Star Trek: Discovery warps to the halfway point of its second season with “Light and Shadows.” This episode very much feels like a turning point from the first half of the season where we pursued questions about the mysterious Red Angel, to the second half of the season… where hopefully we’ll get some answers.
On leave, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) returns to Vulcan in pursuit of her brother, where she finds more than she bargained for when finally reaching him. Meanwhile, Discovery remains in orbit of Kaminar to investigate a temporal anomaly that has developed on the site of the red signal that brought them to the planet in the first place.
“Light and Shadows,” which is directed by franchise newcomer Marta Cunningham from a story by Ted Sullivan and Vern Wilmott (with Sullivan penning the teleplay) returns us to the A-B-C story structure of much of the rest of this season, following last week’s tightly focused Kaminar story. The quieter Vulcan scenes were well balanced with the propulsive anomaly storyline, and while this episode might not have ultimately felt like it amounted to much after last week’s monumental story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We don’t get to see a whole lot of Ethan Peck’s portrayal of Spock this episode. He spends most of his screentime muttering quietly to himself a set numbers (which turn out to be coordinates for Talos IV). But it is great that we finally have Spock in this story after such a long tease. I did enjoy what we saw of Peck’s Spock, who is showing us a side of the character we’ve never had the chance to see before. I look forward to seeing more of the performance as the show develops and especially when Spock returns to lucidity.
My personal highlight scene in this episode is the reunification (pun intended) of the Spock family – Sarek (James Frain), Amanda (Mia Kirshner), Spock, and Burnham – in a crypt (featuring katra stones!) where Amanda has been hiding Spock. In the few previous appearances of Amanda in which she also appears with Sarek, she is very much in the submissive role to the Vulcan ambassador.
In this episode, though, she asserts her own power in their relationship. “I don’t live under your authority. I’m your wife and your partner. Try again, husband,” she says in a humbling moment for Sarek that strips away some of perception of patriarchy in Vulcan society.
Amanda is a great character, and Mia Kirshner turns in a fabulous performance in each of her appearances. I would love to get more backstory on the character, though. We know how strong she is, but that strength is always parsed through her relationship to her family members.
For example, in this episode we learn that was responsible for helping Spock overcome a learning disability. But how did she meet Sarek? We know she was a teacher thanks to future references to the character in the Original Series, which lends credibility to how she helped Spock, but does she have – or did she have – a career? I would love to learn more about her decision as a human to marry Sarek and live on Vulcan. Much more Amanda, please!
Back on Discovery, Pike (Anson Mount) and Tyler (Shazad Latif) are involved in a shuttle accident while investigating the temporal anomaly and are sucked inside. As the crew struggles to rescue them, Pike and Tyler must work together and overcome the distrust and dislike that has been building between them for the last couple of episodes to return to the ship.
This was another really fun anomaly of the week storyline that tested the characters and gave them an opportunity to grow.
The Pike/Tyler scenes were my other favorites of this episode after the Amanda/Sarek confrontation. The simmering tension between them that started in “Saints of Imperfection” came to a head, and by the end both had learned to value the other’s skill sets. Tyler learns to trust Pike’s command, particularly following Pike’s order to burn the shuttle’s plasma to get noticed by Discovery (a trick that Spock would later use to similar effect in “The Galileo Seven”).
Tyler meanwhile helps Pike grapple with his own eagerness to dive into the way of danger, and understand what role the Enterprise’s exclusion from the Klingon War is playing in his gung-ho attitude. Pike is also reminded when he sees the temporal shadow of himself shooting Tyler not to jump to conclusions based upon first impressions once the moment plays out in real time.
The probe that Discovery sent into the anomaly but then returned from 500 years in the future kitted out with a lot of extra tech, was a cool, creepy idea and well executed. 500 years in the future places its origin as the 28th century. The only thing we know about the 28th century is that it is the origin point of the mysterious “Future Guy” from Star Trek: Enterprise, though before you get your hopes up too much I think a Temporal Cold War tie in seems unlikely (but would be really cool!)
As the probe attacks the shuttle’s computer, Lt. Commander Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) remotely accesses the system to try and stop it — and unwittingly seems to allow the probe to trigger something in her through a sequence of red lights. We also get a lot more shots connected to Airiam’s eyes in this episode, but given the events those make a lot more sense than last week’s disturbing close-up shot that felt really out of place.
In an episode filled with interesting transitions, the shot where Airiam’s eye changes into the ceiling of the Section 31 control center was great.
After several episodes focusing on the Red Angel as a potentially positive influence, the mood appears to turn in this episode towards Tyler’s theory that its motives are more sinister. “The Angel is humanoid and wearing an ‘exo-suit’ of future technology we’ve never seen. But whose future, and why?” Burnham asks in the opening personal log.
By the end of this episode I still really have no clear idea of the identity of the Red Angel. I love that, though. Last season the big mysteries – Tyler as Voq and Lorca as Mirror Lorca – were guessed by fans long in advance. I really have no confident theory about who the Red Angel is, and I can’t wait to find out!
The Discovery scenes while Pike and Tyler are trapped on the shuttle are also very good. I enjoy some good technobabble as much as the next Star Trek fan and this episode did not disappoint. I enjoyed seeing a more confident Saru (Doug Jones)in command of the ship, and have really come to love any scene between Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Tilly (Mary Wiseman) in which they are solving a scientific or technical conundrum.
“Tilly, trust the math. More importantly, trust yourself. I wouldn’t let just anyone beam me in and out of time,” Stamets tells Tilly before she beams him to the shuttle. These little moments reinforce the growing bond between these characters and their mentor-mentee relationship that makes them so fun to watch.
Burnham surrenders Spock to Section 31, but Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) convinces her to get off the ship by arguing that Section 31’s motives are not what they seem. The interactions between Burnham and Georgiou continue to be really good, and this franchise is so lucky to have Michelle Yeoh in such a prominent role.
Their scenes effortlessly transition from high tension to high energy, with nice moments of humor punctuated throughout. I laughed out loud at the look of shock on Georgiou’s face when Burnham enthusiastically accepted her invitation and punched her in the chest.
“Leland is a puppet following orders,” Georgiou tells Burnham. But whose orders? The mysterious Control? I’m curious to see if there is more to that line that initially meets the eye. Also, the reveal by Georgiou that Leland (Alan Van Sprang) had a hand in the death of Burnham’s parents left me a little cold.
Character tension does not always have to be driven by some convoluted backstory that makes the universe feel much smaller than it actually is. It can be generated just from the characters’ interactions in the moment, something Discovery was already doing a decent job at. I didn’t need a Burnham-Leland connection to drive the tension in this story, but now we have it I’m curious to see how it plays out.
Another thing that did not quite work for me in this episode was the total lack of acknowledgement of the events of the previous week’s episode, despite Discovery remaining in orbit around Kaminar.
What happened to the Ba’ul ships? What is happening on the planet’s surface? “The Sound of Thunder” is not even alluded to, and what happened to the planet when the temporal anomaly exploded at the end of the episode? Presumably nothing, but a little more connectivity to such a big episode would have been welcome.
Lastly, those fans who have a problem with the way Discovery leaps and bounds over vast spatial distances more flagrantly than any previous Star Trek (which could also be pretty flagrant when the story depended on it) will find no solace in this episode. The way it is presented it takes Burnham as much time to get to Vulcan as it does for Pike to get to the bridge. The bulk of each storyline must take place at different times, but there is never any cop to that in the dialogue.
“Light and Shadows” feels like a pivot point episode for Star Trek: Discovery season two, particularly with the decision at the end of the episode to head for Talos IV. As usual, Ted Sullivan turned in a great script that finally introduced us to Spock and gave us a fun storyline aboard the USS Discovery.
With no real theories that I feel good about, I’m comfortably on the ride for the remainder of season two and seeing this story unfolds!
That’s it for “Light and Shadows,” now it’s time for your take on this week’s episode! Share your thoughts in the comments below, and then watch for more updates through next week as we approach “If Memory Serves,” the next episode of Star Trek: Discovery.