I love how upset some people get about Tilly serving on a big burly masculine warship that sometimes has the serious job of killing people.
If a crew like this didn’t have people like Tilly on it, it would have fallen catastrophically apart after the 10th crisis or so.
Especially in this season it so obvious how Tilly’s intelligence manifests in being able to bypass entire complexes of prejudice and social norms (perceived and unconscious, spoken and unspoken) whether they be human or alien, and get right to the point with somebody. In an organization that is constantly trying to establish trust with a variety of unknown actors, Tilly is an incredible asset.
Stay angry, fools.
edit You know what is actually hilarious, TNG failed to really use Troi’s empathetic mind reading in interesting ways for most of its run, to the shows great detriment, but Tilly is basically who Troi would have been if Troi hadn’t been sidelined or written to be unconfident or naive for the stupidest reasons in most episodes. Tilly regularly walks into rooms and nearly instantaneously perceives the emotional context of the people in the room (whether or not she knows them that well) and boldly addresses it head on in a way that somehow isn’t overbearing, aggressive or intimidating. I don’t understand how this can be understood as anything but a minor superpower.
This is an excellent distillation of what makes Tilly great. Imho she’s the best written character across the board in any Trek of the past two decades. I missed her sorely in season 4.
Especially in this season it so obvious how Tilly’s intelligence manifests in being able to bypass entire complexes of prejudice and social norms (perceived and unconscious, spoken and unspoken) whether they be human or alien, and get right to the point with somebody. In an organization that is constantly trying to establish trust with a variety of unknown actors, Tilly is an incredible asset.
Very well said!
@ValueSubtracted When I first saw her as Tilly, it made me feel less alone as an neurodiverse oddball in this world. After that, I worked more of who I was into my own fictional world of characters. Plus, her as Captain Killy in Disco & STO gave me chills. It was really well done. :3