WiC Watches—Star Trek: Discovery season 2
Episode 208: “If Memory Serves”
This episode of Star Trek: Discovery went super old school by connecting the show’s current timeline with the original unaired Star Trek pilot “The Cage” from 1965. In fact, “If Memory Serves” opened with a flashback highlight reel of “The Cage,” which, by the way, is the only episode in which Captain Christopher Pike was featured taking part in a mission. That original pilot was turned down by the network, and the next thing you know, we’ve got Captain Kirk sitting in the captain’s chair.
Anyway, episode 208 takes place three years after the events of “The Cage” happened. In that episode, Pike and Spock, along with some other officers came into contact with the mentally powerful Talosians of Talos IV. They responded to a distress call from an older ship, and as it turned out, the Talosians were attempting to repopulate their planet after a devastating war.
And that’s where we find Burnham and her brother Spock, fleeing Starfleet and Section 31, heading into an illusion of a wormhole, placed above Talos IV by its inhabitants, so their planet couldn’t be found and invaded. Burnham doesn’t want to fly the shuttle into the wormhole, but Spock knows it’s an illusion and forces the computer to head for it.
Once they arrive on the planet’s surface, Burnham takes a walkabout to check for life signs. There’s a cool moment where she finds blue flowers that make a humming sound, but stop and close when they’re touched. This is a direct callback to when Leonard Nimoy’s Spock did it in “The Cage,” and is one of the only times he has ever shown emotion; he smiled.
As she’s looking around, Burnham notices a human female board the shuttle, she creeps in behind her and tells her to back away from Spock. The female’s name is Vina and she says she not only knows Spock, but she also knows Captain Pike. This, of course, freaks Burnham out, but all of the sudden, Spock isn’t as docile as he was before, and Vina tells them the Talosians are awaiting their arrival beneath the planet’s surface.
It’s also clear that Vina knows Spock from multiple timelines, as she outright mentions Spock may remember her, but not that version of her. Okay Star Trek, we get it, you like messing with us by throwing all sorts of alternate universes and timelines at us, but we’re trying really hard to keep up, so cut us some slack, please. I mean, Ethan Peck is the third Spock in the Star Trek universe. Leonard Nimoy was the first, and Zachary Quinto was the second, so Vina could know any of them…or all three! My brain hurts. Okay, that’s out of the way now, so let’s try and keep up.
Anyway, the Talosians reveal that Spock’s mind is broken and he is dying, and the only way to fix him, is to give them a memory and then they will allow Burnham to see into his mind and find out what’s happening.
First off, Spock didn’t kill the doctors and security at the Starfleet mental facility. That much is made clear. What isn’t clear, however, is if someone from Section 31 (my money’s on not-Georgiou) killed them all and for some reason is placing the blame on Spock. We also learn that the Red Angel revealed itself to Spock when he was a boy, and told him where to find Burnham who had run away from home and was about to be killed by a creature in Vulcan’s forest.
Thanks to the Red Angel, Spock’s parents are able to chase the creature off and save her. Interesting; so if the Red Angel hadn’t intervened, then Burnham would have died as a young girl. I’m starting to really think the Red Angel is either Burnham — like I pointed out one of our readers theorized in the previous episode — or it is very closely connected to both Spock and Burnham.
Also, Spock shows a memory of the Red Angel visiting him and showing him the end of the universe…well, as he described it, the end of their timeline. See, there goes that timeline hopping stuff again. Anyway, Spock tries to mind-meld the Red Angel, revealing the person inside is wearing an exo-suit that allows for time and interdimensional travel, and also that the person behind the helmet is, in fact, human.
Later, Spock — who hasn’t been very nice to his adoptive sister — and Burnham, have a touching moment, where he sees a memory of the night she ran away from her perspective. She called him names and told him horrible things to make him stop following her. She was trying to leave because the Vulcan terrorists attacked their home, and she felt if she left, they would be safe. Until this memory share, Spock thought Burnham hated him for no real reason other than she was some sort of bully or racist.
And now for the other stuff…
Aboard the Discovery, Pike is having problems with Section 31 not being honest with him on why they are chasing Spock and now Burnham. He tries to talk to Captain Leland about it, but the Section 31 officer is being cagey. Then, Vina appears in Pike’s quarters and tells him his people are on Talos.
Pike doesn’t understand how the woman he fell in love with still looks as young as she did when they met, and better yet, just how in the f*ck she got on board his ship. Vina explains the Talosians are so mentally powerful that they can send illusions across vast distances of space, and that he needs to turn the Discovery around and come get Spock and Burnham.
Knowing Section 31 is tracking his ship through warp speed, Pike tries to throw them off before heading into the fake wormhole. They would have used the spore drive, but someone has tampered with it, so they gotta get to Talos the old fashioned way. As it turns out, the cyborg-looking officer, Airiam has been hacked by Section 31, and she’s the one who sabotaged the spore drive and has been giving coordinates to them as well.
Still, Tyler — as the Section 31 liaison — gets blamed and is relieved of command. Tyler isn’t having a very good day, because he also runs into Culber…who he killed last season when the Klingon DNA that was implanted in him was activated. Culber has a bad reaction and confronts Tyler in the lunchroom. They have a brief fight before realizing violence doesn’t solve anything, and it looks like Culber and Tyler might become friends. Poor Stamets; he can’t catch a break.
Back to the action at hand; Pike has to try and quickly beam Spock and Burnham on board the Discovery before Section 31 can beam them aboard their ship, but when he tries, he finds out both ships are attempting to beam them aboard, which would literally tear them apart. Pike gives in, hoping to fight another day.
Aboard the Section 31 ship, Leland and Georgiou are gloating a Spock and Burnham, when they realize they’ve been duped. Apparently, the Talosians used illusions of the pair to beam up to Section 31, while the real Spock and Burnham arrive on the docking bay of the Discovery.
Spock and Burnham are reunited with a very happy Pike, and the Discovery makes good its escape before Section 31 an catch up to them. Only…Airiam is still unwillingly acting as a Section 31 spy, which will cause problems next episode.
This was a fun callback to the original Star Trek and a touching episode in general. Spock and Burnham found a way back to each other and realized there was more than just one side to the story, and Culber faced the man who killed him, hopefully regaining part of the humanity he lost when he was reborn. Also, Ethan Peck plays a wonderful Spock. “You really think that beard is working for you?” Burnham with the hilarious zinger.
