quick thought on ST: Discovery 1x13 (& season to date)

[nenya_kanadka]

Okay, so there are a couple of major ways that fiction tends to handle antagonists/villains.

A) "Yep, they were fun! Whew, that was a great ride. Oh man. But bad villain is bad, their arc's over now, welp, let's kill them off and get back to the good stuff."

B) "Ooooh, they're so INTERESTING! Maybe they have shades of grey? Okay, if not, they're still just so...fascinating...no matter what they do! What are their motivations? What's the hero's deep conflicted feelings about them? There's totally a bond there, right? Let's keep them around way longer than you expected--another excuse for more screentime, you say? Why yes!"


Who gets which treatment isn't random. Given a white male douchey "antihero" character and a woman of colour in a campy gold cape and an evil leadership role, he is going to get "So interesting!" and she is going to get "That was OTT fun; let's get back to the real story now."

But that's not what Discovery did.

Emperor Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius (Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Kronos, Regina Andor) hasn't done a single unproblematic thing in her life except love Michael and choose a fantastic tailor. Jason Isaacs's Gabriel Lorca is a cunning, manipulative, charming jerkface with a Xanatos gambit. He's the captain of the show's titular Federation starship! She is literally, textually, evil--the "fallen" version of the hero's old mentor. (Kelpiens are friends, not food. Jesus!) We all know how this goes.

But Emperor Georgiou didn't go out in a blaze of glory. Lorca was flat-out disavowed by the heroic characters and the narrative framing. He was executed in a mirror of the heroic Georgiou's death, by evil Georgiou's hand, because this show wants you to be very clear that there is no universe where Make The Empire Great Again by building a wall and making the Andorians pay for it is okay.

In a world where women are harshly judged for even minor faults and failings (doubly so for women of colour), and are forced up on pedestals just so they can be smashed down harder later, while morally-grey douchebag male characters get chance after chance and are excused for being "brilliant" or "special," this is flat-out startling.

I'm not saying Lorca might not come back, or that Georgiou will make it to the end of the season. This show has been such a blend of fan theories proven right and things I NEVER expected them to do that I've given up predicting things and am just holding on for the ride. But this episode HAPPENED.

And of course it's all in service to the real hero's character development--Lorca and both versions of Georgiou are big examples of good/bad life choices for a burgeoning hero with parental issues. Who happens to be a young black woman (who, again, fucked up pretty badly early on, but in this case is Starfleet to her bones and genuinely heroic). This whole plot was set up way back in episode one. It's the reason we lost Captain Georgiou in the first place. It is absolutely integral to the story Discovery is trying to tell.

And that is why I am screaming internally over Star Trek: Discovery and may never stop. ❤❤❤

Comments

[umadoshi]

*draws hearts around this post*

[nenya_kanadka]

Right? <3333333

This show has been one round after another of "That is not at all what I expected," starting with the first two episodes (which distressed me pretty badly!) and twisting and turning until now where I think I can see what they were doing all the way back there, and--

Wow. I'm kind of out of breath. Hold on you guys! <3

[sovay]

But this episode HAPPENED.

I've been following the show at second hand, but that is pretty excellent.

[nenya_kanadka]

I just!!!! :D ❤ :D

Okay so like they had 2-3 Mirror episodes and things were getting tenser and tenser for Our Hero, shit was hitting the fan for her from ALL directions--at the end of I think the second Mirror episodes when Georgiou appeared it was the biggest "What NOW--oh FUCK MY LIFE" scene ever. And then this episode happened and I just--"screaming internally" about covers it, with the addition of "hundreds of words shouting in email about it" and "occasionally scaring wife and/or cat."

They came through on the payoff, is what I'm saying here. :D

[lilacsigil]

Yes! I was shocked and thrilled by Burnham grabbing the Emperor and saving her! But I think a tremendous amount of what I love about Discovery is that Burnham is absolutely the centre of everything. She's heroic, and ethical and tries so hard to be logical but takes these great emotional leaps, and never gives up but feels things so hard and aaaargh I love her so much. And I think once you've got Burnham as that central character, it's kind of pulling the rest of the story up to her level because the emotional and physical challenges have to really be *challenging*.

[nenya_kanadka]

Yes! There's complaints that the show focuses too tightly on its main character, but I have to say...whatta character. (Also did you notice that as soon as Lorca was out of the picture, the bridge crew started getting lines? I'm not expecting Owosekun or Detmer to get episode of the week or anything, but that has to have been on purpose.)

It's structurally very different from any other Trek--except I suppose from the AOS movies as Kirk's origin story--but the heart of this show is one hundred percent Star Trek and the more I watch the more I really do think they have a plan.

Also, MICHAEL. I mean just that "I kept your badge, you kept mine" scene alone, or the flashbacks to why she didn't get into VulcanSurvey in "Lethe"--AUGH. Feelings. ❤

(I could also listen to Michelle Yeoh say the word "Michael" all day, so there's that. 😍)

[monanotlisa]

YES! All of this. Ahh. <3

[gaslightgallows]

This has been flat-out the most startling TV I've seen in years (...okay, it's the only TV I've seen in years) and I just... the story-telling is incredible.

This episode EXISTS. It Went There. The show set up a narrative and it has been following through on it MERCILESSLY and I LOVE IT SO. MUCH..

[nenya_kanadka]

THEY BROUGHT. EMPEROR "PIPPA" GEORGIOU. HOME TO PRIME.

The level at which I cannot even at this point is goddamn stratospheric. It needs fifty pages of complex essays or ninety-six epic fics or just eternal keysmashing to the tune of DID YOU SEE THAT OH MY GOD!!

i, i can't, i cannot 😍😍😍

[monanotlisa]

This decision -- to kill Lorca and bring back Philippa -- was a stroke of genius: It went against all our expectations and made everyone gasp, so it was Suspenseful Television for the ones not caring about women, especially women of color...and it was An Amazing Validation for us.

[nenya_kanadka]

Yes! I had started to give some credit to the "Lorca is from the Mirrorverse" fan theory a while before it became canon, but even right up until the episode I wasn't sure. Then I wasn't sure if he'd take the throne or get killed or what. There was a lot of ambiguity as to how they were going to handle his ending.

And then he got stabbed with Chekov's Space Sword and that was satisfying. And then the episode continues and I'm like, yep, I've seen this all before, it's going to be dramatic and shit and it's very well done, but I'll be sad when we inevitably lose her.

AND. THEN.

Whoever wrote that particular plot choice feels like they're writing from my perspective rather than the usual "white guys are important, the rest of you can come along if you can somehow fit yourself in around the edges" thing. I don't know how women of colour feel (am white) but from where I'm sitting, it blew me away.

(Allcapsing about something from two episodes back because I have to wait SEVERAL MORE HOURS!! to see the finale and it's killing me. :P)

[mekare]

This is really great, while at the same time it is so sad we’ve veen trained by other media to expect differently. But damn Discovery really came through! By the way I added this post to the slowly growing meta list. If you find some more stuff (on Tumblr or whereever) put it in the comments so I can add? I’ve also asked for a meta tag because it keeps getting harder to fins the post again ;-)

[nenya_kanadka]

Yes, it's definitely one of those "OH MY GOD! ........oh. Oh, I had no idea that I was even missing this and now I know that I am, it's a bittersweet discovery because it's so rare" experiences for me. Happens a lot when fiction hits a perfect note with female characters, honestly. But the good stuff is SO GOOD. We just need more of it.

I need to track down both Pixie's and Lizbee's meta on Kat in 1x14 if I haven't already. It was fantastic. ETA: Oh, I see you've got them already! :D