‘Star Trek: Discovery 1×12: Vaulting Ambition’ Review
Last week, the twist that everybody expected happened and for some it was no surprise. This week though, the true twist of the show was unearthed. It seems that Star Trek: Discovery has a few tricks up its sleeves to keep fans hooked, and this one was actually quite surprising.
With the Emperor revealed last week, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is ordered to the ISS Charon with Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs), to face the ruler. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) finds himself fighting to escape his coma with the help of his other dimension self, and more is revealed about Ash Tyler’s (Shazad Latif) past.
After the big reveal of the Emperor, it is fitting that Michael and Lorca are taken to her ship. What is surprising is the fact that the Emperor could actually help the Discovery get back to their own universe. The cost being that information about how to travel there must be shared with her.
It seems silly that Burnham appears so eager to share the information, especially when the Mirror Universe is meant to be so evil. Letting the Emperor find her way to the normal universe isn’t something that logically Burnham would want to happen. Then of course there is the big twist.
While I won’t reveal who the twist revolves around, I will say that it is based on a character that I wasn’t sure about since the first episode. This probably gives it away, as he is an important character who has had a somewhat shady side to him. The truth about his character though is something that I didn’t see coming, though the flashbacks to explain it make perfect sense.
This type of twist is something that Star Trek: Discovery has done well. The clues have been written though every episode and fed into the minds of the viewers, until the big reveal takes place. I’ll admit that this is a better handled story arc than the one featuring Ash Tyler, even though his is still interesting. While the truth about him was easy to guess, this twist was somewhat overshadowed by that story, and allowed to have more impact.
The return of Stamets this week was welcome, and I’d go as far as to say the show was missing him. It is nice to see the character get to handle some emotional scenes before he manages to escape his coma and give the show some hope. The fact that there are two Stamets in the universe each with their own plans is interesting too, with the Mirror Universe version having that added evil edge to him. The fact that Stamets can’t just make the jump back to the normal universe keeps things interesting too, and doesn’t give an easy escape from the ship, at least for now.
This week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery in some ways was fairly heavy, but story wise it was strong. The big reveal that takes place is genuinely shocking, and actually creates some anticipation for what is to come, especially for the Mutineer Michael Burham. With episodes of like this, we have a new Star Trek that is turning into a must-see show.
***** 5/5
Star Trek: Discovery is available in the UK every Monday on Netflix.