{"id":7849,"date":"2021-06-28T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=7849"},"modified":"2021-06-21T12:52:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T19:52:32","slug":"mark-watches-discovery-s03e01-that-hope-is-you-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2021\/06\/mark-watches-discovery-s03e01-that-hope-is-you-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Discovery’: S03E01 – That Hope is You, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first episode of the third season of Discovery<\/i>, I was truly not ready for this. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SO HAPPY. I am also in deep pain because this episode hurt me, but yes. YES. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited for what this season might be!<\/p>\n

Arrival<\/b><\/p>\n

So, the question is answered: Did Burnham make it to the future, 930 years later than their departure point, and did their plan work<\/i>? We find out the truth in a completely disarming and violent way, as a stranger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ship\u00e2\u20ac\u201dBook, who later becomes an integral part of this story\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcollides with Burnham, and the two tumble down to the planet Hima. From there, the story structure keeps us within Burnham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point of view (with one exception) so that we make the same discoveries as she does. We know what she does. We experience it all<\/i> in the moment, and it makes for one hell of a story. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That Hope is You, Part 1\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is an urgent, fiery episode about victory leading immediately into chaos. Because right at the start, Burnham pulls herself out of the rubble of her crash and searches for any sign of life. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all she needed: confirmation that what they all sacrificed was worth it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it was. They saved the future. Sonequa Martin-Green gives an incredible performance throughout this episode, but let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first acknowledge the ecstatic joy of this exact realization and how she manages to couple it with grief. Because yes, they did it. They saved the future! But the cost is so personal and so immense, and after Burnham sends the suit back through the wormhole, it is permanent. And Martin-Green\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. She does such a wonderful job taking us through these emotions. Plus, I was fascinated by this in terms of narrative structure. This cathartic moment was meant to provide closure on a story started last<\/i> season. I could see other shows putting this as the final moment of a season, but I gotta be honest: I think it works way better here. This is an episode entirely about Burnham and her journey, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t introduced in the finale. It packs a much bigger punch to have wondered what happened, only to find out this<\/i> is what resulted from the decision to send the Sphere data to the future.<\/p>\n

The Pieces Fall Into Place<\/b><\/p>\n

As victorious and emotional as the moment is, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That Hope Is You, Part 1\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste time with Burnham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discovery: that she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t where she thought she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be, that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s separated from Discovery<\/i>, and that she appears to be stranded. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through this that Burnham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paths collide once more, though the second time, it is intentional. Burnham heads for the ship she crashed with, and from that moment on, most of this episode is chaos<\/i>. Again, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how talented Sonequa Martin-Green is, since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to handle such wildly disparate emotions on her journey with Book. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anger and confusion when he instantly starts fighting her. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that crushing fear and sadness we see when her realization that she is truly alone. God, that moment where she has to admit to Book that she has<\/i> to trust him? I made a comment on video how huge that felt, and I STILL BELIEVE THAT. One of the hardest things for Michael Burnham to do is ask for help, and here she is in a situation in which that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all<\/i> she can ask for.<\/p>\n

But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more to this than Burnham merely being lost or being separated from Discovery<\/i> and her crewmates. I loved how this episode slowly revealed the state of the universe to both us and Burnham. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something deeply tragic in the idea that these people saved all life from Control, and here we are, in a universe in which the Federation collapsed. And yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m super into all the worldbuilding done through dialogue, but I also loved this because Burnham didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly hide that she was a time traveler. I wonder how open she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be about this in the future. I absolutely didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect this!!! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I predicted what I did a couple weeks ago. I assumed that the crew would keep time travel a secret and try to integrate into the future, but that assumption was based on the Federation and Starfleet still existing in this time!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what does she do in the meantime? Well, she has to trust Book, who is very much not a Starfleet member and who is constantly operating under his own agenda. (More on that agenda later, because WHAT A SUBVERSION OF EXPECTATIONS.) He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chaotic, he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to trust Burnham all that much, and ideologically, he appears fairly opposed toward optimism and hope. INITIALLY, that is. In fact, it becomes a significant quality that he comments on to Burnham. And who can blame him? He lives in a world post-The Burn, an event in which most dilithium in the universe ignited and killed countless people, forever altering space travel and contributing to the disappearance of the Federation. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what species he is, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also clear that his people have been dealing with something akin to the looting of resources and the destruction of their home planet. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I can only infer that from all the Sanctuary\/trance worms stuff? On top of all that, dilithium is such a rare thing that Book is forever locked into this terrible arrangement with those who run Mercantile, the courier outpost in Requiem. As he explains it to Burnham, it means he only gets enough dilithium to complete a job, and any extra is made from bonus jobs he books.<\/p>\n

Thus, his motivation is ultimately legible. I get why he worked with Burnham, why he took her to Mercantile, and why he so quickly betrayed her, despite that she obviously intrigued him. If he could earn extra dilithium to make up for what he lost after she collided with his ship, why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he hand her over to the authorities?<\/p>\n

All of this contributes to the atmosphere of season three, which almost feels like a brand new show. Sure, we see Andorians and Orions, and we know Starfleet and the Federation are in the past, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost as if Discovery<\/i> rebooted when the writers sent our protagonists so far into the future. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thrilling, though! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much potential here to explore stuff that Star Trek<\/i> never has, especially since this appears to be the farthest into the future a show has been permanently set. (I genuinely do not believe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever return to the time they came from.) And with that being said, this episode doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hold back on being utterly different from pretty much everything we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen before! The vibe of it all is of course influenced by Burnham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fish-out-of-water struggle while she does her best to figure out what the universe is like since she missed 930 thirty years of it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also grittier in a way that isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t edgy, per se, but necessary for the problem that Burnham now has to deal with: her isolation. Granted, she comes to a wonderful place with Book by the end of the episode, which felt like a fantastic way to loop from her comment about her needing to trust Book, only to have him trust Burnham. Aside from Sahil, she has no Federation or Starfleet, and Discovery<\/i> is nowhere to be found. Thus, the grittiness is born from the choices she must make. A great example of this: I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Burnham would have so casually shot and killed other lifeforms like she does while trying to escape the clutches of the overseers of the Mercantile. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very new thing, but I also understood that the situation had forced an ethical hand she otherwise would not have been dealt. Plus, since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working with Book\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwho is a futuristic trader\/bounty hunter type, even if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not actually bounty hunting\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit means that the story has a much different feel than we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to.<\/p>\n

I personally love it, for what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth.<\/p>\n

Which brings me to Book. He is presented to us as someone who is deeply talented, highly motivated, and absolutely willing to screw someone over to get what he needs. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an archetype we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all seen, and then, halfway through \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That Hope Is You, Part 1,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the writers completely upend that very idea. As soon as it is revealed that Book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vital cargo is a trance worm he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s named Molly that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transporting home because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to save the native species of his planet, Book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whole persona has a new context to it. But it was foreshadowed earlier, wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it??? That scene where he conjured the plant to help disinfect the phaser wound on Burnham\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arm? That moment was deeply empathetic and kind, and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t initially pick up on how important it was. I merely thought it was a moment to show that Book was beginning to trust Burnham. (Which it still is!)<\/p>\n

By the time we see Sanctuary, and even more so when Book takes Burnham to see Sahil, Book has transformed before our eyes. He is now one of the most intriguing characters this show has ever given us, and I loved it so much that the show took him to this place. He might be pragmatic, and he might be willing to screw people over, but look what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working towards! Look what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to protect! In the end, Book might make fun of Burnham for her optimism or her decision to cling to hope, but couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you say that Book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions show that he, too, has hope for a better life for his people?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe Cleveland \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Book\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Michael Burnham aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so different after all.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That Hope Is You, Part 1\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My third novel (and middle grade debut) THE INSIDERS has been announced! Check out the cover reveal and pre-order links here.<\/a>
\n<\/strong>– If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"