Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 9 (Project Daedalus)

WARNING:  This review gives away plot details for this episode.

For those that remember Matlock, it seemed like every one of his clients was completely innocent.  This didn’t mean there wasn’t a pile of evidence that they committed murder.  The client would be found holding the murder weapon.  The client also had a heated argument with the victim hours earlier in which the accused threatened to kill the victim.  Of course, Matlock would prove their innocence.

This is what it’s like for Spock.  He left a psychiatric facility, which wasn’t a problem.  He was there voluntarily.  What is a problem is that he supposedly murdered several people before leaving.  There’s even a video of Spock murdering the people.  Spock maintains his innocence.

That’s not even Discovery’s biggest problem.  The crew wants to get to a Section 31 facility.  It would be easy except for all the mines around it, which are attracted to shields.  Oh, and the ship is hailed by an admiral informing them to stay away.

So, the ship goes in and manages to survive the minefield.  When they get to the starbase, they’re in for a surprise:  Everyone has been dead for two weeks, including the admiral that told them to stay away.  Well, that’s strange.  But it does provide clues for what happened with Spock.

The entire episode basically deals with Control, the information system that guides the decisions of Starfleet’s upper command.  It has become self-aware and wants more information so that it can become sentient.  Specifically, Baby Skynet wants the information Discovery got from The Sphere earlier in the season.

With most of the character development going to Burnham, it’s nice to see Airiam getting some background information.  I don’t like what comes next, and I should have seen it coming.  I should have known something was coming up.

To be honest, I disliked it mostly because the buildup was so intense.  I felt like it should have been spread out over several episodes.  I guess, in a way, it was.  Airiam has been getting more screen time, but it’s not really the same thing.

It’s a pretty solid episode, overall.  Spock, Airiam and other characters get enough screen time that it’s not entirely the Michael Burnham Show.  It also does nicely to progress the storyline and set up the next episode, in which we maybe learn the identity of The Red Angel.

IMDb page