The latest clue to the Progenitor technology is tough to crack, but eventually leads to a pre-warp planet where the extreme drought conditions have been mitigated by a series of advanced rain-making towers hidden in the environment. The towers have become central in the native spirituality... but now are failing after years of neglect. Burnham and Tilly go undercover on the planet in search of the clue. Meanwhile, Culber's uncertain journey of self-revelation continues, and Adira has to "sink or swim" when assigned to bridge duty.
While I liked the tone of this episode overall, and several moments in it, there was a lot about "Whistlespeak" that didn't quite line up right to me. The title itself is emblematic of this: after setting up the intriguingly alien concept of whistling supplementing language... the episode doesn't pay it off at all. And that's despite having a clear moment to do so in the climax, when one of the locals hums a tune that's passed to their father through Tilly and Burnham. Hums? Not whistles?!
There was also something off about the episode's "lesson." The Prime Directive was put front and center this week, and Burnham even summarizes the moral for the audience: we're going to have to be wise with this advanced technology once we get our hands on it. But then what to make of the fact that Burnham violated the Prime Directive to resolve the story here? And what to make of the alien scientist who set up this lesson... by inadvertently introducing the concept of sacrificing to the gods into a primitive society? "I'm going to teach you that it's irresponsible to meddle using advanced technology by meddling on this planet using advanced technology." Real "do as I say, not as I do" energy here.
And I'm also not sure what to make of the Stamets/Culber story line right now -- though, obviously, there are still more episodes to come. Culber sure seems to be steering toward a place where he's not sure he and Stamets can be together anymore... and that seems absolutely wild to me. Stamets just said, point blank, in this episode, that "I don't understand what you're going through, but I love you and I want you to be happy." What more can he say? It's possible that Discovery is trying to tell a story here that's quite difficult to pull off in a Star Trek setting: is this the story of one spouse deciding they want to "start going to church" and the other spouse remaining agnostic/atheist? Religion is tricky on Star Trek. (Even Deep Space Nine, which handled it best, didn't always do it well.) I'm also having a bit of a hard time believing that Culber is having such a profound "crisis" of self after a Trill joining ceremony after he's already returned from the dead. I suppose we must assume that the first experience left him particularly susceptible to be shaken by the second.
Amid all those elements that I'm mixed to negative on, you might wonder -- did I actually like this episode? Well, I haven't talked about how much I enjoyed seeing a Burnham/Tilly team-up. It feels like it's been a long time since those characters have been the focal point of an episode together, and I really enjoy their dynamic. The power balance has shifted so much between them since they were roommates back in season one, but the way they interact together has survived that change intact. I find it light and fun. Burnham seems to be having at least one adventure with every main character this season, and I'm glad we finally reached the Tilly adventure.
I also thought the series once again did a good job showing us an alien planet and culture. That's not always easy when the decision is made for the aliens of the week to just be "humans with face paint." But the communal ethos of this culture was well realized, as was the planetary environment. (Subtle and carefully applied color timing can go a long way.)
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