The Shuttle Pod Crew Remain Klingon As They Watch “The Wolf Inside”

Kayla and Brian sit down to discuss an exciting follow up to “Despite Yourself” which sees our heroes stranded in a strange dark universe where all Vulcans have fantastic facial hair.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 11 – Debuted Sunday January 14th

Written by Lisa Randolph
Directed by T.J. Scott

At The Disco 10: “The Wolf Inside”

“The Wolf Inside” was packed full of plot development, much like the previous episode, even if the “surprises” it had in store were anything but. We were finally treated to a couple of big reveals, which is good fun, but really, where the episode shines is in between the manufactured shock. In particular, Shazad Latif delivered another absolutely stunning performance as Tyler — er, Voq — er, Voqler?

Sonequa Martin-Green also offered a top notch performance as her character is dragged through some incredibly emotional turmoil. Burnham is taken nearly to her breaking point having to live and lead in the Terran Empire. Tyler was her last tether to normalcy, but even that was taken from her. Still, she upholds her Starfleet values and saves the lives of many innocent rebels fighting against the Terran Empire. A group, she believes, is a glimmer of hope in this otherwise desolate universe. Of course, her plans are cut short by the return of a fan favorite.

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This episode had by far the longest teaser, at 14 minutes long! ;)

Does the opening to Star Trek 2009 count?? Now that was long!! (But also very awesome!!)

I noticed it was 14 mins before the STD intro starts, I also thought it was the longest time before actually playing the intro.

Tyler/Voq attacked Voq (as opposed to the others) because he was semi-activated when Voq said the words Kahless and he continued to speak about unity with Andorians, Tellarites, etc.
Voq’s speech mirrored T’Kuvma’s, except it twisted the original Klingon purity message to one of unity, and was missing the key “stay Klingon” message. The extremist in Tyler/Voq has to add that message back in, and try to kill the traitor.

Is it Kahless, KAY-less, or kay-lesh?

It’s spelled Kahless but I believe the double-s equates to a soft ‘sh’ sound in proper Klingon.

Who cares? I mean really, Is it SAD-um Hussein or SAH-dum, or Sa-DAM?

Answer: it doesn’t mean after.

So, my main questions:
–Is there enough of Ash’s overlay personality that he can take over the helm of Ash-Voq OR meld with Voq to go forward, so he/they and Burnham can resume kanoodling?

–Why are Kelpians cowards, when Saru can fling Ash-Voq across the room?

–Do hologram floorboards still work when you leave your undies on the floor?

–What is Lorca smirking at when we all learn that Georgio is the Emperor? (Not Empress? Is ’empress’ somehow sexist?)

I think the reason for the masculine title has more to do with how they established that the identity of the Emperor is generally kept a secret rather than sexism. My guess would be that the office changes hands frequently due to assassination, and the Empire’s bureaucrats are concerned that making the public aware of that would cause them to see the Empire as less than stable.

I think of Kelpians as sorta like the Pierson’s Puppeteers from Ringworld, just without the super-high level technology and the scheming duplicity.

Mirror Saru didn’t do anything seriously courageous, he defended his master and squealed like a baby in fear. Besides, nobody said they’re “cowardly” necessarily, just more cautious and wary due to their history and evolution as a hunted species. There’s a big distinction there.

If Lorca is from the MU his slight smirk is understandable, if he’s not it’s in acknowledgement that the Emperor is Burnhams former captain.

Ash-Voq attacks Mirror Voq because Mirror Voq was in favor of working with non-Klingon races.

Arne Darvin was a budget job. Voq went to The-Sisters-of-Mystery for magical surgery.

If they can make you as beautiful as Shazad Latif there would be a line down the block, despite accompanying mental crisis.

The teaser for ‘The Wolf Inside’ was the longest by far. Runner up goes to TNG’s ‘The Nth Degree’ with a 7 minute teaser.

If you watch After Trek they show you that they filmed in Canada.

I’ve been on the fence with this show since September but I think I finally get it. To me, it *really* is a Trek version of Alice in Wonderland. Those call-outs from early on (Ep 3?) were straight up clues but didn’t pick up on it then.

And it’s to a complexity and emotional depth not explored in the other mirror universe episodes (with the exception of Jake finding his Mirror Universe mother in DS9).

I’m totally on board with this Trek now and I hope they keep up the good work.

I was waiting for you all to pick up on one of Burnham’s first lines in the episode, “Even the light here is different.” That could be a clue to Lorca actually being the Mirror version and not the Prime version. Also, he may be smirking at the Emperor because he is going to get close to her, which was his goal from the beginning.

I wanted to point out that Lorca does avert his eyes during the intial explosions on screen. That was the first thing I noticed. Then again, I didn’t notice Lorca’s “smirk” and will ahve to rewatch it.

I thought this was a terrific episode, even more so than the one before precisely because there was less plot and more time for the story and characters to evolve. The main thing I noticed was that it was not about the reveal of Tyler being Voq, and I now think it was at no point the writer’s intent to blow our minds with that or keep his identity a secret from the viewers. The main point is that it blows Michael’s(!) mind and that she instantly has to react and deal with the situation, both personally and physically, as well as according to the Mirror Universe’s rules. No better way to make the ground shake under her feet than have Tyler explicitely spell the truth out to Michael. I think they did a great job putting Michael in that position, and I cannot understand how Brian could be indifferent to this episode in any way.

A better and more intriguing episode, and I’ll attribute it to having a more skilled director for this style of drama. The editing, camera work and pacing was a better fit here for a nuanced character drama than Frakes’ fast-paced constant cutting and choppy editing.

I think Frakes is well suited to a producer role though. He understands the universe and the workings of what makes a strong Trek story.

The editing, camera work and pacing was a better fit here for a nuanced character drama than Frakes’ fast-paced constant cutting and choppy editing.

I think Frakes is certainly capable of the style you mention. Remember his episode was a more frantic “oh crap we’re marooned in the Mirror Universe, what do we do?” episode, so it called for a different style.

TV directors come in and adapt themselves to what the needs of the specific show, producers, and episode call for.

If his directorial choices were deliberate to “fit” the episodes story, then he made the wrong call. The flaws I cited stood out sorely and weakened the presentation. Not a well directed episode, his. I think this past episode was much stronger, and I think the director for it was much better suited for the show than Frakes who, let’s face it, was hired because he was Riker.

He directed First Contact – arguably one of the best Trek movies ever made. He’s also a veteran TV director who has a feel for the franchise. I’d say he’s a perfect fit, regardless of who he played on TNG.

Different beats in this episode compared to the episode prior. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.

The more I’ve thought about it, the more I think it has to do with the fact that I’m just not too enamored with taking yet another trip into the Mirror Universe. Been there, done that – several times. Glad you enjoyed it, though!

I always thought the Mirror Universe episodes were among the weakest of their respective series, so I was not too excited about this story arc’s premise at first. But I think they’re doing things right here. But yeah, granted, it’s a matter of taste.

I love the shuttlepod at the disco reviews. One of my favorite reviews every week of the show. However…. Please, Please re-watch the episodes and take detailed notes when doing your review. The uh ums, I can’t remember specifically, uh something like that, etc. etc. gets a little grating and completely sidetracks your review. It also sometimes makes it seem like you did not even actually watch it or are even fans of the show.