Discovery: All Is Possible

The newest episode of Star Trek: Discovery is, probably more than any episode of the series to date, a tough one for me to evaluate. I feel like watching it again years from now, maybe even just weeks from now, might evoke a very different reaction in me. I guess it's like the title itself says, "All Is Possible."

Tilly and Adira escort a group of Academy cadets on a team-building exercise, but the mission turns deadly when their shuttle crashes on an icy, treacherous moon. Michael Burnham and Saru are asked to attend the ceremony where Ni'Var will formally rejoin the Federation... and it seems their presence may be vital to ensuring that it happens. And, acting as ship's counselor, Culber meets with Book, to further explore the loss of Kwejian.

I think by now that my readers who read these Star Trek posts know that I openly discuss spoilers in them. But it feels important to repeat the warning now for anyone who hasn't watched this episode yet: there will be SPOILERS here.

Getting straight to the heart of it here, this is the episode where Tilly apparently leaves Discovery -- ship and series. Writers and Mary Wiseman herself are being cagey here, giving assurances that "this is not the last we'll see of Tilly" while (understandably) not talking about the character's long-term prospects on the show. But whether this is a temporary departure (like Saru's, to his homeworld), a more permanent change at Mary Wiseman's request, or the first move in setting up yet another spin-off series, I feel pretty confident saying this: Discovery is going to be a lot worse if Tilly isn't around anymore on a regular basis.

Star Trek series have never really had a regular character like Tilly. Every prior series had a "less-experienced" character, but they've always been effortlessly capable (Harry Kim, Wesley Crusher), brimming with self-confidence (Pavel Chekov, Julian Bashir)... or not really of much interest to the writers (Hoshi Sato). Tilly is a new-for-Trek character who is the polar opposite of unflappable under pressure, but who always rises above to get the job done. Her very realistic blend of boundless optimism and almost crippling self-doubt makes her a potent audience proxy. That she always finds more within herself that she thinks is there makes her an aspirational figure too. All that, and she gets the funniest lines.

Without Tilly, there's a big gap in the types of stories Discovery has told, and in particular, the way they've told them. I now sense that they've been grooming Adira this season to perhaps replace some of what Tilly represents, injecting Adira with doubts beyond what they seemed to feel in season three. (Perhaps if this new self-doubt had been more concretely linked to the thought -- now the reality -- of losing their special connection with Gray, it might have felt more natural?)

I don't feel like there's a good "out" here. If Tilly sort of tries being a teacher and then comes running back to Discovery by season's end, it's hard to see how that would be doing right by the character. But if Tilly really is gone on a weekly basis, I think it's going to be an immeasurable loss for the series. I guess all we can do is watch and see, but I'm quite nervous for what comes next -- perhaps as moved as I would have been had they killed the character. (One thing is for sure: David Cronenberg's character is an "angel of death" on Discovery. When Kovich has an extended interaction with a main character, that main character seems to be on the way off the series!)

There were other subplots at play in this episode, of course, even if the departure of Tilly (temporary or permanent) was the main attraction. The Burnham/Saru story was a bit easy, perhaps, but it was absolute classic Star Trek: our heroes broker an agreement between two groups who can't get there on their own. I enjoyed Culber and Book's scenes, particularly watching Culber grow into his role as a psychologist. Though these were the talkiest scenes of the episode (in an episode that included diplomatic negotiations, even!), there was drama in Culber getting Book to open up. It made me sad that Counselor Troi was underutilized on The Next Generation, because there are many more stories like this that could have been told.

I do wish we had seen more of Gray this episode -- he simply resolves to meet new people and presumably does so off-screen. But overall, I enjoyed the episode. Yet still, I feel like that opinion could swing wildly depending on where things go next, and whether the absence of Tilly (for however many episodes) really does impact the show as I fear. For now, I'll call it a B.