From its slow, somber opening sequence to its series of punchy twists, “The Wolf Inside” is quite a ride. The narrative murkiness of Discovery’s first half-season is gone, replaced by confident storytelling that knows where it’s going and makes sure that we’re along for the ride. Despite my initial reservations, this Mirror Universe storyline is going in a good direction, and striking a tone that distinguishes this visit to the MU from previous series. The tone of MU episodes has generally been campy, mustache-twirling fun, from “Mirror, Mirror” to the majority of the DS9 episodes to Enterprise’s “In a Mirror, Darkly.” Only Deep Space Nine’s excellent “Crossover,” with its grim tone and compelling look at political and power dynamics, really took the Mirror Universe seriously. Though Discovery flirts with the self-aware mustache-twirling, especially in last week’s “Despite Yourself,” overall it embraces the “Crossover” approach, which is to its credit. “The Wolf Inside” does take itself seriously, which makes its major twists land with conviction.
Fear of the Other
The episode’s commitment to sincerity is evident right away in its great opening sequence. A series of slow, somber shots accompany a log entry by Burnham that lays out her psychological torment. Playing the part of her alternate self is weighing on her. Every time she must act cold and cruel, it eats away at her soul, piece by piece. This log entry sets up a compelling, complex tension, since there are actually two ways Burnham could crack. She could slip up and act with mercy at the wrong moment… or slip up and act without mercy, having let the brutality of the Mirror Universe get to her. It’s a welcome layer of psychological depth that we don’t usually see in the MU.
This A-story rolls along nicely. Burnham is ordered by the as-yet-unseen Emperor to destroy a group of rebels. She attempts to manage the situation so that it appears that she carried out her orders, but the rebels go free. Beaming down to the rebel encampment with Tyler, she discovers that the rebel leader is actually mirror Voq (the albino Klingon last seen way back in “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry”), and mirror Sarek is basically the camp mystic. It’s a nice way to use these two characters, and the scene has some effective tension, but I did have a few questions. Burnham’s goal is to figure out how mirror Voq manages to hold the rebellion together, so she can learn how to negotiate with the Klingons in the original universe. Burnham can’t figure out how these disparate species are working together, but the answer seems simple; they have a common foe. Why is Burnham so amazed that different species are working together? Isn’t that what the Federation is? I’m also not sure how Sarek missed the fact that Burnham is from another universe, even after mind-melding with her. In any case, the plan nearly falls apart when Tyler’s mental conditioning kicks in, and he attacks Voq. We’ll come back to that.
More Spores
The B-plot on Discovery also clicks. The crew has discovered that Culber is dead, but they believe that Stamets must have killed him in his spore-induced delirium. Tilly tries an experimental plan to heal Stamets that features lots of hard-to-follow technical gobbledygook but basically boils down to: inject him with more spores. This storyline highlights just how far Tilly has come; in fact, she’s become one of my favorite Discovery characters. In her initial appearance in “Context is For Kings,” it almost seemed like she was on the spectrum, and I’m not sure if that was intentional or a result of clumsy writing. But the series quickly downplayed her awkwardness and instead emphasized her youthful drive and determination to improve, with the occasional bout of nervousness as she steps into a new situation. The result is a character that’s easy to root for. She asks Saru to sponsor her for the command track, and I really felt for her, getting that small victory, then seeing her plan fall apart. One thing’s for sure: Tilly has come farther in eight episodes than Harry Kim did over half of Voyager!
It Twists So Good
Finally we get to the big one: the twist that’s been building (in retrospect) all season. Burnham confronts Tyler about his reckless attack on Voq, and through more torture flashbacks, we slowly come to a horrifying realization. Tyler is actually Voq, surgically altered in brutal and painful ways to appear human. The Tyler personality has been grafted over Voq’s real personality, and over the course of the episode, this human identity seems to wear off. Now we know where the hell Voq has been for the past seven episodes! This certainly puts a new spin on the Tyler / L’Rell relationship. There are still lots of questions to be answered: who came up with this plan? Did Voq volunteer for the job? Was Tyler/Voq actually abused or is that just how the “Tyler” personality perceived it? Was the Tyler/L’Rell sex actually consensual? And we still don’t know the purpose of L’Rell and Voq’s plans. Normally, it would make sense to place a Klingon spy aboard a Federation ship, but L’Rell and Voq weren’t even working for the war effort. And why make Tyler/Voq a sleeper agent? I trust that answers to some of these questions are forthcoming. In the meantime, the reveal makes for a great scene.
After that, it’s one twist after another. Tyler/Voq is about to kill Burnham, but she’s rescued by mirror Saru (more on him below). Tyler/Voq is set to be executed for his attempt on the captain’s life, and for once, Burnham’s emotional desires line up with her need to stay undercover. The episode plays the execution scene straight, making us believe that Burnham really wants to kill Tyler/Voq, paying off the tension set up by the log entry that Burnham will give in to the cruelty of the Mirror Universe. But actually, the Discovery rescues Tyler, along with the key plans that may offer the ship a way out of the Mirror Universe. As if that weren’t enough, the Emperor shows up to kill the rebels and chastise Burnham for failing to follow orders, and the Emperor turns out to be… Georgieu! I should’ve seen it coming. Michelle Yeoh has too much presence to only appear in two Discovery episodes. Another awesome costume, too. That cape!
Overall, “The Wolf Inside” fires on all cylinders. It moves the plot forward, it’s entertaining, it contains some nice character beats, and the Tyler/Voq reveal even (somewhat) provides clarity to past episodes. If the series can pull off a nice ending to this Mirror Universe storyline, it’ll prove that this trip down memory lane was well worth it.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- The opening log sequence reminded me of a similar sequence in Star Trek Beyond, which is a good thing. In that movie, Kirk’s initial log entry describes life aboard the Enterprise, and Kirk’s weariness at nearing the end of a long mission in space. Both log entries provide much-needed moments of calm and reflection, bringing emotional depth to the characters. That sequence in Beyond was the first time that the Abramsverse felt like a real place, with people going about their daily lives rather than dashing from one crisis to another.
- So was the “Tyler” personality that we came to know a manufactured identity? Stolen from a real person? Why does it wear off over the course of this episode?
- Visually, the episode is absolutely saturated with amber and blue, an annoying graphic design trend in recent movies and TV. See this link for more. Once you learn about this trope, you can’t unsee it.
- The series did a great job at concealing the twist that Tyler is Voq. I assume that Shazad Latif was under the prosthetics as Voq all along. Thanks to the heavy makeup and the disguised voice, I never would’ve guessed. However, this makes me wonder if the Klingons’ appearance was redesigned solely to sell this twist. If that’s the reason, I would be annoyed.
- Mirror Saru is basically a slave aboard the Shenzhou. His personality seems to match with the Saru we know. There’s a nice beat where Burnham starts to treat Saru kindly, but must disguise that impulse in order to stay in character.
- The B-story ends with yet another twist in an episode chock full of them (not a complaint). Mirror Stamets appears, contacting our Stamets through the spore network for some nefarious purpose. It’s inferred that he’s the reason that Tilly’s plan didn’t work. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
- Maybe it’s because they’re both Asian women, but I wonder if Georgieu’s appearance is a deliberate nod to Hoshi becoming the Terran Emperor at the end of “In a Mirror, Darkly.” It would be fun if the next episode threw in a Hoshi reference.
- I giggled at Sarek’s goatee. I guess it’s mandatory for Vulcan men in the Mirror Universe.
Previous episode: “Despite Yourself”
Next episode: “Vaulting Ambition”