1x03 The Brightest Star

[7.7/10] Let’s be real, this story is kind of a cliché. The young kid who sees more than his village can offer, defies his parent’s admonition, and eventually hears the call to adventure that forces him to say goodbye to all he knew is at the beginning of almost every Joseph Campbell-aspiring movie. Hell, Star Trek: TAS itself did it a bit with Spock in “Yesterday”, and The Next Generation did it with Picard’s nephew.

But man, the execution here is so good. For one thing, the production design and direction and imagery is just gorgeous. Seeing the Kelpians on their salmon pink sand, beneath the stars, or wandering through a wild garden is just lovely to look at. There’s great use of lighting and framing to set moods and tell the story of Saru’s wanderlust and his people’s ways.

I also like the way it condenses Saru’s backstory into fifteen minutes but still makes it powerful. The idea of him questioning the “balance” of his people, having more imagination and ingenuity and looking to the stars in a different way than his father or species gives an already strong character some superb new shades and layers. The show also does a nice job with continuity and explanation, having Georgiou find him (which explains why he was on her crew), and giving the “plucked from a pre-warp society” backstory to account for why we’ve never seen other Kelpians in Starfleet. It also helps make Saru unique in the way that similar characters like Spock and Data and Odo are given their isolation from their people and one-of-a-kind presence in the Federation.

Last, I really like that it centers on the melancholy of Saru having to leave home mixed with the rush of the possibilities it represents. There’s an emotional complexity there, and while the “hope outweighed fear” comment is perhaps laying it on a little thick, the poetry and poignance of the sentiment worked on me.

Overall, another very nice short. I hope Discovery keeps up with these in its next “off-season.”