Star Trek: Discovery Continues A Famous Trek Tradition
Spoiler shields up! This article discusses events up to and including episode 3 of "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5.
Who knew we'd been watching an origin story? Last week, "Discovery" dropped the surprise reveal that the newly-introduced (former) Captain Rayner had been carefully maneuvered by the writing team to serve as a potential replacement to Mr. Saru (Doug Jones) in the position of Number One, despite firmly establishing himself as something of an antagonistic and far more reckless counterpoint to Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) during their near-disastrous away mission. It isn't every day that a Starfleet vessel recruits a new bridge officer at the onset of a critical assignment of top priority, let alone someone who was only just forced into early retirement after a scathing inquiry into his actions. But Burnham saw something in him (even if Ensign Tilly still can't figure out what that is) and with Saru off playing politics as a Starfleet diplomat, Rayner was exactly the wild card that the Discovery needed.
In the midst of all this, this final season has brought a classic "Star Trek" tradition right back to the fore: the weight and responsibility of a ship's Number One.
To date, this role has been filled at one point or another in "Discovery" by Saru, Una Chin-Riley ("Strange New Worlds" star Rebecca Romijn), and even Burnham herself. Various other "Trek" shows have seen many famous faces come and go, all adding their own unique flavor and leadership approach to complement their respective captains. Here, however, the prickly dynamic between Burnham and Rayner adds a much more combative twist than any we've previously seen. Time will tell if this turns out for the better or worse.
A Captain's only as good as their Number One
Where's Commander Will Riker when you need him? Considered by many to be the gold standard for Number Ones, the famous "The Next Generation" hero embodied all the ideals of Starfleet while never once letting Captain Jean-Luc Picard down — even though he disagreed with his friend and even questioned his orders on several occasions. What Commander Rayner has brought to this season of "Discovery," however, is something else entirely.
To his credit, it's not like Rayner ever pretended to be anything but what he is. If even a thirty-year friendship with Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) couldn't prevent him from changing his mind about his methods and his vision for Starfleet — episode 2 establishes that he views diplomacy as a fruitless endeavor when the organization ought to be preparing for war, instead — what hope could Burnham or anyone else on the Discovery have of tempering his more volatile instincts? Although Rayner is forced to make certain strides in episode 3 to connect with his new crew, the results are pretty much exactly what we'd expect them to be. As he puts it himself early on with Burnham, "Connection is not exactly where my skillset lies."
We've yet to see how Rayner fares under Burnham's command while out in the field, where his ability to mesh with his Captain and augment her leadership style will be truly tested. Spock's cool-headed logic balanced out Captain Kirk's need for action, while Riker's decisiveness oftentimes brought out the best in Picard's tendency towards caution. What happens when Burnham's already-reckless unstoppable force meets the immovable object that is Rayner's disregard for rules and protocol? We can't wait to find out.
New episodes of "Star Trek: Discovery" stream on Paramount+ every Thursday.