‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Gets Introspective With “Jinaal”
On the planet Trill, the crew of Star Trek: Discovery seek the next puzzle piece and find themselves in the process. It’s good!
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is, thus far, a throw back to Trek’s past. For the first two episodes, the connection to the past revolves around the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Chase”. But beginning with this week’s episode “Jinaal”, there’s a vibe one might call Pilleresque.
Way back in 1990, Michael Piller became the head writer for TNG and crafted a story structure that ultimately became the formula for most of Trek for the next two decades. And Piller’s formula basically involves picking a central character and then taking that character on a journey of self-discovery. Whether it’s a bottle story or a romp to the far-off lands of space Scotland, Piller’s stories usually teach the show’s characters a lesson and the audience in the process.
What DISCO adds to Piller’s formula is heavy serialization. This is something we also see in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. However, five serialized seasons in, DISCO has the ability to bring years worth of character progression to Piller’s self-examination style narrative. And not coincidentally, “Jinaal” pulls from a DS9 episode — in this case “Facets”. The result is the strongest episode of the season thus far. More than that, it yields one of DISCO‘s best, period.
Let’s cover the basics and then talk about how Star Trek: Discovery successfully builds on one of the best parts of the franchise.
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To Boldly Recap “Jinaal”
There are three major locations and story threads in “Jinaal” — there’s the stuff on Trill, there’s Starfleet HQ, and there’s Discovery herself. And since the lion’s share is Trill-based, let’s cover the other two first.
At Starfleet HQ, Saru sets about the business of making his first controversial judgment as an ambassador. T’Rina supports him as does most of his fellow ambassadors. However, T’Rina’s glorified PA informs Saru that he represents a risk to T’Rina’s authority. T’Rina wants to announce her upcoming nuptials with Saru, but her PA worries that this will upset the purists on Vulcan — a fact he shares with Saru.
So Saru being a sweet boy he is tells T’Rina he’s okay to postpone the engagement announcement. But instead, T’Rina says she has already factored for the Vulcan purists and that Saru needs to trust her. Also, her PA is going to get the business.
On Discovery, Burnham tells Rayner he has to have one-on-ones with the crew to help everyone adapt to his new role. Rayner handles this by giving everyone 20 words to fill him in. This annoys everyone but no one more than Tilly. Rayner points out that professional distance is important and proves that those abbreviated intros gave him more info than Tilly thinks.
Tilly correctly concludes that respect needs to be earned—in both directions. And with that Rayner finds himself alone at the bar contemplating his future.
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Meanwhile, on Trill
The next piece of the Progenitor puzzle is on Trill. The only hitch is that Jinaal, the person who knows its location, is dead. However, their memory lives on through a Trill symbiote. And with a little help from the zhian’tara ritual, the consciousness of Jinaal’s consciousness enters the body of a willing Dr. Culber.
Of course, Jinaal has no intention of making things easy so he takes Burnham and Book on a long, meandering walk where they encounter giant, deadly, and invisible monsters. The monsters block the puzzle piece and so our heroes have to figure out how to get passed them. Eventually, Book finds a way to communicate psychically and it turns out the aliens are just protecting their eggs.
Surprise, Jinaal is testing them! Burnham and Book pass because they resolve the conflict peacefully rather than through violence. This is important to Jinaal because he knows the Progenitor tech is potentially deadly. Jinaal wants the tech to be in the right hands at the right time. Jinaal hands over the next puzzle piece.
Trill also reconnects Adira and Gray. The pair have not seen each other in person in a long time. And in that distance, they realize that they are on different paths right now which yields an amicable breakup. Bad news though: Moll is on Trill and secretly puts something on Adira. Something bad? We’ll see!
The episode closes with Burnham and Culber talking about their search for a greater truth through the Progenitor tech.
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To Boldly Review “Jinaal”
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Facets” which introduces the zhian’tara ritual is all about overcoming self-doubt. And what’s great about “Jinaal” is that it uses the ritual for a very similar purpose but through the fresh lens of the Star Trek: Discovery characters. Going into the story, Adira doesn’t know what to do about Gray, Saru is uneasy about his new roles, Book isn’t sure he fits in, and Rayner is sure he doesn’t have to. By episode’s end all that changes.
It’s fun watching Burnham and Book figure out their new dynamic. There’s a kind of chaotic parallel between this former couple’s relationship and the one between Moll and L’ak. In fact, there’s a question hanging in the air: will Burnham and Book reunite? More importantly: should they?
There’s a third complex relationship here: Adira and Gray. It’s honestly refreshing to see a queer relationship end in a way that feels final without it also feeling like they can’t care about each other anymore. I have some doubts Gray will show up again but I hope I’m wrong. Regardless, freeing both Gray and Adira to continue independently is interesting and good for both characters.
And, hey! Rayner does something that’s a rarity on Star Trek: he fails. Rayner thinks he knows how to be a first officer on Discovery and he is wrong. He ends on a note of growth, but it’s totally open-ended. This is DISCO‘s serialized storytelling really evolving the Piller formula in a satisfying way.
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Culber, Joining, And Possession
The standout performance of “Jinaal” comes from Wilson Cruz. Playing a former Trill consciousness usually involves a little scenery chewing and Cruz absolutely makes a meal of Jinaal. But at no point does he lose his grounding. Jinaal’s story, his fears and hopes for the future really come through.
Also, the line “this guy really works out” is easily one of the funniest lines in the show’s history.
But there’s something kind of spooky, too, about taking in a consciousness that’s not your own. In horror stories, we call this possession. Have you ever done something terrible in a moment and not known why? Sometimes we do things and our own motivations elude us. It can be extremely disorienting in a terrifying way. That’s what possession stories often deal with.
Similarly, when Culber regains control of his own body, he struggles to express the sensation to Burnham—but he is unmoored by the experience. And yet, joining with Jinaal happens in a largely controlled environment. So there’s terror and more an awareness that there are depths to himself that Culber does not know.
Burnham feels similarly. She realizes she still desperately needs answers and she’s putting a lot of eggs into the Progenitor basket as a result. There’s risk there, but a very human risk. To take action in any capacity is to accept we cannot guarantee the outcome. To seek the meaning of life means not knowing how life will answer.
“Jinaal” has the fun and the action of the first two episodes, but it also has a depth of soul that Michael Piller would’ve been envious of.
4.5/5 stars
