaps May Ahearn’s appearance is another such manipulation? Perhaps the sentient planetoid is also one? Maybe even the invention and adoption of the spore drive itself is another such manipulation? This is a big speculation, sure. But, it seems too odd to play the May Ahearn situation alongside the Red Angels situation and to not have them intersect in some way.

Stamets just before he drills a hole in Tilly’s head. No, really.

Another observation leads us towards illuminating a possible underlying theme concerning these apparently random events orchestrated by the Red Angels. Well, it gives us a whisper of a possible theme anyway. We are talking about empathy.

Empathy seems to be an element in the larger story arc of season two. Spock, according to Burnham, once had too much empathy. The sentient planetoid/thing triggered Saru’s natural and overabundant empathy in its attempt to communicate with Discovery, meaning that Saru and the planetoid speak the same “language” of empathy, perhaps. And we’ve seen that the Red Angels are more benign than malicious. Perhaps they are guided by an empathy of their own?

And there is Spock’s empathy, too. Spock has always had problems dealing with his troublesome emotions. But, Spock isn’t a cold, calculating sociopath monster — he does respect life and will offer a humanitarian hand when it is needed. Perhaps this season will illustrate how Spock learns to balance his Vulcan suppression of emotions and still express a genuine empathy. Empathy is the lesson Sarek hoped that his son Spock would learn from his adopted daughter Michael Burnham. Maybe that’s the whole reason Spock is involved in all of this. This is, of course, just a guess. However, empathy keeps showing up this season and we think that it means something.

But Spock isn’t the only Vulcan who might have a funny relationship to empathy. Maybe — just maybe — empathy is a line by which the story ropes in Sybock, that child of Sarek which, so far, has not even been given a single mention (we haven’t forgotten about you, Sybock). See our previous review to make sense of this.

Number One! She is finally here =)

Some stray observations:

Captain Pike is a kind of 23rd century Luddite. He doesn’t seem to be as well-versed in the sciences as some of Discovery’s crew. He even dislikes holographic communication. In a move the showrunners are using to preserve the visual and technological canon of the original series, Pike orders that the Enterprise remove the holographic communication system aboard ship. The holograms apparently remind Pike of ghosts. That combined with his theological sympathies paints Captain Pike as a surprisingly conservative figure for Star Trek. It is a nice complication.

In this episode, we also get a universal translator malfunction: the best of this kind we’ve yet seen. The malfunction causes the crew to descend into a full-on Tower Of Babel situation, with each crew member inexplicably speaking a different language. This malfunction, and other uses of the UT in this series, have also given us insight into how this technology actually works. Discovery’s treatment of the UT technology continues to be excellent.

Additionally, the artists Prince and David Bowie have been added to canon. Discovery continues to make 20th century music relevant in the 23rd century. Also, David Bowie’s Space Oddity has actually been sung in space, in the very first music real live video filmed off-planet. So, it is cool to see this song in a fictional space setting.

And we’ve finally met Number One! She’s swell. We hope she plays a bigger role in the episodes to come.

We will leave you with our favorite quote from this episode, from Linus the Saurian: “I had a cold last week which sucked”. Thanks, Linus.

Written by Kyle Sullivan & Katie Boyer.

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