Synopsis: The crew of the U.S.S. Discovery travels to a currently uninhabited world to find the first piece of an ancient puzzle.
This episode can be seen as providing an illustration of what James Hillman called the Puer, or eternal youth, archetype and the Senex, or sage, archetype.
In “Under the Twin Moons,” at Federation Headquarters Captain Michael Burnham and Captain Rayner are questioned by President Laira Rillak and Fleet Admiral Charles Vance about Rayner’s actions on Q’mau. Later, Vance tells Burnham that Rayner loves Starfleet but can’t seem to get out of his own way. The U.S.S. Discovery then heads to Lyrek, where Burnham and Captain Saru beam down to the beautiful lush green planet to discover a sculpture and are attacked by drones. Burnham and Saru escape the drones and find an artifact and a clue to lead them on to find the next piece of the ancient puzzle. Afterward, Burnham asks the now temporarily retired Rayner to join Discovery as her first officer.
In this episode, when Vance describes Rayner as loving Starfleet but just not having been able to help himself from getting into trouble, this can be compared to the Puer archetype that has direction and desire, but needs guidance even though not wanting it. If this is the case, then in this instance Burnham can be seen as fulfilling the role fo the Senex archetype, in that she has the ability to follow her heart and after having experienced some seasoning, being able to stay within the guidelines of Starfleet, at least when it comes to respecting and honoring her crew. When Burnham offers Rayner the position on Discovery and Rayner accepts, this can be compared to when the Puer is able to accept guidance from the Senex, which allows the psyche to become more balanced. Hillman wrote that the relationship between the Puer and Senex archetypes can be used to understand the relationship between all the archetypes that need to be balanced in our psyches.
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