History Recap / StarTrekDiscoveryS2E06TheSoundsOfThunder

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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Had the Ba'ul been content with ordering ''Discovery'' to leave and Saru never to return, they would have left Pike with little choice but to comply, and then they could have eliminated Saru's sister or even the entire village afterwards to contain any potential knowledge of him surviving the ''vahar'ai''. Instead, by preparing to attack ''Discovery'' to get him back and openly threatening his sister, they forced Saru to act and ''Discovery'' to intervene directly.

* BatmanGambit: The Red Angel's plan was to manipulate a confrontation between ''Discovery'' and the Ba'ul which would result in the Ba'ul attempting genocide, and the linking of their pylons to do it allowed the Red Angel to disable the Ba'ul technology, saving the Kelpians and upsetting the planet's civilization.

* EvilColonialist: The Ba'ul serve as an allegorical example. They are a technologically advanced group that has subjugated and repressed the technologically primitive Kelpians, manipulating them into believing that this is the natural order, and killing anyone who would threaten this belief.

* ScaryDogmaticAliens: The mere existence of a Kelpien outside of the Ba'ul's control, let alone one who survived ''vahar'ai'', is considered such an existential threat that it drives them to extreme measures even though they have a massive technological advantage so that the Kelpians are nowhere near as much a physical threat as they had been 2300 years before.

* AliensAreBastards: The Ba'ul basically never take any opportunity to de-escalate the situation, greeting diplomacy with hostility and hostility with [[AttackAttackAttack open gun ports]]. Most notably, they never share TheReveal with Pike, which would have changed the whole episode -- Pike demonstrably will not stand for genocide, and would have objected to a solution that requires the Ba'ul to surrender to it.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, Pike notes that the Red Angel has drawn ''Discovery'' to places where the crew could do good. Tyler retorts that it [[BatmanGambit manipulated the situation on Kaminar]] such that it could interfere and change an entire society for unknown reasons and may very well use its technology and capabilities against the Federation.

* BetterThanNew: Dr. Pollard tells Dr. Culber that while his mental patterns and brainwaves match what's in his medical file, his body is "pristine" because it was rebuilt completely from his DNA and shows none of the wear for a man of his age.

* DoingInTheWizard: Saru's observation of the Red Angel demonstrates that whoever it is, it's a physical being using mundane, if highly advanced, technology and isn't a divine or mystical entity.

* EvilColonialist: The Ba'ul serve as an allegorical example. They are a technologically advanced group that has subjugated and repressed the technologically primitive Kelpians and manipulating them into believing this is the natural order and killing anyone who would threaten this belief.

* TheFaceless: No Kelpien had ever seen a Ba'ul (at least as far as the present-day Kelpiens knew) as they hid behind their technology. When one finally appears, its face still isn't seen, other than its [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]]. Which is probably a good thing, [[HumanoidAbomination given what the rest of it looks like]].
* FinalSolution: Faced with the entire Kelpien population undergoing ''vahar'ai'', the Ba'ul try to detonate the pylons all over the planet to completely exterminate them rather than risk their predators rising once again.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Doctor Pollard notes that in the place of Saru's lost ganglia, new cartilage is growing that has a toothlike form. Later, when faced by a Ba'ul, Saru reveals the new tissue forms [[SpikeShooter spikes that can be shot at a threat]].

* LoopholeAbuse: When Tyler questions whether ''Discovery'' can contact the Kelpiens in violation of the PrimeDirective, Burnham points out that the Ba'ul have developed warp capability, so even though the Kelpiens themselves aren't warp-capable they ''have'' seen warp-capable technology and know about space flight, giving the crew some leeway to act.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Had the Ba'ul been content with ordering ''Discovery'' to leave and Saru never to return, they would have left Pike with little choice but to comply, and then they could have eliminated his sister, or the entire village, afterwards to contain any potential knowledge of him surviving the ''vahar'ai''. Instead by preparing to attack ''Discovery'' to get him back and openly threatening his sister, they forced Saru to act and ''Discovery'' to intervene directly.

* ObviouslyEvil: One look at an individual Ba'ul and one is hard-pressed not to immediately decide they're the bad guys.

** As soon as Saru reveals he has survived his ''vahar'ai'' the Ba'ul send ten of their sentry ships to try and force ''Discovery'' to surrender him.

** Pike accuses Section 31 and Control of this in assuming that the Red Angel can be considered a threat given that it's done nothing but help people so far. Tyler, to the contrary, claims they're ProperlyParanoid because they have no idea of its motivation or actual goals and it has demonstrated its willingness to manipulate in order to advance whatever its agenda is.

* PoweredArmor: The Red Angel is a humanoid wearing some kind of very technologically-advanced full-body suit, giving it abilities that Starfleet or any civilization it knows of would find impossible to duplicate.

* {{Retcon}}: Apparently, when Georgiou offered Saru the opportunity to depart from Kaminar, she was serving as a lieutenant aboard the U.S.S. ''Archimedes'', not the U.S.S. ''Shenzhou''. The flashback to this scene reuses footage from "The Brightest Star" but alters the shuttle's registry from "SHN 03" to merely "03".

* SadisticChoice: When the Ba'ul learn Saru has survived his ''vahar'ai'' and ''Discovery'' won't surrender him, they threaten to destroy his village to force him to give himself up.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: As soon as Burnham, Tilly, and Airiam uncover the true history of Kaminar, any discussion about interfering with the Kelpiens and Ba'ul and PrimeDirective is immediately put aside, and Pike is prepared to start a war in order to defend the Kelpiens against genocide, or to avenge them if he can't.
* ShoutOut: the episode takes its name from Creator/RayBradbury's short story ''Literature/ASoundOfThunder'', which is the TropeNamer for the ButterflyOfDoom -- a small change that has massive effects. Appropriately, it centers around Saru's personal convictions changing the fate of two sentient species and utterly upending the established political situation between them. Appropriately, Tyler also makes reference to TimeTravel, which the Bradbury story also involved.

-->'''Saru:''' My sister has nothing to do with this! I am the one you wanted.

* NoEndorHolocaust: there is no discussion on how Mass ''Vahar'ai'' affected the Kelpiens as a whole. Having said that, Saru's promise -- that his people won't turn against the Ba'ul -- has yet to be tested.

* OhCrap: As soon as Saru reveals he has survived his ''vahar'ai'' the Ba'ul send ten of their sentry ships to try and force ''Discovery'' to surrender him.

* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The population numbers given for Ba'ul and Kelpiens in Kaminar's past as each approached extinction (both in single digits) seem somewhat unlikely to allow for ''any'' chance of species survival.

* WhatTheHellHero: Siranna tells at Saru for leaving Kaminar instead of joining the Great Balance, and then for upsetting the Ba'ul.

''Discovery'' detects a new Red Angel signal outside of Federation space, coming from Kaminar, Saru's homeworld, and uncover the secrets of Kelpien and Ba'ul history.

* AGlassInTheHand: While Pike is trying to negotiate with the Ba'ul, Saru becomes so angry at keeping quiet that he shatters his bridge console's display with his bare hands.

* TheParanoiac: Pike accuses Section 31 and Control of this in assuming that the Red Angel can be considered a threat given that it's done nothing but help people so far. Tyler, to the contrary, claims they're ProperlyParanoid because they have no idea of its motivation or actual goals and it has demonstrated its willingness to manipulate in order to advance whatever its agenda is.

* VillainHasAPoint: While the Ba'ul act like oppressive monsters toward the Kelpiens, their initial motives for setting up the Culling system were justified and even benevolant; they had to do something to protect themselves after the Kelpiens nearly hunted them to extinction, yet at the same time they didn't exterminate the Kelpiens when they had the opportunity.