The TV Doctor
The TV Doctor
Sickbay: "Context is for Kings" (Episode 48)
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If universal law is for lackeys, and context is for kings, then Star Trek is for lovers and we're fully shipping Lorca and Stamets over here. In this episode, Michael Burnham provides us with valuable lessons about leadership. Also, M. Foss is on the edge of breaking down and sliding Ashley a few Trek Trivia answers under the console.
Hello, hello, my loves. Welcome back to The TV Doctor, a podcast in which I’m here to prescribe for you exactly what television you should be watching to treat the socio-emotional ailments that might be bothering you. I’m M. Foss, and I’m not a doctor on TV, but I play one in real life.
Here in Season 5 of the podcast, my Special Guest Star, Second Opinion, Co-Pilot, and Co-Host Ashley and I are safely in orbit around our mission to seek out the healing properties embedded in Star Trek: Discovery, as well as the parts that require the computer to run an additional diagnostic or two. And by “the computer,” I mean our brains, of course. Together, we are a rookie and a veteran, attempting a bit of a mind meld, inviting you along as we do our best to boldly go.
If you don’t think of yourself as a quote-unquote “Star Trek person,” that’s okay. We would love for you to start now and watch along with us. Ashley wasn’t a Star Trek person either, and maybe she’s still not, and that’s fine. She might not be a Trekkie, but she IS finding value and joy in watching. Our season is young, our journey is long, and there’s plenty of room in this shuttle. Consider this your sign that it’s time to see what all the fuss is about. Let’s beam on over to…Sickbay.
Second Opinion:
MF: And we're back.
AJ: This show is racist.
MF: Okay, well, that that is a powerful way to start us off. We are dealing with Star Trek colon Discovery Season 1, Episode 3, which is called “Context is For Kings.”
AJ: Three episodes in, the Black girl is going to jail. Her wig has changed. She's being blamed for 8, 000 plus people being dead. But was it actually her fault?
MF: 8,186
AJ: Cool, bro. Not her fault.
MF: Thanks so much. Her fault, but she was right.
AJ: The wig, the wig.
MF: The wig is bad. I just cannot justify the way this show cannot get Michael Burnham's hair right. I don't understand. Like, it's not the look. The short, tapered, natural? Love that. But why can't they get that right? To the point where the Black girls can look at it and be like, “Oh, she did that.” I can tell it's a wig. It's not a good wig. It's giving Michonne on The Walking Dead.
AJ: Yes.
MF: Bad. I can tell that's not your…I can tell.
AJ: Yes. And…
MF: You can make a Klingon look like that and you can't get her short, tapered, natural to look like it's hers?
AJ: It's tough. And I don't want to blame…
MF: Well, I don't blame her.
AJ: …costume or makeup.
MF: Yeah, I do blame them.
AJ: Okay.
MF: Yeah. So. All right. So it's six months later after the events that started the war. We learned that 8, 000 plus people died in the Battle at the Binary Stars and we are on a prison transport with Michael and some other…
AJ: Jerks.
MF: And some things happen, and they are, you know, rescued by a brand new ship, the NCC 1031, which is the call sign for Discovery.
AJ: Don't care. All I care about is Captain Lorca.
MF: Oh, we care. Slow your roll.
AJ: Do we care?
MF: We do care.
AJ: Oh.
MF: Yes. In the fandom, we care very much about a ship's call sign.
AJ: Okay.
MF: And so it means something that this ship is the NCC 1031. The ship's official name is NCC 1031, but ships also have secondary names or like nicknames.
AJ: Like a nickname? Okay.
MF: Yeah. So, this is the Discovery, which that name carries with it a lot of importance because this is a unique ship that can do things that other ships in the fleet cannot do. Well, it is one of two ships in the fleet that can do what it does. And so, but do we learn that in this episode?
AJ: No, I don't know. I don't know what this is.
MF: You do know. The Spore Drive.
AJ: I don't know.
MF: Yeah. So, the Black Alert, there's only two ships in the fleet at this point that can do that.
AJ: Michael Burnham is not even allowed to know what the Black Alert is.
MF: She's not. She doesn't understand what that is.
AJ: And Tilly won't tell her.
MF: First of all, do we love Tilly?
AJ: No, we hate Tilly.
MF: Oh my God, are you kidding me?
AJ: She's so clearly the character that we're supposed to be. come to love and she's just so annoying.
MF: I love Tilly so hard. Tilly is so clearly me. First of all, she says, “I talk when I'm nervous.” Same. She talks about her special needs. Same. She says, “I'll call you Mickey. It's more approachable.” And Michael is like, “No, you won't.”
AJ: Michael is me.
MF: I've got a lot of Tilly energy of just being like, “I'm…I'm awkward. And I don't know what to do with that awkwardness.” I love Tilly. So, I feel like episode three is where we really get started.
AJ: Yeah.
MF: This is where we meet the people that are going to be with us on this journey.
AJ: Okay.
MF: Saru for sure, but Tilly is essential to this story. Stamets is essential to this story.
AJ: Love. Love. And he's a jerk…
MF: But that's what's so weird.
AJ: I'm so into him.
MF: So again, on my rewatch, I was like, “I don't remember Stamets being so much of an asshole, but he very much was at the beginning.” But I think it's because he hated Lorca.
AJ: I am drawn to him in the way that you are drawn to Tilly. Maybe it's the oldest child in me, but just the air of “I'm the boss here. And I don't have time for any of this.”
MF: He does have that boss energy, which is probably why he's so bristly when it comes to Lorca because Lorca is actually the boss.
AJ: He can be the boss of me.
MF: Lorca can?
AJ: Yes! Can he? What? Do you disagree?
MF: We're having those kind of feelings about Lorca.
AJ: My grandmother used to say, “Don't block your blessing.” I wouldn't even think of blocking Captain Lorca. The way Michael Burnham had the audacity once again to try to tell a captain what to do.” I would prefer to go straight to jail.” Would you? Because I would prefer to do whatever he asked of me.
MF: “I would prefer.”
AJ: On the ship.
MF: “Would you like me to hang out in your quarters?”
AJ: “What do you need? What? What do you need? Aye aye, captain. Yes, sir.”
MF: So, I did not realize that you had romantic feelings toward Gabriel Lorca.
AJ: You can't tell me that everyone doesn't.
MF: Is it the eye thing?
AJ: I don't know.
MF: He likes it dark? I don't remember feeling a way…that kind of way…
AJ: I immediately felt…
MF: …about Captain Lorca.
AJ: …a way.
MF: Okay.
AJ: I wrote “WOOF” in my notes in all caps.
MF: So, were you doing some shipping of Burnham and Lorca?
AJ: No.
MF: You were shipping yourself and Lorca.
AJ: I was. Immediately. And the way that I am starting to resent Michael Burnham for not seeing the deliciousness of this man.
MF: Taking that chance. Taking your shot.
AJ: What are we doing?” I'd rather go to prison.” What is this guilt? Why does she feel the need to just, “Woe is me and everything is my fault and I'm responsible for all these things?” I mean, it's technically true.
MF: It's the Vulcan thing.
AJ: The logic? There's no logic in Captain Lorca saying,” I want you to use your talents here on the ship” and being like, “I prefer not to.” No, that's not logical at all.
MF: Yeah. You're right about that. Well, yeah, that might change the way that I watched Lorca. So, the problem is…
AJ: There's no problem.
MF: Okay, yeah, I'm just gonna shut up.
AJ: No problem.
MF: I will say we're gonna circle back to this conversation.
AJ: Well, and again, the burgeoning critic, I couldn't help but notice that the camera lingered on him after Michael Burnham left the room…
MF: A little bit too long.
AJ: …just long enough for me to think…
MF: There's something.
AJ: …what am I reading here? What is this facial expression? I couldn't decide if there's something nefarious, if he's puzzled by her, if he's intrigued by her, but linger. Linger on.
MF: Shout out to Jason Isaacs, man.
AJ: Don't block your blessing.
MF: Okay, well.
AJ: Like, you were on your way to prison.
MF: And the eye thing doesn't bother you at all?
AJ: No.
MF: Okay, right on. Okay. So, Saru is back…
AJ: Still shady as ever.
MF: And now he's even more important because he's number one…
AJ: I guess.
MF: …on the Discovery. And they have an interesting conversation, Michael and Saru, over a bowl of blueberries. So, Saru is having a lovely snack and letting Michael know what's what since six months have passed and half the team is on Discovery.
AJ: I don't like Saru. I don't like Michael Burnham in this episode. The only person I like is Captain Lorca.
MF: Why don't you like Michael Burnham in this episode?
AJ: Because she's making herself a martyr. She's…
MF: She is doing that.
AJ: …finally othered herself. I mean, she's walking through the ship and no one's talking to her. So, I'm sort of thinking, are you happy now? You have othered yourself in a way where you have no one now. So, what did we win here?
MF: Yeah. To be fair, she's in a lose/lose situation, though. If everybody else is right and it's her fault and she's Starfleet’s first mutineer (they said that 20,000 times…
AJ: They did.
MF: …so that we were sure to pick up on that), if that is true, yes. Bad. Lose. For her. But even if she was right to advocate for her position by any means necessary, try to stop that war…
AJ: The pinch.
MF: …the neck pinch, also lose. Because you can't go against Starfleet principles.
AJ: Right.
MF: But I hear what you're saying that she is attempting to martyr herself and not take advantage of what could be a way to still be helpful and of service, which I still deep down believe that she believes in. But also, she has all of this, you know, overwhelming guilt because Georgiou was like a mother to her, certainly a mentor. And she watched her die from something that she started.
AJ: Right.
MF: She's blinded by that guilt. It's overwhelming for her. She's checked out, you know, and we see a lot of that in this episode, I think. So, Saru says about Michael in this episode, I'm going to quote, “Mutiny aside…”
AJ: “Just put this to the side for a moment.”
MF: “Mutiny aside, she's the smartest Starfleet officer I've ever known,” and say what we will about Saru, he is observant. He's smart. So, the fact that they had this character who seems like a bit of a dick, but in addition to that, he seems, like, brilliant. Starfleet is lucky to have him. To have him put voice to saying she's the smartest Starfleet officer, not one of, but THE smartest officer I've ever known. The fact that this episode put that on a Black woman, I was like…
AJ: He also said, “You are something to fear, Michael Burnham.”
MF: Mm hmm. But we can read that a number, we can read that a number of ways, though.
AJ: At what cost can we be the smartest person in the room, even as just a woman?
MF: Yeah.
AJ: Are we also someone to fear because we might act on our own agency?
MF: Those who are insecure and threatened.
AJ: Like Shady Saru and his ganglia.
MF: Like Saru. Yes, I am something for you to fear. You should be afraid.
AJ: Yeah, I mean, he's rude. He's not wrong. But he's still rude.
MF: That statement coming from Saru, with the show having established that the things that he fears are to be feared, your point is well taken that if that came from Lorca, “She's the smartest officer I've ever seen or worked with,” it would be different.
AJ: Yes, and we as the audience are meant to trust her intellect, but not trust her instinct.
MF: Instinct. Her gut. What that totals out to is that we don't trust her as a whole person.
AJ: Yeah.
MF: They have a fun conversation later in the episode, Michael and Paul Stamets, because he doesn't have time for her. He doesn't like her. He doesn't trust her. I think part of that is he sees her as Lorca's pick and he hates Lorca.
AJ: I just don't know how one could.
MF: Well, he does.
AJ: I mean, I get it. “I want to win the war.”
MF: Yeah.
AJ: “I want to win the war.”
MF: Yeah, he thinks he's a warmonger. And Stamets is a scientist and he wants to explore and do experiments and science and Lorca is a warrior and wants to get out there and bloody some knuckles.
AJ: Well, I love him
MF: I actually do, too. But I'm surprised that you love him considering how aggressive he is towards Lorca.
AJ: Yeah. I mean, if I were going to ship anyone respectfully, the two of them together would be fiery.
MF: Hot fire.
AJ: Oh my god. Star Trek after dark. Oh my god. Stamets and Lorca, get out of here. The pushing and the shoving and…
MF: I don't hate it. I don't hate it.
AJ: I love it.
MF: I actually don't hate it.
AJ: I love it. Am I a little jealous of it? Sure. The chemistry.
MF: Yeah.
AJ: I forget about Lorca and Michael.
MF: Yeah. Forget about that. Actually.
AJ: No, that's boring.
MF: Stamets and Lorca have some things to work out.
AJ: Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Don't block your blessing. Don't block your blessing. And it's the classic “they start off as enemies.”
MF: Of course.
AJ: Isn't that how all of the love stories go? They start out sort of competitive or combative, and it's really just all that sexual tension.
MF: Tale as old as time is what that is. Before we move on, I feel like I have to give it to Lorca for having the line of the episode. It's so beautiful. He says, “Universal law is for lackeys; context is for kings.”
AJ: Mm-hmm. Yes.
MF: Shout out to whoever wrote this episode because that line is amazing. And so applicable and appropriate for so many areas of the human condition. And I think this is where we really go back to the heart of what The TV Doctor is, and thinking about what we take from this episode and how we can use what we learn in this episode to structure our real lives. The idea of universal law, one thing that is always right or always wrong, that's for small time players and context is everything. If we don't consider the context, we are not operating at that highest level. And this episode is called Context is for Kings, right? And, yeah, that's profound. Star Trek is talking to us. In a language that it can only hope that we understand
AJ: What I love about it as a television show is it's letting me know they are signing a blank check and when they start cashing them, it could be for all kinds of different reasons that things in this show are going to get really juicy and fun and operate in the gray area in a way where he's saying, you know, “This is what we're going to do for war.” And it makes me feel very excited about what's to come versus a television show that's very rooted in black and white and what's moral and what isn't. And I just love the idea that we're going to intentionally operate in this other space and that he's saying, “Let's just operate in the context,” which is essentially saying” I can justify anything that I do.”
MF: “Anything that I do.”
AJ: And so, let's go. Yeah, I'm in. I'm in.
MF: I love it. Oh, I love this show. And we're only three episodes in and it's already got its foot on our neck. And it's worth mentioning at this point that Star Trek television had been quiet since Enterprise concluded. So, it had been a significant amount of time since the television audience had had new Star Trek, and there is, within the fandom, a divide between people who are into and appreciate what we call classic Trek, which is (I'm not going to give it away, but) like from The Original Series to Enterprise, right? Really, we're talking about either two generations of Star Trek on TV or three. I kind of look at it as three generations. There’s The Original Series and The Animated Series in that late ‘60s, early ‘70s moment. And then there's Next Generation, which is 20 years later from The Original Series. So, that legitimately represents a different generation, but a lot of people lump them together because of the influence of the creator of Star Trek, who I'm also not going to name right now.
AJ: Not William Shatner.
MF: It's not William Shatner, but that guy who created The Original Series, he was still alive and very much involved with The Next Generation so, from Original Series to Enterprise, people look at that as kind of classic Trek. But then Discovery comes along and there are shows that have come after Discovery, that represents brand new Trek, right?
AJ: Okay.
MF: And so, there is a schism in the fandom between the classic Trek people, all of those being consistent with quote unquote “the creator,” that person's vision, and new Trek, which had nothing to do in their mind with him. So, there are a lot of people that attack this new Trek as being woke, because, you know, out of the gate, we've got this Black woman as the lead and for other reasons as well. But if we're boiling it down, it comes down to the fact that there's a Black woman in the lead.
AJ: And this isn't unfamiliar to me in other fandoms that I am either part of or sort of dip in and out of. I've heard a lot about this with Doctor Who because there was an original series and then it was gone for a number of years and it came back with this new version and it's very LGBTQ plus friendly. You know, you've had a woman Doctor Who, we now have a black Doctor Who. And the fandom is sort of divided on, “Oh, have you chosen this Doctor Who because…”
MF: Correct.
AJ: “…you want to check off the diversity box.”
MF: Correct.
AJ: And we're seeing some of that with Star Wars as well, with Rey being the newest Jedi: “Oh, you just chose a woman because you want to appeal to the certain audience.”
MF: Exactly.
AJ: And I just, I hope that we can reject that.
MF: I do too.
AJ: I just hope we can reject it.
MF: Well, and signs are pointing toward we cannot because as beautiful and complex and nuanced and sharp and layered as Discovery is, they pulled the plug after five seasons. The Original Series lasted three seasons but Next Generation and the next one and the next one, each ran for seven seasons. So, we're talking 170 plus episodes of each of those programs, so to kill Discovery after five seasons and a fraction of the number of episodes that those other shows got tells me where we are.
AJ: I want to disagree.
MF: I would love for you to disagree.
AJ: Okay. Because I think we're seeing this in general in television.
MF: Across television.
AJ: We're seeing fewer seasons.
MF: For sure. For sure.
AJ: If something isn't getting, you know, certain number of viewers, it's canceled
MF: No, your point is well taken that television itself is just different. But also, I'm coming from the perspective of someone who just wanted more. I wanted more of these characters. I wanted 176 episodes with Michael Burnham.
AJ: Yeah.
MF: I wanna hear more of her story.
AJ: Yeah.
MF: You know? And I recognize that TV is different, but that's it. It's just out of a love for the character, and a love for this story that they were telling. I have to just be grateful that they were able to tell the end of the story the way that they wanted to.
AJ: Have you finished season five?
MF: I have not.
AJ: Okay.
MF: Because of this.
AJ: Yeah. No, I'm thrilled…
MF: I'm waiting…
AJ: …about that.
MF: …for you.
AJ: And I do wonder if we will feel like her character was done justice by ending it by having a complete story, even if we're the ones who are left wanting more or if we will feel like we've been robbed. So, I'm excited to see how that goes.
MF: Me too. Shall we go to the quiz?
AJ: Yes.
MF: All right. Are you a Trekkie?
AJ: No.
MF: Still not a Trekkie.
AJ: But it's calling to me.
MF: Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay. Do you want to give the shows a shot?
AJ: No, I mean, yes, but nothing has changed. Star Trek, no colon, The Original Series.
MF: Yes.
AJ: Star Trek, colon, The Animated Series. Enterprise.
MF: No. Next Generation.
AJ: Something, something. Yeah, no. Fail. Pass.
MF: Okay, okay. What is the significance of the Kelvin universe?
AJ: Pass.
MF: What is a Jeffries tube?
AJ: Pass.
MF: Okay. Who created Star Trek?
AJ: The problem with this question is that I don't believe it will be revealed to me through watching the episodes.
MF: It won't. Unless it's in the credits. It may be in the credits.
AJ: Okay. All right. Homework.
MF: Yeah.
AJ: For episode four.
MF: Okay. Good. Let's see. What is the prime directive?
AJ: Win the war.
MF: That is incorrect.
AJ: Okay.
MF: What is Section 31?
AJ: I don't know, but it sounds fascinating. I love the section with the number.
MF: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
AJ: Is it where the spores are?
MF: It is not.
AJ: Okay.
MF: Okay. Where do the Klingons live?
AJ: They were not in this episode.
MF: That’s true, but also what is the name of their home world?
AJ: I just…
MF: What is their planet where they live?
AJ: Pass.
MF: Okay. Can I give you a hint?
AJ: No. No.
MF: It has an apostrophe in it.
AJ: But if it's not in the…I'm not Googling anything, and I'm trying not to know.
MF: I know. I appreciate that.
AJ: For us to honor you Trekkies, because you represent all of them, you have to stop. Because I don't know.
MF: I'm going to tell you. I'm going to…I'm going to tell you something. I watch all TV with the, the captions.
AJ: As do we all. What kind of psychopath doesn't watch TV with closed captions?
MF: I feel like I can't hear it without my captions.
AJ: Correct.
MF: Yes. Okay. So, on classic Trek, the way that the Klingon homeworld is spelled is not the correct spelling of their planet. The way that they spell it in the captions…
AJ: This is such a Trekkie thing, because I just…
MF: …on classic Trek is incorrect…
AJ: This is sitting with you.
MF: …but it is phonetically correct.
AJ: Okay, still no.
MF: So, the accurate spelling is with the apostrophe.
AJ: Okay.
MF: It starts with two different letters.
AJ: Pass.
MF: Okay. Well, okay.
AJ: Like, pass. Pass.
MF: Okay, fine.
AJ: Why are you bullying me?
MF: Fine. Bye. See you next time.
AJ: See you next time.
MF: I'm going to tell you what it is. I'm just going to tell you. I'm going to say it.
AJ: Off air.
MF: Okay.
Urgent Care:
Welcome back. Y’all, I am so upset that Ashley and I had this WHOLE conversation you just heard, and during that conversation, I neglected to mention one of THE most wonderful Easter Eggs or cameos in this episode. We got to see and hear a being whose presence is synonymous with Star Trek for many Trekkies and even non-Trekkies know about them. I’m not sure I can forgive myself for not making more of a spectacle out of this moment. In fact, I made no spectacle at all. What kind of Trekker am I? Let’s just say I find myself…troubled. That’s the trouble with…this show: it’s just got too much good stuff packed in there and furry little gems are getting missed. But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to incorporate our iconic friend into a future quiz.
Anyway, let’s get to my prescription. The title of this episode, “Context is for Kings,” is so…elegant and yummy that I almost want to leave it at that. “Context is for kings, folks,” and then mic drop. See you next time. But I’m not going to do that. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Lorca is explaining to Burnham why she shouldn’t just hop on the next prison transport shuttle they can find, and he says to her, “Universal law is for lackeys; context is for kings.” It's such a postmodern philosophy that Lorca is using on her. It’s a somewhat risky strategy. Adopting a postmodern stance means that we acknowledge that absolutes and universals and 100 percents are rare if not nearly impossible occurrences. The way I explain postmodernism in my classes is by using how we comprehend the concept of history. So, we have departments of history, classes in history, history books, professors who have devoted their lives to studying history. There’s no denying the existence of history, right? But we’ve adopted a very human approach to history. If we were operating in the universal space, history would mean everything that has ever happened since the dawn of time, whenever that was. That history, the past, DOES EXIST, no doubt. But that history, let’s call it capital H History, that history is beyond human comprehension. Even if you compile all the world’s best and brightest and give them nothing to do but study Capital H History for their whole lives, they would never even scratch the surface of uncovering all of Capital H History. The reports they would produce would be partial, incomplete, narrowed, and biased, and that’s no shade. As a species, we’ve accepted lowercase h history as us doing our best. It’s okay.
It’s a little bit tougher for us to wrap our primitive minds around postmodernism in other contexts, though, like truth, for example. We can accept the idea of there being an absolute or universal truth. We are all Fox Mulder and we know the capital T Truth is out there. But many of us are uncomfortable with the idea that we may not or will not ever know it. The best we can do, again, under the tenets of postmodernism, is to cuddle up to the idea that our humanity will expose us to various lowercase t truths. It’s Thursday. True. Two and two are four. True. I love Star Trek. True. Truth is all around us. Calling these ideas little T true doesn’t make them NOT TRUE. It just acknowledges that there might be situations in which their “truth” is…contextual.
So, when Lorca tells Burnham that universal law is for lackeys, and context is for kings, I think he’s tapping into this idea. Laws and rules that apply to all the people, all the time, in all circumstances and all situations, that’s a way of looking at life from the bottom up. Those who hold tight to capital L Law and capital R Rules are the ones who lack either the intelligence or the creativity or the agency or the opportunity to consider alternatives. Landry, for example, to me, reads as this kind of person. She’s the head of security. It’s not like she’s NOT in a power position, but the way she seems to cling to what she’s been told instead of what she’s experienced or what she thinks, that’s giving lackey energy. When she called the prisoners garbage and when she turned up her nose at Burnham’s use of suus mahna (the Vulcan martial arts), I didn’t take it as her being one among MANY on board who are just in a perpetual bad mood or as it being part of her personality. Rather, I interpreted her stance as the voice of a parrot, and I had an immediate negative reaction to her. Ashley and I might disagree, for now, on Saru and Tilly, but you don’t see ANYONE out here riding for Landry, okay?
Michael Burnham is no Landry. Spoiler alert: we’ll learn pretty quickly here how much Burnham is no Landry, or rather, how Landry is no Burnham. Thanks to Lorca’s careful rhetoric, Burnham comes to understand, and WE come to understand with her, that she and Lorca are the kings in this metaphor, not the lackeys. To kings, the laws and rules of Starfleet, of LIFE, cannot possibly be universal. Context is everything. Burnham is stuck in a shame spiral maybe less because 8,000+ lives were lost, because those lives were GONNA be lost the second the Shenzhou stumbled across the Klingons, and MORE because she was the golden child, Vulcan-raised, and she flew in the face of Starfleet principles and disappointed everyone and became notorious in the last way she would have wanted. So, she’s spiraling, and Lorca comes along and essentially lets her off her own hook. He says what we’ve all been thinking: her punishment did not fit her crime. Lorca makes the case for commuting her sentence, basically, because killing that initial Klingon was essentially involuntary manslaughter and we can see that because of CONTEXT. He knows those 8,186 souls lost are not Michael’s fault because of CONTEXT. Michael has had six months to self-flagellate her character into near non-existence, and Lorca (ALBEIT for his own possibly nefarious reasons), Lorca is saying, “Babe, you are too talented and smart and empathetic and justice-minded to be on the bench when we need you to be part of the starting lineup.”
Are you picking up this prescription? I’ll bet you already are. This moment is relatable and healing for anyone who has ever questioned their own ability to lead, or their own preparedness for leadership, or anyone who has had their abilities and/or preparedness questioned or doubted by others. Listen, Michael makes SERIOUS mistakes. There’s no doubt about it. So have we all. She was held accountable for those mistakes, and I’m sure many of us have also had to own mistakes that we’ve made. Fair enough. Like Michael, I’m sure many of us have deeply internalized and obsessed over the chips and craters scattered across our resumes, especially when there’s an external energy that points out those chips and craters, even the ones that maybe are not that noticeable, not that bad. I know this point hits especially hard for those of us who are REALLY like Michael, however you want to interpret that. I don’t love that it was Lorca who snapped her out of it, but sometimes our gifts come in unusual packaging. The vessel for the message here matters less than its destination. Michael Burnham accepted her flaws, but not her fate. She accepted the challenge of rebuilding her self-concept, and she stepped cautiously into her light. And, after watching this episode, so can we.
That’s going to do it for this episode. “Context is for Kings” was directed by Akiva Goldsman and it shows. I loved this episode. The writers for the episode included Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman as creators of the show, Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, and Craig Sweeny with the teleplay, story by Bryan Fuller, Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, Bowie Kim and Erika Lippoldt as the executive story editors, and Kirsten Beyer, Sean Cochran, and Kemp Powers as staff writers. And of course, Gene Roddenberry gets a forever writing credit, well deserved.
We have now reached the part of our appointment where it’s time for me to give you some instructions for what to do when we part ways just in case you don’t remember what we’ve discussed. We’re now in season five and there are four other seasons of The TV Doctor original recipe for you to explore and enjoy. I’d love for you to check them out and leave a five-star rating and a glowing review if you feel so moved because when you do that, it helps Ashley and I spread the word about the work we are doing here to a larger audience. Tell a friend about the show, and tell them to tell someone else, and so on across all the mycelial network.
We also want to connect with you on social media, obviously. So, you can follow me, M. Foss, on Instagram and Twitter at tee vee phd, and you can follow Ashley at Ashley johnson ca on all the things. And if you need merch, you can either let us continue to cook on our Sickbay-specific designs, or you can give us a little jump start by suggesting some concepts. You can stay in touch and/or find the link to the TV Doctor TeePublic store by visiting the website over at thetvdoc.com, so that’s thetvdoc.com.
On behalf of my number one and I, we thank you so much, again and again, for joining us here. And don’t forget to grab a fortune cookie and schedule your next appointment on your way out. Take good care, friends.