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| "I own you like I own this doughnut!" |
It turns out that being a dick to someone breeds a certain resentment,
even if they’ve been just as much a dick to you.
Burnham and Tyler are called away from a crew party(1) and the
associated forced romantic development by the sudden appearance of a kind of
space whale. Compelled by Starfleet regulations to transport said beastie to a
sanctuary, they beam it aboard, whereupon Harry Mudd comes out of the whale in
body armour and starts shooting his way through the ship. Once trapped, he
blows himself up, taking the ship with him and, in a not entirely surprising
twist as soon as the ship explodes, we’re back at the party.
That’s right, fellow nerds, it’s time to do the time warp again. Mudd
is using a fancy crystal hidden on a ship inside the whale to create a time
loop - and, seriously, how did they not see that one coming – allowing him to
repeat his attack over and over again, learning the ship’s security codes and going
deeper and deeper into the ship each time, learning more and more about the spore
drive with the intention of eventually rejoining the time stream and selling
the information to the Klingons. The only obstacle to his success: Lieutenant
Stamets, whose tardigrade DNA not only allows him access to the panspermia and makes
him a more touchy-feely sort of guy, but sets him somewhat outside of linear
time. Unfortunately, it also makes him a little less than convincing as a
witness, since he’s acting like he’s a little crazy most of the time.
As the iterations progress and Mudd becomes rapidly able to utterly suborn
the Discovery’s computer, Stamets and
Burnham must convince their colleagues to take drastic action to prevent the
exposure of the ship’s secrets.
‘Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad’ is a fun episode, but suffers from
exposure to fridge logic; especially the time turner question. As low-grade
grifters go, Harry Mudd is one hell of an overachiever, using a truly
staggering piece of technology to pull off bank jobs and revenge espionage, and
if this technology is known, then why isn’t the Discovery at least exploring that? Also, the crew send Mudd back to
his fiancée and her arms dealer father as punishment for mass murder and
espionage, as well as seemingly letting him walk away with at the very least
vast anecdotal information on the spore drive.
On the other hand… it’s pretty Star Trek.
Also on the down side, the Burnham/Tyler thing is so-so, and cuts into
our Burnham and Tilly bonding time. On the upside, Stamets and Culber are
delightful, and their meeting story positively adorkable.
(1) One’s a lieutenant, the other’s a
notional specialist. How are they at the same parties? Why does Burnham room
with Tilly and eat in the officers’ mess? I know Starfleet is supposed to be
egalitarian, but then why do they even have enlisted grades?
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