“Under the Cloak of War”
What They Say:
Captain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After the comedic highs of the previous episode and some of the character material worked through, it’s no surprise that this episode leans more toward the serious side. I just didn’t expect that it would be this serious until I saw that it’s dealing with the fallout of the war with the Klingon Empire that made up the first season of Discovery. What we get here works some good stuff with a few characters and provides another look at the war that we didn’t get the first time around since Discovery wasn’t around for a lot of it. The focus on M’Benga and Chapel works well for me as I like both characters and giving Ortegas a bit of a harder edge here with her issues stemming from the war helps her a lot as well. Ortegas is the character that we really need to get to know better and that it’s still not happened is fairly frustrating at this point, which makes me think they must have a real plan for it.
The premise for this has the Enterprise playing host to Ambassador Rah as he is being brought to Starbase 12 where a three-planet war has been resolved and things are getting finalized there. Rah was instrumental in helping usher this peace in but it’s a hard pill to swallow for a chunk of the Enterprise crew because he’s a Klingon known as the Butcher of J’Gal from that particular phase of the war. His presence on the ship has him amiable and engaging and folks like Pike, Spock, Uhura, and others that were off on the Five Year Mission during the war aren’t feeling quite so strongly about it. Where it’s felt most strongly is from M’Benga and Chapel as the two of them served together on J’Gal during the war and saw what Rah had done there along with the other Klingons as they coped with the bodies that kept coming in and all the lives lost.
We get a good series of flashbacks to that from several years ago and it served as Chapel’s apparent first field service piece as she was instantly prompted to head nurse because there was nobody else at that point. Run by “Buck,” who is played by Clint Howard (and appeared as Blalok way back in TOS in 1966), it’s a standard quick entry into the brutality of war, the numerous losses, those they help survive, and those that quickly return to the front lines and often lost their lives not long after that. It harkens back to a lot of what we’ve seen in prior series and the original series itself so it has a time-honored place in the storytelling of Trek. And seeing both of these characters bond quickly through the terror and horror of the war as medics definitely created something special here.
The time spent on the war is pretty decent as it’s kept to a small camp in a rocky area with a lot of dark skies and nigh sequences. The special effects are good, the drama works well, and it’s like a little series of instances to paint the picture which comes with all that we already know about our two characters from the show so far. So the seeding has been there and we’re getting a bit more show me. We also see some nods toward the Protocol 12 serum that has come up from time to time in the present as on of the Andorans in Starfleet that’s putting a team together to deal with the high-ranking Klingons on J’Gal wants M’Benga to come along because of his skills both with and without Protocol 12. Of course, we see how he doesn’t at first but is drawn in later and in turn provides for an interesting twist that I didn’t see coming as we get into the final act in the present.
The journey to the Starbase is interesting as the tension picks up and we see all sorts of moments where those involved in the war want to say more but don’t. Pike is doing his best to try and keep the peace and he clearly understands what they’re dealing with, though not in the same exact way. But he’s not actively making it worse and he does expect people to do their duty – within reason. But the small strains lead to interesting areas, such as Spock unsure how to help Chapel as she’s got her walls up and stressing over it all while M’Benga’s knowing the truth of what happened in J’Gal ends up coming together well at the end as the time between him and Rah exposes more and more of it. It’s done well and I love the visual framing of their final encounter and the way M’Benga keeps trying to get Rah to just let it lie while Rah himself is attempting to really just absolve himself in his attempts to help others heal. It’s not presented with clean or easy solutions and these pains and horrors reside within for all our lives.
In Summary:
While I had some problems with the first season of Discovery, I’m glad to see them touching on the fallout from that war here a bit and the way it has impacted so many people. The lack of reference at times is understandable but it reminded me sometimes of how Voyager went right into easily working with the Maquis once in the Gamma quadrant. Here, we get to look at a thin slice of the war with two characters we know that were in it and the feelings of a few others throughout. It’s well presented, serious, and doesn’t try to add snark or lightness where it shouldn’t exist. It’s a good showpiece for everyone involved and again makes me feel that both Babs Olusanmoku and Jess Bush are some of the best characters from TOS being expanded upon here as I want to follow the entirety of their journey.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Paramount+
