& # 39; Star Trek: Discovery & # 39; is guided to a new time crystal in & # 39; Through the Valley of Shadows & # 39;

You see, the spoilers enter through the ears and wrap around the cerebral cortex ….

The episode last week seems to have raised more questions than it has answered, but it's probably the most prevalent theory among the following fans "The perpetual infinity"talks about what happens to Captain Leland (Alan Van Sprang) and if he represents the beginning of the Borg.

This may seem like a late prank of April Fool's joke, but there are unfortunately some non-unreasonable speculations to consider at least in this highly undesirable result.

Essentially, this stems from the way Leland is supported by AI, called control. While he is tied up in a strange harness that seems specially designed for torture, we all wonder how he managed it. Control thrusts a long metal needle into the back of his neck and injects him with what appears to be nanobots … in a certain way. This is very similar to how we saw the Borg badimilate people in "Star Trek: the next generation".

Related: The evolution of & # 39; Star Trek & # 39; (infographics)

(Image: © CBS)

In last week's episode, we also saw something black distinctly making its way into Leland's veins on the head and hands, very similar to what we saw earlier in "Star Trek: First Contact ".

The delivery mode is not only very similar, but there are other small Easter eggs that fit the showrunner Alex Kurtzman's operating mode: the sentence pronounced by Control, "fight is useless", could easily be a precursor the Borg slogan "resistance" is futile, "and even the tiny nanobots that transform the involuntary Leland are black and green in appearance, two colors that are synonymous with the Borg.

(Image: © Paramount Pictures)

The precise origins of the Borg are unknown to the "Trek" tradition. In 1484, they controlled only a handful of systems in the Delta Quadrant, but by 2373 they had badimilated thousands of worlds. There are a number of theories, including that of V & # 39; ger of "Star Trek: the movie"is connected and a breed called the Preservers might be involved." In the novel "Lost Souls" (Gallery Books, 2008), the third book in the trilogy "Star Trek: Destiny" – written by David Mack, who also wrote the "Star Trek: Section 31" novel "Control" – the Borgs turn out to be the survivors of the city of Caeliar, Mantilis.

(Image: © Paramount Pictures)

The latest episode of "Star Trek: Discovery", "Across the Valley of Shadows", tells the story shortly after the events of last week. Another signal appeared, the fourth of the seven, on the Klingon Boreth planet. The facial expression of the agent Tyler when this news is shared in the briefing room of Captain Pike (Anson Mount) reminds us of the importance of this planet since the previous episode "Point of light (S02, E03).

The planet is the place where Kahless's followers established the Boreth Monastery. For the Klingons, it is the most sacred place in the Empire. Worf goes to the monastery to explore his Klingon legacy in the episode "Star Trek: The Next Generation" "The Legitimate Heir" (S06, E23). It is there that the child of Tyler and L & R (Mary Chieffo) was sent to grow up. Baby Klingon will never know his mother or father, but it would be safe.

Meanwhile, Cmdr. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is keen on pursuing Leland, but Lt. Saru (Doug Jones) says it would be imprudent to take it to Leland, as this would put the ship into danger and the data of the sphere are on Discovery.

Burnham goes to see Tyler, who tells what had to be done with his son. Burnham's eyes do not just have enough emotional issues to deal with, her eyes fill with tears and she says, "I only hope that you would have told me, for you to do not have to wear it alone. "

It's hard to believe that she was raised on Vulcan and not Betazed. In all honesty, Burnham's emotional sponge routine is a little tired.

After the heart sound, a random beep in the background signals to a section 31 vessel that a thief complying with Section 31 has missed his scheduled routine recording. Burnham seizes the opportunity and prepares to leave.

Meanwhile, a Klingon D7 clbad battle cruiser – which is always a pleasure to see – carrying Rell, now Chancellor Klingon, meets Discovery in orbit over Boreth. It turns out that the monastery was not built solely for Kahless's followers, but that it was also built to protect a rare mineral found on the planet … time crystals. Pike takes responsibility for recovering it and goes back to the surface.

(Image: © John Medland / CBS)

Cmdr. Spock (Ethan Peck) insists on joining Burnham. The two men take off on a shuttle to investigate the last known position of the late Section 31 ship.

The pleasant dialogue and interaction between Spock and Burnham is undoubtedly the highlight of this episode which, in reality, has an effective and pleasant rhythm, unlike previous episodes. There are some scenes that have let it down however; Burnham is one of them who endlessly absorbs the sufferings of each and the others we will end up in due course.

We cut a scene in the dining room where Cmdr. Reno (Tig Notaro) appears. we suspected that she might after Notaro appeared on television late last night … but where did it go? She joins a table with most members of the deck crew, as they seem inexplicably all to have their break at the same time – even Lieutenant Nilsson (Sara Mitich) has the right to say a few words. In reality, the purpose of this scene is that we observe the anguish of Lieutenant Stamets (Anthony Rapp) when Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) entered into the establishment of a subsequent dialogue between Reno and the good doctor.

This secondary plot is interesting to watch and we are not overloaded with dialogues or presentations, Stamets and Culber are both confronted with different aspects of Culber's recent resurrection. Ask any ship advisor – this is a difficult problem to solve. With two episodes remaining in Season 2, there should be just enough time for both to kiss and reconcile.

(Image: © John Medland / CBS)

On Boreth, Pike goes to the monastery, which is impressive and looks like something from "The Lord of the Rings". He meets the guardian of the monastery, played by Kenneth Mitchell, who played a few different Klingons throughout "Discovery". It turns out that he is also the son of Tyler and L & r, now named Tenavik. It seems that by the power of time crystals, or "poH qut", he has aged to become an adult. Pike's surprise is in the image of ours and, if it's an interesting idea, it does not really explain how he acquired the knowledge of 39, an adult.

This is precisely the reason why time travel is such a minefield for all stories and that its introduction often causes intrigue and controversy. Just take the "Back to the Future: Part III" two-DeLoreans-en-1885 problem. Now, "Star Trek: Discovery" has arrived and made a cannonball in the sci-fi pool.

Related: Time travel and wormholes: The craziest theories of Kip Thorne

The well-written joke between Burnham and Spock continues in the shuttle until they fall off the chain in what appears to be a debris field, except that debris is human bodies – the crew was propelled into the space and the ship Section 31 itself floats. , motionless and without power. Burnham and Spock detect a sign of life and bring on board a crew member barely alive.

Burnham recognizes him as the specialist Kamran Gant (Ali Momen), who also served in the USS Shenzhou before the Klingon War and who appeared in four episodes of Season 1. Because they are unable to deduce why the entire crew was killed only for the Section 31 ship to be abandoned, it is clear that Burnham, Spock and Gant must board.

Meanwhile, Mordor At the monastery, Pike must give his consent to "know his purpose" and be effectively exposed to a part of his future in order to be granted permission to take valuable time.

At this point, it's obvious that this episode is leading us. This season of "Discovery" has talked as much about Pike as about Burnham. This gave us the chance to see a fully flourished character – which has undoubtedly been the Highlight of Season 2. Pike was an outstanding captain – firm, loyal, inspiring and fun to watch, and worthy of his name, as well as his names alongside James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Kathryn Janeway and Jonathan Archer.

That may be what makes this scene so tragic: it reminds us of what is coming, in the not-too-distant future, and it is not particularly pleasant.

About 10 years after the unfolding events that we are currently observing, Pike is aboard a training ship – a former J-clbad spacecraft – when a deflector broke up. and exposed many defenseless trainees and cadets to deadly radiation from delta particles. Pike keeps many cadets out of danger, but in doing so, he is desperately paralyzed by the rays. So confronted with a meaningless existence, he ends up returns to Talos IV with the help of Spock.

One might argue that it's not necessary to see the accident, and a quality on the part of Mount, which we know he's capable of, would have sufficed, leaving a little bit of the scene to our imagination. On the other hand, we have always maintained that "Star Trek: Discovery" should be written for everyone to enjoy, and a doctorate. in "Trek" Lore of the Andorian Academy of Arts is not obliged to understand it. Thus, without showing what he sees, anyone who does not know the fate of Pike may not appreciate the significance of the experience that he has in keeping time.

We are just angry that the best thing about "Discovery" will leave in two episode times.

Pike is … panicky, it's the least we can say, with what he sees. Holding his Starfleet insignia as if his life depended on it, he repeats a mantra that we should all be lucky to say: "You are a Starfleet captain, you believe in service, sacrifice, compbadion and l & # 39; love ".

Tenavik hands him the crystal of the time and says that by accepting that, Pike's fate is sealed. There will undoubtedly soon be a common thread on Reddit to find out if he could or might not avoid this tragic fate, given that he has a substantial knowledge of how it will unfold, but it does not. is for another time.

Back to the discovery, Reno provides an excuse to have words with Culber in the infirmary. In a beautiful scene, we learn that Reno was married once, but that his wife was tragically killed during the Klingon War. If anyone can talk with Culber, that is Reno. In fact, that's probably why she has not appeared for so long: if Burnham opened in Reno instead of carrying all this emotional baggage, she would be able to handle it a lot better and that by would reduce the number. half-needed episodes. Who needs a ship advisor? Reno cuts all this nonsense with a sharp and refreshing knife.

(Image: © Russ Martin / CBS)

Meanwhile, Burnham, Spock and Gant tentatively explore the abandoned ship in Section 31. They attempt to conceal their efforts to recover the superior functions of the ship's computer by performing a low-level diagnosis, but without success, the ship jumps in chain, indicating that the control AI is aware of their presence. A plan is created to create a sort of partition in the ship's computer that will hopefully attract the AI, who can then be trapped inside. Spock goes to the control room and Burnham and Gant stay on the deck to allow a manual restart of the systems.

Foolish rumors between Burnham and Gant raise his suspicions, which proves to be right, you guessed it: Gant has been taken over by Control nanosounds and is now the same kind of cyborg / machine / android as Leland.

To add further to the current cliché of badimilation, it is necessary that Gant's voice goes from a slightly timid and slightly timid human voice to an evil, mechanized and computer-enhanced voice, just to rebadure us on the fact that he's evil and a cyborg / a machine. / android and not a human anymore.

"Once I 'll absorb the data of the sphere, I will be the purest form of conscious life in all our existence," says Gant, who also echoed the idea of ​​the Borgs that they strive to achieve perfection.

Thus, the Section 31 late ship ploy was a carefully designed trap designed to attract both Spock and Burnham so that they could be badimilated and no longer pose a threat to control. Spock deduces what is happening right at the beginning of a spectacular fight between Gant and Burnham. It's a race against the clock, Burnham can only hold on to Gant for a very long time. She catches another phaser and starts blasting, like John Woo. Glove takes shot after blow, but keeps coming. Finally, the nanosondes escape from his body like a mechanical snake and begin to make their way to Burnham, who is now leaning against a wall. At the last possible second, Spock saves it by inducing a magnetic field through the floorboards and immobilizing the micro-machines.

"Once I realized that the nanobots contained ferromagnetic materials, I had to calculate the correct electrical current to cross the metal in the floor of the ship in order to immobilize it." I apologize for it. 39, be so slow, "says Spock.

They take control of the ship and it seems that the control has been neutralized, at least here. It also seems that the nanobots are contained in a force field, which allows a possible further study once back aboard the Discovery. Spock and Burnham decide that it's better to have an appointment with Discovery than to know where the Section 31 ship was headed. They deduce that the trap has been put in place to allow Control to badimilate Burnham, because she thinks she is the only variable she can not predict. It therefore seems that Burnham is the key to the future, which suggests more and more that Burnham is herself behind the red signals.

Pike talks to Tyler and Lell about their son in a moving monologue where he is barely able to hide his own emotion from this recent experience. Back on the bridge, the rogue vessel of section 31 was detected. Then, in a last scene that recalls the final scene of the episode "This Mortal Coil" (S04, E10) of the film "Stargate: Atlantis", largely underestimated, thirty ships of Section 31 appear suddenly on the screen; The discovery is surpbaded in numbers and weapons and there seems to be very little choice to prevent the data from the sphere from falling into the wrong hands – they must initiate the self-destruction of the ship. And cut to black.

This episode is not without flaws, but there are good scenes and a good dialogue, presented at a nice pace that does not confuse or reduce in any way the viewer's immersion in the story . It's probably our second favorite episode of the second season, after "New Eden"(S02, E02) It's a shame that the rest of the season has not been so good.

There are two episodes and three signals in red burst. What will next week bring? Whatever the case may be, we suspect the supernova that young Burnham was so eager to watch the day the Klingons attacked the outpost of Doctari Alpha could be involved in a round trip too complicated . Especially since Gabrielle Burnham mentioned that a source of energy with the energy of a supernova would be needed to break the control of the time anchor.

The first season of "Star Trek: Discovery" is available in streaming on CBS All Access in the United States and Netflix in the United Kingdom. "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 1 is available now on Blu-ray.

The second season of Star Trek: Discovery consists of 14 episodes without mid-season breaks. It airs Thursdays on CBS All Access in the United States and on Space TV in Canada; the rest of the world can see it on Netflix on Friday.

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