Well, hello, my loves. Welcome back to The TV Doctor, a podcast where I prescribe for you exactly what television you should be watching to treat the socio-emotional ailments that might be bothering you. I’m M. Foss, and I’m not a doctor on TV, but I play one in real life.

Here in Season 5 of the podcast, my Special Guest Star, Second Opinion, Cha’Dich, Co-Pilot, and Co-Host Ashley and I are ready to beam down on our away mission to seek out the healing properties embedded in Star Trek: Discovery. We know there are parts of the show that require an even closer look, parts that might do more harm than good, and we’ll be sure to cover those parts in our examination as well. Together, we are a rookie and a veteran attempting a mind meld, if you will, inviting you to join us as we do our best to boldly go.

If you don’t think of yourself as a quote-unquote “Star Trek person,” fear not. Ashley is your patron saint. She’s proof that even those of you who aren’t quite ready to sign up for Starfleet Academy can find wonder and resolution in these tales from the stars. Feel free to watch (or re-watch) Discovery along with us. The season is still young, our journey is still long, and there is still a comfy seat just for you in our shuttle. Consider this message your sign that it’s time to see what all the fuss is about, and I’ll consider this message my sign that it’s time to beam directly to…Sickbay.

Second Opinion:

MF: So, welcome back. We are here. We are diving into Star Trek colon Discovery, Season 1, Episode 6, “Lethe.” “Lethe”? 

AJ: Lethe? Lethe? 

MF: Lethe? Do they say it during the episode or no? 

AJ: No, they don't. 

MF: But you've done some research and it's Lethe. 

AJ: I gave it a…I gave it a Goog. And the pronunciation thing says “Lethe.” 

MF: Lethe. Lethe. Okay. So, my lightweight research said that this word (I didn't check pronunciation, I probably should have), but my research said that this is a river in Hades whose waters caused drinkers to forget their past. 

AJ: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes. 

MF: So, why don't you give us a brief recap of what this episode is about? 

AJ: First, I would like to just say it is a pleasure to join you lost in a nebula near Eurydia somewhere. I love this for us. 

MF: In the waters of Lethe. 

AJ: Yes, so stop me if you're, if you've heard this one before: a cadet, a convicted mutineer, and a prisoner of war walk into a bar. Not a bar. Walk into a lost nebula near Eurydia to connect with Sarek's Katra using Sarek vision after Sarek's mission to a Klingon negotiation was sabotaged by a MAG* Vulcan. 

MF: A MAG* Vulcan? 

AJ: It's an extremist Vulcan who doesn't believe in interacting with the human race. 

MF: That's accurate. 

AJ: In Sarek's vision, when Michael is connected to his… 

MF: Katra.

AJ: Katra. 

MF: Mm-hmm.

AJ: We are in a Groundhog Day type of situation, but it's not a Groundhog Day episode. What we are doing is we are journeying into Sarek's mind as he replays a moment over and over. 

MF: Yes. Sarek is on the brink of death. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: And as he is dying, he is thinking about these significant moments in his life, one of which is this moment when Michael Burnham as his ward was denied access to this, like, a post grad. A post doc. 

AJ: And we find out some interesting things when we revisit this memory.

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: Such as…Spock has entered the chat. 

MF: Correct. 

AJ: So, for non-Trekkies, all of a sudden we're like, “Okay, baby, we're in business!” 

MF: Right. 

AJ: Hello, Spock. 

MF: Even the most non-Trek among us knows Spock. 

AJ: Yes, yes, yes. 

MF: Spock is, as I've said before in this podcast, the quintessential Star Trek character.

AJ: Yes. 

MF: You can know nothing else about Star Trek but Spock, and I've said this before as well, the minute that Star Trek: Discovery introduced Sarek, the Trekkies were like, “Holy shit. Sarek? Wait, so Sarek knows Michael Burnham?” So, in this episode, it concretizes the fact that Sarek and Michael Burnham share more than just a casual bond. In fact, Sarek was Michael Burnham's dad. 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Right? 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: Which means that Michael Burnham and Spock, the epitome of Star Trek character-ness, Michael Burnham, Black woman, and Spock are brother and sister. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: What? 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: This is ground shaking for the Trekkies. 

AJ: What I forgot about Spock and this is, this is going to hurt you to your core…

MF: All right. I will brace myself. 

AJ: I forgot that Spock wasn't full Vulcan. 

MF: That's okay. No, that's okay. That's okay. 

AJ: I didn't, and so when the head Vulcan guy was talking to Sarek about why Michael Burnham did not get into the Academy. 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: And he says, “You can pick one of your two not-quite-Vulcan, like, wards-slash-children. It's Michael or it's Spock.” And then we meet the mom. 

MF: Amanda. 

AJ: Amanda. 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: Who's human and gorgeous. I love her. 

MF: I love Amanda. 

AJ: I just absolutely love her. And then I'm thinking, “Oh, Spock, biracial.” Here we are as two biracial women, understanding and seeing in real time, in real Vulcan time, this idea. And I will take this back to Kendrick and Drake because I can't get rid of it. 

MF: Take it on back. Take it there.

AJ: But what we talked about…

MF: Yes.

AJ: …in Episode 2 about Drake being Black but not being able to access Black culture…

MF: Yes.

AJ: …because Black culture is inherently Black American culture…

MF: Right. Come on.

AJ: …from the diaspora. You have Michael Burnham who was raised as Vulcan but can't access that culture. But you also have Spock who is biologically… 

MF: Equally. Yes, but also cannot. 

AJ: But also can't…or can, but it has to be granted to him. He has to be given access to his own birthright. And also there's just so much to unpack even with these little scenes, but when we're talking about how are shows trying to talk about misogyny and race, who gets what, who has access to what. And I can't help but think, even though I, I totally get it, Sarek, yes, Spock. It should be Spock. If you have to choose between one or the other, I totally get it. 

MF: It should be Spock. Right. 

AJ: But we're still watching on television a Black woman being told…

MF: A Black woman.

AJ: …yeah. “it was between you and this white presenting male.” 

MF: Even though she…wait a minute. Isn't it in this episode where we find out that she did better on all of the tests than any Vulcan had ever done? 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: None of that matters. 

AJ: None of that matters. 

MF: It's the classic “twice as hard for half as much.” 

AJ: Yes, yes. But even if you work twice as hard, can you still authentically engage with someone else's biological culture, even if you grew up…it's just…it's the quintessential question of where do I fit in? Am I othered biologically? Am I othered culturally? Am I othered because of my race? Is it because of my gender? It's certainly not because I'm not smart enough. And so, in these little flashbacks that Sarek keeps revisiting in his moments before his passing when Lieutenant Tyler says to Michael Burnham, “Why does he keep returning to this memory? It's not about you. It's about him. What is he trying to grapple with?” 

MF: Right. 

AJ: And he had someone…someone gets to make the decision for you… 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: …of what you can access and when. 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: And he decided that it wouldn't be Michael. He decided, and I'm not mad at him, I get it, but it doesn't mean that it isn't any less powerful or thought provoking or just, and just personally so earth shattering for both of us given our backgrounds.

MF: Correct. It's an impossible choice. It's an impossible choice. And I, you know, I think they did a really good job of in that moment showing how Vulcans have control of their emotions, but that doesn't mean that they don't have emotions. 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: And so we saw Sarek feeling that tension, that tearing inside of him in that moment, but then not letting that show. But it was enough to show that that was a Sophie's choice for him. 

AJ: Listen, the Vulcans are out here like, “They not like us.” They're talking to Michael Burnham and it's tough. 

MF: They were like, “It's not a problem. Actually, just make the choice. It's easy. Just carry the two…whatever. It's done.” 

AJ: It was so fascinating. And then for Sarek to mention, “He chose Starfleet anyway.” 

MF: Right. 

AJ: “So, I made this decision for you. And it was for naught.” 

MF: Which sets up the conflict in the relationship between Sarek and Spock. So, if Star Trek: Discovery is your entry into the Star Trek universe, you now understand that the relationship between Sarek and Spock is hella twisty and complicated. So, in our first quiz, you asked me, “Do I need to give you the series in chronological order or in order of release?” and I said, “Chronological order is much more complicated.” So, if we understand that the events that we're watching right now in Star Trek: Discovery are happening before the events of the original series, then you understand what's happening here is informing what happens in the original series. 

AJ: Mm-Hmm. 

MF: That means that when you watch the original series episodes…

AJ: Mm-Hmm. 

MF: …that gives you context about why Spock and Sarek… 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: …were at odds the way that they were in those episodes. 

AJ: Again, stop me if you've heard this before. You start with Star Wars, with the original trilogy.

MF: Four, five, and six. 

AJ: And then you go back and do one, two, and three. So, we get to figure out what is up with Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi. How did this happen? How did we get here? And I just, it is fun to be able to fill in the gaps and to see the origin to the origin story. But even though, for Star Wars, 1, 2, and 3 came out when I was a teenager, I still watched 4, 5, and 6, and then 1, 2, and 3. For Star Trek, I'm going to be watching essentially 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I haven't seen any of The Original Series. 

MF: That's right. 

AJ: So, my perception will be completely informed by the time I'm introduced to the Spock that, you know… 

MF: Yes, but also with 30-plus-years. And we have the same thing with Star Wars. We've got the benefit of a 30-year window of context and real-life associations and references that the audience is pulling from. 

AJ: It's good stuff. 

MF: It is good stuff. So, just to go back a little bit, in this episode, Sarek is dying. And he reaches out, not intentionally necessarily, but his soul reaches out to Michael Burnham in that moment of greatest distress. 

AJ: And this is what really freaks me out about death. Okay. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: It's the idea that “What if—and hopefully you're going through all of the most wonderful moments of your life—but what if, in those final moments, it is you playing out any regrets that you may have had?”

MF: Mm mm. 

AJ: Because Sarek, we aren't seeing the like, “Oh, I saw my entire life flash before my eyes.” We are seeing him replaying a very specific memory of when he felt shame and guilt. Because he loved her. So, this is a man who is living a life of logic, but in his final moments is maybe grappling with the things that his love has made him feel. And so I just…I…it freaks me out. I don't want to think…I don't want to think about my regrets, which is why I forgive myself all the time in advance. 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: I think to myself, “I'm in this situation that I'm in now and I'm making the decisions with the information that I have and I'm doing the best that I can,” in advance of looking back and thinking “I should have,” ‘cause I don't…I just…I rebuke that. But nevertheless, because they had this connection from when Sarek saved Michael when she was younger, right? In the same sort of scenario. So, she was at a learning center. They were talking about the extremists who didn't like, you know, the integration of humans. So, someone came to try to blow it up. He saved her life. Here comes Michael. And she actually says, again, with the savior thing, “I can save you, Sarek.”

MF: Here she goes.

AJ: “Why won't you let me?” 

MF: Here she goes.

AJ: She's such a martyr. 

MF: I know. There's a very interesting conjoining of our ability to understand what he's thinking in that moment, and also our ability to tap in her interpretation of that moment, right? We understand that Sarek is feeling deep guilt, deep regret. And her interpretation of that same moment is, and I quote, “His dying thoughts are how I disappointed him.” 

AJ: He is so upset, whether it's at her or himself, that he is fighting her physically in the mind. 

MF: …as she's trying to save him. 

AJ: He's trying to Keanu Reeves Matrix her, karate chop her out of…”What are you doing here?”

MF: He is… 

AJ: …physically remove her, which is wild for someone who's supposed to be this prestigious, logical, formal person who's going to attack his ward. I guess I'll say daughter, but he does refer to her as his ward in an earlier episode. Wow, you have to really be ruminating in something sticky if you would fight someone so that you don't have to relive that memory with them. 

MF: …to remove the possibility of that being part of their understanding of their own story. 

AJ: You can be as logical as you want to, but you can't get around shame and shame is…maybe it's not just a human emotion. Yeah, I loved that. I…listen, can we talk about Lorca? 

MF: You're like, “So, that's fine, but that's also very heavy. So, let's talk about bae.” 

AJ: Let's talk about Lorca. 

MF: Let’s talk about Lorca. Let's talk about him. Yeah. 

AJ: Because the way he also plays sort of a maybe fatherly role to her…so…so…when I'm thinking of is when Lieutenant Tyler is in the driver's seat of this, like, ship thing they're gonna take with Cadet Tilly and Michael Burnham. And he says (Lorca, to Tyler), “Bring her back without a scratch.” And Tyler's like, “Oh yeah, it'll be fine,” thinking it's the ship. And he's like, “No, no, no. Her.” 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: Referring to Michael. And then he said, “Or don't come back at all.” And I was like, “Don't even come back if you don't bring her back in one piece, unharmed…”

MF: But also he was like, “Aye aye…” 

AJ: Yes, he was. He's… 

MF: “No problems there…” 

AJ: I'm loving it. 

MF: “Happy to do that.” 

AJ: Star Trek is getting sexier and sexier. 

MF: It is sexy!

AJ: Literally, because we have Lorca trying to charm his way out of this psychological evaluation with the Admiral. Wow. 

MF: Yeah. 

AJ: He is. I just…I love this for fandom. 

MF: Mm-Hmm.

AJ: Because it doesn't have to just be in fanfic. 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: This is like, “No, no, no. We're gonna get sexy here.” Yeah. 

MF: Oh, it's hot.

AJ: I love it. 

MF: Oh, it's hot. It's hot. 

AJ: I love it. 

MF: It's spicy. Yeah. 

AJ: I love it. 

MF: I also love it. And I can't believe that you don't find Ash Tyler to be a little bit of an, “Oh my.” 

AJ: He's growing on me. I wasn't sure if I was able to trust him. 

MF: Yeah, and so, that's what's wild for me is that like, “No, I don't trust you. But also, I don't know. Like, this is an adventure and I'm ready to go.” 

AJ: Yeah, the show is signaling to me who I am, who I am supposed to be a little wary of and this is the first episode where at least for me, I felt like they were really laying it on thick with Lorca. Not just because of, you know, him walking around with a gun in the back, you know, right belt buckle or whatever. 

MF: That part. 

AJ: But there's a scene where he's speaking and there's soft music playing but the music gives me a feeling of dread and the colors are a little more grayscale. I think it's at the end where he's saying goodbye to the Admiral where she's gonna take over the mission that Sarek can't anymore. And he says, “May fortune favor the bold,” and it just felt like a threat. 

MF: Well, I mean…have you not felt that threatening vibe from him since the last episode? If we live in the Star Trek WWGD, as in “What Would Georgiou Do”… 

AJ: Okay… 

MF: …Georgiou being among the ranks of those best captains ever…

AJ: The chat GPT says she's in the top five. 

MF: …correct. Here comes Lorca, and if we hold Lorca against the “What Would Georgiou Do” standard, is Lorca even Starfleet? Like, how in the world did you get command of a ship? Because you have repeatedly shown some very non-Starfleet behaviors.

AJ: I just haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. Well, they do say “You've been disobeying commands.” But besides that, listen, show don't tell. Show don't tell. I haven't seen any of that. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: I've seen a valiant captain fight his way out of a Klingon prison. I've seen a man who… 

MF: Not “valiant”… 

AJ: …rescued our protagonist from serving a life sentence in prison. I don't know, it seems like he's doing his job and he's doing it well. Maybe just don't sleep with him, Kat. I mean, how unprofessional. 

MF: I mean, how dare you suggest that Kat shouldn't get hers. 

AJ: And his PTSD? Are we not supposed to feel empathy that he wakes up in the middle of the night and sure, maybe pulls his gun on her? Okay, I hear how that sounds. No, no, I hear it. I hear it. Okay. No, I hear it. 

MF: Because if anybody seems logical, sound, level, and balanced… 

AJ: Yeah.

MF: It is Admiral Kat Cornwell. She's pretty balanced, but she's also not here for his shit. She's like… 

AJ: Well, she was for a little bit. She was until she wasn't. She was until she wasn't. And I love that for her. Listen, agency. But also, was it completely unprofessional? Yeah. She had just given him a psychological eval or was about to before he was like, “If we have 50 minutes, I can think of other things we'd be doing,” and I was like, “Yes.” I love Lorca. I will continue to stan for him and I can't punish him for his PTSD. He's got the eye problem. Man is like…he's doing the best he can to win the war. What do you want? 

MF: He is doing the best he can. But…dot, dot, dot. I'm just going to say there's more to it, more to the story than that. 

AJ: We're in sickbay twice this episode, where they actually say “sickbay.” 

MF: Look at us. 

AJ: I'm loving it. So, Burnham is there after she passes out. 

MF: Any time to visit Culber. 

AJ: Any time. 

MF: That's it. 

AJ: Any time. And then Lorca says, “On my way to sickbay.” And he's going to greet Michael when she comes back. And I just, I don't know. So far, this show is firing on all cylinders. You have the sexy time. You have the adventure. I don't know what happened with the horror because we didn't see any of the Stamets…

MF: The whore?

AJ: …in the mirror. So, we don't have the horror. Yeah. So, we don't have the horror right now. 

MF: So, wait. You were talking about H O R R O R. 

AJ: Correct. 

MF: And what I heard was the W H O R E. 

AJ: Well, you need to get your head out of the gutter. I don't know where the horror went. 

MF: I'm like, “Is there a whore?” 

AJ: I don't know where the horror…well, maybe it's Lorca.

MF: On Discovery, maybe it's Lorca. 

AJ: Listen, I don't know, but it's, it's really great. And then Cadet Tilly… 

MF: Cadet Tilly. 

AJ: Very cute that she's attaching herself to Michael and they're jogging around the Discovery, which could never be my journey. 

MF: Yeah, that's not going to be me, but that's okay.

AJ: And I like that Burnham says to Tilly, “See your path, stay on it. Wasn't my journey. My, my journey has been just all kinds of left and right and back and forth, but I've mostly stayed on it.” It felt very Vulcan, like practical, logical. See your journey. 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: Stay on the path. 

MF: I can't wait for you to see what that path looks like.

AJ: For Tilly. 

MF: Mm hmm. And for Michael. 

AJ: Yeah, and for Michael. Michael's, she's okay. I'm rooting for her, but I don't…I don't know what it is yet where I don't feel like they're writing her for…as someone that you want to stand behind and get behind right away and you're with her, no matter what. I still feel like she can make decisions that I disagree with as a viewer and it's an interesting place to be in where I'm rooting for a happy ending, but I…it's sort of for the show, but maybe not specifically tied to her yet.

MF: Yes. And I can tell you, I'm coming into my rewatch with a trunk full of good, supportive feelings about Michael Burnham. But as I am experiencing the story again from the beginning, I can remember that it's like, “Ooh, I want to root for her, but y'all are making it so hard.” So, I will just say at this point, stay tuned. I feel confident that you're going to be able to throw your full support behind her. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: She's a supernova. 

AJ: I love it. I mean, she said to Tilly, “There's a million ways to get to the captain's chair. Find your own.” 

MF: That's it. 

AJ: And so, you know, I'm just excited to be along for the journey. Yeah, this is good. I think this is the last episode I watched when I was messaging you before you told me to stop. You're like… 

MF: …”Save it for the pod!” 

AJ: Yeah, I think this is the… 

MF: “We're doing a podcast.” 

AJ: Yeah. I think the last thing I said was something like, “Sarek is Spock's dad” and you were like, “You have to stop.”

MF: And I was like, “That's it. Stop.” 

AJ: Yeah. So, this was truly the episode for me where, I was already in, but I was so fully IN after this episode. I thought it was so fun to visit Vulcan, even though we didn't leave that one little promenade and the adventure of it all. And you know, my mind to your mind… 

MF: Oh my God, that's kind of what's happening now. It's like we're mind melding, like, my mind… 

AJ: And then I…listen. Burnham says at the end (I just have to make sure this gets into the pod), to Captain Lorca, “I'm grateful to serve under a captain like you.” I, too, would love to serve under Captain Lorca. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: For as long as he's here. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: And I've stopped watching the opening credits because the first two episodes they said, “Special Guest Star Michelle Yeoh.” 

MF: Correct. 

AJ: So, I don't want to know who is regular series. I don't know. Yeah. I don’t want to know who's a special guest. 

MF: That was a question that I had, actually. I wanted to know if you were watching the opening credits or not. 

AJ: No. But when I clicked… 

MF: So, at this episode you stopped. 

AJ: Yes. But when I click skip, it still shows after each one, “Created by Gene Roddenberry.” 

MF: Yes. 

AJ: So, there's no way to skip past that. 

MF: Okay, good. 

AJ: Yeah, but I don't know who is a regular, who's special guest.

MF: Okay. 

AJ: But for as long as I have Captain Lorca, I will stan him. 

MF: Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. So, on that note, shall we get to the quiz? 

AJ: Yes. 

MF: Okay. Are you a Trekkie? 

AJ: No. 

MF: Are you a Trekker? 

AJ: No. 

MF: Are you sure? 

AJ: Yeah. 

MF: Okay. What are all of the shows in order? 

AJ: Star Trek: The Original Series.

MF: Yes. 

AJ: Star Trek: The Animated Series. 

MF: Good. 

AJ: Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

MF: Good. 

AJ: Star Trek: Enterprise. 

MF: Oh. Okay. Dot, dot, dot. Okay. There's two in the middle there. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Two between Next Generation and Enterprise. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Okay. 

AJ: Okay. And then, yeah, Picard, Discovery, Lower Decks. 

MF: No, no, no. Wait a minute. So, Original Series, Animated Series, Next Generation, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. 

AJ: And then there's one on Netflix. Prodigy. 

MF: So, here's a fun fact. Paramount was kind of playing in our face a little bit. 

AJ: Really? 

MF: Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. And Prodigy, which you have now discovered is, it's beautiful. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: It really is a very special show. And it is animated. And it had a first season that, again, I…I'm struggling for a different word other than beautiful to describe it.

AJ: It is sublime. 

MF: It is sublime. It is sublime. And they were like, “Well, guess what? No more Prodigy.” And we were…when I tell you that the Trekkies rose up in all of our nerdy furor… 

AJ: Wow. 

MF: And so, Netflix essentially saved Prodigy. 

AJ: Oh, okay. All right. 

MF: So, the reason why there is new Prodigy is because Paramount essentially dropped the ball.

AJ: Yeah, Netflix saw an opportunity. 

MF: You're not gonna let down legions of nerds. We were like, “Hello…no. Finish this shit. Like, finish it.” So, I'm just gonna tell you Prodigy falls in line after Lower Decks. So, you got Picard, You got Lower Decks, then Prodigy.

AJ: Okay. 

MF: Keep going. 

AJ: Got it. Pass. That's it. 

MF: Well then… 

AJ: I don't. 

MF: Blank New Worlds. 

AJ: I don't. I don't know. 

MF: Okay. Okay. All right. Who created Star Trek? 

AJ: Gene Roddenberry. 

MF: There we go. We got it. What's the T in James T. Kirk? What does the T stand for? 

AJ: Tiberius! 

MF: Tiberius! That is correct. Look at you. What's the Prime Directive? 

AJ: Don't know. 

MF: What's the Temporal Prime Directive? 

AJ: Don't know. 

MF: Oh, but let's stay here for a second. Let's just think about this. Okay. 

AJ: Okay. Was it in the episode? 

MF: It wasn't. 

AJ: Okay. 

MF: So, you know that General Order One is connected to the Prime Directive, right? If, what you know about the General Order One…if I attached “temporal” to that… 

AJ: You're such a teacher. Because you try to, like, piece together, like, “If you know this word and this word, and you put them together.” I don't…I still don't know. I don't know. 

MF: I feel like you could. 

AJ: I don't know. 

MF: Okay. All right. Well, on that note… 

AJ: I'll see you in Sickbay. 

MF: …I think we're all done here. See you next time. 

AJ: Bye. 

Urgent Care (the Prescription):

Welcome back. I’m going to start this explanation of our prescription with a little bit of a content warning. I mean, if you’ve seen the episode we’ve been discussing here, and if you’ve been following our conversation, then you already know that some of the themes we’re handling in this episode are among the most powerful and soulful parts of the human experience: grief, regret, all the ways we consider and experience death and dying. It’s heavy stuff. I know many of us are mostly okay with watching TV about grief and regret and dying or someone thinking they’re dying or thinking their loved one is dying because it’s not REAL and we know it’s not real. We can get through an episode where Michael Burnham thinks that Sarek, her dad, is dying because Sarek is not real, and neither is Michael Burnham, so we can watch through that televisual veil, comforted by the filter and the detachment separating fact from fiction. We don’t need a trigger warning at the beginning of “Lethe” because only a fool would watch the episode and then worry about Sarek’s actual safety, right? Only a fool.  

Well, I guess I am that fool to some extent, and I think you are that fool as well. In fact, that’s the whole concept on which The TV Doctor is based. And really, it’s the whole concept on which television is based, or ANY form of storytelling. A story doesn’t have to be real to do its job. Was there ever a real kid whose extended family left them out in a field and told them to holler if a WOLF came after their sheep? Maybe. And did that kid really get EATEN by said wolf after a series of ill-advised pranks involving false alarms? I mean, maybe. But does it matter? No. Kids will still hear that story and register the point that lying could get you wolf-murdered. The same is true of everything we’re doing here. The various pieces of the Star Trek story, like its location in space and time or its technology, those parts might not be immediately factual, but the emotions powering the narrative have to be real, or else what are we doing? Audiences must recognize themselves and their experiences as realistic before meaning can be made. It’s Rhetorical Analysis 101. 

So, I offer a content warning here because while I think that if you’ve made it this far, you’re fine with engaging in conversations about grief and regret and death and dying when represented by fictional characters, I’m about to reduce that distance and bring us even closer to reality by explaining, as I’ve done before, how I KNOW this prescription works. And the reason I know it works is because I’ve got some of this prescription in my own medicine cabinet. This prescription is not hypothetical. It comes from my own heart and practice and experience, which may make it less comfortable for you. If you do find that it makes you less comfortable, you might also find that it’s more effective. But you know you best, so I encourage you to proceed at the pace that feels right for you. 

All right. Let’s get to it. In this episode, Michael Burnham is communicating with Sarek inside Sarek’s mind. Both Michael and Sarek believe that Sarek is in the final moments of his life. In those moments, he is trapped in a memory that Michael interprets as being about how she disappointed him, but WE know it’s really about how Sarek disappointed himself and Michael. He’s dying, and in what he thinks are his final moments, he’s not reviewing his most pleasant memories; he’s beating himself up over his regrets. Ashley unlocked this new fear for me, okay? I have always believed that with your last breaths, there’s a white light and peace and calm and love and beauty. Whether you interpret that unbridled positivity at the end of life as a divine gift or a biological one, or a combination of both, which is what I believe, I really hadn’t made space in my mind for the possibility that the end could be filled with regret. So, thanks Ashley for that. 

But really, I do actually want to thank Ashley for everything she said in this episode. I’m glad that this Star Trek television episode inspired her to ask this question: “What if, in your last moments, it’s not you going over the most wonderful times of your life, but rather going over your deepest regrets?” I’m glad she said that, because the question also led her to share that she personally doesn’t want to think about her regrets at the end, so she forgives herself in advance, all the time. What great advice that is, and I’m cosigning it, and here’s why.

When my father died, I was 20 years old, I was a senior in college, and I was just indignant about everything, but especially about my dad’s battles with alcoholism. In the last months and years of his life, I created and then carefully maintained distance between us because I guess I thought that’s what tough love looked like, and I thought maybe my tough love would bring about his sobriety. But the only thing my distance from him achieved was me not being able to forgive him to his face and have him know he was forgiven before he slipped suddenly away on a cold January morning. 

I couldn’t help but think about my relationship with my dad as Ashley and I talked about this episode. I realized at some point that the similarities between “Lethe” and my life are striking. The idea is painful, but it’s possible that, like Sarek, maybe my dad’s last thoughts were not of us going fishing or playing with the dogs or talking about Prince, but rather maybe he was thinking of the mistakes he made or where he fell short. I know that if I’d showed up in his mind like Michael showed up in Sarek’s mind, my dad, like Sarek, would have physically fought me to keep me from seeing his shame. 

But here’s how the episode is healing me, friends, and how it can heal you if you’ve ever faced something similar. Get ready to pick up this prescription. Michael Burnham entered Sarek’s mind trying to save him, and in doing so, she saved herself. The experience helped her realize that she had been dragging an oversized bag of guilt around the galaxy. Being with Sarek in what he thought was the end showed her that that bag of guilt was never hers to carry. She learned that he had not been disappointed in her; he had only been disappointed in himself. She had to release that guilt. Like Ashley said, Michael learned to forgive herself in advance.

Now, you and I can’t Vulcan-force our way into the minds of our loved ones. That’s the fiction part of science fiction, right? But here’s what’s real, at least to me: we CAN communicate with those on the other side, even if we’re the only ones who are talking and they can only do the listening. I couldn’t control the way I showed up in my dad’s mind when before he joined the ancestors, but I know he was thinking about me. He might have been thinking about his regrets about me, but this episode inspires me to believe he released those regrets, like Sarek did, before it was too late. And I don’t know if my dad is somewhere in space/time controlling how HE shows up in MY mind, now, but I can tell you he’s a regular visitor. That’s real. And what’s also real is that this episode shows me how to begin to forgive myself for how I behaved when I was 20 and I thought I knew every damn thing, and it can show you that if you’ve ever lost someone, you can forgive yourself now for whatever might have gone unsaid. Invite that person into your mind and say to them whatever you missed when they were here. And, you know, you can also be proactive and say all the things to the people who need to hear them now so that forgiving yourself in advance is a non-factor. 

Like most things, forgiveness, especially forgiveness of self, is a journey, not a destination. At least it is for me. I’m obviously still thinking about it, still working on it, but thanks to Star Trek, I’m headed in the right direction. 

And that’s gonna do it for this episode. Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 6, “Lethe,” was directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. The writers for the episode included Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman as creators of the show, along with Joe Menosky and Ted Sullivan. We’ve got Bowie Kim and Erika Lippoldt as the executive story editors, and Kirsten Beyer and Sean Cochran as staff writers. And of course, you know, Gene Roddenberry is always included in our writing credits .

We have now reached the part of our appointment where it’s time for me to give you some instructions for what to do when we part ways just in case you don’t remember what we’ve discussed. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard here, you should help yourself to any or all of the previous TV Doctor episodes. Please give us your highest ratings and reviews. You might not think we’re paying attention, but I promise you, WE ARE PAYING ATTENTION, and so are the algorithms, so…it matters.

Also, are you following The TV Doctor and Sickbay Pod on social media? The TV Doctor Instagram is tee vee phd, you can also follow Ashley at Ashley Johnson ca on all the things, and we’d love to have you follow our joint account at sickbaypod, so that’s S I C K B A Y P O D. Finally, trust me when I say you’re going to want to be the FIRST to pick up some of our Sickbay merch when it drops, so I recommend you head over to teepublic.com/user/the-tv-doctor and then just bookmark it, so when we say it’s go time, you’ll already be there.

On behalf of my number one and I, we are so grateful that you didn’t forget us when you drank from the river Lethe, and we hope you don’t forget to schedule your next appointment on your way out. See you next time!