Summary
- Emperor Philippa Georgiou has to face many of her past sins in Star Trek: Section 31
- Empeor Georgiou was a totalitarian despot in the Mirror Universe, ruling through domination, enslavement, and destruction of conquered races.
- Georgiou's past is filled with crimes such as sexual harassment, torture, cannibalism, and committing genocide on Kronos.
In the made-for-streaming movie event, Star Trek: Discovery season 1 by Specialist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), where Georgiou was granted political asylum after narrowly surviving a bloody coup. Georgiou's experience fighting the Klingons in the Mirror Universe provided Starfleet with intelligence needed to win the Klingon War, and Discovery season 2 saw Georgiou become a full-time agent of Starfleet's most covert intelligence division, Section 31.
The morally grey Section 31 operates in the darkest corners of the galaxy, which made it a perfect fit for Georgiou as a Terran refugee. Despite being part of Starfleet, Section 31 is technically outside Federation jurisdiction, so Section 31 agents are able to use whatever means they deem necessary to accomplish their goals, even those that Starfleet would normally consider taboo. Deception, bribery, blackmail, and even murder aren't off the table for of Section 31, provided the ends justify the means. Emperor Philippa Georgiou's past is riddled with crimes much darker than those, however, and in Star Trek: Section 31, Georgiou must face them all.
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8 Georgiou's Fascism
Emperor Philippa Georgiou was a totalitarian despot of the Mirror Universe
Emperor Philippa Georgiou's Terran Empire stretched across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, with the Emperor's rule enforced through domination, enslavement, and destruction of conquered alien races. Georgiou's soldiers used force to uphold Terrans as the galaxy's supreme race, and Emperor Georgiou as its divine master. When Burnham took too long to destroy them, Georgiou personally ensured that the coalition of conquered races on Harlak led by Voq (Shazad Latif) was squashed with extreme prejudice, as there was to be no questioning the Emperor, and certainly no rebellion of outspoken aliens in open defiance of the Terran Empire.
Georgiou's full title is "Her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Kronos, Regina Andor, All Hail Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius", indicating the Emperor's control of Terrans, Vulcans, Klingons, and Andorians.
7 Grooming Mirror Michael Burnham In Georgiou's Image
Mirror Michael Burnham may have been worse than her adoptive mother
Captain Philippa Georgiou's mentorship of Michael Burnham in the Prime Universe had its own twisted reflection in the Mirror Universe, where it was Emperor Georgiou, not Ambassador Sarek (James Frain), who adopted Michael after the death of her parents. Mirror Michael was groomed in Philippa's own image in anticipation of Michael ruling at Georgiou's side, as Emperor Georgiou gave her favored daughter the best of everything. With the human empathy and Vulcan logic of Prime Michael's upbringing replaced with Terran ruthlessness and decadence, Mirror Michael was recklessly ambitious, rebelling against Georgiou's hopes for her by conspiring with Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) to take Georgiou's throne by force.
6 Sexual Harassment & Domination Of Georgiou's Underlings
No one in the Mirror Universe could cancel Georgiou
As the Terran Emperor, Philippa Georgiou was entitled to use those in her employ to satisfy her own sexual desires. While many may have considered it an honor to be selected by the Emperor for Philippa's private pleasures, it's likely that Georgiou used her position of power to coerce others into engaging in sexual activities. As much is implied when Georgiou makes unwanted advances towards Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) in the Prime Universe. After Paul's partner, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) reminds Georgiou that Paul is gay, Georgiou brushes off Stamets' obvious discomfort by stating they all engaged in regular trysts in the Mirror Universe.
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5 Georgiou's Casual Use Of Torture
Emperor Georgiou's Agonizer saw regular use
Emperor Georgiou casually committed people to agony booths for the smallest of slights, as a form of torture to collect information, or simply because Georgiou felt like it that day. Both Georgiou's flagship, the ISS Charon, and Captain Sylvia Tilly's (Mary Wiseman) ISS Discovery were equipped with several agonizers, designed to deliver near constant pain to their occupants, and Georgiou was happy to watch traitors like Lorca writhe in pain. During Georgiou's trial by the Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle), Philippa used torture on Mirror Burnham in hopes of turning Michael back to Georgiou's side, although this time Georgiou considered it a means to an end instead of a casual hobby.
4 Georgiou Practices Cannibalism
We'll take Georgiou's word that Saru's ganglia is delicious
Georgiou reinforced the belief that Terrans were superior to other species by regarding enslaved Kelpiens as little more than meals who happened to be able to do some useful work before their ultimate end on her dinner table. After Georgiou's arrival on the ISS Discovery, Prime Burnham selected Saru (Doug Jones) out of a lineup, possibly believing that doing so would spare Saru. It wasn't until Philippa and Michael's meal that evening that Georgiou revealed they were dining on Kelpien threat ganglia, a Terran delicacy that Mirror Michael had enjoyed in the past, implying that Michael's selection was akin to selecting a lobster from the tank of a seafood restaurant.
3 Impersonating Captain Georgiou
Emperor Georgiou gave herself an instant Starfleet promotion
Emperor Philippa Georgiou took on the guise of her fallen Prime Universe counterpart, Captain Philippa Georgiou, to take command of the USS Discovery in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 14 "The War Without, The War Within", as part of a bargain that would grant Georgiou political asylum in the Prime Universe. Starfleet sanctioned the ruse by explaining that Captain Georgiou hadn't actually died at the Battle of the Binary Stars, but was recovered alive from a Klingon prison. Georgiou maintained the story that she was Captain Georgiou while one of the of Section 31, but by then didn't bother trying to hide her true personality.
After the USS Discovery's time jump required everyone aboard to be in uniform, Georgiou fashioned herself an iral's uniform, countering Burnham's skepticism by saying the rank "had to be believable."
2 Georgiou Planned Genocide on Kronos
Emperor Georgiou had a diabolical plan to end the Klingon War
In the Mirror Universe, Emperor Georgiou decimated the Klingon population by utterly destroying the Klingon homeworld Kronos. Upon learning that Georgiou had defeated the Klingons, Starfleet asked the Emperor for help in crafting a plan that would bring a decisive end to the Klingon War, which had ravaged Federation space as the Klingon Houses tried to prove themselves to one another. Rather than abide by Starfleet's original plan of using the USS Discovery to map Kronos from the inside and come up with a strategy from there, Georgiou attached a deadly hydro bomb to the sensor, which would obliterate the planet once ignited by one of Kronos' active volcanoes.
1 Georgiou Commits Murder, Just ... So Much Murder
Murder is usually Georgiou's first resort
Georgiou's path to the Empire's throne was stained with blood, and Philippa was quick to suggest murder as a solution to most problems. Georgiou swiftly executed most of the Lords of the Terran Empire who had heard Michael Burnham confess her Prime Universe origin, and dealt with Gabriel Lorca by killing him. Georgiou endangered humanity's future by luring Section 31's Control AI, in the form of Captain Leland (Alan van Sprang), aboard the USS Discovery just so Philippa could personally murder Leland in a particularly gruesome way. Even in the Guardian of Forever's test, Georgiou's solution to changing the Mirror Universe was to murder traitors before they turned on her.
In Star Trek: Discovery season 3, episodes 9 & 10, "Terra Firma, Parts 1 & 2", Emperor Philippa Georgiou proved that she had changed since first arriving in the Prime Universe. The time Georgiou spent with the crew of the USS Discovery subdued Philippa's violent and selfish tendencies without eliminating them completely, and by the time Emperor Georgiou left the 32nd century, Discovery's crew held Georgiou in high enough esteem to mourn her loss. While the progress Georgiou made will almost certainly be acknowledged in Star Trek: Section 31, the sins Emperor Philippa Georgiou committed earlier in Star Trek: Discovery also should not be ignored.
Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream on Paramount+.
