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Re: MAND S1: Chapter 4: Sanctuary
The weakest episode of the first season, I think. As you mention, there's just not much here, and it feels a little too cliche`.
The weakest episode of the first season, I think. As you mention, there's just not much here, and it feels a little too cliche`.
Re: MAND S1: Chapter 2: The Child
I enjoyed the first episode of the show and was hooked by the Baby Yoda reveal, but the opening sandcrawler chase scene in this one was what made me sit up and pay attention. It was the most exciting action scene I'd witnessed in Star Wars since that first Millenium Falcon chase scene* in The Force Awakens, and it was being done on TV!
I have really, really enjoyed the show's back-to-basics episodic approach to storytelling in the era of streaming epics with plodding, convoluted plots and juggling multiple character arcs through overlong runtimes.
*A scene so fun they tried to duplicate it in each subsequent sequel to *severely* diminishing returns
I enjoyed the first episode of the show and was hooked by the Baby Yoda reveal, but the opening sandcrawler chase scene in this one was what made me sit up and pay attention. It was the most exciting action scene I'd witnessed in Star Wars since that first Millenium Falcon chase scene* in The Force Awakens, and it was being done on TV!
I have really, really enjoyed the show's back-to-basics episodic approach to storytelling in the era of streaming epics with plodding, convoluted plots and juggling multiple character arcs through overlong runtimes.
*A scene so fun they tried to duplicate it in each subsequent sequel to *severely* diminishing returns
Re: VOY S5: Relativity
I'm surprised that when Season 5 Janeway was transported to the Season 2 time period no one noticed how much shorter her hair was.
I'm surprised that when Season 5 Janeway was transported to the Season 2 time period no one noticed how much shorter her hair was.
Re: VOY S7: Endgame
@ grumpy_otter
Very well put....I understand the connection over the years with other commenters on a great tv show...or any show for that matter.
I used to be a regular commenter on the remake of Battlestar Galactica....and wow did we have some interesting discussions. When the show ended I was probably more sad that I lost the connections to the friends I'd made on the forum than I was of the show ending......so yes...I know where you are coming from.
I think I am a little jealous that I missed the party with Star Trek Voyager (years after the final episode) and I was pleasantly surprised the post was still open....a tribute to the quality of the commenters.
Thank you for your feedback!!
ps Happy New Year!
@ grumpy_otter
Very well put....I understand the connection over the years with other commenters on a great tv show...or any show for that matter.
I used to be a regular commenter on the remake of Battlestar Galactica....and wow did we have some interesting discussions. When the show ended I was probably more sad that I lost the connections to the friends I'd made on the forum than I was of the show ending......so yes...I know where you are coming from.
I think I am a little jealous that I missed the party with Star Trek Voyager (years after the final episode) and I was pleasantly surprised the post was still open....a tribute to the quality of the commenters.
Thank you for your feedback!!
ps Happy New Year!
Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2
Great review Jammer, and I find myself agreeing on nearly everything. Particularly the egregious turbolift fight; the episode was never going to win me back after that.
Great review Jammer, and I find myself agreeing on nearly everything. Particularly the egregious turbolift fight; the episode was never going to win me back after that.
Re: DSC S3: There Is a Tide...
Deadpan Jammer is my favourite Jammer:
"Turns out there's more to Osyraa than previous episodes — in which she, say, fed her nephew to giant worms — had indicated."
😂😂😂
Deadpan Jammer is my favourite Jammer:
"Turns out there's more to Osyraa than previous episodes — in which she, say, fed her nephew to giant worms — had indicated."
😂😂😂
Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2
Well, that was shit.
Not 100% shit. As in "Su'Kal", the material with Saru and the Su'Kal was decent enough. I'm fine with The Burn being a result of his bizarre technobabble link to dilithium (which itself is usually just a story macguffin that is surpisingly unexamined given Trek's long history). In fact, I think I even prefer it to yet another vast conspiracy or convoluted plot.
Burnham continues to Die Hard her way into taking back the ship, with some just-fine fight scenes and shootouts. This was entertaining enough.
And Oded Fehr as Vance was, as always, excellent.
Everything else... well. Hooboy.
* The flashy spinning cameras felt particularly obnoxious and pointless this episode, even for this show.
* No further story for Stamets, who has no agency and is unceremoniously railroaded out of the finale. Guess they just didn't know what to do with him, because they were too busy with so many other great script ideas, like...
* Osyra reverts from being a more complex character than we thought, back to Discount Seska.
* How can the computer on the crashed, creaking Kelpien ship read Adira's mind and project Grey, who also apparently exists independently of her? Because shut up, the script said so, that's why, aren't you touched by their now-repetitive scenes? Don't you understand this is a plot they brought into existence without knowing where it was going, or what arc it was taking Adira along, and now they need to wrap it up 'cause there's only thirty minutes of the season left?
* The stupendously vast, cavernous interior space of the Discovery as presented on screen in previous seasons in those brief VFX shots was *so* jarringly ridiculous and stupid that I honestly cannot believe that the producers have doubled down on it by setting an entire action climax within it. Like, I don't usually like having to resort to all-caps, but here goes: THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE AND INSULTS THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUR AUDIENCE TO A SHAMELESS DEGREE.
It is completely divorced from the reality of the show, and exists purely because the writers were too unimaginative to think of something that actually did work within the bounds of that reality. It's the kind of thing that *cannot* have escaped notice while they were writing and producing it, and they went "Eh, fuck it, who cares".
Well, congratulations, show, I stopped caring about your story from basically that second onwards, because once again the episode was not being driven by the characters or the setting, but because the script said so, so shut up and eat your popcorn, idiot.
* Burnham is finally Captain of the ship. I'm actually okay with that part; it will finally address the glaring structural problem this show has always had from day one by making its primary protagonist a subordinate who nevertheless has to drive events.
No, my problem is that this is done with zero screentime shared between her and Saru and no explanation throughout the entire season of how she went from believing that "It's always been you" (to Saru in episode 2!) to it now being her. Yes, we saw Burnham reaffirm her belief in Starfleet back in "Unification III", but there was no development at all of why she suddenly thought she was leadership material.
* Saru just gave away the captain's chair for no reason other than the writers deemed it so. I actually quite liked him in the hot seat and thought the lessons being learned the whole season might have been going somewhere. Well turns out they were, and that place was "some people just can't grow into being good leaders ever and would be better off standing aside for insubordinate mutineers with extremely checkered service records". What an inspiring message!
"That Hope Is You, Part 2": 1 star
Star Trek Discovery season 3: 2 stars. What I wanted from the show from the get go was some episodic Star Trek goodness that didn't completely forget what happened last week. Season 1 didn't satisfy that desire, although the batshit-insane super fast-paced master plot kept me very entertained for the most part. Season 2 upped the quality of the standalones and kept that breathless pace, but had a far less interesting season arc (oo, evil AI, never seen that before).
Season 3, on the other hand, served up a number of very generic and unambitious action adventure tales that wouldn't have felt out of place alongside some of the Berman era's most forgettable stories, and barely had a master plot at all beyond the mystery of the Burn. The pieces were all there for interesting world building and character development; the new future setting gave the show permission to truly start from a clean slate.
Instead, we got "That Hope Is You, Part 1" (snooze), "People of Earth" (how's Earth? Who cares, we're only spending five minutes there!), "Scavengers" (meh), "The Sanctuary" (zzzzzzz), and "Terra Firma" (which I actually really liked, but also wasted two entire episodes of the season in literally a different universe on a character who was being written out). If you're keeping score, that is half of the season's episodes wasted on irrelevant schlock.
Character development? Well, at least Detmer got a little bit. Otherwise: Burnham is still Jesus, Saru gave up on leadership, Stamets was literally ejected from the final story, and Tilly was not promoted despite being an obviously capable junior officer and everyone singing her praises. The rest of the bridge crew are bland ciphers. You could almost make an argument that *Osyra*, the villain of the season who appeared in a grand total of three episodes, had more character development in "There Is A Tide" than the main cast.
Gergiou actually had the best character development of the season... and was then written off the show.
Was I entertained by Discovery this year? Yeah, kinda, sorta. I didn't feel the need to switch it off in disgust. But neither was I ever really excited or energised by it as I was previously. Of the five seasons of Trek we've had since it returned to TV, Disco season 3 is by *far* the weakest.
See you all around for whatever the next one is! (Picard season 2? Lower Decks - actually not that since Jammer doesn't review it. Strange New Worlds? Section 31?")
Well, that was shit.
Not 100% shit. As in "Su'Kal", the material with Saru and the Su'Kal was decent enough. I'm fine with The Burn being a result of his bizarre technobabble link to dilithium (which itself is usually just a story macguffin that is surpisingly unexamined given Trek's long history). In fact, I think I even prefer it to yet another vast conspiracy or convoluted plot.
Burnham continues to Die Hard her way into taking back the ship, with some just-fine fight scenes and shootouts. This was entertaining enough.
And Oded Fehr as Vance was, as always, excellent.
Everything else... well. Hooboy.
* The flashy spinning cameras felt particularly obnoxious and pointless this episode, even for this show.
* No further story for Stamets, who has no agency and is unceremoniously railroaded out of the finale. Guess they just didn't know what to do with him, because they were too busy with so many other great script ideas, like...
* Osyra reverts from being a more complex character than we thought, back to Discount Seska.
* How can the computer on the crashed, creaking Kelpien ship read Adira's mind and project Grey, who also apparently exists independently of her? Because shut up, the script said so, that's why, aren't you touched by their now-repetitive scenes? Don't you understand this is a plot they brought into existence without knowing where it was going, or what arc it was taking Adira along, and now they need to wrap it up 'cause there's only thirty minutes of the season left?
* The stupendously vast, cavernous interior space of the Discovery as presented on screen in previous seasons in those brief VFX shots was *so* jarringly ridiculous and stupid that I honestly cannot believe that the producers have doubled down on it by setting an entire action climax within it. Like, I don't usually like having to resort to all-caps, but here goes: THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE AND INSULTS THE INTELLIGENCE OF YOUR AUDIENCE TO A SHAMELESS DEGREE.
It is completely divorced from the reality of the show, and exists purely because the writers were too unimaginative to think of something that actually did work within the bounds of that reality. It's the kind of thing that *cannot* have escaped notice while they were writing and producing it, and they went "Eh, fuck it, who cares".
Well, congratulations, show, I stopped caring about your story from basically that second onwards, because once again the episode was not being driven by the characters or the setting, but because the script said so, so shut up and eat your popcorn, idiot.
* Burnham is finally Captain of the ship. I'm actually okay with that part; it will finally address the glaring structural problem this show has always had from day one by making its primary protagonist a subordinate who nevertheless has to drive events.
No, my problem is that this is done with zero screentime shared between her and Saru and no explanation throughout the entire season of how she went from believing that "It's always been you" (to Saru in episode 2!) to it now being her. Yes, we saw Burnham reaffirm her belief in Starfleet back in "Unification III", but there was no development at all of why she suddenly thought she was leadership material.
* Saru just gave away the captain's chair for no reason other than the writers deemed it so. I actually quite liked him in the hot seat and thought the lessons being learned the whole season might have been going somewhere. Well turns out they were, and that place was "some people just can't grow into being good leaders ever and would be better off standing aside for insubordinate mutineers with extremely checkered service records". What an inspiring message!
"That Hope Is You, Part 2": 1 star
Star Trek Discovery season 3: 2 stars. What I wanted from the show from the get go was some episodic Star Trek goodness that didn't completely forget what happened last week. Season 1 didn't satisfy that desire, although the batshit-insane super fast-paced master plot kept me very entertained for the most part. Season 2 upped the quality of the standalones and kept that breathless pace, but had a far less interesting season arc (oo, evil AI, never seen that before).
Season 3, on the other hand, served up a number of very generic and unambitious action adventure tales that wouldn't have felt out of place alongside some of the Berman era's most forgettable stories, and barely had a master plot at all beyond the mystery of the Burn. The pieces were all there for interesting world building and character development; the new future setting gave the show permission to truly start from a clean slate.
Instead, we got "That Hope Is You, Part 1" (snooze), "People of Earth" (how's Earth? Who cares, we're only spending five minutes there!), "Scavengers" (meh), "The Sanctuary" (zzzzzzz), and "Terra Firma" (which I actually really liked, but also wasted two entire episodes of the season in literally a different universe on a character who was being written out). If you're keeping score, that is half of the season's episodes wasted on irrelevant schlock.
Character development? Well, at least Detmer got a little bit. Otherwise: Burnham is still Jesus, Saru gave up on leadership, Stamets was literally ejected from the final story, and Tilly was not promoted despite being an obviously capable junior officer and everyone singing her praises. The rest of the bridge crew are bland ciphers. You could almost make an argument that *Osyra*, the villain of the season who appeared in a grand total of three episodes, had more character development in "There Is A Tide" than the main cast.
Gergiou actually had the best character development of the season... and was then written off the show.
Was I entertained by Discovery this year? Yeah, kinda, sorta. I didn't feel the need to switch it off in disgust. But neither was I ever really excited or energised by it as I was previously. Of the five seasons of Trek we've had since it returned to TV, Disco season 3 is by *far* the weakest.
See you all around for whatever the next one is! (Picard season 2? Lower Decks - actually not that since Jammer doesn't review it. Strange New Worlds? Section 31?")
Re: DSC S3: There Is a Tide...
This episode had a lot of disparate elements to it, and I liked all of them. The main problem is cohesion, and a through-line for the episode. As AMA said above, what story are the writers trying to tell here? It's hard to tell. It's what prevents this episode from being top-shelf Trek material.
That said, it was a pretty entertaining hour of television. We've seen the "take back the ship" plot a thousand times before, but thankfully it wasn't the only focus of the episode and was executed well. (Everyone following Ensign Tilly's orders here is still *insane* to me, even if I think she's not a bad commander.)
The best material of the episode, I think, was the negotiations between Dadmiral Vance and Discount Seska. Vance just continues to be a magnetic presence whenever he's on screen and radiates authority and wisdom. Oded Fehr is just perfect in the role. His casual delivery of "They're made of our shit, you know" referring to replicated food made me laugh out loud, and you could feel how tantalised he was by the prospect of piece without letting that feeling overwhelm his hard-nosed judgement of what would be required.
RE the Stamets story, I truly empathised with Stamets here. Especially with Burnham being the one to deny him the ability to rescue his loved ones; you just KNOW that if the table were turned, she'd probably gun down half the ship to save her mum, or Book.
Speaking of Burnham, SMG's Die Hard turn was fine. Nothing particularly memorable but nothing to complain about either.
It was nice to see Zara (if that's how you spell it) back to. I quite like that actor as well, although he was WAY more menacing in his first appearance. Making him Discount Seska's lapdog detracted from it.
All in all, I look forward to the finale without the trepidation I had in previous years. The FATE OF ALL ORGANIC LIFE or EARTH BEING RAZED BY THE KLINGONS is not on the table here; just a distressed Kelpian kid, Saru's growth as a leader, and a great big baddie ship that is just *begging* to get blowed up real good. Hope they do it creatively!
But if they don't, meh. I can deal.
This episode had a lot of disparate elements to it, and I liked all of them. The main problem is cohesion, and a through-line for the episode. As AMA said above, what story are the writers trying to tell here? It's hard to tell. It's what prevents this episode from being top-shelf Trek material.
That said, it was a pretty entertaining hour of television. We've seen the "take back the ship" plot a thousand times before, but thankfully it wasn't the only focus of the episode and was executed well. (Everyone following Ensign Tilly's orders here is still *insane* to me, even if I think she's not a bad commander.)
The best material of the episode, I think, was the negotiations between Dadmiral Vance and Discount Seska. Vance just continues to be a magnetic presence whenever he's on screen and radiates authority and wisdom. Oded Fehr is just perfect in the role. His casual delivery of "They're made of our shit, you know" referring to replicated food made me laugh out loud, and you could feel how tantalised he was by the prospect of piece without letting that feeling overwhelm his hard-nosed judgement of what would be required.
RE the Stamets story, I truly empathised with Stamets here. Especially with Burnham being the one to deny him the ability to rescue his loved ones; you just KNOW that if the table were turned, she'd probably gun down half the ship to save her mum, or Book.
Speaking of Burnham, SMG's Die Hard turn was fine. Nothing particularly memorable but nothing to complain about either.
It was nice to see Zara (if that's how you spell it) back to. I quite like that actor as well, although he was WAY more menacing in his first appearance. Making him Discount Seska's lapdog detracted from it.
All in all, I look forward to the finale without the trepidation I had in previous years. The FATE OF ALL ORGANIC LIFE or EARTH BEING RAZED BY THE KLINGONS is not on the table here; just a distressed Kelpian kid, Saru's growth as a leader, and a great big baddie ship that is just *begging* to get blowed up real good. Hope they do it creatively!
But if they don't, meh. I can deal.
Re: DSC S3: Su'Kal
I'll wait and see where this is all going, but my initial thoughts are mixed:
* I liked the malfunctioning holodeck conceit taken to the Nth degree here.
* As Booming noted, Burnham being concerned about someone else's objectivity was genuinely hilarious. I don't think that's what the writers were going for.
* I still hate Tilly being in charge because it just reminds me of how underdeveloped the rest of the bridge crew has been, but I also think she's doing well in the role and enjoy Mary Wiseman's performance. Her banter with Discount Seska (thanks, Karl Zimmerman! 😂) was actually super entertaining to me.
* Nick brought this up in the first comment: WTF is going on with beaming through shields nowadays? Are we just not bothering with that idea anymore? Because if that's no longer a thing, as this episode repeatedly demonstrated, it's universe-breaking. Voyager played especially fast and loose with that particular Star Trek Rule in its later days, but Disco seems to have just forgotten about it entirely. If you can just beam whereever you want, whenever you want, and if the tech has been miniaturised into a badge that everyone carries, then no ship should ever allow an enemy ship into transporter range of itself ever again lest they get boarded and pantsed the way the Disco crew was here.
* The Burn just being an accident is actually fine by me. Disco season 3 has successfully been operating with lower stakes for its mystery arc than prior years, such that even if the Burn plotline ends unsatisfactorily, it's not going to retroactively make the whole season worse for me the way that it has in the past.
I'll wait and see where this is all going, but my initial thoughts are mixed:
* I liked the malfunctioning holodeck conceit taken to the Nth degree here.
* As Booming noted, Burnham being concerned about someone else's objectivity was genuinely hilarious. I don't think that's what the writers were going for.
* I still hate Tilly being in charge because it just reminds me of how underdeveloped the rest of the bridge crew has been, but I also think she's doing well in the role and enjoy Mary Wiseman's performance. Her banter with Discount Seska (thanks, Karl Zimmerman! 😂) was actually super entertaining to me.
* Nick brought this up in the first comment: WTF is going on with beaming through shields nowadays? Are we just not bothering with that idea anymore? Because if that's no longer a thing, as this episode repeatedly demonstrated, it's universe-breaking. Voyager played especially fast and loose with that particular Star Trek Rule in its later days, but Disco seems to have just forgotten about it entirely. If you can just beam whereever you want, whenever you want, and if the tech has been miniaturised into a badge that everyone carries, then no ship should ever allow an enemy ship into transporter range of itself ever again lest they get boarded and pantsed the way the Disco crew was here.
* The Burn just being an accident is actually fine by me. Disco season 3 has successfully been operating with lower stakes for its mystery arc than prior years, such that even if the Burn plotline ends unsatisfactorily, it's not going to retroactively make the whole season worse for me the way that it has in the past.
Re: DSC S3: Terra Firma, Part 2
I liked it. Georgiou's been massively out of place on Disco the entire season, even moreso than in previous years, and whilst I found it welcome early on as a foil to Saru, it very quickly became implausible to keep her around whilst at the same time being honest to the show's new mission statement of upholding and rebuilding Federation values. Writing her out felt like a question of when, not if.
Well, "when" has finally arrived, and not only did it actually manage to sell me on the idea that this brutal genocidal maniac has been genuinely changed by her time in the Prime, but it also sold me on Burnham continuing to put up with her for as long as she has. We know that Burnham has never gotten over the guilt of betraying Prime Georgiou, and letting her accompany the Mirror version on this final journey felt like a nice way of putting a bow on one of the show's longest-running character threads.
Just like when Saru invited her to dinner, though, I do find it massively improbable that the crew would gather to toast her farewell with jokes and good vibes rather than sheer relief that she was finally, finally no longer their problem. Oh well, at least we won't be putting up with that narrative dissonance any longer.
In a way this is exactly the storyline that I felt that season 1 was lacking. Season 1 gave us Lorca, an MU imposter, who upon his return to the MU showed he hadn't been changed one bit by his time in a kinder, gentler place. It felt like a huge missed opportunity and cheapened his exit from the show.
Final thought: I got a kick out of the Guardian of Forever tie-in with the Temporal War stuff. Makes perfect sense that that particular one-off uber-powerful Star Trek technology that was never mentioned again since its introduction would have been a terrific prize to any faction in a time war, as does it deciding for itself to bugger off somewhere else.
I liked it. Georgiou's been massively out of place on Disco the entire season, even moreso than in previous years, and whilst I found it welcome early on as a foil to Saru, it very quickly became implausible to keep her around whilst at the same time being honest to the show's new mission statement of upholding and rebuilding Federation values. Writing her out felt like a question of when, not if.
Well, "when" has finally arrived, and not only did it actually manage to sell me on the idea that this brutal genocidal maniac has been genuinely changed by her time in the Prime, but it also sold me on Burnham continuing to put up with her for as long as she has. We know that Burnham has never gotten over the guilt of betraying Prime Georgiou, and letting her accompany the Mirror version on this final journey felt like a nice way of putting a bow on one of the show's longest-running character threads.
Just like when Saru invited her to dinner, though, I do find it massively improbable that the crew would gather to toast her farewell with jokes and good vibes rather than sheer relief that she was finally, finally no longer their problem. Oh well, at least we won't be putting up with that narrative dissonance any longer.
In a way this is exactly the storyline that I felt that season 1 was lacking. Season 1 gave us Lorca, an MU imposter, who upon his return to the MU showed he hadn't been changed one bit by his time in a kinder, gentler place. It felt like a huge missed opportunity and cheapened his exit from the show.
Final thought: I got a kick out of the Guardian of Forever tie-in with the Temporal War stuff. Makes perfect sense that that particular one-off uber-powerful Star Trek technology that was never mentioned again since its introduction would have been a terrific prize to any faction in a time war, as does it deciding for itself to bugger off somewhere else.
Re: DSC S3: Terra Firma, Part 1
Was not expecting to go back to the MU! But I really enjoyed it, and still maintain that of all the Treks, Disco's take on the MU has been the best. There's something about the show's production that just lends itself really well to the savagery of the MU.
Who the hell was that guy sitting by the door? Will we ever find out? I almost hope not, because I found it really effective and striking imagery.
As others have mentioned, taking a two-part detour from the prime universe feels rather self-indulgent in a show with a short season. But I'm fine with that if the results are as reliably entertaining as this.
Standout performance of the week has to go to SMG. Psycho Burnham is genuinely terrifying; the rage in her eyes burns out of the TV and into your own. Great effort.
Was not expecting to go back to the MU! But I really enjoyed it, and still maintain that of all the Treks, Disco's take on the MU has been the best. There's something about the show's production that just lends itself really well to the savagery of the MU.
Who the hell was that guy sitting by the door? Will we ever find out? I almost hope not, because I found it really effective and striking imagery.
As others have mentioned, taking a two-part detour from the prime universe feels rather self-indulgent in a show with a short season. But I'm fine with that if the results are as reliably entertaining as this.
Standout performance of the week has to go to SMG. Psycho Burnham is genuinely terrifying; the rage in her eyes burns out of the TV and into your own. Great effort.
Re: DSC S3: The Sanctuary
Another fairly generic action-adventure episode (that makes four for the season by my count, not a great number) that's elevated by some decent character stuff. I don't really have much more to say about this one, except that I still hate Tilly as first officer, but found every scene with Saru working on his new catchphrase to be downright hilarious. I loved it. Had a real Lower Decks vibe and I was on board with it.
Another fairly generic action-adventure episode (that makes four for the season by my count, not a great number) that's elevated by some decent character stuff. I don't really have much more to say about this one, except that I still hate Tilly as first officer, but found every scene with Saru working on his new catchphrase to be downright hilarious. I loved it. Had a real Lower Decks vibe and I was on board with it.
Re: DSC S3: Unification III
I'm going to get my biggest problem with this episode out front, and it's with the B-story. Saru making Tilly his first officer is completely and utterly absurd, and I hate it for multiple reasons. It breaks the reality of the show, makes Saru look stupid, and glaringly highlights its decision not to develop the supporting cast.
I realise it's just a TV show, but past iterations of Trek (and Disco itself!) have always done reasonably well at depicting how the chain of command and rank structures work, and this is *not* how it works, *ever*. I'm in the military myself, so I feel confident in speaking with authority on the subject: whilst you [should] always treat someone in an appointed position with the professionalism and respect that position entitles, if they are of a lower rank than you, they cannot tell you what to do and you are in fact fully within your rights to tell *them* what to do. Like, I have occasionally had to step into a role that's usually the domain of a higher rank, but only when someone of a higher rank is simply unavailable for it.
Maybe Saru will promote Tilly to Lieutenant in coming episodes and do away with that objection. But that then highlights a second issue: does the show really expect us to believe that *none* of the other lieutenants on that bridge have command ambitions of their own, or are not capable of stepping up? I don't buy it, and it makes Saru look like a shitty leader to leapfrog a favourite of his above the others. Perhaps if we'd had more time to get to know those other lieutenants this decision might make some shred of sense, but we haven't and it really highlights the show's failure to develop them, and this feels like a huge missed opportunity to actually do that.
Whew! With that out of the way...
Good episode! Burnham was *really* annoying me in the beginning of the episode with her indecisiveness and constant speaking out of turn, but the script and SMG (along with the ever-reliable Sonja Sohn) did a bang-up job of convincing me that she really was just at a personal loss and coming to a big decision point. Will the writers now commit to making Burnham more at ease existing within a chain of command and less contrarian? I sure hope so, because otherwise it will make a mockery of her apparent self-discovery here.
I also appreciated the worldbuilding here. Unification finally happening in the wake of the Romulans becoming homeless makes perfect sense, as does it still being a rocky process centuries in the making. Seeing Leonard Nimoy again was just the icing on the cake. This was also a clever usage of Disco's original weird decision to make Burnham a member of Spock's family. I liked how it drew together elements from TOS, TNG *and* PIC, and made Disco's world feel like it really was part of a bigger Star Trek universe.
And heavens to betsy, we have a new Star Trek episode that centered on a philosophical and scientific debate! I'm genuinely surprised and pleased. The actual debate itself was not exactly on the level of some of TNG's best iterations, but I certainly appreciate the effort.
I'm going to get my biggest problem with this episode out front, and it's with the B-story. Saru making Tilly his first officer is completely and utterly absurd, and I hate it for multiple reasons. It breaks the reality of the show, makes Saru look stupid, and glaringly highlights its decision not to develop the supporting cast.
I realise it's just a TV show, but past iterations of Trek (and Disco itself!) have always done reasonably well at depicting how the chain of command and rank structures work, and this is *not* how it works, *ever*. I'm in the military myself, so I feel confident in speaking with authority on the subject: whilst you [should] always treat someone in an appointed position with the professionalism and respect that position entitles, if they are of a lower rank than you, they cannot tell you what to do and you are in fact fully within your rights to tell *them* what to do. Like, I have occasionally had to step into a role that's usually the domain of a higher rank, but only when someone of a higher rank is simply unavailable for it.
Maybe Saru will promote Tilly to Lieutenant in coming episodes and do away with that objection. But that then highlights a second issue: does the show really expect us to believe that *none* of the other lieutenants on that bridge have command ambitions of their own, or are not capable of stepping up? I don't buy it, and it makes Saru look like a shitty leader to leapfrog a favourite of his above the others. Perhaps if we'd had more time to get to know those other lieutenants this decision might make some shred of sense, but we haven't and it really highlights the show's failure to develop them, and this feels like a huge missed opportunity to actually do that.
Whew! With that out of the way...
Good episode! Burnham was *really* annoying me in the beginning of the episode with her indecisiveness and constant speaking out of turn, but the script and SMG (along with the ever-reliable Sonja Sohn) did a bang-up job of convincing me that she really was just at a personal loss and coming to a big decision point. Will the writers now commit to making Burnham more at ease existing within a chain of command and less contrarian? I sure hope so, because otherwise it will make a mockery of her apparent self-discovery here.
I also appreciated the worldbuilding here. Unification finally happening in the wake of the Romulans becoming homeless makes perfect sense, as does it still being a rocky process centuries in the making. Seeing Leonard Nimoy again was just the icing on the cake. This was also a clever usage of Disco's original weird decision to make Burnham a member of Spock's family. I liked how it drew together elements from TOS, TNG *and* PIC, and made Disco's world feel like it really was part of a bigger Star Trek universe.
And heavens to betsy, we have a new Star Trek episode that centered on a philosophical and scientific debate! I'm genuinely surprised and pleased. The actual debate itself was not exactly on the level of some of TNG's best iterations, but I certainly appreciate the effort.
Re: DSC S3: Scavengers
One-half decent character stuff, one-half super generic action adventure. The junkyard setting was at least more visually interesting than the dull warehouse of the season premiere, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters inhabiting it. Book nearly makes me care just by David Ajala's sheer charisma, but doesn't quite get over the line.
The character stuff was good though, with both Burnham and Saru having to learn some hard lessons. Could have done without the ridiculous camera spin around the Book-Burnham kiss though - I get it, show, you want it to be a Big Moment.
What's going on with Georgiou? I'm interested on a plot level, but I just have zero sympathy for the character. As Spore Driver pointed out above, she's Space Hitler. Her presence being tolerated in Starfleet continues to accelerate far beyond the bounds of plausibility and it almost breaks the show.
One-half decent character stuff, one-half super generic action adventure. The junkyard setting was at least more visually interesting than the dull warehouse of the season premiere, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters inhabiting it. Book nearly makes me care just by David Ajala's sheer charisma, but doesn't quite get over the line.
The character stuff was good though, with both Burnham and Saru having to learn some hard lessons. Could have done without the ridiculous camera spin around the Book-Burnham kiss though - I get it, show, you want it to be a Big Moment.
What's going on with Georgiou? I'm interested on a plot level, but I just have zero sympathy for the character. As Spore Driver pointed out above, she's Space Hitler. Her presence being tolerated in Starfleet continues to accelerate far beyond the bounds of plausibility and it almost breaks the show.
Re: DSC S3: Die Trying
Karl Zimmerman, could not disagree more that the Starfleet debrief "should have happened off camera". I might have thrown my remote at the TV had they skipped it; it's vitally important to establish just where the crew's relationship with the new Starfleet is at, and also to give a sense of how the new Starfleet operates. Yes, some of the dialogue doesn't contain new information, but the way the characters presented and reacted to it sure did.
Karl Zimmerman, could not disagree more that the Starfleet debrief "should have happened off camera". I might have thrown my remote at the TV had they skipped it; it's vitally important to establish just where the crew's relationship with the new Starfleet is at, and also to give a sense of how the new Starfleet operates. Yes, some of the dialogue doesn't contain new information, but the way the characters presented and reacted to it sure did.
Re: DSC S3: Forget Me Not
Great review Jammer. Your thoughts on the implications of living with the memories of a dead lover, forever, were especially thought-provoking. I hadn't considered that.
Great review Jammer. Your thoughts on the implications of living with the memories of a dead lover, forever, were especially thought-provoking. I hadn't considered that.
Re: DSC S3: Die Trying
Well wasn't that just a treat!
I loved a lot of things in this episode. I loved the look and feel of future-Starfleet HQ, with some future technology that genuinely seemed fantastical - a hard feat to pull off in a show like Star Trek. (Cute shoutout with the Voyager-J, btw.)
I liked that Starfleet haven't become dystopian evil cartoon types after The Burn. The new head of Starfleet seems like a very reasonable guy; understandably super-cautious about the Disco's tall tale and with a very commanding manner, but still willing to listen and mount a mission of mercy.
I liked that Saru was willing to remind Burnham of her history of disobedience and where that led her, and I liked that she was willing to go along with his plans instead. Furthermore I just like Captain Saru in general; I can't believe it's taken us two seasons to get him into the captain's chair.
I liked Georgiou getting blindsided by the news of her Empire's demise, and finally getting to interact with someone else who seems to be on her level. I'm very interested to see where this thread with her goes.
I liked Burnham being in charge of the mission; SMG has a good command presence and I think her character works much better as a headstrong leader rather than the constantly-insubordinate right hand. That said, the evolving professional relationship between her and Saru is making for good TV and they complement each other very nicely.
I liked that the episode had zero phaser shootouts in dark corridors, or massive explosions, or asteroids ripping little space pods to shreds, or any other high-octane thrills. It had a story to tell about moving on and building trust through honesty, and it told it quite effectively and with some really neat sci-fi along the way. Bravo.
After that thoroughly underwhelming first episode, I am really beginning to take a shine to Disco's third season. It has felt more episodic whilst maintaining ongoing character and plot threads (although "People of Earth" was a bit too far on the wrong side of the ledger for me) and has seemingly pumped the brakes on the tendency to have everything always be an ultra high-stakes battle for the survival of the universe.
Here's hoping they keep it up!
Well wasn't that just a treat!
I loved a lot of things in this episode. I loved the look and feel of future-Starfleet HQ, with some future technology that genuinely seemed fantastical - a hard feat to pull off in a show like Star Trek. (Cute shoutout with the Voyager-J, btw.)
I liked that Starfleet haven't become dystopian evil cartoon types after The Burn. The new head of Starfleet seems like a very reasonable guy; understandably super-cautious about the Disco's tall tale and with a very commanding manner, but still willing to listen and mount a mission of mercy.
I liked that Saru was willing to remind Burnham of her history of disobedience and where that led her, and I liked that she was willing to go along with his plans instead. Furthermore I just like Captain Saru in general; I can't believe it's taken us two seasons to get him into the captain's chair.
I liked Georgiou getting blindsided by the news of her Empire's demise, and finally getting to interact with someone else who seems to be on her level. I'm very interested to see where this thread with her goes.
I liked Burnham being in charge of the mission; SMG has a good command presence and I think her character works much better as a headstrong leader rather than the constantly-insubordinate right hand. That said, the evolving professional relationship between her and Saru is making for good TV and they complement each other very nicely.
I liked that the episode had zero phaser shootouts in dark corridors, or massive explosions, or asteroids ripping little space pods to shreds, or any other high-octane thrills. It had a story to tell about moving on and building trust through honesty, and it told it quite effectively and with some really neat sci-fi along the way. Bravo.
After that thoroughly underwhelming first episode, I am really beginning to take a shine to Disco's third season. It has felt more episodic whilst maintaining ongoing character and plot threads (although "People of Earth" was a bit too far on the wrong side of the ledger for me) and has seemingly pumped the brakes on the tendency to have everything always be an ultra high-stakes battle for the survival of the universe.
Here's hoping they keep it up!
Re: DSC S3: Forget Me Not
As this one began and Burnham and Adira set down on Trill, I was almost ready to credit the show for finally showing some restraint and not throwing gratuitous action or phaser fire into a plot that didn't need it! I was laughing less than five minutes later at how I was wrong. It felt like Jammer's good old Voyager Action Insert™ had returned from the grave. And the Trill were playing the role of the classic Hard-Headed Aliens for good measure.
Fortunately that was it, and the other fifty-odd-ish minutes of the episode were just well-played and (for this show) understated character drama. Felt like a bit of a throwback in that respect! It was all a bit sedate for my tastes, but it felt sincere and I'll give the show points for effort.
One thing I do continue to find weird: Saru invites Georgiou to dinner??? Look, I get that she can serve a function as part of the crew, but she's literally committed genocide. Not sure I'd be having her round to dinner if I was the captain.
As this one began and Burnham and Adira set down on Trill, I was almost ready to credit the show for finally showing some restraint and not throwing gratuitous action or phaser fire into a plot that didn't need it! I was laughing less than five minutes later at how I was wrong. It felt like Jammer's good old Voyager Action Insert™ had returned from the grave. And the Trill were playing the role of the classic Hard-Headed Aliens for good measure.
Fortunately that was it, and the other fifty-odd-ish minutes of the episode were just well-played and (for this show) understated character drama. Felt like a bit of a throwback in that respect! It was all a bit sedate for my tastes, but it felt sincere and I'll give the show points for effort.
One thing I do continue to find weird: Saru invites Georgiou to dinner??? Look, I get that she can serve a function as part of the crew, but she's literally committed genocide. Not sure I'd be having her round to dinner if I was the captain.
Re: DSC S3: People of Earth
I don't think that DSC is deliberately casting white men in villain roles; if that was the case, you would also have to level the same accusations against most of the non-alien villains in past iterations of Trek as well. Rather, the decision to diversify the regular cast and a lot of the recurring guest roles just means there's less places to slot in an average white guy, and villain-of-the-week or nameless extra is usually what's left. It's not a good look but I don't think I agree that it's a deliberate narrative choice.
I don't think that DSC is deliberately casting white men in villain roles; if that was the case, you would also have to level the same accusations against most of the non-alien villains in past iterations of Trek as well. Rather, the decision to diversify the regular cast and a lot of the recurring guest roles just means there's less places to slot in an average white guy, and villain-of-the-week or nameless extra is usually what's left. It's not a good look but I don't think I agree that it's a deliberate narrative choice.
Re: DSC S3: People of Earth
Rahul, on the whole "Disco is anti-white-male" thing. The discussion actually interests me because I had a friend text me the other day also mentioning the same thing. My thoughts on the subject: although it's impossible not to notice that the Disco producers have made a conscious decision to diversify the casting of the show, I don't think that necessarily equals an anti-white-male agenda.
I think that interpretation only holds water if you see such choices as a zero-sum game. By not creating straight white male characters, or not casting them in more generic guest roles, does that have to be seen as a "loss" in some kind of culture war, or as necessarily being "against" a particular race/gender/sexuality? Or is it just lifting up particular races/genders/sexualities that have historically been under-represented in Hollywood, even the notably progressive Star Trek?
Personally I have the latter opinion and actually find it to be a refreshing opportunity to spice up the character dynamics of the show. Not that the show takes that opportunity as much as I'd like.
It's not just the casting, either. Robert Duncan McNeill said in an interview that the Disco production team is also consciously hiring more diverse people behind the camera, too:
https://trekmovie.com/2018/07/09/robert-duncan-mcneill-explains-why-he-wont-be-directing-star-trek-discovery-season-2/
Rahul, on the whole "Disco is anti-white-male" thing. The discussion actually interests me because I had a friend text me the other day also mentioning the same thing. My thoughts on the subject: although it's impossible not to notice that the Disco producers have made a conscious decision to diversify the casting of the show, I don't think that necessarily equals an anti-white-male agenda.
I think that interpretation only holds water if you see such choices as a zero-sum game. By not creating straight white male characters, or not casting them in more generic guest roles, does that have to be seen as a "loss" in some kind of culture war, or as necessarily being "against" a particular race/gender/sexuality? Or is it just lifting up particular races/genders/sexualities that have historically been under-represented in Hollywood, even the notably progressive Star Trek?
Personally I have the latter opinion and actually find it to be a refreshing opportunity to spice up the character dynamics of the show. Not that the show takes that opportunity as much as I'd like.
It's not just the casting, either. Robert Duncan McNeill said in an interview that the Disco production team is also consciously hiring more diverse people behind the camera, too:
https://trekmovie.com/2018/07/09/robert-duncan-mcneill-explains-why-he-wont-be-directing-star-trek-discovery-season-2/
Re: DSC S3: People of Earth
Oh, I forgot my big Nitpick Of The Week: why, when the Disco was at *red alert*, were there still crew members sitting around the mess hall having a leisurely meal? I actually laughed at that one.
Oh, I forgot my big Nitpick Of The Week: why, when the Disco was at *red alert*, were there still crew members sitting around the mess hall having a leisurely meal? I actually laughed at that one.
Re: DSC S3: People of Earth
More than anything, this one reminded me of "New Eden" from last season: a potentially intriguing one-off story ("What happened to an Earth disconnected from the Federation?") that lost its potency amidst the maneuvering of the season's long-term plot pieces and character arcs.
I get that this episode needed to re-sync Burnham and the Disco crew, but it feels like that didn't leave enough time for the more interesting concepts that were hinted at. Is Earth still the utopia of centuries past behind the heavy-duty defences? Seems that way but we're just left to assume it rather than being explicitly shown. What challenges did it face in becoming self-sufficient?
Quite watchable, and I'm really loving Captain Saru, but overall it earns a shrug from me.
More than anything, this one reminded me of "New Eden" from last season: a potentially intriguing one-off story ("What happened to an Earth disconnected from the Federation?") that lost its potency amidst the maneuvering of the season's long-term plot pieces and character arcs.
I get that this episode needed to re-sync Burnham and the Disco crew, but it feels like that didn't leave enough time for the more interesting concepts that were hinted at. Is Earth still the utopia of centuries past behind the heavy-duty defences? Seems that way but we're just left to assume it rather than being explicitly shown. What challenges did it face in becoming self-sufficient?
Quite watchable, and I'm really loving Captain Saru, but overall it earns a shrug from me.
Re: DSC S3: Far From Home
Far more interesting than Part 1, I feel. One of the best parts of Star Trek is watching a group of professionals work a problem, and in that respect this episode was catnip as we watched the crew pull together to successfully land the ship and then get it off the ground again.
More importantly, though, it felt like there were genuine stakes in this episode. Not comic-book save-the-universe stakes, but just the fate of a few bullied locals, which was far easier to engage with as a viewer. I didn't know how our still relatively newly empowered Saru would deal with this sort of situation, but I enjoyed watching him go full Starfleet on it.
I didn't really care about last week's episode, because it was basically just watching Burnham superhero her way to an inevitable victory. At no time did I feel like she was in danger or that the situation was going to get out of hand, and that makes for dull TV.
The wildcard of Georgiou is a welcome addition to the Disco crew, I think. But her character as currently depicted is too quickly able to fight her way out of a problem. If she's going to be kept around, then let's dial her back a bit and give her some actual challenges to overcome.
Nitpick Of The Week: why does *every* Star Trek show with a "oh no, this vital system is WRECKED!" episode conveniently forget the hangar full of shuttlecraft that usually have some kind of identical component? Hand-wave away this solution in the script if you have to, but geeeeeeeez after watching the show for pretty much my entire life, I'm very tired of this particular trope.
Far more interesting than Part 1, I feel. One of the best parts of Star Trek is watching a group of professionals work a problem, and in that respect this episode was catnip as we watched the crew pull together to successfully land the ship and then get it off the ground again.
More importantly, though, it felt like there were genuine stakes in this episode. Not comic-book save-the-universe stakes, but just the fate of a few bullied locals, which was far easier to engage with as a viewer. I didn't know how our still relatively newly empowered Saru would deal with this sort of situation, but I enjoyed watching him go full Starfleet on it.
I didn't really care about last week's episode, because it was basically just watching Burnham superhero her way to an inevitable victory. At no time did I feel like she was in danger or that the situation was going to get out of hand, and that makes for dull TV.
The wildcard of Georgiou is a welcome addition to the Disco crew, I think. But her character as currently depicted is too quickly able to fight her way out of a problem. If she's going to be kept around, then let's dial her back a bit and give her some actual challenges to overcome.
Nitpick Of The Week: why does *every* Star Trek show with a "oh no, this vital system is WRECKED!" episode conveniently forget the hangar full of shuttlecraft that usually have some kind of identical component? Hand-wave away this solution in the script if you have to, but geeeeeeeez after watching the show for pretty much my entire life, I'm very tired of this particular trope.
Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 1
Doing well here, Jammer, although like everyone else the pandemic has derailed a whole bunch of life plans. It'll be nice to have your reviews back. Feels like one more step towards things returning to normal!
Doing well here, Jammer, although like everyone else the pandemic has derailed a whole bunch of life plans. It'll be nice to have your reviews back. Feels like one more step towards things returning to normal!
Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 1
This was alright, but nowhere near as good a premiere as season 2's "Brother". "Brother" effectively set up the central mystery of the season, introduced our new captain *and* was a great little action-adventure story all at once with some really awesome visuals that we hadn't seen the likes of before.
This one, though? Ehhhh.... shootouts in a warehouse? Snooze. I did like the glimpses we saw of advanced technology - portable transporters etc - but the rest was a bit bleh.
I really dug the closing scene though. Do I rationally believe this guy would just keep showing up for forty years to do nothing? Not really - but SMG and the actor playing him totally sold the emotion of the moment, and I was rooting for them both. Go rebuild that Federation, you crazy kids!
I hope that next week's instalment is a bit more exciting, when the entire Disco crew comes back into frame.
This was alright, but nowhere near as good a premiere as season 2's "Brother". "Brother" effectively set up the central mystery of the season, introduced our new captain *and* was a great little action-adventure story all at once with some really awesome visuals that we hadn't seen the likes of before.
This one, though? Ehhhh.... shootouts in a warehouse? Snooze. I did like the glimpses we saw of advanced technology - portable transporters etc - but the rest was a bit bleh.
I really dug the closing scene though. Do I rationally believe this guy would just keep showing up for forty years to do nothing? Not really - but SMG and the actor playing him totally sold the emotion of the moment, and I was rooting for them both. Go rebuild that Federation, you crazy kids!
I hope that next week's instalment is a bit more exciting, when the entire Disco crew comes back into frame.
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