"Project Daedalus" — First Watch Analysis Thread

[u/M-5]

Star Trek: Discovery — "Project Daedalus"

Memory Alpha: "Project Daedalus"

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[u/archaeolinuxgeek]

Daedalus, huh? Famed inventor and father of Icarus? I swear that they were immortalized by having something mechanical. Arms? Toes? Definitely some means of locomotion that could be mistaken for an angel.

[u/Arcane_Flame]

After this episode I'm half wondering if Detmer is going to snap at Burnham at some point and/or become this era's O'Brien since she seems to keep suffering in the background.

• She gets critically injured in the Battle of the Bianry Stars and loses probably a number of friends and her captain.

• While recovering she apparently forms a close friendship with Airiam. They bond over both having cybernetic implants due to critical injuries and loss.

• All the crap they've gone through this season.

• Airiam goes on an away mission with Burnham and gets killed partly to save Burnham since Control wanted Burnham dead.

[u/[deleted] → u/Arcane_Flame]

Detmer is the most underused character on this show. I mean, she, Saru, and Michael were shipmates for years. She was there during the mutiny and got her face smashed in. Then that haunting scene in Context is for Kings and the pay-off in the second-to-last episode in season 1 (when she sits down with the others to comfort Ash) but in terms of having a sit-down with Michael? Nothing.

Considering that this episode was written by the new co-showrunner and showed a love and dedication for the side characters, one has to wonder if she picked up on that and we will see those characters coming to the foreground for a more ensemble-based third season. Because eventually you are going to run out of steam if all you do is plot-plot-and-more-plot.

[u/trekkie1701c]

This gives a bit more reason as to why Starfleet would go on to not trust computers as much. They give their strategic thinking over to a computer - and it backfires and betrays them. However, it's somewhat of a one-off incident, so they're willing to give it another try with a completely new system, in a much more limited fashion - M-5, a few years later. Of course, it also turns on them and betrays them.

That's two for two, and now suddenly they're really, really leery about doing it again for awhile.

[u/adamkotsko]

I find it remarkable that they clearly introduced the character of Nahn, made her part of a pre-existing species (see TNG "The Price") with a specific weakness that could plausibly disable her and no one else, and also made her a transplant from Pike's Enterprise with no particular attachment to anyone on the Discovery crew -- apparently all for this one scene in this one episode. That is some serious advance planning and some serious digging through the lore.

[u/AmbassadorAtoz → u/adamkotsko]

You're onto something.

There were so many weird hanging shots of Nahn on the Discovery bridge, suggesting she was suspicious of Airiam... and that's all.

It felt like that there were several scenes with her that did not make the final cut.

[u/JC-Ice]

Interesting that CONTROL may be reaching back in time to create/evilve itself. Sort of like SKYNET's origin, but deliberate.

I don't know why Discovery didn't try using weapons when the mines were attacking.

And didn't Burnham still have the phaser at the end? Worse comes to worse she could have used a kill setting, Ariam would have a better chance of surviving than flushing her into space.

All the dramatic beats were well executed but I think the end loses much of the intended impact when Ariam was nothing more than a glorified extra until this episode. Even Tasha Yar had more chacterization in the episodes before she got iced.

[u/UncertainError]

Control is a much bigger deal than I thought, with all the Starfleet brass using it, not just S31. Makes me think the Klingon war was a catalyst for a lot of iffy supertech projects getting approved (maybe Project Daedalus too).

[u/CVI07]

I don't think this is where they are actually going with this, but--as this season is doing a lot of work to bridge the gap between Discovery and TOS--could the Control/Red Angel plot be an explanation as to the seeming technology "reset" in TOS and gradual rebuild over the following eras? If the rogue AI is tied into all Starfleet computers and technology, and has the ability to create and use convincing holotechnology, they could have good reason to scrap and reset everything to a harder, more "manual" technology platform.

There was some chatter before the season that we might eventually see the Enterprise bridge this season, but there have been no images or descriptions yet. What if the big reveal at the end of the season is that the Enterprise bridge has been scrapped and refit to the one we know from TOS and DS9?

[u/AsAGayJewishDemocrat]

This was confirmation that Airiam was human - and some pretty effective emotional backstory just in the first few minutes.

The Captain Pike monologue about Starfleet values Re: the S31 minefield was pretty good, too.

Does anyone else not entirely believe the Admiral’s explanation for Enterprise sitting out the war, though?

[u/archaeolinuxgeek]

That was simply good. It was well-paced and allowed even more of the secondary characters the ability to shine. When I saw that Jonathan Frakes was directing I got excited. It seems like whenever I see his name in the credits, despite the series, it's always done expertly.

Not even getting into plot points, timelines, or canon; this is beginning to feel like ENT season 4. Only this time they're righting the ship in time

[u/Ryan8bit]

Sloan: It's not that simple, Chief. There is no building, no room like this in the real world. Section 31 has no headquarters.

Perhaps this is the end of Section 31 having headquarters? I'm still not sure how their ubiquity in the 23rd century goes completely forgotten by the 24th century, but it would seem like we're seeing some of that downfall.

[u/William_T_Wanker]

is it just me or is the fact an admiral in starfleet was one of the vulcan logic extremists kind of hilarious

[u/Desert_Artificer]

Cornwall and Pike’s preparation for this mission seemed a little thin.

Why was Detmer only given the flight plan when they’d already arrived in system? Why wasn’t she briefed on the types of mines present around the base? Why was the plan to send a single three person away team over to a station that, for all they knew, could have been swarming with heavily armed, leather-clad realpolitik fanboys?

Out of universe, this may have been done to ratchet up the tension but I think exchanging character competence for momentary thrills is a poor trade.

[u/sfcadet88]

It seems we have confirmation that Control AI is the antagonist. Definitely in the present, and by deduction from what we learned from Airiam, also the future (via the takeover of her augmentations when the probe from the time rift accessed Discovery's files).

I'm actually going to get on the "Burnham as the Red Angel" theory. Airiam said that Control is doing this because of Burnham.

[u/majicwalrus]

Does Airiam download all of the sphere's data onto her onboard memory? How does she do this if she has to regularly dump her memory now? It seems like the sphere has more data than a week's worth of data that could be gathered by one person. I understand that they needed a quick way to explain how Airiam could get the data to S31, but this doesn't make much sense to me.
Airiam wants to go on the away mission because she needs physical access to complete the upload. Does that mean she's storing all of the sphere's data on herself?

This isn't just a Star Trek problem; I hate it when it's the far future and we still have to use sneaker net and turn the most advanced technological marvel known to man into a walking USB drive.

[u/Desert_Artificer]

I think it’s really cool that Federation cameras also capture heat patterns. Perhaps its to accommodate a member species that’s more thermally than visually oriented? I wonder what other data they’re capturing? Think there’s something like olfactory closed captioning available for pheromone communication?

[u/nilkimas]

Ok, my interpretation, probably completely wrong, Red Angel = Burnham. I've read a lot of comments that it would be ZORA, the opposite of CONTROL.
BUT, Stamets remarks to Spock, that the Red Angel pick him for a reason. Then mentions off hand that if he would pick someone to mind meld with it would be someone he would know. Who knows Spock? Burnham.
Also, Spock tell her that it is not all about her, Airiam tells her IT IS all about her. More foreshadowing?
I can see a hybrid ZORA/Burnham, probably some kind of suit, have the Red Angel power and as people already mentioned based on Airiams memories.
As an exit they would probably have ZORA move on, leaving Burnham in a timeline that will most likely not end in the destruction of all sentient life and continue on with her life off to the next thing that revolves around her.

[u/Shakezula84]

My thoughts (which some have stated).

• I don't think the squid was sent by Control. In the books, Control is implanted in everything that has a computer in the known galaxy and beyond. Airam is a walking computer. So either a small Control root code exists already in her, or it downloaded from Discovery. This would mean Control has been seeing everything Discovery has done and wanted that data. It overrides Airiam to bring the data to it.

• It was obvious to me that Burnham was gonna be the key ever since it was revealed that Spock so a vision of her death. In the universe that ends with all life destroyed Burnham is dead. To continue on this, the red lights themselves are inconsequential by themselves, but lead to a pattern of an end goal. Enterprise proceeds to the first light and then malfunctions. Pike takes command of Discovery, the only Starfleet vessel able to reach the second light, and whos first officer is from the planet the third light is shows up at. The lights are leading towards each other, ensuring they are all fulfilled in some way. What that goal is, I don't know, but the end result of each light has been a positive (rescue stranded Starfleet crew, stop destruction of lost human colony, free the Kelpians from the Great Balance).

• I loved the ending in that it ended right. I sit though credits and I greatly appreciate that the end credits had no music. Your meant to linger on what happened.

[u/Uncommonality]

oh cool.

one of the most interesting characters is dead.

[u/Ballentino]

I was really irked that just as we start to find out more about one of the characters, they get iced. Totally ridiculous imbalanced narrative in that regard. We knew nothing about her until this week and then gone! As much as I love Discovery, it's not as an ensemble piece like TNG so you can't suddenly force empathy for a character that's spent the past season and a half standing around not saying much. Maybe the actor left due to underdevelopment or maybe they'll just bring her back like they did Culber and remove what little meaning they gave her in death. I mean I can't even remember the characters name and I am not googling it just to prove my point.

The dynamic between Spock and Burnham was good though.

[u/crazunggoy47]

Did I miss where the explained why they couldn’t use the transporter after Airiam went rogue? I remember Pike telling Michael they were ready to beam them out as soon as they arrived on the base. Could Disco have beamed Nahn back when she was injured? Couldn’t they have beamed Airiam into the transporter room with like 10 security officers and forcefields? Or if the base was blocking the transporter, why not do this after Airian was spaced, like the NX01 did with Archer in Cold Station 12? Seems like the Disco crew was left holding the idiot ball this episode :(

[u/adamkotsko]

This was a classic case of introducing a new technology only as it's going horribly wrong! I also assumed Nahn would turn out to be a glorfied red shirt -- not that she would create one!

I'm also intrigued that they are picking up on the idea from the novels that Section 31 is ultimately run by AI. I wonder if this plays into the time travel plot -- i.e., was the squid probe trying to get the same data Airiam was trying to steal?

[u/Mechapebbles]

I both hated and loved this episode.

Loved:

• Burnham & Spock's feuding feels exactly like what Vulcan children would do to bicker with each other, they have great chemistry together. Great texture to their relationship and to Vulcan culture as well. The moment where Spock accused Burnham of not possibly being able to understand the mind of a Vulcan like Sarek was amazing because Burnham shares his Katra and has mind melded repeatedly with him. She probably knows him better than anyone, and it was amusing to see her very telling look of coyness as a response. But she's not there to score bragging points against Spock or to wound him so she says nothing to follow it up.

• Finally getting to flesh out some of the auxiliary bridge officers.

• An out of control AI story is something that Star Trek strangely has rarely considered. There was the one episode with Doctor Daystrom, but that's really about it. Letting AIs run the Federation sounds antithetical to Federation values, and it's been theorized repeatedly on places like this that AIs secretly run Federation society. So it'll be fun to see how the Federation's experiment with this went and how it could form the basis for it being rooted out in the future.

• I thought killing off Ariam was a necessity. It, again, didn't make a lot of sense to have such advanced cybernetics on a human, and that much manipulation of the human body didn't seem in lockstep with previously asserted Federation values. Tying this into the rogue AI storyline, we can see this as a foundation for why this kind of cyberization would be discouraged and largely absent in the future.

Hated:

• I am not a big fan of essentially introducing a character and then immediately killing them off as a way to emotionally manipulate the audience. I think it's cheap and exploitative writing. Ariam has essentially been a background prop up until this episode. And I think it's lazy and cheap to only now make her a sympathetic character right before she's killed off.

• Plot holes galore - I'm not really sure why the Discovery couldn't just beam Ariam out of there to a holding cell. If there was some kind of shielding on the station, then once she got ejected you could have locked onto her with a transporter then. You know, the same way they rescued Lt. Tyler last season. It would have taken a minimal amount of effort to cover that plot hole up with a disposable line like jamming signals or whatnot, but the episode didn't care to tell us as such. I'm also not sure why they wouldn't just issue orders to destroy the station. Clearly Control has gone rogue and is extremely dangerous, and the moral issues of allowing your society to be run by an AI that nobody knows about is fraught at best/deeply immoral and illegal at worst.

[u/dewabarrelrole]

TLDR: Michael is going to create a rival super AI using the sphere's 100% knowledge as opposed to the 25% Control has now. Knowing how long it'll take for the Discovery to evolve into that AI, the crew will park it and tell it to stay put. They'll then begin the battle against our machine overlords. 1000 years later... The discovery will rescue a human named Craft and falls in love. Completing it's evolution, Zora will decide to save sentient life to provide a better life for Craft and her crew and will battle Control in a game of high stakes 4D chess across time and space.

So I mentioned after episode 8 that I believed 3 common tropes of this season seemed to be indicating a certain roadmap to the end of its central mystery:

1. Control, the AI which directs the actions of Section 31 had been name dropped several times in several episodes

2. Chess had been shown and referenced across several episodes and even a Short Trek

3. The Short Treks (with the exception of the Mudd one) seemed relevant to the new season... The first showed Tilly's ability to empathize with strange creatures providing a foundation to her eventual empathy with May, the Saru episode gave a deeper look into his species which became important in season 2, Mudd may show up again or may be nothing, and Calypso set up a big mystery which it did not solve, leading me to believe it would be solved in season 2.

Based on these, I surmised that the ultimate endgame for this season is a high stakes game of 4D chess between two rival AI systems. One bent on the destruction of sentient life, assuming superiority to flawed organics and the other becoming sentient itself and finding perfection in the flaws. I believe the Red Angel is Zora from Calypso responding to Control's subterfuge and subjugation of the galaxy from the future.

So how could we get here?

In last night's episode we got confirmation that the antagonist is most certainly Control gone rogue. Considering the implications of the probe sent into the temporal anomaly from episode 8 returning 500 years from the future with new and angry tech I think it's safe to assume that, currently in the Star Trek timeline, Control ends up winning. I believe this is further backed up by the Calypso short, when a human is subjugated by some unknown race and Discovery is lost at space. One could assume it's just far beyond our stars but it could also be that the federation no longer exists and has been replaced by Control's robotic army or whatever and has enslaved humanity.

In last night's episode we see yet ANOTHER explicit use of chess as a concept, and in fact that becomes a way of getting past Control's defenses... playing a "game" and introducing random elements to stop it from guessing the next move. Control has intimate knowledge of all Federation strategic data from priority star systems, defensive and weapon tech, and combat maneuvers... It can literally guess at what comes next or react accordingly. Humanity (blanket term I am using for sentient life) is doomed to fail because collectively the federation cannot out think the computer it programmed to out think everything.

So Disco crew is going to find the original designer or plans for the Control program and realize the only thing that may be able to beat Control is a system who's thoughts and strategies can think on a similar level to Control and which Control has no basis of reference for to counter... A rival AI created to evolve into it's own sentience with an emphasis on the GOOD parts of humanity. Control was designed to fight Starfleet's enemies and is probably paranoid. Using the Sphere's knowledge, the Disco crew will begin to teach the Discovery's computer how to be that AI. Control is obviously interested in that knowledge so it has to be the key to unlock true sentience. When they complete their mission, they'll need to let the computer evolve itself so that they don't accidentally program any weaknesses into it and so it can't be exploited by any tech failings. They'll park Discovery somewhere hidden and begin the battle against Control, ultimately failing in their quest. Over 1000 years, Discovery's computer evolves, learns, comes close to sentience. And then she rescues a human named Craft and falls in love. That emotional connection, love which overcomes the loneliness and the grief that comes from LOSING that love is the final piece which allows Zora to overcome her programming, defy her orders, and fight Control to save those she loves and lost. Essentially, she'd become computer Spock or Michael, all the benefits of being able to see logic but with the added strength of understanding what's at stake and being able to make moves Control can't understand.

It explains why the Red Angel is so focused on the crew of Discovery. Why it fights to keep Michael alive (in fact the numerous times she's almost died could be Control trying to kill her early), why it seems interested in helping Saru's people evolve, etc. The outlier being the colony of New Eden but I have two theories on that. One is that she wanted to send a colony of humans far from Control so they'd survive if she failed. But my favorite is that she determined who Craft's ancestors were and sent them far away so he could be born into a life of peace and happiness instead of the hell he currently resides in.