4x01 Kobayashi Maru

[7.8/10] The first ten minutes of Discovery’s season 4 premiere may be my favorite of the whole show. The episode’s opener is confident. It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s clever. It’s deft and efficient in its check-ins with all our heroes. And most importantly, it’s a tribute to the values of both the Federation and the show’s protagonist.

This is, in fact, Michael Burnham’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) coming out party as captain. She renews contact with a species of “butterfly people,” and the situation turns from a comical misunderstanding into a run for her life. Even under attack, though, she refuses to fight back, despite Book’s (David Ajala) urging. And after Michael notices her pursuers’ erratic flight patterns, she and her crew put their heads together and figure out how to repair and restore the satellites that once guided them. Her steadfastness and altruism become a powerful gesture of goodwill. The Starfleet officers do escape (after defending Grudge’s honor, of course) and still leave their peace offering of dilithium, marking a new beginning despite the hostile reception.

It’s the most sure-footed, endearing, and true to the Star Trek spirit Discovery has ever felt. There’s action, humor, compassion, principle, and camaraderie at play, all of which blend together wonderfully to kick off Burnham’s tour as captain, and the show’s fourth season, just right.

But there’s also a larger point behind the excitement. Burnham doesn’t want to fire on her winged pursuers because she’s pot committed to rebuilding relations with former Federation communities. Her goals are noble, but she’ll brave a hell of a lot at risk in their service. And why wouldn’t she? She’s been in the direst of straits and still come out on top. Burnham bets on herself no matter how perilous the situation, and her history gives her good reason to.

So begins “Kobayashi Maru”, an aptly-named episode about whether she can accept that such victories aren’t guaranteed, that there are some factors beyond your control, and that good leaders must make the hard calls anyway, even if it means sacrificing the few to save the many. The newly-dubbed Captain Burnham engages in the type of bold heroism we expect from our starship captains, showing devotion to her friends and a commitment to rescue those in danger, even if it means spreading that danger to many more souls.

Deconstructing her history of big swings and disaster-courting theatrics -- and introducing political forces who question whether her calls are logical, even if they’re successful -- points Discovery on an intriguing path as it begins its fourth season.

Sure enough, the crisis of the week brings these questions into focus. One of the finer points of “Kobayashi Maru” is that it works well as a standalone adventure, with enough pick-ups from last season and setups for new plot threads to furnish the show’s long-term storytelling. Here, a Starfleet officer sends a partially-garbled distress signal. A space station is hurtling through the cosmos thanks to some unknown spatial anomaly. And, of course, only the U.S.S. Discovery can save it! It’s some good, old fashioned, meat-and-potatoes Star Trek business, with a chance for the characters to show their mettle and their talents in a life-or-death scenario.

But Federation President Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) arrives at the same time. She’s the most intriguing new element in Discovery’s premiere. Burnham suspects her civilian counterpart of craven political efforts to draft off her crew’s wins from last season. When the President wants to come along on the latest mission, Burnham assumes she merely wants to “check a box” and otherwise coopt Starfleet’s successes as her own.

Nevertheless, President Rillak proves to be both an asset and a thorn in Burnham’s side. She helps talk down the anxious station commander in a tense moment, but may have lied to him in the process. She questions the wisdom of Burnham herself venturing to rescue those trapped aboard, but doesn’t overrule the captain’s decision. She pushes back on some of Michael’s bolder strokes with justifiable concerns, while seeming a touch too condescending in the process. In short, she’s a skeptic of Burnham’s methods, even as she appreciates their results, and has the stature and clout to challenge Michael without being dismissed out of hand. Rillak is, nigh-instantaneously, a strong narrative counterbalance to Michael.

It’s not all just Burnham vs. the President, though. One of the nice pieces of Discovery’s return is how it checks in on the key characters and loose threads leftover from season 3. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and the rest of the major players have been promoted as lieutenants. While It feels strange for her at first, Tilly also shows her strength in a crisis by helping to manage the sanity-slipping station commander, even as she admits to not knowing what comes next for her.

What’s more, Adira (Blu del Barrio) is a full-fledged ensign now, helping to solve big sciencey problems and conversing with Gray (Ian Alexander) about restoring him to a physical body. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) is jury-rigging the Discovery’s innards to power-up this and rechannel that, while still harboring deep concern for his friends and loved ones. And Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) has his family back and seems a happier man for it. Some of these check-ins are brief for the time being, but they’re just enough to reacquaint us with the team in an already-packed series premiere.

The episode does dive deeper for two characters, though. One is Saru (Doug Jones), who has returned to Kaminar to mentor Su’Kal (Bill Irwin) and help guide his people into the coming age. There’s plot-relevant excitement here, like the prospect of the Kelpiens returning to the stars or a council where they and the Ba’ul coexist in harmony. More endearing, though, is the lovely words Saru hears from Su’Kal, who’s matured considerably since we last saw him.

Su’Kal gives his surrogate father figure his blessing to return to Starfleet. He reassures Saru that he no longer has to choose between his people and the pull toward the skies above. He tells his dear friend that their bonds, as family and as a community, will remain strong even from a distance.

It’s a beautiful affirmation of Saru’s commitment, his sensitivity, and most notably, the gift he’s returned to his people. It’s also a tribute to the compassion he’s shown to this once-fragile being, with whom he shares a deep love and sense of renewed purpose that’s fulfilled them both. Saru’s departure from the Discovery at the end of last season was never going to be permanent (barring cancelation), but “Kobayashi Maru” gives us just enough of him on Kaminar to be satisfying, while also justifying his return to service.

The other character who receives a little more time and space is Book, who returns to Kwiejan to participate in his nephew’s coming-of-age ceremony. As with Saru, there’s some plot-necessary work being done here. The scenes of Book on his home planet reestablish his bond with his brother and their family. They reestablish what this world means to Book, and his spiritual connection to it. There is beauty in both, with a specificity to the rituals and a warmth to the interactions that makes each feel heartening and genuine.

The bigger purpose of these scenes, though, is to add shock and impact to Book’s Alderaan moment at the end of the episode, as he sees his home planet destroyed in an instant. There’s merit in reminding the audience of the vitality of what you’re about to destroy, even if, given the hit-or-miss nature of Kweijan-centered stories last season, it’s a bit of a trick. Still, It works; so I’m not complaining.

Nor am I complaining about the fireworks du jour as Burnham and the Discovery rescue their tumbling space station colleagues. The episode puts the money on the screen in the process. Those aboard the station tumble upside down in a “gravity nightmare.” Burnham herself whirls through space in a moment of breath-holding silence. There’s narrow rescues, technobabble solutions, personal interventions, and last minute escapes from disaster. All of this is the standard block and tackle of a good Star Trek crisis, but “Kobayashi Maru” executes it well.

Not well enough for President Rillak, though. As exciting as these scenes are, they come at the cost of Burnham trying to rescue every last person, even though doing so put her entire crew at risk. When she and Rillak have a heart-to-heart later, her political counterpart dangles the tantalizing chance to captain ships with next generation spore drive tech and “pathfinder” advancements. But the Federation leader essentially tells Burnham that she’s too confident in the face of uncertainty, too unwilling or unable to accept the vagaries and dangers of the unknown and take wins where you can find them, rather than risking everything to come out a little further ahead.

It’s a fascinating tack. The nature of most ongoing television shows is that our heroes inevitably win. It’s what people want to see. Times may be desperate, but the good guys almost always survive. And in the process, they usually find a way to save the day at the last minute, defeat the bad guys, and rescue the famous faces the audience already knows and likes.

Burnham’s done that and more. Having a character point out the implausibility of that, or at least, the recklessness of expecting it to happen every time, gives Discovery and its protagonist the chance to both blanche at the accusation and grow from it. How Michael shoulders the burden of these command decisions, with a skeptical superior who appreciates her successes but questions whether they’re sustainable, suggests worthy philosophical and practical conflicts to come for our hero.

To the point, one of my least favorite parts of Discovery’s third season finale came when a random brute told Burnham she was in a “no-win situation,” and she responded, “I don’t believe in those.” It was a cheap call-out to one of Star Trek’s most famous outings, with no relevance to the moment at hand. Channeling iconic bits out of context for no reason than the spark of recognition is lazy and pandering.

But as Discovery launches into its fourth season, the show is rectifying that sin. “Kobayashi Maru” takes the themes of The Wrath of Khan seriously. It projects them onto the struggles and triumphs of Michael Burnham over the last three years and asks if she can understand, like James T. Kirk once had to, that even for the bravest and boldest, eventually your good luck will run out. Overconfidence from a track record of daring successes, knowing loss, watching those you care about suffer and sacrifice, was enough to humble even that dauntless captain who started it all.

What that idea could mean a thousand in-universe years later, whether Burnham will learn a similar lesson or barrel her way through more close scrapes and great successes, how she and her friends will adapt to the new normal and grapple with a policial foil, promises the sort of thoughtful, intriguing storytelling the best Trek is made of. Discovery still has something to prove, but on the cusp of the fourth year of its journey, the show knows where it’s going and starts out firing on all cylinders. Let’s fly.

Ensign’s Log:

Burnham’s straightforward, unshowy use of “they/them” pronouns for Adira was perfect. It’s a subtle way for the series to continue its commitment to representation while not patting itself on the back for it.
Speaking of which, I’m still curious if Discovery will continue the thread of Stamets holding a grudge against Burnham for putting Hugh and Adira at risk last season. There’s hints of that here, but no strong confirmation.
The Discovery B-team (Detmer, Owo, etc.) are all accounted for here, and each gets something worthwhile to do as part of the proceedings. But they still feel more like friendly props than characters. I hope season 4 gives them the spotlight for at least an episode.
The Dot robots from last season (and the fantastic “Ephraim and Dot” Short Trek) are back, briefly, and help with the peril in the teaser. I guess Starfleet managed to rebuild this (theoretically ancient) tech, despite almost all of them being destroyed last season?
“Kobayashi Maru” is smart to make us care about the station commander, giving him enough personality, flaws, and nobility, to where it matters to us when he turns up dead. He’s not a regular character, but it adds weight to the issues Rillak raises as things don’t go perfectly with Burnham’s big swing here, and there’s a palpable human cost.
It’s appropriate that the latest ship named Voyager is the one planned to receive new “pathfinder” technology.
Speaking of homages to classic Trek, I freaking hated Jonathan Archer, and I still got misty hearing the opening notes of the Star Trek: Enterprise end credits theme playing over the dedication for the “Archer Space Dock.” Kids, sometimes Star Trek turns me into a sap.
In the same vein, with Burnham and Book messing up a first contact-esque situation by bringing a pet along and thereby offending the local population, Captain Archer’s true legacy lives on!