Star Trek Discovery: The Vulcan Hello

[J!!]

Wow, the main character is imperfect, and makes a mistake that has actual long-term, story-driving consequences. How terrible.

I'm sure the story would be much more interesting if all the characters were unambiguously perfect, and did the correct thing 10000% of the time.

[Durandal_1707]

Hey, there's always the unimpeachable masterpiece that is early TNG.

[Sir Will]

Wow, the main character is imperfect, and makes a mistake that has actual long-term, story-driving consequences. How terrible.

I'm sure the story would be much more interesting if all the characters were unambiguously perfect, and did the correct thing 10000% of the time.

She mutinied and attacker her captain for no good reason! That's more than 'a mistake'.

[Xaios]

Wow, the main character is imperfect, and makes a mistake that has actual long-term, story-driving consequences. How terrible.

I'm sure the story would be much more interesting if all the characters were unambiguously perfect, and did the correct thing 10000% of the time.

She mutinied and attacker her captain for no good reason! That's more than 'a mistake'.

Last I looked, trying to prevent a war and the deaths of countless lives was not "no good reason." Obviously she took action that was incorrect given her station, but that's the point.

[Admiral X]

TL;DR: STD is an utter flaming dumpster fire of a Star Trek show, and I hope Chuck rips it a new asshole.

I'm not a fan of it myself, but I think you guys are setting yourselves up for disappointment if you're expecting Chuck to share your views on it. He might, but then again he might take a more moderate view on it, like he did with Abrams Trek.

[J!!]

Wow, the main character is imperfect, and makes a mistake that has actual long-term, story-driving consequences. How terrible.

I'm sure the story would be much more interesting if all the characters were unambiguously perfect, and did the correct thing 10000% of the time.

She mutinied and attacker her captain for no good reason! That's more than 'a mistake'.

Yeah, hence her getting sentenced to life in prison.

And considering how much of her character arc is revolving around guilt over what she did, I strongly suspect that Burnham would agree with you.

[Independent George]

Ok, I haven't watched Discovery (and, honestly, didn't even know it existed until seeing the review). But based entirely on what's presented in the review and the comments here:

1. On an institutional level, there is no excuse or justification for the mutiny and assault on her commanding officer. That's a very quick court-martial followed by lengthy prison sentence and dishonorable discharge no matter what else happens in the series. Guilt and regret over these actions is great character development, but largely meaningless in terms of how Starfleet would eventually react to her. Mutiny might be the single worst offense in any military organization, and there is a limit to how lenient they could possibly be in response.
2. On a personal level, it's a personal betrayal of a Captain that has shown a lot of trust and confidence. This a legitimately good source of drama and character development, but unless this is occurring while she's in prison or out of Starfleet jurisdiction, it would feel like a cop-out by the writers for her to escape those consequences.

But, like I said, I haven't seen the series and have only these second-hand responses to go by, so I don't even know what happens later on. As with all things in drama, execution often matters more than anything else, but my initial feeling is the mutiny and assault on a commanding officer we just witnessed is so far beyond the pale that the only legitimate defenses would be if (a) she were possessed by an alien entity, (b) the offenses were actually committed by an alternate-universe alternate, or (c) it was necessary to protect the timeline.

Really, all three defenses probably have lengthy precedents with multiple papers published about them in the Starfleet law review.

ETA: I haven't read it yet, but this book seems pertinent.

[TGLS]

the only legitimate defenses would be if... (c) it was necessary to protect the timeline.

While it will be believed that the case Federation v. Braxton settles the matter of the legality of acts necessary to protect the timeline, Federation v. Braxton actually involves the important matter of whether the right of self defense can be applied acausally (The court will find for the state in a 5-4 decision. It should be noted that the dissenting opinion will have more to do with the controversial Captain Janeway than anything else.)

The important decision in this case is Breen et al v. Daniels. In the landmark 6-3 decision, it was held that, "Despite the genocide, war and plagues that were unleashed due to Daniels interference, protecting the timeline from interference is still more important. After all, the consequences are both unknown and possibly irreversible." Note that using this as a defense prior to June 23rd, 3047, may be considered ex ante facto, and may could potentially run afowl of Anderton v. Washington City, which is due to be decided 2 weeks ago.

[CharlesPhipps]

Yeah, don't care. None of that is an excuse for what she did.

It's not an excuse but it's also clear her actions aren't a calculated brilliant offense but the panic of someone having an emotional attack.

[Independent George]

It's not an excuse but it's also clear her actions aren't a calculated brilliant offense but the panic of someone having an emotional attack.

In your previous post, you implied that Starfleet "Throw[ing] the book at her" was unreasonable because of her emotional state when she mutinied.

My point is that her emotional state is irrelevant; she mutinied and physically assaulted her commanding officer; throwing the book at her is absolutely the appropriate response. Her actions are not in question, and "I was really upset" is not an effective defense against mutiny charges.

I still think her best bets are "I was possessed by an alien entity", or "I believed the captain was possessed by an alien entity"; Starfleet HQ probably a whole cottage industry of attorneys & neuropsychologists who specialize in that. That might get her to a plea of insubordination and maybe a discharge with prejudice.