CBS
If you watched Episode 11 of Star Trek: Discovery, called The Wolf Inside, you were probably as captivated as I was by all the crazy twists and turns, the stellar acting, and some moments we just weren’t expecting. But quite a number of fans are also confused by certain revelations in the episode, including details on Saru, Ash Tyler, Voq, and Stamets. So we’re going to offer the best explanations that we can below for the meaning behind this episode. Only read on if you’ve already seen Episode 11 of Star Trek: Discovery.
First and foremost is the big revelation about Ash Tyler. Some fans are a little confused as to whether Ash is Voq or Voq is Ash or exactly what is going on. Well, they gave us some hints during the episode (and previous episodes) but the hints were easy to miss. Essentially, it looks like Voq was remade to look like a human, and Ash’s memory was implanted onto his. That’s some serious deep cover. Voq forgot who he was so he could truly pass as human and infiltrate the ship. (And yes, it was done so well that even Lorca’s Tribble was tricked.) Dr. Culber said previously, after examining Ash, that it looked like all his bones had been crushed. He was remade from the inside (including take out the Klingons’ duplicate organs) so he would look just like a human. And then Ash’s personality was placed on top of his own.
L’Rell allowed herself to be taken on to Discovery not because she was rebelling, but because she was going to use the trigger phrase to bring Voq’s personality back. But it didn’t take, because Ash was holding on so hard to who he wanted to be (partially due to his love for Michael.) It took Mirror Universe Voq saying the trigger phrase to begin the real process of breaking through.
Despite this, some viewers haven’t given up on Ash’s redemption yet. They’re hoping Ash’s personality will somehow win out in the end and take over. (Or maybe the real Ash is still alive somewhere.) Do you think that’s possible?
Next is the Saru revelation. There’s another Kelpien (his counterpart self) in the Mirror Universe on Michael’s ship. But Michael didn’t tell him about this. It’s probably because Kelpiens are so rare anywhere, and Michael didn’t want Saru distracted knowing how another one of his race was being treated like a slave in this world. If he were too distracted, he might try to save him.
We also had a crazy revelation about Stamets. Stamets visited a myocellian world where he ran into another version of himself. This is still going to be explained in a future episode, but I’d be willing to bet that Stamets can exist where the parallel universes all meet up, and he’s talking to his “Mirror Universe self.” They have the ability to meet up in this junction and pass along information. This is the “wood between worlds” that Stamets was referring to while he was stammering and talking gibberish (or at least, what others thought was gibberish.)
The Emperor we saw at the end is Emperor Philippa Georgiou. Yes, the Emperor is the captain that Michael mutinied against, and now it looks like she’ll be betraying her all over again. (By the way, did you notice how Lorca bowed quickly to the Emperor, much sooner than Michael did, and had an interesting smirk on his face?)
Do you have any other questions or observations about the episode? Let us know in the comments below.