Star Trek: Section 31
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What might have beenâŚ
Full disclosure: I donât like the premise of Section 31 (the organization) in the first place. IMO it undermines the concept of the Federation rather than complicating it as Deep Space Nineâs more gray-area episodes did. I didnât like it when it showed up in DS9, and I was so tired of it by the end of Discovery season 2. (More about that later.)
But I was going to watch this anyway, because Michelle Yeoh is always compelling. As awful a person as Mirror Georgiou is, the character is fascinating to watch â particularly when sheâs navigating the different rules of the Prime universe. And she does not disappoint!
The Verdict
Viewed as a pilot for a Star Trek series, itâsâŚokay. The only really good pilots the franchise has had are âThe Caretakerâ (Voyager) and âSecond Contactâ (Lower Decks), with âThe Emissaryâ (DS9) coming close.
As a stand-alone movie, though, itâs a mess. Too much exposition, too little story. Characters drawn with bullet points to be filled in later. A cliffhanger halfway through, with a stark change in setting and supporting cast making it clear that it was two regular-length episodes. And an epilogue that does nothing for this story, serving only to set up a series that wonât happen.
It could have been retooled as a good heist film like Solo (no, seriously), but the seams are way too visible, especially considering that (IIRC) the decision was made before shooting started.
(And as cool as that ship at the end is, it makes absolutely no sense given what itâs being used for.)
Fridge Logic Time
It took a while to figure out that this was Georgiou after her disappearance in Discovery Season 3, having popped up again in the prime universe about halfway between TOS and TNG. That still puts her several decades out of sync with her own time, something which messes with the timeline of her contemporaries in her home universe.
Side Note on Deep Space Nine
Sisko is willing to bend the rules on the regular because heâs working in a place where things are messy, but he bends them to avoid breaking them. We see the murkier side of things during the Dominion War, and when OâBrien gets dragged into an undercover intelligence investigation. But while thereâs a lot of gray area, theyâre still striving to keep in the light, and thereâs a point beyond which the darkness is not acceptable. In âParadise Lostâ Sisko comes down hard against a conspiracy thatâs willing to throw out the Federationâs ideals wholesale, claiming that theyâll come back in some nebulous future.
âIn the Pale Moonlightâ works because itâs a last-ditch plan, and because it shows the decision process. We watch Sisko work through the moral quandary and conclude that this time, in this place with this situation itâs necessary to violate those ideals in order to preserve them in the long run. Whether the audience agrees, heâs at least grappled with the problem.
Similarly, Discovery Season 1 made a very clear point about Starfleetâs ideals being something to keep aspiring to, not to discard for the sake of expedience. Lorcaâs approach may have been effective in the short term, but that didnât mean it was the only solution, or the best one, even in wartime.
Thatâs a far cry from an entire organization dedicated to assuming the dirty work is always going to be necessary and simply tossing ideals out the window to do it, even if itâs framed as making sure other people donât have to.