Teacher Tilly

Story: All Is Possible
Written By: Alan McElroy & Eric J. Robbins
Series: Star Trek: Discovery 
Year: 2021

Burnham and Saru are for some reason assigned to observe the negotiations between the Federation and Ni'Var for the latter's re-entry.  It seems that Ni'Var has had a last minute exit clause thrown in which is throwing a wrench into things. Meanwhile Tilly takes on a training mission with cadets of the brand new Starfleet Academy. The cadets all grew up post-Burn and therefore have more isolationist views and they aren't working well as a team.  Tilly has to try and teach them to work as a team, and the exorcise gets real pretty quick when they crash land. Typical!

The Tilly story was really good actually.  She's been struggling with her place in the world since the season began, and for the first time she seems to be in her element again.  Adira is also on assignment with her and there feels like a bit of a passing the torch thing going on.  Tilly used to be the awkward ensign with weird social skills but good at science stuff. Now Adira is basically that! Tilly in the end decides that despite the training mission going to complete hell, she did teach those kids to work as a team...and maybe that is what she needs to be doing.  It seems that since she became a lieutenant, she has felt weird about it, becauise he mom is 900 years in the past and she has no face to shove her accomplishments in. So Tilly leaves Discovery in the end, and is now going off to be a teacher for this newest version of the Academy.  

The Ni'Var negotiations story is decent as well, though it seems silly that Burnham and Saru are sort of tricked into being there to offer up a pretty simple solution to the problem.  But still...I enjoyed this episode a lot because it was very Star Trek.  It's about progress and moving forward and working together.  I only wish this whole season was solely focused on those ideals and how to re-implement them into a universe that got it's ass kicked for a long time...just a season about rebuilding the Federation is enough for me.  We don't need the catastrophic death anomaly storyline at all.  Why do the writers insist on an apocalypse every year? 

NEXT TIME: More Info on the DMA