All tied up in a neat little bundle? But the questions continue.
I really liked the episode, it had some excellent dialogue in a very talky final installment.
Some things I really liked..
Tilly realizing that Georgiou was the emperor and saluting her (Burnham telling her not to do that).
The realization that they have been kept out of the loop to the real plan and their reaction to that being so immediate and natural.
Facing down Admiral Cromwell. Wonder what happened to her in the fallout from this.
Ash and Burnham letting go of each other was dealt with respectfully.
Burnham reinstated and the interaction between her and her parents was good to see, a rift mended an affirmation of her human nature.
The speech!!!!
The medal for Dr Culber in Stamets' hand.
Go team Captain Saru.
This is a very upbeat and back to Federation values end with a reiteration of the Mission of Starfleet being exploration and diplomacy so I expect the next season to be more episodic.
Questions?
Cromwell, what happened to her and will she reappear?
What is the snake Georgiou going to do and how might it affect things going forward.
Is Burnham First officer as well as the Science officer?
What do Kelpians taste like? Chicken?
What does the arrival of Enterprise and Captain Pike mean for season 2?
I am going to have to have another watch through or two to really get my thoughts in order about this and that might be after the podcast.
I envision Georgiou as being the "Q" of this series: occasionally recurring malevolent-but-lovable character who dips in once every season to mess with our crew.
Who she would ally herself with would be interesting.
Great questions, Kev. I hadn't thought about it before, but now that you ask what will happen with Cornwell, I'm very interested in that. She's at the medal ceremony at the end, and since both she and Sarek are walking around freely and still have their jobs, it doesn't seem that there is any formal punishment for attempting to implement some morally questionable military tactics. But I do wonder if there won't be any fallout within the corridors of power, the sort of social shunning that can happen in any work environment. Doubtful, especially since these characters aren't our focus, but I would like to see that dealt with.
And, Chris, I love the idea of Georgiou as a type of external mischief-maker for the crew.
I would expect that everyone involved in the decision whilst free from official censure would face a loss of capital where it comes to trust and promotion that may curtail their advancement and push them to less command orientated duties (Desk jobs, PR, kicked upstairs or given a horizontal transfer etc.). Until they can redeem themselves they will be considered untrustworthy and not given prominent position.
@chrissam42 - I also loved your comment about Q here. Glenn suggested on a another thread that Georgiou is the Khan of DISCO. Do you think there is a difference between these two comparisons, and if so, which one feels more likely to you?
Khan is a fantastic comparison! I was a little unsatisfied with the Q analogy, because although he starts the series as this dangerous force, as time went on, you always knew he wasn't going to truly do any damage. But Georgiou really is likely to cause problems, and like Khan she has the "breeding" to be a military/power-accumulation genius.
I think she will be a little more recurring than Khan, who was really a one-off who just happened to be revived for the film. But as a character analogy it's perfect.