This episode is marked by two main things: the Prime Directive and its loyal companion, Breaking the Prime Directive. Only true fans of all of Star Trek, not just their favorite episodes, know that the best part of the Prime Directive is when it is broken and how the characters handle this and the consequences.
This episode is similar to TOS Season 3 Episode 8: the crew goes to a place inhabited by a pre-warp society, but there is advanced technology behind the scenes allowing this society to exist in the first place. In TOS, it's a ship disguised as a large asteroid; in this one, a weather tower disguised as a mountain. Both societies living in those places are somehow twisted, and the technology, if not repaired, will fail and the society will die. The story of both also has many common points, but the one I want to talk about is breaking the Prime. Kirk broke the Prime Directive to save McCoy, and Burnham did the same to save Tilly. However, what diverges a lot is a key point that makes this episode a dubious Prime Directive story. Why? Because while Yonada was a ship built by the ancestors of the Fabrini, the weather tower was not built by the Compares, but instead by the Denobulans, who have interfered in this world while at the same time being members of the Federation. So, the Federation has interfered in a pre-warp civilization's development, which means the Prime Directive is totally questionable here and may not legally apply if the society on the planet only exists as long as the Federation maintains the towers. Speaking of which, was no one going to check on the towers if Discovery had not been led there by the clues? Four towers have failed; was that because of the Burn? Don't go playing God if you are going to move on and not care anymore.
For centuries now, Starfleet has sent the captain and friends into danger instead of a qualified team because television needs to happen. Captain Burnham took Tilly with her for no apparent reason other than Booker had video games to play, I guess. When faced with the race, none of them sought to get full information about what was happening; otherwise, they would have found out about the sacrifices.
As many people like to complain about Burnham being able to solve any situation with max stats like an overpowered character, what I have to say is that this is like every single Starfleet captain. They have deep flaws in one episode, are normal humans in another, and are demigods in another. It's a principle the late Stan Lee explained: "the writer decides." And in Star Trek Discovery, the writers are copying old material, and it seems old flaws as well.
"For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" has a rating of 7.1, so this version of the same idea will get the same from me.
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