Comment Stream

Re: SNW S1: A Quality of Mercy

Sometimes a few weeks can do a lot of good for perspective. I haven't thought about SNW much, though I do look forward to Season 2.

For the episode, it had been so long since I saw Balance of Terror that I intuited but didn't fully register the detail of all the parallels being drawn. I thought the finale was an interesting, even insightful way to resolve the issue of Pike's fate. Pike is meant to be the hero in the way that he will be, on a personal, compassionate level, just as he has taken care of his crew all season. He is a good captain, but he is not the mastermind that Kirk will become.

That said, their Kirk, jeesh, no bueno. Forget the no-ham factor - he was drained of all Kirk charisma. If you can't give me some ham, at least give Pike a suave run for his money. I just caught Shatner on Bill Maher's podcast, looking plump as a Christmas, well, you know, and he was 1000x more captivating. This does not bode well for Season 2's expanded Kirk presence.

For the season, SNW was much more enjoyable than any nuTrek I've seen so far. It's a little lightweight, and sometimes I would multi-task as the more paint-by-numbers plots played out. But the characters are captivating, and it feels like something that can grow and deepen with time.

I wish they would let go of the overreliance on mythology and all the references and the Noonien-Singh's and the Spock too human's and just, you know, explore strange new worlds. We'll see what happens.

Thanks in advance, Jammer, for your review and for all your hard work.

Re: SNW S1: Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach

Agree with Jammer on this one, as well as JB’s comment that this episode was “dramatically inert.” It didn’t grate on me but it just never took off. This was Pike’s worst outing.

The plot points surrounding the advanced medical technology for both Pike and M’Benga’s daughter, plus the true purpose of the First Servant, were so paint-by-numbers for me. “Majalans have cure for everything? We can use cure, make Pike melty face handsome again. But no! Majalans are bad, put cute child in The Matrix. No can use cure. Except maybe can make half-cure help daughter.”

Still happily on-board with SNW, just wasn’t a good week. Hit it!

Re: SNW S1: Spock Amok

Aw, seems like the reactions are more split but I rather enjoyed this episode. Although I was bracing myself for the "hijinks," I was pleasantly surprised by the leisurely execution of the episode's theme, learning through shifts in perspective.

Almost paradoxically, SNW's episodic structure allows for more freeform divergences than any of the serialized NuTrek so far. You'd think that with a contained hour, you'd have to stay laser-focused on the plot of the week, but looking back on TNG/DS9 era, there were often B and C stories that were basically "getting to spend time with x characters in a low-stakes situation." They get to be themselves rather than (or in addition to) their crew function.

I felt it was a sign of confidence on the part of the show that we would enjoy hanging out with these characters for an hour, and I did. I agree with Jammer that the Spock-too-human path is well-trod, and the T'Pring/Spock sexy time was my least liked part of the pilot, yet this episode redeemed their relationship for me to the point where I now want to keep up with the couple.

Number One might be the only problem characterization - I'm getting a Dax-like feeling already where there's not really a consistent bead for Una, yet Romijn like Farrell seems game to sell what she's given. I also have to agree with comments that M'Benga is difficult to understand; it seems like he's mumbling a lot. Rand is growing on me; Ortegas is getting by; La'an is awesome; and Pike keeps the train moving.

Most of the episodes have been in three-star territory for me, which is a ginormous improvement from PIC and DIS. My confidence in and appreciation for this show is growing each week.

Re: SNW S1: Memento Mori

Very entertaining episode, felt like the best constructed of the bunch so far. It was meaningful without veering into the overscored, saccharine tendencies of NuTrek. The actors are capable of carrying the weight themselves, especially Anson Mount and Christina Chong, who continues to delight as the Frau Farbissina of the show.

With Uhura, it’s hard for me to buy the danger situations because… she’s Uhura. But Pike sold his relentlessness as something that made me feel like he could be pushing the Enterprise too far, even if I also know the ship will make it.

They’re still finding their balance as a show, but if they can use the sometimes lumbering canon groundwork (every time I hear Lt. Noonien-Singh lol…) to slingshot toward some really well written adventures, we’ll finally have ourselves a Trek for this age.

Re: SNW S1: Ghosts of Illyria

I agree with those who think this will likely fall into the “enjoyable to watch but not inclined to rewatch” category of ST episodes. Strange New Worlds hasn’t yet been so compelling as to engage my complete focus when I watch, but I am genuinely impressed by the well-defined characters, more professional Starfleet attitude, and accessible stories so far.

The light addicts were a cool trippy but scary feature of this episode, along with the ion ghosts. I like La’an but thinking she would change her name. Is La’an Hitler taken? The questions about Una’s medical records are warranted, though Bashir skated through that as well. The emotional weight of M’Benga hiding his daughter in the pattern buffer and the way Una handled it overcame the klunkiness of its place in the plot for me.

I would like fewer Easter eggs/superficial links to the Trek IP universe. Christina Chong has already provided a terrific darkness to explore in La’an without having to twist/retKhan her family history. I’d love to see her go on Maury to learn that “Khan is NOT your grandfather!” so they could ditch the inevitable villain relative storylines, but I don’t think I’m going to win that one.

Watching DS9 for the first time (this year!), other than the Pilot, I really had to keep myself pushing through Season One until I got to Duet. I’m not pushing myself at all with SNW. I think I would like it even more if not for my goodwill being so depleted by the bowel movement that was Picard Season 2. For now, I’m happy to enjoy the new ride.

Re: SNW S1: Strange New Worlds

2.5 stars.

As RuPaul says, “Don’t f*** it up,” and they didn’t. They took a likable zaddy lead, surrounded him with a good team of characters that register, smeared on some TOS sparkle, and let the basic premise of Star Trek fly.

It wasn’t super compelling but it also wasn’t horrible, and after ten weeks of Picard, I’ll take not horrible. It was your standard, just-better-than-average, non-offensive, likely a-okay testing television pilot.

Pilot Research notes:

“Pike was the most liked character among the cast, but no cast member rated below average. Pike’s strength and sense of humor were his highest-rated qualities. Some viewers were uncomfortable during the romantic scenes with Spock, and felt the flashes of Pike’s accident should be toned down in the future. Viewers familiar with Star Trek appreciated the references to past shows, while those unfamiliar with Star Trek did not feel distracted or out-of-the-loop. among the supporting cast, La’an’s character arc received the most positive feedback; viewers would like to see more of her and learn more about her past struggles and family. 56% of viewers said they would definitely watch weekly, while 22% said they would want to watch another episode first. 12% were not sure and 10% would not watch again.”

Re: PIC S2: Farewell

Well, that happened.

If the storylines had been engaging in the first place, the resolutions might have landed better as well. A lot of dutiful box checking. I have zero desire to know about all the unchecked boxes and inconsistencies - it’s like looking over someone’s work on a failed math test.

The saddest part for me is the need to regurgitate and explain every mystery of the earlier shows, to answer every question. The Borg are scary as hell because they’re the relentless specter of death that’s coming for us all. The mystery of Guinan was beautiful. They mystery of Q was mischievous and menacing.

Picard drained that away for what? To create and solve a mystery where there wasn’t one. Picard wasn’t a mystery. He was a strong captain who was amazing at his job. I did not see him on a desperate run from his demons. He could be stern and stiff, acting as some authority figures do to maintain objectivity for command decisions, but he was always a thoughtful leader.

I like that Q admitted a certain fondness for Picard - it felt right given his sustained interest. John de Lancie is so compelling that when he held Picard’s head in his hands and said even a god has favorites, I got goosebumps. Picard felt small and Q was magnetic yet compassionate. Chills. Loved it.

Picard hugging Q made me want to puke. I seriously can’t believe they hugged it out. Ridiculous and wrong.

Goodbye, Rios. You were a smart man and Cute Doctor is a lucky lady. Your cigar out-acted everyone else on the show, so I get why they underlined Every. Single. Callback.

We dumped all this supermarket psychology into Agnes Borgati for a payoff that took zero advantage of it, Edith Piaf and “We needed a friend” notwithstanding. And it is so NuTrek to set-up a season with “We’re gonna blow up a starship and kill Picard!” to “No wait, actually we’re going to blow up THE GALAXY!” to “Just kidding, Elnor’s back!”

Does anyone ever die on Star Trek anymore? Evagora is a super cute cosplayer but Jesus, 10,000 reunion beats with Elnor. I was on the floor when Q asked “Who?” and wish they’d left it at that.

I think Picard takes the cake for throwing Star Trek IP into a plot microwave and serving it to us as a show. After things completely unraveled by mid-season and it was clear they’d lost control of their narrative (again!), I joked that I was just looking for the drunk to make it out of the bar without falling down or puking out too much more story. Mission Basically Accomplished. We can now shake our heads and turn back to our drinks and conversation.

Shut up, Wesley!

Re: PIC S2: Hide and Seek

The mission was to hold the ship; therefore, everyone runs or beams away from the ship and tries to fight their way back via numerous, mindless action sequences.

Pew pew pew! Pew pew pew pew! Pew pew!

Mamaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!!!

I choo choo choose you… Happy Galentine’s Day, Borati!

The sloppy drunk that is this season ambles toward the exit, occasionally squinting their eyes into focus via basic psychoexpositional resolution and an alternate vision of the Borg as lonely losers who bond through hive-thinking and advanced weaponry. What could go wrong? Stay tuned!

Re: PIC S2: Mercy

Yes, this episode was an improvement over the last couple, just like a standing drunk is an improvement over a puking drunk.

The crux of Wells' backstory was the best part for me, and the most indicative of the season's shortcomings. I loved the idea that he would be driven by a traumatic experience that made him think alien "invasion" vs. "exploration," and that leading him to the truth converts him to an ally. Felt like decent Trek to me.

The shortcoming, of course, is that it's presented mostly ham-handed and underbaked, introducing and seemingly exiting a character in one shot who is strangely able to hold Pic and G in a bad X-Files basement, separating them and reuniting them only to serve the mechanics of who needs to know/hear/reveal plot info at certain points.

I'd have loved to see Wells layered into the season earlier. We could have seen him get the surveillance of Pic transporting in, then collecting other info and trying to make sense of it while we also learn Wells' backstory, so that when they finally do meet, it is more momentous and we understand the stakes for Wells going in, even why he is willing to lose his job to prove his point.

Instead, Guinan beams in and whispers "humans are stuck in the past" to Picard, who then asks, "what motivates you, guest character of the week?" and receives a detailed, direct answer. Wells had the potential to become a more plausible Gillian-like ally than Cute Doctor, helping the crew and maybe even going back to the future with them because he's dedicated his life to finding what's out there and "there's nothing for me here." (Rather than the current direction we are charting, "Cute Doctor's son likes him some replicator cake.")

Anyway, we've got the drunk standing up. Now we'll just watch him wobble toward the exit and hope that he makes it through the finale door without falling down or puking a dozen plot strands on his way out. Maybe he'll even brush the schmutz off his shirt and walk through the door with some dignity. Maybe.

Re: PIC S2: Monsters

This is what I think the Germans call fremdscham - being embarrassed for someone who has embarrassed themselves.

I had an inkling of how Picard’s millimeter-deep self-analysis was going to go down, and it hit just about every false note I expected, including that something was wrong with mummy’s head. Watching the VFX, I kept thinking about how much money they spent to tell a story this cheap. My Ambien-inflected viewing experience made this episode much more bearable, but unfortunately not forgettable.

Since Guinan summoned Q from a bottle like I Dream of Jeannie, perhaps Picard can summon the TNG team by wriggling his nose back and forth.

Also Picard is Su’Kal. Picard’s trauma caused The Burn. Discuss.

Re: PIC S2: Fly Me to the Moon

@Jaxon: I know we have to be ready for that letdown lol, though I was excited to see all the TNG cast names in the S3 announcement.

I'm in total alignment with Jammer's review for last week's episode, and this episode was just as bad for me:

- Picard talking about how good his crew was before they dragged the cop into frame was so clunky it hurt. I was like "Here's the set-up.... and.... the payoff..." *ennui*
- not-Data and not-Soji's not-story, though I agree with comments that this may develop into the more important part of the timeline blip, as opposed to Wrennay Picarrrrrr....d.
- The Secret Service security for the world's glitziest astronaut gala.
- The Keystone Kops location of Agnes' holding room.
- Agnes' transformation into a (now-malevolent) Cathy cartoon.
- Raffi, who really needs a session with Sybok.

The Voyage Home continues to be one of the most bonkers high-concept movie ideas ever - not just in Star Trek, EVER - and yet the pure joy of its execution is light years beyond what we're seeing almost 40 years later. I'm hoping S3: The Search for Tasha will recapture that warmth, or at least give us a serviceable holodeck malfunction lol.

***

Finding Jammer only recently has been refreshing and frustrating. I usually stay away from comments because they can be so toxic; maybe I've been poisoned myself, but I feel the commenters spend way more time thinking through these shows and their potential than the actual writers do. I get more out of what I read here than when I'm watching the shows themselves, though I'm still not sure that's healthy lol.

I recognize that there are people who have positive reactions to these shows, including this episode, but has anyone come across a strong overall case or casemaker for NuTrek (not the pandering "reviews"), even if you don't agree with them? Thank you!

Re: DSC S4: Coming Home

@Quincy, I appreciate that you considered Book's connection with the 10-C very deeply. My experience of it was less impactful for a couple reasons: 1) The writers had to give Book his presto-change-o Death/Resurrection and immediately follow it with his Big Finale Moment. Book was literally beamed in right at that plot point just to make his speech, which detracted from the scene for me. 2) The 10-C are portrayed as both an amazingly advanced species and one of extreme naïveté, overlooking less-advanced lifeforms/inhabited planets and ignorant that their supermachine produces toxic waste, yet able to connect with these beings on both an intellectual and emotional level within a few hours of meeting and being betrayed by them. A lot of whiplash there.

Because the writers tossed the tough linguistics-building of the prior episode to give the team a universal translator for the finale, conversation was easy and Rillak’s storied diplomacy had already kicked in: “Big machine hurt Earth. Big machine hurt people. No make big machine run.” 10-C responds to both the words spoken and the emotions they observe pretty well. If she’d only added “Big machine tailpipe hurt us too,” she would have gotten all necessary points across.

So what’s Book’s special function? His speech doesn't track when you follow the actual words, which for me were a bunch of strung together platitudes that skim the ignorance of environmental destruction, COVID-19 topicality (you need to get out of your bubble), “interconnection,” and honor thy killed by not killing others. Of course Book and the show glide over his own culpability in the conflict so he can deliver the Important Lesson of the World Root.

If Book had dropped most of the speech and focused on empathically communicating his sense of loss to 10-C, I might have experienced that moment with more weight. (Btw I love David Ajala and his delivery here.) I don't think I missed the point, I just didn't buy the moment. If you truly got what you wrote from the Book/10-C exchange, I'm happy that it connected for you and accept that I may have missed out.

@Mosley: "Like, I hated most ferengi stories on DS9 and still do. But clearly, the makers looooved their ferengi. They loved the nephew of the bartender character more than DSC will ever care for 90% of its Bridge crew.”

YESSSSSSSS. I am not as anti-DS9-Ferengi as many are, but you’re so right, when DS9 doubles down on character, for better and sometimes worse, they are committed. They earn their character moments and make them memorable.

@N: "Michael in S3-4 is merely bad in the same kind of way that Janeway and Archer were bad. Believe it or not, that's progress.” LOL, love your character points and thoughts on ENT and ST history. I sadly agree about Tilly’s characterization getting worse over time and never liked Stamets. The “extras" were a bit better this season, but I did laugh whenever they so deliberately tried to make things a team effort. I’d say they used the mouths of the other cast to spread the one-note dialogue around more evenly as opposed to "developing" any of these characters.

@Jammer: I think you’re being super considerate and measured in your analysis. It’s easy to be a hater and I appreciate you sifting through the puddles of emotion hydrocarbons to give this show points for trying. I picture Discovery as the toddler bringing you a drawing of a rainbow and three unevenly shaped stick figures with an ear-to-ear grin of satisfaction. “Good job, Discovery! You kept your crayons on the paper and everything!”

Re: DSC S4: Coming Home

StevenA

Ah, very good! I just rewatched that bit, and totally, there was a sense that United Earth was in transition and now had a non-isolationist leader. The reverence holds up, then.

I still would have liked a couple self-reflective beats to underscore the change more than "There is nothing to discuss," but it's of a piece with the string of happy time, coming together finale moments.

Thank you!

Re: DSC S4: Coming Home

@Jeffrey's Tube

Your catch about United Earth is spot-on, but I do think the show was trying to have it both ways. Earth's post-Burn isolationist history should have given us a differently characterized President, but I didn't clock that until you brought it up because the President was presented with such reverence.

I think the reverence was intentional: "Look who we made President! Wouldn't that be swell?" To get to that, though, they had to sidestep the logic of what type of leader Earth's history would have produced, which they do literally right out of the gate when she says "There's nothing to discuss." (Earth not like Federation? Romulan ale for all!)

Of course, the President would be immensely grateful to the Federation, but that meeting could have been more grudging, remorseful, or self-reflective, with United Earth's leader expressing the error of their ways and having to eat some humble pie. It would have only required a few beats to get that across, but a) Discovery is not a disciplined shop when it comes to consistency, b) They didn't want to put across a flawed President within this cameo, and/or c) They didn't want to push a non-actor too hard.

I think getting to play this role would be a dream, but in the end, Abrams is as stuck with those writers as we are.

Re: DSC S4: Coming Home

Totally underwhelmed by the finale for many of the reasons mentioned already:

1. No consequences and no real challenges. Everyone survives and thrives but the bad guy.

Vance and Tilly staying behind to sacrifice themselves? Nope. T'Rina's overwhelming mind meld? Nope. (And all for "They are confused" - Troi-level insight!) Book sending Reno back with the one transporter to sacrifice himself? Nope. Ndoye's suicide flight mission? Nope. Tarka sending Book back to sacrifice himself? No-- okay, sort of, but they pulled that trick two minutes ago with Reno.

Discovery sacrificing the spore drive to enjoy some Voyager cosplay next season? Nope. Earth and Ni'Var? Nope. I didn't want mass extinction, but I never really felt that threat. And I can't even with the warp-capable HQ: "Each deck of Federation Headquarters is able to function independently, essentially as its own lifeboat." Okay, it's 3190, but *smacks head*.

On TNG, I'll never forget Riker saying "Fire" knowing that he was about to take out Picard/Locutus - we know that Patrick Stewart isn't leaving the show, yet the results didn't feel like a cheat, and the mental stakes of Riker's decision are so much more resonant for me than any of the fake sacrifices they make over and over on Discovery, only to have them almost instantly resolved.

2. The 10-C experience goes from e=mc2 to ep13=happy finale time.

After the painstaking math/hydrocarbon/light show linguistics build-up of last week, when Rillak started speaking to 10-C, I was like, "Slow down, they won't be able to translate tha-- oh." I'd have bought that they can exchange more info than last episode, but it went straight to complex conversation to suit the urgency of the plot.

There was a lot of interesting, Star Trekkian opportunity to explore how a higher intelligence perceives less evolved lifeforms that gets watered down to: "Oops. Our bad." How could the 10-C not register other intelligent lifeforms capable of interstellar travel? Aren't the spaceships a hint? Wouldn't they at least be interested in the spore drive?

The 10-C are not humanoid, but they were living on a planet, cared for their young, and are capable of emotional empathy and fear-based protective action. Yet their scanners didn't pick up similar beings? If they saw us as ants, I might get it, but the finale didn't explore this disconnect in perception.

The one as many / many as one aspect bears no fruit and did not add anything to the 10-C. I don't even get the logic of Book's speech or why it makes a difference:

10-C: "Sorry 'bout that, we'll recalibrate our sensors."
Book: "We are interconnected! Make it right!"
10-C: "Okay, we'll drop our defense system for good and beam you back to Earth. Have a nice day."

3. Star Trek fans want to be on board but Discovery makes it so hard.

All the Star Trek shows have their weak points, but in the end, I just don’t care about Discovery's characters and the way they are constantly shuffled around as plot devices, which cheapens the characters and the plots.

All the “rah-rah we’re a team, we’re Starfleet, let’s fly” stuff is laid on so thick, when all you need are characters making character-motivated decisions that show us they genuinely care about each other and their collective mission. They tell us but they don’t show us.

What individually motivates the Disco characters? I’m thinking of DS9 and TNG and how the exchanges they have as a unit/team are fully informed by their backgrounds and histories, which we’ve often seen develop through episodes focusing on individual characters. Tilly and Culber might be the closest secondary characters with depth, but they have both been lost in the ether. This show is such a character pile-on that I often have to remind myself of their names and jobs when I see them. I miss Georgiou.

What’s most disappointing is that Discovery has gone from darkly intriguing and messy (Season 1) to painstakingly boring and schematic (Season 4). It’s a true paradox for me that it’s gotten better and worse at the same time. As always, better luck next season.