What did Tilly do for the cadets?
The new episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy opened by displaying how the cadets were still dealing with the aftereffects of “Come, Let’s Away,” where many of them were held captive by the Furies and suffered a brutal loss. Notably, Tarima mostly recovered from her ordeal and was now bank at the Academy, while SAM was experiencing system failure, which meant a trip back to her home planet of Kasq.
Tilly entered as a special instructor who hoped to aid the cadets by staging a reading of Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town. Yes, a theater class seemed an odd entry for the academy, yet it fit thanks to the play’s themes of accepting a town as family. Tilly was smart to quickly see that the cadets’ resistance to the work stemmed from recognizing their own struggles in the play’s characters.
Tilly handled it all well, still possessing her trademark wit and offbeat energy only now matured by her experiences. She didn’t lecture the class but let them slowly grasp the work and what it meant. The normally jovial Ocam was the first to treat the play seriously, which speaks volumes to how he’s developed.
It was a great hour for the series and Tilly’s appearance made it brighter. So, it’s nice to see this Discovery standout still involved in Trek. For more Star Trek content, visit the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.