Star Trek Discovery S1 Ep.4: ‘The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry’ Spoiler-free Review
Episode 4 is here and tensions are high in the Discovery, or at least for Saru are, as he still believes the worst of Michael and expects her to fail.
Captain Lorca continues to be a mystery, as for one he is ruthless and merciless but wants the best for the federation. He seems like a man that will reach his goal no matter what he has to do to accomplish it. What’s for sure is that he is like no Captain of Starfleet we’ve ever seen, and I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
This might be a spoiler, but is worth mentioning, so be careful if you haven’t watched the episode: T’Kuvma, Phillipa Georgiou and the USS Shenzhou have made a comeback in this episode, if only by name. And, sadly, we learn of the horrible fate Phillipa had after her death.
More characters are “introduced” in a sense that, while we saw them in previous episodes, is in here where we get to know a little bit more about them, but as per usual in the show, their true nature remains unfolded and it’s never truly shown.
I think that, apart from Michael, the only character without a hidden agenda is Tilly, as she seems pure good, kinda innocent but kindhearted nonetheless.
I’ve said a few times that, while this show is supposed to be in the original timeline, it has the feeling of the timeline from the movie reboot, but here, in one sentence said from Michael as a “Vulcan proverb” we get a glimpse of the feeling from the original series.
Meaning, Michael says something about a creature in the lines of “It can only be what it is… Not what you want it to be” and, at least in my opinion, it reminded of the original Star Trek and what it was about… at least for a minute or two.
Discovery is a show about a war, and it doesn’t let you forget that, as the urgency, the despair, is palpable in every situation regarding it [the war] and is in this episode where it feels the most.
In the Klingon aspect of the episode -yes, the Klingons finally appear after one episode of being gone- we are shown a little bit more of the union in the Klingon Empire after the start of the war and the state of almost every Klingon vessel in this scenario.
However, because there’s always a “however“, the union doesn’t last long and the Klingons are kind of divided once more, not in a whole, just in a fraction. And we are shown who to rut for in this war, on the Klingon side I mean.
In all fair honesty, this episode is not the best so far, I’d even dare to say it’s the least appealing to the audience, as it is the one with the slowest pace, the one that doesn’t tell us or show us anything really interesting and it’s kind of…. boring, for lack of a better term. The only good aspects of the episode are the mentions I said in the spoiler-ish paragraph and the creature presented in the last episode, Ripper.
Having said that, whenever Stamets and Michael are together, they are an unstoppable force, one to be feared and respected as they are great minds with one focus: science.
