For episode 32 of The Star Trek Discovery Podcast, Ruthie and I discuss Season 2 Episode 7 of Star Trek: Discovery, which is titled, Light and Shadows. This episode's teleplay is by Ted Sullivan, from a story by Ted Sullivan & Vaun Wilmott, and it is directed by Marta Cunningham.

We begin the podcast with feedback from the previous episode. We get into this episode at 7 minutes 57 seconds.

We have been blessed yet again with pics chosen by Fred from The Netherlands, including the cover image. We will show them throughout this blog post. To that end, SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched Light and Shadows, you may want to stop reading here!

Burnham decides to go to Vulcan to see if Amanda had any luck finding Spock, knowing she probably wouldn't tell Michael if she did. Going back home reminds Burnham of her childhood years, growing up in the house, and the times she spent with young Spock.

Spock is on Vulcan, and he's really messed up. We learn something I personally found shocking about Spock. He had a form of dyslexia that the Vulcans call L'tak Terai, and that Amanda helped Spock work past this learning disability, after seeing him not get the help he needed at the Vulcan Learning Center.

Despite assertions to the contrary, Burnham senses that Amanda knows where Spock is. She kept him in a shrine that shields telepathic communication. Does it also eliminate mind melds? I didn't understand why that wouldn't be the first alternative to help Spock. Maybe that was tried, but the lack of a mention took it down, but just a tad for me. It could have easily been dealt with in a line of dialog. It's not like they couldn't have fit it in the episode, since the episode was the shortest of the season.

We find Spock operating outside of his reality. He's chanting 841947, the Vulcan First Doctrines of Logic, Alice in Wonderland, and not connected to anything or anyone around him.

At Sarek's insistence, Burnham takes Spock back to Section 31, where Leland tells her he will get the best care, then says that they don't allow non-Section 31 personnel on board. Georgiou tells Burnham that Leland was going to extract his memories, and lets her escape. So, do you think she's telling the truth, and if she is, what's the angle? Only time will tell!

Some of Star Trek's greatest episodes have involved time travel or have some element of time loops or distortions, and this one is no different. Like Tilly calls it, it's a time blender, a place where the past, present, and future all exist at the same time. Get it? Time? This story had some of the trippiness you would expect, and it was great that it tied in elements like Mudd's attempt to take the ship in S1E7 Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad and Stamets' ability to exist outside the regular time stream. This plot also involved the confrontational relationship between Tyler and Pike. It seems an understanding was reached, but I am not sure everything is resolved.