One of the difficulties with creating serialized dramatic fiction in a large universe is that you’ve got a lot of different hands in the pot over the years. Star Trek has been produced for more than five decades, with writing staffs far and varied and wide. Hell, all four show-runners of the original series (Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, John Meredyth Lucas, and Fred Freiberger) are now deceased, as is the one person who served as show-runner for each of the first three live-action spinoffs (Michael Piller). We’re talking about seven television series and thirteen movies produced by six different studios (Desilu, Filmation, Paramount’s movie division, Paramount’s TV division, Bad Robot, and Secret Hideout).
Given that, Star Trek has remained remarkably consistent. And their track record for addressing the inconsistencies has actually been pretty good.
I bring all this up because sometimes it just takes one slight makeup change and a line of dialogue. On “Point of Light,” it’s putting hair back on the Klingons and one line from Burnham to Tyler: “I heard that, post-war, Klingons are growing their hair again.” And just like that, one of the biggest complaints about season one is taken care of.
This is the second time Discovery has pulled that particular trick off this season, the other being a comment about how the Enterprise has the cool new colorful uniforms, thus explaining why Discovery has had a different uniform design from the original series. (And, in fact, the Discovery togs occupy a nice middle ground between the 22nd century Earth Starfleet uniforms of Star Trek: Enterprise and the original series uniforms of the 23rd.)
For that matter, they seem to be setting up Pike doing a considerable amount to rescue Spock this season in some way, since he’s now apparently been accused of murder. Since he later becomes first officer on a heavy cruiser, he obviously will be exonerated of that charge, and Pike will likely be involved. I bring this up mainly because Spock moves heaven and Earth and commits a large number of crimes to help out Pike in the framing sequence of “The Menagerie,” and Pike doing this for Spock retroactively makes Spock’s rather batshit crazy actions in the TOS episode a bit easier to take.
Sadly, that doesn’t extend to the revelation in the end about Section 31. Established in the Deep Space Nine episode “Inquisition” as a sooper-seekrit dirty-tricks organization that has no oversight, a secret agenda, and no accountability or mercy, it’s a covert organization that most of the galaxy is completely unaware of.
And yet, here we are a century before the time of DS9 with Section 31 being an organization with badges and ships and which Tyler—a lieutenant in Starfleet—has heard of and holy crap what is this?
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Empress of Forever
Five hundred words in, and I’ve barely talked about “Point of Light” itself, and it’s honestly because there’s very little to talk about. There’s a lot of setup for future stuff here, but the only one of the three threads that has any kind of closure is L’Rell consolidating her power as chancellor-cum-mother of the Klingon Empire. The mystery with Spock deepens, the mystery with Tilly’s imaginary friend takes a step forward, and we get 90% of a good vehicle for Mia Kirshner’s delightful portrayal of Amanda Grayson.
The only one of those plots I really feel comfortable talking about in depth is L’Rell’s plot. For starters, yay, Klingons have hair! I like that it’s only some of them, and some only have very little. But these look a lot more like the Klingons we’ve come to know and love since 1979 and the advent of forehead ridges, but still giving the Discovery versions their own distinctive look. And hey, they’re finally letting the Klingons speak English—initially, they do so ironically to make fun of Tyler (and Tyler bitches about it), and then in the end, L’Rell starts her speech in Klingon with English subtitles, then she switches to English and the subtitles become Klingon, and then the subtitles fade and thank goodness, they can all talk English. Another first-season flaw fixed!
I just wish that the plot to turn Kol-Sha’s kidnapping of L’Rell’s infant son (oh yeah, L’Rell managed to squeeze a pregnancy in between episodes of season one) and subsequent attempted coup into a triumph that unites the Houses with her came from L’Rell herself instead of Emperor Georgiou. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always happy to see Michelle Yeoh, but L’Rell is seriously weakened as a character by being, in essence, Georgiou’s lackey. And it’s all done in the service of getting Tyler away from the Empire and into Section 31 which is… not that compelling, frankly. The Empire thinks Tyler and the infant are dead, and Kol-Sha died a hero saving her, instead of in disgrace trying to seize power. It’s a good plan, I just wish it had been L’Rell’s. (I do like the continuity hit by having Tyler give his son to the clerics on Boreth, established back in The Next Generation‘s “Rightful Heir” as the planet where Klingons believe Kahless will return to them.) And now L’Rell has changed her title from chancellor to mother.
Speaking of mothers there’s that other 10% of Amanda’s part in the story, which I’m willing to reserve judgment on, but which I’m very iffy about. Up until her last scene, Amanda’s fantastic in this. She shows a dedication to trying to hold her family together despite the best efforts of everyone else, and she shows great love for both Spock and Burnham. And I love her and Burnham ganging up on Pike.
But in the end, when Burnham reveals that she drove Spock away years ago, Amanda’s response is to cut her off. Now if this is just an initial snit in anger at Burnham keeping this from her for fifteen years, I’m willing to be okay with it, but if Amanda remains pissed at Burnham, I will not be pleased, as it goes against the notion of Amanda being the one supportive member of this very dysfunctional family.
Meanwhile, Tilly’s hallucination of the grown-up version of a childhood friend turns out to be the spore bit that hit her shoulder way back in “What’s Past is Prologue,” which interacted with the exotic matter in the asteroid they have on board to finally communicate with Tilly. The whatever-it-is is now in stasis, and based on the trailers, we’ll find out more about it next week. Including, hopefully, why it thinks Stamets is the captain.
(Oh, and Tilly’s training for command school includes running a half-marathon, apparently. By the way, if four people run for thirteen miles, I guarantee that they won’t all be bunched up at the end like that. And hey look, a new design for the DISCO shirt so CBS can sell more merchandise!)
The first two episodes this season stood on their own while moving things along. This third one only does the second part. While the Klingon plot does have a beginning, a middle, and an end, it’s the C-plot of the episode. The A- and B-plots with Burnham and Tilly are just moving the pieces a bit further down the board.
Having said that, for all that the episode blows the landing on Amanda’s storyline and doesn’t really feel complete, it’s also fun to watch, mostly due to excellent acting work by everyone, from Yeoh, Mary Chieffo as L’Rell, Shazad Latif as Tyler, and guest star Kenneth Mitchell as Kol-Sha (who last season played Kol) on Qo’noS to Kirshner, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, Anson Mount as Pike, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, and Bahia Watson as the hallucination on Discovery.
And hey, next week we finally get to see Rebecca Romijn as Number One!
Keith R.A. DeCandido‘s new novel, Mermaid Precinct, the latest in his fantasy/police procedural series, is now available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.
Correction: Star Trek: The Animated Series was produced by Filmation Associates (specifically Lou Scheimer & Norm Prescott). Hal Sutherland was the director of most of its episodes.
Christopher: DERP! Sorry. I knew that, but brain farted. It’s fixed.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Also under the category of “fixing a perceived flaw of the first season, and it doesn’t take much”: The D-7 battlecruiser, introduced by L’Rell and Tyler to the assembled heads of the Houses (in green hologram form), as a new design for the newly-unified Empire, marked with the insignia of the Empire rather than any single House. Voila! All those overdesigned s1 ships (that we didn’t properly see until the Eaglemoss models were announced) are on-screen established as House-specific, and (we can easily imagine) they’re not seen in TOS because they’re relegated to rear-echelon duties.
Interestingly, the “Klingon Bird-of-Prey Haynes Manual” (2012) establishes that each House is responsible for constructing its own fleet, and the unity of design is achieved through a central technology development bureau.
Phillip: I don’t have the bone in my head that makes me geeble over ship design minutiae, or even, really, care about it, so I tend not to focus on that element as much. Having said that, you’re right — establishing the D-7 as a symbol of the united Empire is a very clever retcon/explanation that works on the same level as the uniforms and the hair.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@4/krad: Except the detail-obsessed fans are bound to say “Well, what about that D-7 battlecruiser that appeared in a first-season Enterprise episode?” Although that was just a placeholder for the 22nd-century Klingon ship design that didn’t get finalized in time to make it into the episode.
Meanwhile… Either Klingon hair grows really, really fast, or last season’s finale spanned far more time than we thought, or L’Rell is wearing a wig.
Christopher: Human hair grows at wildly varying rates from person to person, it makes sense that the same would be true for Klingons. The finale was at least several weeks of time, possibly more before Discovery set off for Vulcan, and that’s enough time for some people (L’Rell, Kol-Sha) to have grown a lot of hair. (To give close-to-home examples, my own hair grows ridiculously fast, whereas my wife’ shake takes forever to grow.)More to the point, as I said in the review and as was seen in the episode, some Klingons have very little hair, and some haven’t grown any at all. The lengths are varying, which is as it should be.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
They had to bring back the Klingons. And the Empress. Damn. Also more family dysfunction, yah — not!
I wonder if the reason for Voq’s complexion is finally realized with the birth of his son.. Could we have seen the birth of DS9’s The Albino? and the real genesis of his feud with Kor (of House Kor?), Kang and Koloth?
At least now we know why young Spock was so attached to his sehlat; between Sarek, Amanda, and Michael, it probably wound up being his only source of affection.
The whole Amanda-Michael incident was bizarre, to say the least. Why does Amanda lean in and warn Michael “Don’t react” when she gets off the transporter pad, just before the commercial break? Who would notice, and why would the woman who raised Michael on Vulcan think Michael, of all people, would display some reaction? (Tilly, on the other hand…) Why is their conversation in the hallway held in whispers? (If they need to whisper for privacy, why have it in the hallway at all?) If Amanda is worried about someone suspecting her, how does any of this conspicuous sneaking around provide anything but melodrama? (Especially since we establish in the same episode a) both the existence of Section 31 and the awareness — by lowly Lt. Tyler, at least, as krad notes — that it exists and b) the availability of technology to hide tiny microphones in something as small as smears of face paint.)
This Spock storyline feels a bit like a reimagining of Spock’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture storyline, with Spock looking for peace, but sensing something out there in deep space that he has to understand. Amanda’s mysterious unannounced arrival on a Vulcan diplomatic vessel also echoes Spock’s rendezvous via a Vulcan shuttlecraft with the becalmed Enterprise in ST:TMP.
I’m glad Tilly had her hitchhiker extracted so quickly; the invisible companion storyline was entertaining when Scorpius harangued Crichton for a full season of on Farscape, but we pretty much hit peak Harvey with Baltar and Six in BSG.
I’m just hoping the red bursts/red angels don’t turn out to involve time travel.
I actually have appreciated the quick and easy fixes they’ve been doing (hair/language/etc). If nothing else, it gives me the sense that the writers/producers were aware of the issues and inconsistencies and have been working to address them.
Question for you: There was a line at the end of the show where Leland said to Georgiou that Control thought Tyler had useful skills (or something to that effect). Do we think that this is the canonization of the Section 31 novels that ended with “Control” by David Mack? Or is this just an instance where it sounds sinister so the writers used it?
Also, sticking with Section 31, I’m not completely thrown off by Tyler having heard about the “Black Badges”. I could imagine the rumor mill hearing about some sort of super secret organization without fully appreciating what it is- thinking it to be some sort of special ops team or Starfleet intelligence unit or something. I imagine most militaries have their own set of urban legends, with a kernel of truth at it’s core but each retelling distorts it further and further.
@6/krad: Even so, it should take years for someone to go from totally clean-shaven to having shoulder-length hair. Although Trek has established that the technology exists to “stimulate follicle growth” and make hair grow unnaturally fast.
@10/Mike: Dave Mack has already said on the TrekBBS that the mention of “Control” (a pretty generic label for a controlling authority) is not a reference to the novels.
I thought this was episode was just okay compared to the prior two – definitely less self-contained feeling.
I thought the last moment between Amanda/Michael was believable. Amanda has every right to be angry/disappointed in Michael and then dramatically walk-off. But I don’t think Amanda will carry a grudge. After all, (human) mothers love their children unconditionally!
Also, I guess Shazad Latif and his character are being groomed for the Section 31 spin-off.
I was constantly reminded of the TNG episode “Shades of Gray” when I was watching “Point of Light.” The former was a rushed production, done on the cheap with mostly clips from previous episodes, and the shoestring plot is otherwise unremarkable; the latter didn’t feel rushed and certainly set up later plot points that we’ll see, but it was certainly done cheaply with flashbacks and fewer post-production polishes, e.g., the poor fight scene and the jarring edits, especially in the final scene in engineering with Tilly. Incidentally, one can see the big directorial difference between this episode and Frakes’ “New Eden” from last week.
If ever there was an episode that was almost intentionally designed to be the television equivalent of eating one’s vegetables, this was it. They made several retcons, albeit through some odd dialogue choices (the quoted line in the review about Klingons growing hair could have been written more naturally, in my opinion, and I could have gone without the use of my/your brother in lieu of simply saying Spock), and they obviously set up or filled in plot points for later use, but I cannot escape the feeling that this episode is anything other than a production dictated entry as opposed to a creatively driven one.
That said, it wasn’t *that* bad. Table-setting episodes of other shows have been done far worse.
Yeah, I think this episode might have something in common with “Assignment: Earth” — it’s a backdoor pilot for a spinoff, in this case the Section 31 show.
I’m really hoping we’ve seen the last of Empress Georgiou and Ash Tyler for this season. Their plots are so corny and nonsensical. I include the entire existence of Section 31 in that statement.
The Klingon makeup may be better, but it’s still not better enough. Even if they’re speaking English, they’re still talking with a mouth full of Klingon teeth. And L’Rell, in particular, has that 90s Batman problem where she can’t turn her head, so she’s always looking sideways out of her eyes or turning her shoulders just to look back and forth.
Uh, I guess the D7 was cool? Other than that, not a huge fan of this episode.
I was very happy to see the D7 presented.
Overall I am MUCH happier with Season 2 Discovery than 1. They are TRYING to fix the continuity errors and I am very happy they are doing so.
I was super curious about everyone’s half-marathon times from the beginning of the ep. (Am a runner.) So I went back and screencapped only to find…
…those are 1-mile race times! (A half-marathon is 13.1 miles.)
I suppose Saru is possibly looking at their per-mile average over the course of the race? But that’s not typically the first number you wanna know if you’re trying to beat your PB (personal best). Those per-mile averages would be very doable for our young and spry Discoveristas, at least.
The directional course arrows on the walls were a really nice touch, too.
WHat’s everyone’s feeling about the camera choices? Starting scenes inverted or rotated 90 degrees, then right side upping them. I get what it’s supposed to invoke, but I kept thinking my screen rotate lock was off….
@14: Oh, we haven’t seen the end of Tyler/Georgiou by a long shot! They’re integral to this season’s plotting plus they’re being set up for their own spin-off.
@17: The showrunners just want to make this show feel dynamic with the direction/editing to make it contemporary with other big-budget TV shows/cinematic feel. I personally like it. It makes this series feel different visually from every previous Trek series which I think is a good thing.
I really wonder when exactly the art of telling a story was lost. How do these three B plots combined (four if you take Georgiou) constitute an episode? Because they are all somber and depressing? And why is it so difficult to build a coherent arc at a continuous speed? With DS9’s war arc I always was aware of how the stakes were, about the strategic situation and the character developments. There were some insecurities e.g. about Gul Dukat’s character but I had the feeling I am seeing a coherent storyline.
Now in the age of serialized TV series thousands of developments are thrown at me and abandoned in the next or even in the same episode. There seems to be an underlying deep fear that the audience will be bored if you don’t dial up the narrative to an excess point. And to this corresponds a visual style that can only be described as alternately hysterical and annoyingly cloying in slower moments. Is there some pressure for diversity among directors, too? It’s hard to explain how otherwise such “directors” get into the chair.
Last year we apparently got something along the line of a clash between the story arcs of different artistic teams merging a Klingon war with the Mirror Universe into an incoherent mishmash. Now we get some vaguely religious mumblings mixed with destiny driven nonsense that was already the undoing of DS9 when it reached too deep into the transcendental well. Also please stop overloding Spock’s character with backstory.
What the oh so modern TV series don’t understand that more time to tell a story doesn’t mean you have to tell more stories. What we get is basically a soap opera. Chris has already pointed out that the serialized storytelling was for the trashy soaps because events piled up to an unlikely degree. And technically the same problem was with 19th century novels printed in newspapers which had to offer new turns each week. Probably at some time in the future people will look at these series and wonder what exactly today’s producers and audiences were thinking.
I wish they would finally pull the plug and end this. To be fair TNG was even worse in its first two seasons and there was again a change in the creative team during production this season but as long as this series revolves around this inexpressive lead actress and as long all the mentioned problems persist I have little hope.
‘Is there some pressure for diversity among directors, too? It’s hard to explain how otherwise such “directors” get into the chair.’
I’m not sure what you’re getting at here – that white people are better at directing and acting? We all have different opinions about the various series, but with this attitude, are you sure Star Trek is the show for you?
@19/Lubitsch: “Chris has already pointed out that the serialized storytelling was for the trashy soaps because events piled up to an unlikely degree.”
I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t grossly misrepresent my comments in support of your own arguments. That is not even close to what I said. What I said was that in the ’50s and ’60s, audiences perceived episodic TV as classier than serialized TV because the classiest early shows were anthologies, while serialization was mostly used by things like soap operas and children’s programs; whereas modern audiences perceive serialized TV as classier because certain classy shows started using it in the ’80s. My point was never to claim that either generation was right in its bias — on the contrary, my point was to show that opinions can shift over time for arbitrary reasons and thus we shouldn’t mistake current trends of popularity for universal standards of quality. Serial storytelling is more fashionable now, while episodic or anthology-like storytelling was fashionable back then. No fashion is intrinsically more right than another. And either format, or any mix of the two, can be done well or badly depending on the specific example. It is always foolish to blame the category for the quality of any given instance thereof.
Well, I guess I am at fault because I’ve expressed myself not clear enough among all the vitriol I spew in my last post. I should have made more clear that I think that Discovery fails at adapting to a serialized storytelling approach. The creative team basically throws character developments, wild ideas and plot points at a wall and and they don’t add up. This week’s entry is kind of a somber fugue on misery in all its political and private shapes which baffles me and it ends one plot with a bizarre Ghostbusters scene.
The technical advantage of serialized storytelling is to able to tell a story in greater depth and with greater nuance. Having characters behave more complex and developments being followed up more in detail and at length plus getting a feeling for the milieu.
Discovery amazingly doesn’t do anything of this. Propelled by its spore drive it jumps from plot to plot and location to location. How am I supposed to take last week’s episode? Is it supposed to work as a standalone? Then there was comparatively little depth to the story. Or does it belong into the greater arc? But if that’s the case we abandoned the place pretty fast. We had the same with Pahvo last year where multiple actions were set off but ended in a space battle and the planet was then never seen again.
However there is one point where I would disagree with you Chris – there are categories or narrative modes which are unsuited for the kind of story you want to tell. And I would argue that serialized storytelling has an inherent danger to devolve into soap opera – which we are currently experiencing with Spock and his monstrous family. There are only so many individual plot points and events you can pack into a character throughout the seasons before he becomes a mass of contradictions and emotions which would probably drive most people in reality into a psychiatry ward. How many life altering experiences al la Borg assimilation or Inner Light can Picard have and emotionally work out? How many mates can Worf lose?
There is something to be said for the anthology format where it is subtly clear that there is some kind of reset button before every episode and any consequences will be muted. Also the limitations of a 45 minute or a 90 minute time span can help to focus on the important things. Otherwise you better have the epic breath of Tolstoi and I’m pretty sure Kurtzman doesn’t.
Anyway Discovery currently fails as a whole to me. I appreciate individual performances and single scenes but I don’t see what this series exactly wants to achieve. I assume that the chaos behind the scenes is partly responsible for that but I have no faith in Alex Kurtzman’s abilities as a show runner and I don’t think anyone in the creative team can answer the question: why are we making this series and what is it about?
I haven’t watched the episode yet. Does any of this have anything to do with the Red Angel? Because if they’re diverting from the main mystery, I think I’ll just skip it.
Oh, yet another “placating fans concerned with technological continuity” moment — When Pike speaks with the psychiatric facility on Starbase Five re: Spock, he does so by wall screen in his office, and there’s a good-natured jibe that “you’re the only person in the quadrant to still communicate by screen”.
If DSC wanted a reason that Starfleet switches in the next decade from free-standing holograms to screens, they could say that … um … 3D projections use more bandwidth, and a persistent change in space weather has swept across the Alpha Quadrant that impedes subspace communication.
@21/Lubitsch: “And I would argue that serialized storytelling has an inherent danger to devolve into soap opera…”
Just as episodic storytelling has an inherent danger of falling into repetitive, empty formula. Every format has its potentials and its drawbacks. You might as well argue whether string instruments are intrinsically more flawed than wind instruments. They’re just different modes of artistic expression. Whether the results are good or bad depends on the skill of the artist.
The reason things go in cycles is because humans can’t resist overcorrecting. When a certain style is popular, there will be some brilliant instances of it and a lot of mediocre or poor ones. Then people will get tired of the poor ones and complain that that format is played out, and then someone will come along with a brilliant example of a different approach, and then that will be a hit and everyone will start to copy it, some of them doing a better job than others, so you end up with some brilliant instances and a lot of mediocre or poor ones. And then people complain that format’s played out and look for an alternative, and the pendulum swings back the other way, and it becomes a recurring cycle because people keep blaming the category for the failings of individual instances.
To me, the best answer is to find a balance between the extremes, as with most things in life. I like series where each individual episode is a complete story, but there’s ongoing continuity and development from episode to episode. Part of the reason for the endless cycle of overcorrections is that people always look to the opposing extremes instead of the healthy middle ground.
I do feel there were one too many plots in the episode, but none of them were disagreeable so I’m willing to forgive it.
To me, Control felt like a reference to John LeCarre’s spy world- Control was the head of the Circus at one point. Trek did use The Spy Who Came in from the Cold for DS9’s Season 7 S31 episode.
Random question — do we know where in the timeline Michael joining Sarek’s family fits in relation to Yesteryear?
@22 Drake– the storyline with Michael, Amanda and Pike has to do with the red angel.
@26/Steven: The date of the flashbacks seems to be undetermined so far. On the one hand, it seems logical for it to be after “Yesteryear,” to account for Michael’s absence there. But on the other hand, the actor playing young Spock seemed about six to me, and Spock was seven in “Yesteryear.” That’s hardly reliable, though.
Boy, Spock’s family is really messed up. But the actress playing Amanda does a really good job. I enjoy her in any scene in which she appears.
The surprise baby revelation had me rolling my eyes. Ditto for Section 31. Zzz.
Slightly above average ep. But as it’s setting up future events, that’s not totally unexpected.
At the moment, I only have one question:
What on…Vulcan has happened to Sybok?
This one was easily my least favorite of the three episodes we’ve gotten so far. It wasn’t terrible, by any means, but between the constantly moving and rotating camera and the way the plots fit together so awkwardly, I was unimpressed – especially compared with last week.
For me, the highlight of the episode was definitely the Tilly plot. Mary Wiseman has definitely shone in this role and gave the best performance of the night. I liked the scene in which she and Burnham so quickly determined what was wrong with her.
I liked the subplot with Amanda and Burnham somewhat less. Sure, we got the backstory about how Amanda was allowed to show affection to Michael and not Spock, but there was a lot of that “If you only knew …” kind of dialogue. Also, this marks the second time Pike’s decision to observe protocol gets knocked down almost immediately. Are we supposed to get that Pike is flexible as a leader? I think so, but if this kind of thing happens much more often, I worry that it will diminish the character.
My least favorite aspect of this week’s episode? Easily all the Klingon stuff. From the secret kid to the Section 31 machinations, it just didn’t feel like it really connected well with the rest of the episode. I did like the fact that the lingons also noted the signals and were concerned with them – and that they might have viewed them as some sort of omens. I didn’t need the needlessly gory fight aftermath with all of the entrails and the severed baby head.
I am looking forward to seeing Number One next week, though …
Oh, Amanda gave Michael the kiss of death ( Amanda’s obviously not going to kill Michael, but still, after the kiss, Amanda walks away from Michael, yanks out the file and leaves abruptly, in a manner that feels very, “You’re dead to me.” I really hope I’m wrong.) That was a heartbreaking moment, as I’ve enjoyed the dynamic between Michael and Amanda; to see that possibly end would be devastating.
Michael is just rebuilding some semblance of a life, from regaining her Starfleet commission to being a full-time officer on Discovery, to building true friendships with other members of the crew besides Tilly (in particular Saru). To lose Amanda, the one person who told Michael to hold on to her humanity during a Vulcan upbringing…man, Michael Burnham still can’t win. We’ll see, I guess.
Hmm, rest of the episode…well, I’m glad Tilly isn’t losing her mind, and Michael was able to very quickly help her with that (one bright spot in an otherwise pretty bleak episode). Tilly has very nicely come into her own this season, and I’m glad that will likely continue after whatever happens next week.
Let’s see, what else…oh yeah we visited Qo’nos for…reasons. Which reminds me: I did really like all the retcons and continuity stuff; I’m not nearly as hung up on that stuff like some people are, but I appreciated the writers’ doing it.
I struggle with this one because, the episode is fine. It’s still better than most of season one, but it’s mostly setup, so it’s…fine. The stuff on Qo’nos really did nothing for me, neither did seeing “Captain” Georgiou (Emperor Georgiou, you’re really Emperor Georgiou. Let’s cut the bullshit, please; but yay, Michelle Yeoh!).
And Section 31, blah blah blah, why are we doing this?
Sigh. Overall this one was pretty flat, and slammed on the brakes of a well-paced start to this season.
Edit: If anyone saw my post about how many laps they’d have to run, I obviously forgot that diameter and circumference aren’t the same thing, because I’m dumb.
Separate issue: Did we really need so many shots of the fake baby head? Or really, any shots? I know the show is gritty and real and all and I’m not opposed to gritty Trek on principle. But still, lingering on a character holding a baby head just seemed way off brand to me.
Zodda@33, yes I totally agree about the severed baby head. My brain was saying it’s fake, even in-universe, but it was still quite disturbing. I’m okay with gritty and real, too, but yeesh, severed baby head. *shudders*.
@33/34: Yeah, the director could have gone for a more considerate/less explicit shot showing L’Rell from behind as she’s raising the severed heads so we don’t see their faces. The same shot would be just as effective but less gratuitous. However, the showrunners are trying to make this Game of Star Trek, and then the question arises if these “artistic choices” are really what Star Trek is about? It’s certainly not “family-friendly” like previous incarnations.
@35/GHiller: People forget that TOS was very adult for its day. It was specifically created to be an exception to the normal practice of making “family-friendly” science fiction shows and doing the first ever non-anthology SF drama for adult audiences. It was constantly pushing the envelope of censorship on skin, sexuality, and adult subject matter. Episodes like “Amok Time” about an alien’s compulsion to mate, or “The Mark of Gideon” where contraception was discussed, or “Wink of an Eye” where Kirk was shown putting his boots back on after being alone for several hours with a woman who’d captured him in order to mate with him, were quite racy and boundary-pushing for their day, and there was a constant battle with the network censors to test the limits of what the show could get away with.
TNG pushed boundaries too. The climax of “Conspiracy,” with the gory, violent shot of the alien monster head exploding, was fairly shocking in its day, a far more graphic depiction of violence than Trek had shown before, and there was some controversy about it within the production as well as without, I believe. And there were other attempts to push boundaries, like the same-sex kiss in DS9: “Rejoined,” which was one of the first same-sex kisses on TV and was so controversial that some markets edited it out altogether or refused to air the episode.
@36: Oh, I understand that with every iteration of the show and generation there is the pushing of the boundaries as far as what the particular series can get away with, but at some point are there in fact hard boundaries as far as what is considered family friendly or appropriate for children? I understand it’s going to be on a case by case basis depending on the parents but one can argue that DSC has gone the farthest in terms of gore, violence, nudity, and profanity. I don’t have any children but if they were of a certain age I wouldn’t be comfortable showing them what goes on in certain episodes until they were old and mature enough to handle it.
Regarding the “Conspiracy” episode on TNG, the head exploding was pretty graphic but I recall the local syndicated TV station posting a warning about the content about to be viewed. Obviously, there is no such warning with this series where anything goes.
@37/GHiller: As I said, TOS was not intended for children. It ended up becoming popular with children in rerun syndication because it was often aired in afternoon slots, but its intended target audience was adults.
“Obviously, there is no such warning with this series where anything goes.”
Of course there is! It’s that black box in the top left corner of the screen at the start of every act, saying “TV-14” or “TV-MA” depending on how severe the episode content is. The makers of modern television in the US always include ratings boxes to inform viewers about content inappropriate for children — for instance, “TV-MA LSV” means “Mature audiences only due to language, sexual content, and violence.” The problem is that viewers don’t make the effort to pay attention to those warnings or learn what they mean, and then they blame the makers of the shows for their own inattention.
I’m not by any means a puritan, CLB. I totally get pushing boundaries and I’m all for it. But, severed baby head (sounds like a heavy metal band name, now that I think about it, tm, tm, copyright, etc).
I’m actually glad this series is a streaming one and not on a network (though it could have just been on Netflix, grumble) to have more creative freedom.
@38: Oh, that’s right (regarding the content warning label)! Maybe because I typically watch the series on my phone where I don’t notice it or because I just watch whatever I want without regard to the content. But my main point stands that this Star Trek series is generally “grittier” and less “family friendly” than previous incarnations what with severed heads, adult and infant, and f-bombs.
@40/GHiller: It’s not a bad thing for different series in a franchise to have different tones and approaches. It’s good because it gives the audience choice. Doctor Who is a family-friendly show that had the very adult spinoff Torchwood and the more kid-oriented spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures running at the same time as the main show. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has (or had) its Netflix shows that are more adult and graphic than their movies or their network TV shows.
And it looks like the multiple new Trek shows being developed for CBS All Access are in a similar vein, offering a range of tones and styles, including an animated comedy that’s probably going to be a lot more family-friendly than DSC.
I guess there’s some shock value in having a severed baby head in your show, but can’t say it’s anything I want to see in Star Trek, this “adult” science fiction series. Sure, maybe once upon a time it was – Picard delivering a speech on the rights of sentient beings and whatnot. Now though it seems they’re aiming for, as Brother Theodore once put it, “freak appeal!” Come one, come all, step right up and see the horrors of the Klingon Empire!
Yeah. Pass the prune juice.
@42: Fundamentally, I like the show, but it t does feel like the R-rated material is there more for shock value than to actually advance the plot. I didn’t need to see L’Rell going all “Alas, poor Yorick” with a dead baby’s head to understand what they were trying to sell to the High Council. Frankly, not even Game of Thrones has gone to that level, to my recollection.
That said, I think part of my extreme reaction to this episode comes from the fact that it’s way more in line with Season One than with the tone they established in the first two episodes. When you’re telling the story of the cost of war on the soul, such things don’t feel as glaringly out of place as they do when you’re telling a story that’s allegedly about the contrast between faith and science.
#43
Consistency in tone would be nice. However, I suppose these shifts are to be expected with the change in showrunners. Hopefully, the rest of the season is more like the first two episodes.
Although, weren’t the honchos who were fired mainly responsible for the first two? Oh dear…
@44/Crom: My understanding is that the first four episodes were done under Berg & Harberts. Any changes should begin to manifest after that, although there are always mutliple episodes of a show in various stages of pre-production and production at the same time, so the influence of departed showrunners can continue to resonate in a show for weeks after their departure.
L’Rell managed to squeeze a pregnancy in between episodes of season one…
Nope. They covered that in dialogue between L’Rell and Tyler:
Man, Sarek’s family really don’t like following the law, do they?
Spock – Falsified orders, assaulted Starfleet officers, kidnapped Pike, stole the Enterprise.
Sarek – Worked with Starfleet to commit planetary genocide on the Klingons.
Sybok – Stole the Enterprise, took hosatges on Nimbus III
Burnham – Convicted of mutiny, assaulted her captain.
Amanda – Stole classified medical files, used diplomatic ship in commission of a crime.
—-
Tilly got back into the command program way too fast. Her refusal to go to sickbay, especially after being \zapped by “dark matter”, shows that she’s not ready for responsibility for herself let alone others.
—
Klingons – Oh look, it’s the pre-pilot for Section 31. And now there’s no reason to believe that S31 is operating without official sanction. If anything, they’re the Mission Impossible of Starfleet “As always, should you or any of Section 31 be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”
Baby head – ’nuff said.
—
Does privacy not exist anymore? Burnham gets permission to rummage through Spock’s quarters, even after telling Pike that they really don’t have a relationship. Seeing as there’s no logical connection between them (Sarek & Amanda are her foster parents. That means that legally, there’s no connection between Spock and Burnham. Now, if Burnham had been adopted, that would be a different story.). Then Pike spills the beans on where Spock is, even after he said he wouldn’t tell. Of course, that’s after Burhnham found the information in Spock’s quarters that she shouldn’t have had in the first place. And now Amanda steals classified files because Spock didn’t tell her what was going on. Sorry, adults have the right to keep their medical dealings private, even from their parents.
—
And Tilly not only stops for a conversation during the half marathon (why were the lights flashing anyway?) but goes on to win AND set a persona best. Is there nothing she cannot do? Other than figure out what’s going on with her dead friend. Lucky for her, she’s got Burnham who figures the whole thing out in 30 seconds while being smug about it, basically saying “I’ve got really tough problems, what’s your minor thing I can take care of for you so I can feel like I’m doing something? Oh, you’re just possessed by an alien spore. Let’s go see Stamets and he’s pull it right out of you. No need to get sickbay involved. As a matter of fact, we won’t even tell them.”
I had the same problems that you did with Amanda’s final scene. It felt like I’d missed something and I wasn’t happy about it. Her reaction didn’t feel like it fit with everything I’d seen up to that point and it bothered me. I also liked the Klingon story best, but I felt like Ash switched emotionally too quickly (and off screen). He feels uncomfortable with L’Rell, has the intense seen with Michael, sees the baby and goes through all that and then he suddenly is okay with L’Rell…and he explains why, but I can’t help but feel that it would have worked better for me if we had seen the flashback he mentions between Voq & L’Rell – instead of hearing about it after the fact. It didn’t feel natural. It felt like they needed Ash to be on the Section 31 ship by the end of episode 3 and they didn’t have enough time or space to give it the time and space that it deserved. I’m happy the Tilly storyline is moving forward; I disliked seeing her “crazy” and I disliked that Michael needed to explain to her the problems with the story she was being given. I’m glad that’s over. Happy to move on. This whole episode felt rushed – yet I’m very happy with what they’re doing with the various characters. This episode just feels incomplete and in too big of a hurry. It’s not horrible, but it’s not incredibly satisfying either.
About Section 31 being “sooper-seekrit” – I just read an article a few days ago in which they said that’s the purpose of the Section 31 spin-off series. It’s supposed to explain how Section 31 goes from what it is during these episodes to what it is in later Treks…and that reassures me a bit. Maybe I’ll hate it when I see it, but I’ll give them the chance to tell the story first. They also said in that article that if all goes according to plan, they finish Season 2 of Discovery then tackle Picard (which will apparently be about 10 episodes long), then they’ll do Season 3 of Discovery, and then a season of the Georgiou / Section 31 series. If everything goes to plan. And Patrick Stewart has also said that they’re hoping for more than one season of his series. I like this plan. I like Discovery a lot. And I’m a very happy Trek fan.
And even though Discovery isn’t perfect, I’m starting to get annoyed by all the hate that seems to be heaped on this series. “It isn’t really Star Trek” is the comment that irks me most, especially when they talk about loving TNG or DS9 or whatever and I remember people saying the exact same thing about TAS (because it was a cartoon), TMP (because – here we go again – they redesigned the Klingons), TNG (because it had a different cast and a different Enterprise), DS9 (because it was too dark, and they didn’t “Trek”), Enterprise (because it’s a prequel and the theme has lyrics), and the Kelvin Timeline films (because of alternate universes…and lens flares?). It’s Star Trek. You don’t have to watch it. You can get the whole series to stream for less than the cost of a movie ticket reservation at most AMC theaters here in NYC. And the show is worth it. It looks incredible; it looks better than most of the films.
Sorry. Venting. Carry on.
@47/kkozoriz: “Sarek’s family really don’t like following the law, do they?”
I sometimes think that’s a general malady of American films and TV these days. Everybody has to be a rebel.
@48/Jason: Hmm, let’s see… I was somewhat unhappy with Enterprise because the main character was incompetent, because they committed genocide in “Dear Doctor”, and because the Vulcans were too unsympathetic for my taste. I disliked the first two Kelvin films because the main character was incompetent and unsympathetic. I disliked the first season of Discovery because of the war and because of the shitty treatment of prisoners in “Context is for Kings”. Also, unsympathetic Vulcans. What can I say? I have a thing for stories about competent, likeable people and good future societies. Both used to be hallmarks of Star Trek.
@47, Pike has clearly joined the Michael Burnham fan club but he’s also very worried about Spock and I think he hopes Michael will find something that might help him understand what’s going on with his officer an friend. The fact that Spock leaves a last message to be found suggests he expected somebody to search his cabin. He probably didn’t expect it to be Michael.
@48, Vulcans have always had a streak of racial arrogance a mile wide IMO and some fairly loony ancient customs but they do seen seem to be getting more jerkish in later series.
The notions that the Vulcans somehow magically became dickish in later spinoffs is selective memory. Watch “Amok Time” and “Journey to Babel” again. The Vulcans were always dicks. (Hell, just watch Spock’s general high-handed obnoxiousness throughout the original series. And I say that as someone who loves the character….)
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Also, Jason is correct. Every single new Star Trek has come with a wave of fans who decry it and reject it and say it’s not “real” Star Trek and it shouldn’t be canon and it’s an abomination, and so on. It did indeed start with the animated series, but it was very loud and vocal in 1979 when The Motion Picture was released (with pretty much the exact same “it’s too much like Star Wars!!!” complaints you’re hearing now about Discovery), in 1987 when The Next Generation debuted (“you can’t POSSIBLY do Star Trek without Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, are you insane????”), in 1993 when Deep Space Nine debuted (“you can’t POSSIBLY do Star Trek on a space station, are you insane????”), in 1995 when Voyager debuted (decrying it as a Lost in Space ripoff, among other things), in 2001 when Enterprise debuted (pretty much every single argument being made against Discovery is a rerun of what was bitched and moaned about 18 years ago), and in 2009 when the Bad Robot movies debuted. Not to mention in 1982 when Gene Roddenberry his own self was making those complaints about The Wrath of Khan.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@51, Vulcans have always been as obnoxious as they are interesting but I do feel they’ve gotten a bit worse. Maybe it’s just because we’ve seen more of them? Vulcans seem best taken in small doses.
@54: Well, let’s not also forget that the Vulcans in Enterprise were getting a nudge from the Romulans. Something tells me Discovery’s “logic extremists” might also be Romulan influenced.
The Romulans that nobody was supposed to know who they were and what they looked like….
And nobody did know (save V’las and perhaps some of his conspirators).
@54 I do hope there’s more of a story behind those dudes than we’ve seen so far, because those guys make no sense on their own. Submitting to the demands of violent extremists would be deeply illogical, so they should have no expectation that their movement can succeed. I would guess they’re just racists with slightly better branding, but Romulan infiltrators would be cool also and an excellent opponent for the Ash and Georgiou Section 31 Adventure Hour spinoff.
@57/Zodda: Vulcan logic is like any other belief system — there are some people who understand what it’s really all about, and there are others who only pay lip service to it or who twist its teachings to justify their own intolerance or greed for power.
TOS Vulcans certainly had thoroughly weaponized passive aggression at levels not since equalled in any subsequent Trek.
Amok Time: “What, you didn’t know that this fight was to the death? Perhaps in the future that’s the sort of thing you should ask about before blundering into a supremely important cultural rite about which you are utterly ignorant, Captain. Or maybe Spock will read the room next time before exercising his entirely legal right to bring a bunch of outworlders in as his sanctioned companions. Whichever.”
Journey to Babel: “I’m not saying my estranged father (against whom I’ve been holding a grudge for decades) committed this murder by neck-breaking. I’m just observing that he had motive, opportunity, the necessary temperament… oh, and that he was a student of the ancient Vulcan art of neck-breaking.”
The main change in most subsequent series is arguably that they’re not as smooth sticking the knife in.
@59: Not to mention T’Pring’s coldly logical plan to have Either Spock dead at Kirk’s hand – or vice versa – so she could keep hooking up with Stonn.
I agree with mschiffe, Later Vulcans are not as smoothly arseholish as the sixties Vulcans. As for T’Pring, apparently the only way she can get the man she wants is to kill somebody. I love Vulcan customs.
@62: To be fair, there’s nothing in the dialogue that suggests that she couldn’t have simply asked Spock to let her go. She was banking on the off chance that Spock would kill Kirk and she would be in charge of Spock’s holdings.
There’s no dialogue suggesting the situation could have been so simply resolved. We are encouraged to believe Spock and T’Pring are committed to each other. If Spock could just release her I think he would have, given he was in denial about pon farr. I mean he’s obviously not at all into her.
It seems clear that T’Pring has no other choices that she’s permitted to make. (One wonders what Amanda thought when learning that under Vulcan law she was Sarek’s “property”.) But I think it’s less clear that Spock couldn’t theoretically have released her. She at least expects that he would do so if he won because she’d dared to challenge (though she’s prepared for what she’ll do if not), and also that Kirk would likewise release her if he won.
Maybe that’s only an option after a kal-if-fee. Or it may be that T’Pring just didn’t think Spock would release her without one. Which, fair enough, maybe, since his alternative initially appears to be dying. Unclear if ritual combat is always an effective alternative for defusing the blood fever, or just a fortuitous stroke of luck in this case.
(Though given that Spock’s first pon farr was late and unexpected, with Spock actively hoping and believing it wouldn’t be an issue, you’d think there’d be some point before now where she might have raised the question with him. Especially with Stonn waiting in the wings. But maybe he can only release her at the ceremony, not before.)
Agreed that T’Pring is certainly up there with the other TOS Vulcans: utterly ruthless, multiple paths to success already planned, but also able to adapt on the fly to still a third one that shifts the danger from Stonn to an alien stranger within minutes of arriving at the scene. And of course no remorse about (apparently) causing the death of some Starfleet officer she’d never met, because where’s the logic in regretting what was necessary?
@64: Maybe the horrible thing that Michael Burnham did to Spock was to introduce Stonn to T’Pring … (just kidding).
@64 It seems pretty clear T’Pring hates Spock’s guts, possibly because he’s ignored her for the last thirty years, and she’s just mad about Stonn. Risk her main squeeze’s life or risk some alien who doesn’t belong here anyway? Easy pick. But yeah, she’s ruthless. And I think very, very angry.
@66 – I don’t think T’Pring hates Spock. I think that she believes, and rightly so, that she’s being ignored or even strung along. And seeing as she’s going to become Spock’s property if they are married, the only way she can get a clean break from him is through the challenge. Of course, as she notes, she could always just keep Stonn on the side but that’s basically putting him in the position that she finds herself in. Spock’s at fauly by the Vulcan customs and by extension, Sarek and Amanda for agreeing to the arranged marriage in the first place. It’s obvious that Spock is no fan of the betrothal but he doesn’t actually do anything about it until he thinks he’s killed Kirk.
Speaking of Vulcans, one thing that bugs me is how everything on the planet seems to be centered around Sark and his family. In Yesteryear, we get no indication that ShiKhar is all that important a place. Then, as time goes on, it’s the location of the Vulcan Science academy and then it’s the capital of the entire planet. Why can’t it simply be a smallish city that is otherwise unremarkable? It can’t be all that big if Spock the leder can walk to his parents place in fairly short order. Same with Spock the younger running away. Aren’t there any other cities of note on Vulcan?
And on a related note, I’m also not fond of how Spock’s family in the novels is part of the same line that Surak was from. One thing Star Trek does really, really well is small universe syndrome.
It’s clear that what T’Pring wants is Stonn in a legal, publicly acknowledged union. She’s not interested in Spock’s status and wealth except as a consolation for not getting what she really wants. She is not a gold digger, in her own words she doesn’t want to be Spock’s ‘consort’, his appendage. I feel deep resentment in her, possibly aimed at her people’s stupid customs rather than Spock personally.
And yes, the it is very annoying how Vulcan revolves around Sarek and family.
@DanteHopkins
“And Section 31, blah blah blah, why are we doing this?”
You pretty much summed up my feelings on all of Section 31 right there. :D :D
I have a suspicion, and at this point that’s all it really is, but I can’t help but think that this episode in particular is going to work a lot better when it’s binged with the rest of the season. It really felt like a setup story, or a prologue of sorts for what’s next. It’s not the best episode, but I still enjoyed it.
Then again, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
I did not like this episode, it bored me, and it was all over the place. The severed baby head was too much, even if we know it’s fake in universe too. And I agree about your point about S31, but Tyler is not just “a lieutenant in Starfleet”, he also has Voq’s memories, and Voq was briefed to be a spy in Starfleet.
And yes, they’ve once more weakened L’Rell. She didn’t get the chancellorship by herself, and she doesn’t cement her by herself either. Plus the “mother” title is ridiculous.
Speaking of Tilly’s half-marathon… man, she’s fast! She stopped to argue with her hallucination, yet still finished ahead of the rest of the runners.
@17 – Mike: I don’t mind, but I was a bit thrown off at first.
@28 – Chris: Good eye, telling a kid is 6 instead of 7. :)
Logical fallacy: people were unfair to earlier Star Trek offerings when they were launched therefore the criticism of Discovery must be unfair, and Discovery must be of decent quality.
Aerik@@@@@ 69: I mean, Section 31, it’s just not that interesting. I don’t care about Section 31, but from reading the comments it seems clear there’s an S31-focused series in the works. Again , I ask, why?! If the writers can do something interesting with S31, great; but I am not hopeful.
@72/Baryon Sweeper: No; it is true that there are legitimate criticisms of Discovery. Keith has voiced a number of them in his reviews. But it is also true that many of the fan criticisms of the show are identical to the criticisms that were leveled at every other new Trek production going back to the animated series. The important thing is not to assume all criticisms are equally valid or equally invalid, but to learn to differentiate which are which. Rejecting invalid criticisms is not at all the same as saying the show is exempt from criticism. On the contrary, it’s an attempt to clear out the noise so that it doesn’t drown out the meaningful criticisms.
I agree that Vulcans have always been arrogant, but in TOS, this was counterbalancd by the fact that they were more peaceful/pacifistic than humans. They had already overcome their violent impulses a very long time ago, something the humans on the show had only done recently, and not completely. This was a recurring theme in TOS. In this respect, Vulcans were like a toned-down version of the higher races the Enterprise encountered (the Metrons, the Organians), who always chided the humans for their aggresiveness. Enterprise turned this on its head by making the Vulcans militarists and the humans peacemakers.
I have the impression that most fans in the 1970s and 80s admired Vulcans. They concentrated on Vulcan peacefulness and wisdom and overlooked the arrogance. Today it’s the other way round. I wonder why. Perhaps people no longer like being lectured to (I can’t imagine a modern action hero accepting a lecture as gracefully as Kirk does in “Arena”, or, for that matter, at all). Perhaps emotional restraint has come to be seen as a bad thing (it certainly is in the first episodes of Discovery, season 1). Also, “war can be overcome” seems like an outmoded idea these days.
Nothing really to add so I’ll just say that I miss lthe littlesubsections from your re-watches, such as “Can’t we just reverse the polarity?” and “No sex please we’re Starfleet”. They were fun little bits.
Trek has always taken the approach that it’s the job of humanity to bring enlightenment to other races, with a few notable exceptions. The ship shows up, notices that there’s a problem of some sort and we take it upon ourselves to show them the error of their ways. Sure, the Vulcans were somewhat arrogant but they were also to be admired. Amanda even said that the Vulcan way was better than humanity. Of course, we’re now seeing that turned on it’s head in Discovery.
It’s worth noting that Spock only found peace within himself when he embraced his human side. Kirk even said “Of my friend, I can only say this. Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.” as if being human was the pinnacle that all races should strive for.
In Enterprise we saw the beginnings of the Federation and it took a human to bring the various factions together, mostly grudgingly. Nobody else could have done what Archer did, mostly because he’s human. Humans are willing to admit when they’re wrong like Kirk did in Errand of Mercy but the problem is that humans are very rarely shown to be wrong. Seeing as we’re the new kids on the block, you’d figure that we’d be the ones learning from the other races but that’s hardly ever the case.
Starfleet is based on Earth. The Federation is based on Earth. The vast majority of Starfleet crews are human. We just found out that English is the official language of the Federation, even being calledFederation Standard. Azetbur was exaggerating but not by much when she said “The Federation is nothing more than a homo sapiens only club.”.
@75/Jana: “They had already overcome their violent impulses a very long time ago, something the humans on the show had only done recently, and not completely.”
Except for that whole “fight to the death over a mate” business…
To be fair, CLB, that right doesn’t seem to be invoked often, if ever. Everybody is started when T’Pring does. I think Vulcans were admired in the old days, as Jana says. Most fans found their arrogance and condescension justified, Personally I never did. I found Vulcans fascinating but not all that admirable. They definitely needed better manners.
@79/roxana: No, there was a tendency in fandom in the ’70s-’80s, at the very least, to idealize Vulcans. Jean Lorrah’s novels The Vulcan Academy Murders and The IDIC Epidemic (which I think draw on elements from her earlier Vulcan-centric fanfiction) are the most extreme example, portraying Vulcan society in very cozy terms that seemed out of character to me even then.
Yes. Good reads but Vulcans are not that nice. Even our favorite Vulcans Spock and Sarek aren’t ‘nice’. In Journey to Babel Amanda may sincerely consider the Vulcan Way better but that doesn’t keep her from puncturing her husband and son’s stuffed shirts at every opportunity.
@80: That idealized version of Vulcans was a lot easier when we just had Spock as the representative of the culture (and yeah, to a lesser extent, Sarek, Stonn, T’Pau, etc). Once we started actually delving more into the culture and meeting people of different personalities, etc., it’s definitely harder to view it in the same idealized way. V’Las claimed to hold to the same logic that Spock did, as did Soval, T’Pol, V’Lar, T’Les, Tuvok, etc., but all varied from the original template in their own ways
I think that in some ways, Spock was kind of a cypher for the nerd culture that grew up around Star Trek. There was always that sense of the “purging of emotion” as being a defense mechanism. “You can’t hurt me because I feel nothing.” Spock was meek and mild – usually – but fierce and stronger that anyone else when provoked. And of course, he’s mocked for his differences – even by his friends – but knows far more than they do and feels a bit superior for that.
Given that Trekkies (including yours truly) could see so much of themselves in Nimoy’s portrayal of Spock, it’s no wonder Vulcan was idealized as some kind of Geektopia back then.
I have trouble keeping up with Ash Tyler’s mood shifts; especially since I haven’t figured out whether he is a physically altered Voq with an overlay of a fake human personality, or some poor Starfleet dude who was captured by Klingons and became L’Rell’s lab rat and either got some kind of injection of Voq’s DNA and memory patterns or had physical Klingon matter (Voq’s brain and some musculature) surgically transposed. Last season, Tyler freaked out and became Voq-in-a-human shell and nearly murdered Michael. Now he vacillates between being paranoid, fearing L’Rell’s touch as a violation, and remembering being in love with L’Rell and wanting to continue the affair and acknowledging Voq and L’Rell’s infant as his son. Would Tyler really be an asset to Section 31; especially since he might, at any time, feel like sending information to L’Rell? (and sorry, I don’t like the beard).
@83/Pat Floss: The former. Voq’s body and brain changed into Tyler’s.
Having seen this at last, I have to agree with most of the above assessments. The problem with serialized TV is that it’s hard for a single episode to stand out. This one is mostly just moving pieces forward where the Spock/Red Angel plot and the Tilly/May plot are concerned. The L’Rell/Tyler plot is the only one that works as a one-in-done, and it’s probably the most effective part of the episode. But a lot of it is pretty obviously about walking back season 1’s more radical changes to the portrayal of Klingons — they have hair again, they have recognizable D7s again, they lose the face paint, etc. That mechanical aspect of the storytelling distracts a bit from the character/political drama. And the plot also serves to set up the introduction of Section 31, which folks around here probably know I despise the entire concept of, and making them absurdly advanced with technology and weapons centuries ahead of the rest of Starfleet just makes them more obnoxious than ever.
One interesting thing is how blatantly treacherous Kol-Sha’s tactics were — holding a baby hostage, using a paralysis weapon, dishonestly stealing power — and yet nobody in a room full of Klingons condemned him for his dishonor. It reflects how different the Klingon culture was in the 23rd century, less concerned with honor and more comfortable with deceit and deviousness than in the 24th. Which fits well with various Klingon-centric novels exploring the culture’s shifts over time, including my own Live by the Code.
I really disliked the Tilly/May plot, because I am so damned sick of this idiotic attitude in our culture that mental illness is some shameful, stigmatizing thing that people are afraid to talk about. An enlightened future society like the Federation should’ve outgrown that toxic idea long ago and come to the understanding that mental illness is no more shameful than physical illness. The brain is an organ like any other, and sometimes it gets sick or hurt and doesn’t work right, and the sensible thing to do is to get treatment. There was no reason for Tilly to be ashamed of her hallucinations except to prolong the story tension. And heck, anyone who’s studied Starfleet’s missions should’ve already known that there are hundreds of alien phenomena that could trigger hallucinations or use them as an attempt to communicate or whatever. If Tilly’s as smart as she’s supposed to be, she should’ve gone to sickbay or to Burnham the moment she realized May wasn’t real. But the writers forced her to carry a huge idiot ball and made it hard to believe she deserves the command she’s angling for, or even to be in Starfleet in the first place.
Also, the actress playing May is kind of annoying, so her constant hectoring got pretty unpleasant after a while.
Also, why in the heck does a half-marathon require making the corridor lights flicker like there’s a shipwide power failure?
Not much to say about the Burnham/Spock subplot, except it disturbs me that a Starfleet psychiatric facility is apparently using human definitions of empathy disorders to diagnose Vulcans. You’d think they’d recognize that for a culture that embraces emotional control, the baseline would be different. Plus it annoyed me that the script had Amanda restate the common Trek myth that Spock’s emotions come from his human side. People forget that Vulcan logic has to be learned because their innate emotionality is far more intense than humans’.
@85. I’m enjoying reading these catchup reviews. Interesting perspective to see someone watching them faster than everyone else has been. Keep ’em coming…
@86/Spike: I thought I’d be going through them pretty fast, but yesterday the stream overheated my laptop and shut it down, which is worrisome. It was on the second episode I watched within a few hours, so maybe it’s best not to watch them too close together. So I may only get through one or two per day. (I also reduced the image quality to Low and put cold packs from my freezer on the laptop, and I tried blowing some dust out of the vents. And I shut my other open programs down first.)
I’ve never had this problem with Netflix or most other streaming sites. It happened once on Sony Crackle while I was watching Attack the Block, but generally it seems to be commercial networks’ sites that put the most strain on my laptop.
@jeffronicus I agree Amanda’s “Don’t react” comment doesn’t make much sense in the context of their conversion. The reason is probably because it wasn’t intended for anything we saw. If you watch the ‘previously on’ of the next episode ‘An Obol for Charon’, you’ll see a they appear to show something slightly different for when they embrace. It looks like Amanda told Burnham that she “I stole Spock’s medical file” when they embraced in an earlier cut. It’s likely the “Don’t react” comment was intended for this. Instead in the final cut, Amanda only appears to tell Burnham later that she “I stole his medical file” (note the different wording) but the “Don’t react” comment was left in as a stray comment which didn’t make much sense anymore.
This may not be the best place to submit this Pet Theory, but the mention of ‘Bald Klingons’ and those who objected to the look suggests that it is not too inappropriate – it recently struck me that a perfectly plausible explanation for this hitherto unprecedented look would be that it’s a style adopted since that foul up of genetic engineering generated a population of ‘ridge-less’ Klingons back in the ENTERPRISE era; a way of stressing “We have ridges – we have ridges to spare, we have ridges where you puny Humans didn’t even KNOW we had ridges!” that may well have gone out of fashion after the Imperial Reunification (not to mention casualties suffered during ‘Burnham’s War’) encouraged the Great Houses to finally accept the smooth-faced Klingons … as cannon fodder, if nothing else.
On a tangentially related note, one would be interested in seeing how Klingon Histories remember T’kumva; one suspects the historiography surrounding this individual would be a fascinating tissue of exploitation (from those seeking to use him as a Totemic Figure, if only to beat up their political rivals) and obscuration (“Well he wasn’t THAT important, it was really the Great Houses and PROPER Klingons who did all the useful stuff, really there’s no reason to discuss that weirdo so stop writing about him NOW and get back to praising House Kor!”).
I’d be especially interested in learning how Klingon historiography handles the fact that T’Kumva was one downright WEIRD Klingon, especially by the standards of the Warrior Elite which has set the tone for the Empire, both on- and off-screen (Very much in the style of most prophets, his beliefs appear to be a fascinating mixture of the previously-obscure, archaic and downright idiosyncratic).