I'm still stunned at the gruesome death of Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. An international star best known to American audiences for her roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Michelle Yeoh joining Star Trek: Discovery was a casting coup. Before winning her Best Actress Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Yeoh appeared as Captain Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou in Star Trek: Discovery's first two episodes. Michelle's billing as a Special Guest Star was a clue about Georgiou's fate, and what a grisly fate it was.
Captain Georgiou faced crises from beyond and within the USS Shenzhou in Star Trek: Discovery's premiere episodes, "The Vulcan Hello" and "Battle at the Binary Stars." When Georgiou's First Officer, Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), realized the resurgent Klingons meant to start a war with the United Federation of Planets, Michael betrayed her captain and committed mutiny to prevent hostilities. But the Klingons did attack, destroying the Starfleet armada that arrived at the binary stars, and crippling the Shenzhou. Georgiou and Burnham decided to take the fight to the Klingons, which ended in tragedy.
What Happened To Captain Georgiou In Star Trek: Discovery Is Terrible
Few Star Trek characters met a worse fate
Even now, 7 years after Star Trek: Discovery premiered, I still find Captain Georgiou's sudden death shocking. Commander Burnham and Captain Georgiou beamed aboard the flagship of T'Kuvma (Chris Obi), the self-styled Klingon Messiah. While Burnham was battling Voq (Shazad Latif), Georgiou went toe-to-toe with T'Kuvma. Michelle Yeoh is a famed martial artist, and I expected a cool display of her fighting prowess against the Klingon. Instead, T'Kuvma easily overpowered Georgiou and fatally stabbed her through her torso with his bat'leth. Burnham then killed T'Kuvma - by shooting the Klingon Messiah in the back.
Captain Georgiou deserved better.
Captain Georgiou's ignoble death was tragic, but what happened to her corpse is horrific. Burnham couldn't reach Georguou's body in time to beam back to the Shenzhou, so Phillipa's corpse was left on T'Kuvma's ship. A few episodes later, Star Trek: Discovery revealed that the Klingons who were left aboard T'Kuvma's derelict flagship were so desperate for food, that they ate Captain Georgiou's corpse. That has to be the first instance of a Star Trek Captain being the victim of cannibalism, and it's still grotesque to think about. Simply put, Captain Georgiou deserved better.
Star Trek: Discovery Was Always More Interested In Mirror Universe Emperor Georgiou
Emperor Georgiou returns in Star Trek: Section 31
Killing off Captain Georgiou was always part of Star Trek: Discovery's plan because of the season 1 twist of introducing her Mirror Universe counterpart, Emperor Philippa Georgiou. In the ruthless alternate reality, Georgiou rose to become the despotic ruler of the Terran Empire, and Michael Burnham was her treasonous adopted daughter. Mirror Burnham also betrayed Georgiou, joining her lover, Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), in a coup attempt. But Emperor Georgiou survived and fled to Star Trek's Prime timeline to become strange bedfellows with Commander Burnham.
In another instance of cannibalism, Emperor Georgiou ate Kelpiens like Saru (Doug Jones), finding them a delicacy.
In truth, Star Trek: Discovery was always more interested in Emperor Georgiou, and, apparently, so was Michelle Yeoh. There's no doubt playing the Mirror Universe's tyrant who gradually learns she has a heart was more fun for Yeoh than Georgiou's straight-laced Starfleet Captain counterpart. I also find Emperor Georgiou a more fascinating character, and I'm excited to see her return to headline Star Trek: Section 31. But whenever I rewatch the beginning of Star Trek: Discovery, I'm dumbstruck all over again by how terrible a death Captain Georgiou received.
