‘Star Trek: Discovery 1×14 – The War Without, The War Within’ Review
Now that the Discovery is back from the Mirrorverse I’m sure I’m not the only one that wanted to see the return of Lorca (Jason Isaacs). It seems if that is going to happen we’ll have to wait, as this week’s Star Trek: Discovery decides to focus on the small issue of taking on the Klingon Empire.
The Discovery is back in their own universe back to their own universe, and Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Saru (Doug Jones) find themselves face-to-face with Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook), Sarek (James Frain) and a boarding party demanding Lorca be turned over. With the revelation of his apparent death, the focus soon turns on taking on the Klingon Empire.
With the pace that Star Trek: Discovery has been on in the last few episodes, it almost feels strange that this week things are slowed down. In reality though, this makes sense as the show prepares for the big finale next week. It is also a smart move to bring Cornwell into the episode so quickly, as it reminds that there is tension between her and Lorca.
In slowing down the pace, this episode also gets to focus on the more emotional side of the characters. This also means that Burnham gets to confront Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) about his actions, and what happened to him. We also see the crew’s reaction towards him now the truth is out, and the fact that he hasn’t been totally ostracised by the crew, especially Tilly (Mary Wiseman) who is the heart of the show.
What we also see in this episode of Star Trek: Discovery is the preparation for war, and it features a scene that almost feels iconic. In bringing back Michelle Yeoh, it almost feels like everything is slotting into place with the show, and it is better for her presence. Whether she’ll stay on the Discovery is another matter of course, but for now I’m sure many fans are happy to see her becoming more a part of the show, and (for now) not disappearing again.
When it comes to Emperor Georgiou, it is also interesting to see her interactions with Sarek. With he being Burnham’s parent in the normal universe, and Georgiou being her adopted parent in the Mirrorverse they share an interesting bond, and there is obvious tension between the two. Whether the Emperor uses this to her own advantage is to be seen. Unless of course she is happy to stick with the position she finds herself in.
Next week, it looks like Star Trek: Discovery will be all action as the ship goes to the heart of the Klingon Empire and takes the battle to them. There will obviously be a cliffhanger to end of the season, so we’ll have to see what goes wrong. Will this involve Ash? Or will we get lucky and have Lorca return? We’ll have to wait and see.
This episode of Star Trek: Discovery may have been slower paced, but that doesn’t mean that not much happened. The finale episode has been set up well and fans can expect all out war next week. It will take a very bad episode next week to ruin what has been an impressive debut season, and honestly, I can’t see them messing it up now.
***** 5/5
Star Trek: Discovery releases every Monday on Netflix in the UK.