Star Trek: Discovery 1×9 Review: Into the Forest I Go

The finale for the first half of Star Trek: Discovery season 1, “Into the Forest I Go”, was both action-packed and heart-wrenching.

I am immensely pleased that a large portion of the show is focusing on Stamets.  “Into the Forest I Go” was largely about the damage being done to him as the catalyst for the spore drive.  It’s been taking it’s toll on him with each jump.  When he looked at Culber before one of the jumps and said “I love you”, I clutched my chest in pain.  He didn’t even seem confident that he’d make it through that jump, let alone the dozens that lay ahead.  The episode even ended on a cliffhanger about his safety, which signals to me that his status as a crucial part of the show is fairly solid.  I hope that the DSC writers are aware of and know to avoid the Bury Your Gays trope.

Stamets, though initially introduced as a blunt and somewhat cold officer, has quickly become the heart of the show.  And yeah, okay, I may be slightly biased because of the fact that it’s Anthony Rapp and the character is gay.  But regardless, his fear induced sentimentality this episode hit all the right notes for me.

Bonus points: we got the first same sex kiss by a same sex couple in the Star Trek franchise,

While Stamets was the heart of “Into the Forest I Go,” the conflict with the Klingons was the action.  The Ash-is-Voq conspiracy theory isn’t showing any sign of slowing.  The portrayal of his PTSD was realistic and heartbreaking, but many of the scenes in his flashbacks were questionable.  We saw him being cut into.  We saw a Klingon screaming and a quick cut to his face screaming.  What are we supposed to think here?  Maybe I’m blinded by the conspiracy at this point.  But at the same time the Mr Robot and Westworld conspiracies turned out to be true, so there’s no harm believing it I guess.

This was the final episode until January and we’re left on a massive cliffhanger.  During Stamets’ final jump there was a malfunction, and Discovery is now trapped in uncharted space.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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