Star Trek: Discovery - Episode 8 Review
This episode didn't have anything particularly wrong with it, it has to be said, but the ultimate problem with 'Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum' is that it has absolutely nothing to offer of any real substance. The drama aboard Discovery takes a back-seat for most of the episode - presumably to be continued properly in Episode 9 - leaving us with the main action on the Pahvo. On Pahvo, Michael, Tyler and Saru are investigating this bizarre natural beacon which has formed on the planet's surface. As they explore the Pahvo though, they come into contact with these strange ethereal light creatures, which appear to have created a completely peaceful and harmonious society - one which Saru almost envies...perhaps too much.
Saru has been very much a key character in Star Trek: Discovery, but his role has been mostly limited to a supporting one, bouncing off of all the main players with his blunt comments. In this episode though, he becomes the antagonist, deciding to keep the creatures on Pahvo safe by ensuring that they never leave. Now, quite how that will ensure the planet's safety doesn't entirely compute - surely Discovery would try and find them? - but Saru's ultimate character turn feels a bit too...jarring, somehow. It works on paper, but the translation into the full episode results in the character going from complacent to a full-on maniac, so much so that the episode implies initially that he's been possessed by the creatures. However, this isn't the case, as explained at the end of the episode. Saru was just too impassioned about the life forms on Pahvo; potentially a good idea, if explored properly, and in 'Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum', it just isn't explored properly.
Given that this was the main crux of the episode, all of the other plot-threads felt subservient to it, including Burnham and Tyler's character beats. I was looking forward to seeing more of their dynamic explored, but alas, like Lorca and the rest of the Discovery crew, are left either on the cutting room floor or just absent from the episode entirely. A shame, given the main story for this episode was pretty weak.
On the plus side, the episode's production values were strong - even if some of the locations looked very green-screened, and the ending was an interesting tease for the show's mid-season finale. I feel a bit deflated about the show after this episode though, and from checking online, the feedback has been very mixed. I can't personally say that the episode did much for me. I watched it a few days ago, and while I remember it, I don't remember anything particularly interesting or exciting about it. Not a terrible episode, but perhaps a below-average installment in the series.
To end this review on a positive note, Jeff Russo's score for Star Trek: Discovery's first chapter (that being Season 1a) has been released, and its lovely.
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