Star Trek: Discovery - Episode 7 Review

After a slightly muddled sixth episode, this latest instalment of Star Trek: Discovery was a big, bold time-travel story, and the sort of episode that really shouldn't work, but somehow does. Stammets being immune to the time loop is a bit convenient, but because it's a revelation built on throughout the episode, caused by a factor the audience is aware of, and because he's the only character who could possibly fill that role, it works.

Harry Mudd doesn't spring to mind as the sort of character one would imagine having time travel capabilities, but his eccentric personality and previously-established hatred towards Captain Lorca and Tyler saves exposition time. In fact, this episode whipped along at a very fast pace, establishing all of its main themes at the very beginning, and then playing around with them throughout the episode. It's very clever writing, despite not necessarily being subtle. Stammets' comment at the beginning about convenience and accidents seems a little odd at first, but once you realise his manipulation of the episode's events, everything became clear.

The romance between Burnham and Tyler shouldn't work either, but because these are two characters who, in the previous episode, shared great chemistry and a really nice, heartfelt scene, building on this romance with Stammets' help over the course of the different re-plays works really well. As an audience, you have the prior knowledge necessary, and the episode builds on that for you, without cheating at all. They don't even have a big romantic moment at the end, just a nice little character beat. They'll probably get together some day, but not today, and there's something quite lovely and genuine about that.

If there is a criticism I have for the episode, it's that the ending with Stella and her father felt a bit...too happy somehow. I was expecting Mudd to leave rather reluctantly in a more comic finale, but instead it seems to be focusing on a genuinely reciprocated romance. Maybe this is just the episode providing a happy ending, but it just felt almost too convenient for the plot. Oh well.

The episode on the whole was very strong, despite its ending and seemingly cheaper set-up - the action takes place entirely on the ship, repeating locations and scenes in cool time travel fashion. This no doubt was a budget-saving episode, but one perhaps not designed as such - the story seems a bit too novel and brilliant to be so.

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