Star Trek: Discovery Recap — What’s Past is Prologue

Season 1 / Episode 13 / CBS All Access Whew, here we are in Star Trek: Discovery Episode 13 out of 15 (or so). We’re on the other side of the second big reveal of the season. The Gabriel Lorca we’ve all come to know and hate wasn’t ever really one of “us” in the good Starfleet universe, explaining all his blood-thirsty ways. He was a Terran from the Mirror Universe all along, a manipulative, power-hungry, deceitful son of the fatherland, who controlled and directed Michael Burnham and the crew of the Discovery for his own gains. The episode as it stands is only a’ight — it sums up our current state and moves the plot forward without risking too much — but it is a necessary step for the season. Besides, I don’t know I could have taken another “Luke I am Your Father” moment this week. I needed a break. Lorca Explains It All The episode opens with Lorca in exposition mode as he frees his followers, whom the Terrans have helpfully kept imprisoned on their main battleship, the I.S.S Charon, lo, these many years. How convenient! We have the return of Commander Landry, who looks quite a bit like she did when we last saw her being mauled by a Tardigrade. Lorca’s soldiers are all as fanatical in their rebellion as the other Terrans are in their service to the Emperor.

Lorca’s first stop is to go find Mirror Stamets, because Lorca knows that Stamets controls the spores which drive the battleship, along with a lot of other things besides. Mirror Stamets is actually not as much of an …