Phillipa Georgiou was one of Starfleets finest. Commanding an exploration mission on an aging vessel, she was a decorated and respected leader in the fleet that would inspire future generations and colleagues alike. And then she died, killed while boarding an ancient Klingon ship whose captain was determined to reignite a new war to bring the great houses together again.
In comparison to the honourable captain who stood by the rules, the Georgiou that exists now is her opposite. In her world she wasn’t a hero, but a savage ruler of the Terran Empire. Reigning with fear and terror, her empire was built on slavery, genocide and war. Eventually her dominance was challenged when Gabriel Lorca – himself a Terran hiding in the Prime Universe – would use Discovery’s experimental spore drive technology to pull the ship back to his own reality.
Lorca’s coup against Georgiou failed thanks to the crew of Discovery, but Georgiou’s reign still came to a bitter end when she was captured and taken to the Prime Universe where she’d end up with bizarre second life.
Recruited at first to help with the Klingon war, Georgiou was released form custody and used to replace the former Prime Captain with the claim that she was taken hostage by the Klingons and not killed. Using her war-focused strategy, Georgiou agreed to help bring the Terran mindset to the struggling Federation to give them an edge in the war. Her Starfleet career wouldn’t end there their as Georgiou’s lack of moral core got her into the sighs of Section 31 who brought her on board as one of their operatives.
Like most of the Mirror Universe, the evil Georgiou shared a few commonalities with her Prime counterpart. Mainly Michael Burnham. While the Prime Georgiou mentored Burnham to leadership, the Mirror dup were on the same path before the Terran Burnham betrayed the Emperor. It was this link, the love and affection for Burnham that connected Georgiou to the Prime iteration, not just in loyalty, it gave her a weak spot she never expected. While section 31 banked on her unscrupulous ways to help their motives, no one expected the connection with Burnham to traverse realities nor the consequences of that.
The imperial leader had been compromised; while not respecting the values of Starfleet, she did become to understand it through her protective loyalty to a Burnham that reminded her of her own world. Eventually when Discovery escaped to the future to escape the Control AI, Georgiou would make the choice to stick with the crew of Discovery and become a part of their mission. A strange sacrifice for someone like her, but one she made willingly that helped highlight who she was becoming without the influence of the often dangerous mirror universe.
She wasn’t a nice person. Generally unpleasant and communicating primarily with scorn and sarcasm, Georgiou wasn’t exactly a beloved member of the crew. But being part of that crew had changed her perspective just enough and when the Guardian of Forever let her revisit that past, she realised that she no longer belonged there… so where did she belong?
The Emperor turned Section 31 agent turned random drifter in the futures last appearance was a farewell. Dying from temporal displacement as a result of her relocation in the future branching too far from where she entered the Prime timeline, the Guadian let her go back to the past to start over, with a changed perspective and new appreciation for her true second chance.
While we waited to find out where she’d end up, it looks like the Georgiou reborn is back to old habits. Returning to Section 31, though this time in the early 24th century, Georgiou will be put back on task to protect the Federation in the shadows with a new special ops team. The one off Section 31 movie launches this month on Paramount+ and we have to wonder…. will we have a tamed Georgiou who’s learned from the Guardians insight? Or is it new life, old habits?
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