This third episode does a deck re-suffle job following the dramatic events of last week's pilot. It suffers from some of the stumbling points from the opening two-parters (more so the second episode), however as the episode drawn on there were promising things set up for the future.
With Michael held captive, the shuttle is intercepted by Captain Gabriel Lorrca (Jason Issacs) of the U.S.S Discovery who orders Michael to take part in the War against the Klingons.
Michael and the Discovery Captain were the highlights of this one for me. Setting Michael up as this darker, anti-hero I think is a brave move and opens up some promising stories for the series. The opening scene has her sitting with other Prisioners on the Shuttle. One of them is unaware of who she is and needs telling. This I think goes to the idea that Michael is something of a enigma despite her high rank. She is cold and assassin like, even in this opening scene. One of the fellow Prisioners tells Michael that a cousin died as a result of her actions. When the Prisioner gets the number of casualities wrong, Michael calmly, roughly proudly corrects her. Another thing this episode does is build up her sense of belief (maybe a bit stubborn at times) that her actions are somehow justified within the action mission, but also that there is code as a Star Fleet Officer that she is proud to up hold. Throughout the episode, we see what an isolated figure she is even on board the Discovery. There is a heavy handed fight scene in the Cafeteia which felt a bit macho and dumbo. Crucially, Saru has been re-appointed in the Commander position to Lorrca's Captain. There's a very personal scene where Saru says he doesn't trust Michael and that she lacks human qualities. A really cool shot at her is when Saru suggests that if she attempts to get in the way of the Discovery Mission that he would hope to be a better Commander to his Captain than she was to hers. Its a powerful scene and Doug Jones once again does a great job as Saru.
I was less sold at least at first on the relationship between Michael and room mate Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman). Tilly says she has special needs. Her line, "The only other girl called Michael I've heard of is Michael Burham. Your not her are you"? That's a pretty clunky line. The other issue with Tilly is that at first she seemed like the quirky, nevious comic relief. As the episode went on there was a sweeter side to their relationship, and I could see a more active side to Tilly. Issacs as you would respect is great. He's very commanding, icy as the Captain. The character is very hard to read. At this point we are un-sure of his intentions. There are political undertones to the discussions between him and Michael and him trying to presuade her to take part in the project. The final scene with Lorrca is a hell of a hook for next week. Another character whose debut I enjoyed was Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp). He's a very well rounded and rich character. His conflict over the effects of the war and the damage done to the research and the friends he lost as a result was juicy stuff. Some of the scenes with Michael at odds with the Discovery crew was a bit bland and there are some rushed elements again. There are some fun comedy and action moments during this episode which I think was welcome.
