#the narrative purpose section 31 serves is to be like 'hey maybe the Federation Isn't Perfect'

[roguetelepaths]

...so guess who's rewatching star trek discovery

#star trek #star trek discovery #section 31 #i don't actually mind section 31 as a narrative element it just needs to be done right #and it rarely has been since its introduction #the narrative purpose section 31 serves is to be like 'hey maybe the Federation Isn't Perfect' #or like 'maybe it's got some systemic problems that are being allowed to continue because they benefit the people in power' #if you just treat it like another part of starfleet/the federation that just has a few bad apples it loses that narrative purpose #because the entire point of it is that it IS the bad apple and it IS spoiling the bunch simply by existing as itself #and that if the federation wants to have any chance at all of actually being what it claims to be #then section 31 and what it represents needs to be excised #you simply CANNOT have 'unambiguous postscarcity utopia' and 'omnipresent unrestricted intelligence agency' at the same time #at least not if you want to have any degree of narrative consistency #the last time i watched this arc in discovery was before i got into ds9 (and met mars!! ily airota) and it's almost unbearable now