Line #11 Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS2E07LightAndShadows


1	Burnham returns to Vulcan to try to discover more information about Spock, while ''Discovery'' remains at Kaminar to try to discover more about the Red Angel.
2	----
3	!!Tropes in this episode:
4	* AcePilot: Pike reveals that one of his first assignments was as a test pilot, making him probably the best shuttle pilot on the ship.
5	* AsYouKnow: Seemingly overused throughout the episode, ranging from discussions between Stamets and Tilly about four-dimensional math to discussions between Grayson and Burnham about Spock's childhood. At least the season 1 references to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' finally have context.
6	* BadLiar: Amanda's attempt to lie about Spock's whereabouts falls flat with Burnham. As Burnham explains, since Amanda never lied to her when she was growing up, it's obvious that she's doing so now.
7	* {{Blackmail}}: Mirror Georgiou once again proves to be the better manipulator when she effortlessly leverages her knowledge of Leland's culpability in the deaths of Burnham's parents to bring him to heel.
8	* BlatantLies: Burnham packs a bag, then asks Pike for leave in order to find Spock. Pike guesses that she's already packed, and Burnham says that she never would without his permission.
9	* BothSidesHaveAPoint: After the shuttle is saved, Pike concedes to Ash that he does feel guilty about missing the war and is risking himself as a method of atonement, while Ash admits that Pike's decision to vent the drive plasma as a signal was the right move.
10	* CallBack:
11	** Saru recalls how Stamets is immune to temporal changes as a result of his tardigrade gene therapy, which they learned during [[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS1E07MagicToMakeTheSanestManGoMad Mudd's temporal shenanigans]].
12	** Tilly mentioning that she's trying not to swear while on duty recalls her PrecisionFStrike from [[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS1E05ChooseYourPain season 1's "Choose Your Pain"]].
13	* CameBackStrong: The probe fired into the anomaly disappears, winds up 500 years in the future, then comes back with sentience and a bunch of upgrades.
14	* ContinuityNod:
15	** Pike's trick of dumping and igniting the shuttle's fuel as a signal [[Recap/StarTrekS1E16TheGalileoSeven will be used again by Spock in about 10 years]].
16	** Talos IV plays a major role in both [[Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage the past]] and [[Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI the future]] for both Spock and Pike.
17	** The obelisk in the center of the Vulcan shrine is similar in design to Kir'Shara from the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E09KirShara Kir'Shara]]", except made of glowing stone instead of being a piece of technology.
18	* DeadpanSnarker: When Tyler tries to assert authority over the mission because he's a member of Section 31, Pike shuts him down quick.
19	--> '''Pike:''' Mr. Tyler, the chair outranks the badge.
20	* DramaticIrony: Burnham wonders what awaits her and Spock at Talos IV. Any viewer familiar with the original series knows exactly what she's in for.
21	* EurekaMoment: After Amanda discloses that Spock had some issues with a learning disability, and Leland compares that disability to dyslexia, Burnham realizes that the numbers that Spock constantly repeats should be read in reverse order.
22	* ExactTimeToFailure: ''Discovery'' has to find Pike and Tyler in the anomaly before they're exposed to a lethal level of radiation.
23	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Spock has been driven mad by whatever the Red Angel showed him. Pike and Burnham wonder whether he simply couldn't handle it, or the Red Angel deliberately showed it to him to cause his madness.
24	* GoshDarnItToHeck: Tilly says that something is "freakin' amazing". When Saru chides her, she says that she's working hard to follow his advice not to swear while on duty.
25	* {{Irony}}: The last time that Amanda and Michael spoke, Amanda remarked that whatever Michael did to hurt Spock, the betrayal was the reason why the family could never be in the same place at the same time, and Michael couldn't even respect her foster parents enough to explain why until years later. Now, the entire family does indeed find themselves in the same room, but despite Amanda's actions rather than because of them: She hid Spock away in a shrine on Vulcan to keep him away from Michael and Sarek. Michael deduced it as a likely hiding spot, and Sarek followed Michael.
26	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Tilly and the swearing again.
27	* MadnessMantra: Spock is repeating the same six numbers over and over, as well as definitions of logic and passages from ''Alice in Wonderland''.
28	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Pike insists on personally piloting the shuttle to the anomaly, reasoning that as a former test pilot he's the most qualified. Tyler suggests that his real reason is to make up for not participating in the war, which Pike eventually admits is part of it.
29	* MakeItLookLikeAStruggle: Georgiou tells Burnham right as the cameras come back on that she needs to "make it look good". Burnham does.
30	* TheMole: The 500-years advanced probe downloads some kind of viral payload into Airiam, which clearly has some kind of influence over her.
31	* MythologyGag:
32	** Not the first time that a mechanical probe of human or Federation origin has come back with [[Recap/StarTrekS2E3TheChangeling with powers]] and/or [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture new sentience]] (although, in-universe, it pre-dates both examples).
33	** This episode establishes that Spock has a form of dyslexia from his Human heritage. A cut line from ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' had Gillian Taylor ask if Spock was dyslexic atop his other eccentricities after Kirk erroneously blamed them on "LDS".
34	* NegativeSpaceWedgie: A temporal anomaly forms at Kaminar and the ''Discovery's'' shuttle ends up inside.
35	* NotSoAboveItAll: Burnham, who always tries to present the Vulcan ideal of being calm, collected, and rational, gleefully jumps at the chance to take out her frustration with Georgiou with a good old-fashioned brawl.
36	* OnceMoreWithClarity: Pike initially sees a FlashForward of himself shooting at Tyler. Later he realizes that it was showing him shooting at a probe tentacle holding Tyler.
37	* OutOfCharacterMoment: For just a moment, Sarek's voice cracks and he's on the verge of breaking down at the thought of losing both Spock and Michael.
38	* PetTheDog: Mirror-Georgiou arranges for Burnham to rescue Spock from Section 31, revealing that the device they intend to use on him is a memory extractor which will destroy his mind. Her stated reason for helping is that it will benefit both Burnham and herself, since it will make Leland look bad.
39	* ProperlyParanoid: Neither Amanda nor Burnham is keen on delivering Spock to Section 31. Their concerns are justified when it turns out that Leland is willing to destroy Spock's mind in order to learn what he knows.
40	* PsychicStatic: The shrine where Amanda hides Spock is made of katra stone, which naturally disrupts Vulcan telepathy.
41	* TheReveal:
42	** Leland was somehow responsible for the death of Burnham's biological parents.
43	** We finally know that Leland's stealth ship is designated ''N[[SignificantMonogram CIA]]-93'' and that there are at least two more like it in the Section 31 fleet.
44	* SadisticChoice: Sarek tells Burnham that, now that she knows where Spock is, she has two choices: risk her career again by continuing to conceal a wanted man, or turn Spock over to Section 31.
45	* SingleBiomePlanet: For once, averted in regards to Vulcan. Burnham arrives at Vulcan in the middle of a rainstorm, and Sarek and Amanda's home is in a forested area. Although it was mentioned on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' that Vulcan had lush, forested parks, it was only ever previously seen on screen as a dry desert.
46	* ShoutOut:
47	** The symbol on the monitors that appears when the probe downloads something into Airiam -- three solid circles arranged in a triangle -- looks suspiciously like the symbol of ComicBook/{{Superman}} villain ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}.
48	** Stamets shouting "Now! Now! Now!" while calling for a beam-out sounds a lot like Kirk in ''Film/StarTrek2009'' when he and Sulu are in free-fall over Vulcan.
49	* TemporalParadox: The temporal rift causes ripples in time, such as Pike and the bridge crew seeing an "echo" of Pike's conversation with Tyler a few minutes earlier, and Pike witnessing his own actions a few minutes into the future.
50	* ThatsAnOrder: Pike uses this with threats of a court martial to get Tyler to obey his order to release drive plasma as a signal to ''Discovery''.
51	* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: When Stamets beams onto the shuttle.
52	-->'''Pike:''' Stamets?\
53	'''Stamets:''' I'm actually here ten minutes from now. Admittedly, confusing.
54	* TranquilFury: Despite his typically stoic demeanor, Sarek is pissed at Amanda for hiding Spock and not telling him.
55	* UnstuckInTime: Inside the anomaly, the shuttle is lost in both space and time, randomly bouncing between the past and future.
56	* WalkInChimeIn: Right after Amanda states that, as the wife of the Vulcan Ambassador, she has the right to invoke diplomatic immunity to protect her son, Sarek steps into the crypt and states that she can only do so if the Ambassador himself does not object.
57	* WhamLine:
58	** When Mirror-Georgiou tells Leland that he needs her to prevent Burnham from learning the truth:
59	--->'''Mirror-Georgiou:''' You're responsible for the death of her parents.
60	** After realizing that the numbers Spock has been repeating are backwards, Burnham orders the shuttle computer to search the numbers in reverse. It finds a set of coordinates. The location?
61	--->'''Computer:''' Identification: [[Recap/StarTrekS1E11TheMenageriePartI Talos IV]].

Context Recap / StarTrekDiscoveryS2E07LightAndShadows