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The Ridiculous Real-Time Rehabilitation of Michael Burnham
After three episodes of Star Trek Discovery, Michael Burnham is a completely unlikeable character who has made awful choices at every possible point. Yes, everyone knows that they’re attempting to do a “character arc.” But starting out by having the protagonist of your series be a murdering mutineer might not have been the best decision. Burnham isn’t an “anti-hero” or a “flawed character,” she’s just terrible.
But if the internet chatter is to be believed, there has been some real-time revisionism going on, and it’s kind of insane. A series of talking points have emerged that Burnham was correct to want to fire first on the Klingons, that her so-called mutiny wasn’t that bad and she didn’t deserve life in prison, and that Burnham wasn’t responsible for the war because T’Kuvma was going to start one, regardless.
What world do you people live in? What episodes did you watch?
Let’s deconstruct some of this idiocy.
Talking point: Burnham was correct to want to fire on the Klingons
No, she wasn’t. To quote her Captain, who Burnham later got killed, “Starfleet doesn’t fire first.” Her entire rationale was that:
a) she hates Klingons because they killed her parents
b) Sarek’s force-ghost told her it was how the Vulcans achieved peace
Let’s leave aside that Vulcan katras don’t work that way and it’s very possible Burnham was simply hallucinating the whole thing, and focus on the fact that Starfleet doesn’t fire first. Period. In-universe, that alone should have had repercussions on her career advancement. [That’s a euphemism for transfer her ass to a desk where she won’t have access to weapons and start wars whenever she feels like it.]
From a storytelling perspective, the “protagonist” of the new Star Trek is a person who doesn’t articulate Star Trek/Starfleet ideals. It’s really that simple. There are plenty of instances of people telling us (the audience) how smart and logical and idealistic she is, but in zero — I repeat, ZERO — instances do those play out in any organic sense. Showing us that Burnham solved a line of code isn’t showing the audience she’s smart. Having Saru stare right into the camera and say she’s the…
