Review Text
"Face the Strange" is in the long tradition of Trekkian time-travel shenanigans, and probably most closely resembles Voyager's "Shattered" and "Relativity," with some of TNG's "All Good Things" thrown in for good measure. This is not a standout example of time travel or sci-fi, but it's a passably entertaining one, and it manages to tie its admittedly ludicrous time-travel device into a couple of relevant character themes.
The time travel is induced by a "Krenim chronophage" — more colloquially known as a "time bug" — a weapon of sabotage unwittingly brought aboard the ship by Adira after Moll had planted it on their clothing in the previous episode. It's designed to keep Discovery trapped in an endless pattern of time-shifting, which seems like an awfully elaborate and implausible tool for sabotaging a ship when you could alternatively just rig something to disable it. But this is more fun and interesting than a shutdown or explosion (even if it's orders of magnitude less practical, like trying to swat a fly with an excavator), so I can't really complain.
Moll and L'ak meet with a courier who tries to shake them down for the information he possesses related to this treasure hunt — and the courier gets fatally poisoned for his transgression. Meanwhile, on Discovery, the clue at the end of "Jinaal" appears initially to be a dead end. Discovery arrives at the coordinates to find only empty space, and no indication of why they have arrived here.
Rayner continues to be abrasive to the bridge crew, enough that Burnham gets fed up and calls him into the ready room to order that he change his approach. This conflict feels a bit forced, because Rayner's abrasiveness doesn't seem to serve any actual purpose other than making him look like an ass. If there were a logical methodology behind it, or a believability that this is a sensible way he's done things for 30 years, it would make his personality more valid, but it mostly just comes across as arbitrary jerkiness for its own sake.
The conflict with Rayner primarily serves to remind Burnham of the travails she experienced in her unlikely road from mutineer to captain, which takes on a heightened relevancy with the ship suddenly jumping through time. Because of some technobabble reason involving the transporters, Burnham and Rayner — and Stamets because of his magical tardigrades — are the only characters who are aware of the time shifts as they happen. The rest of the crew members don't know they're moving through time, hence the "All Good Things" angle. We jump back to prior seasons and events — Discovery in drydock at San Francisco, Discovery under attack by Osyraa, etc. — and even jump forward in time 30 years to where Discovery lost the treasure-hunt (because they were stuck in this time trap) and the technology fell into the wrong hands, and the Breen subsequently destroyed Federation Headquarters. (*)
* We've lowered the stakes from the end of all biological life in the galaxy (Control, season two) to the galaxy as we know it (Burn II, season three) to the end of Earth and Ni'Var (DMA, season four) to merely the end of Federation HQ in season five. If this show had continued to season six, maybe we'd only face the ticking-clock possibility that Admiral Vance might die!
As technobabble puzzles go, this is a fairly solid Voyager-style outing. Zora of the future helps provide some answers about the nature and timing of the jumps. This gives Burnham and Rayner enough information so they can team up with Stamets to destroy the time bug. The only problem: They have to accelerate the ship to a certain speed at a certain time to disable the bug's shielding. (Or something! I didn't keep track of the tech nonsense, because it's all meaningless and arbitrary, anyway.) The important thing is that it requires convincing the crew of the past to do something, and that requires our characters to think on their feet and be persuasive in unlikely and creative ways. (Rather than concocting a time-consuming excuse, Stamets finds the most efficient — and funny — way of clearing engineering: "I'm very grumpy! I'm absolutely irate and I need to be left alone!")
In particular, on this week's edition of Star Trek: Self-Discovery, Michael Burnham comes face to face with herself in the past, and this makes her reflect on just how far she has come from where she was. She also ends up in a martial-arts fight with herself, which is all but mandatory in these types of situations (although Mariner vs. Mariner in Lower Decks' "Crisis Point" still takes the prize in my book). It's a testament to Sonequa Martin-Green's performance that the two different versions of Burnham actually do feel miles apart. There's something about Past Burnham that feels rawer — she has notably angrier eyes. You can feel it in the scene immediately, and it's a moment that stands out. I'm having trouble recalling if the Burnham of the earlier seasons really was this different, but Present Burnham certainly feels more relaxed and confident than Past Burnham does here.
And, of course, since there's a lesson to be learned every week, Burnham learns how everyone needs second chances, while Rayner learns how to use some soft skills without puking (talking Past Burnham into trusting them, and helping Stamets through his crisis of confidence), while Stamets learns how to overcome that self-doubt and un-Stamets the bug-shield doohickey. And Reno learns ... well, nothing, because she's stuck in the time loop. But she provides a nice couple of scenes — one where she offers a blast assist to Rayner, and another where she helps Stamets with some temporal mechanics.
The moment of truth comes when Burnham has to convince an incredulous bridge crew who doesn't trust her that she is, in fact, Discovery's captain from the future. She uses information about the crew she has come to know, and particularly Airiam (including Airiam's future death that will save the ship) as the proof. I don't think the Airiam bit quite lands, because it seems like a random lucky guess that this happens to be the crucial piece of information that sells the case. But the emphasis on teamwork makes for a winning message.
Overall, this is a diverting technobabble and character outing ... but would it kill the writers to let someone other than Burnham carry one of these shows? (I know; that ship has long since sailed. And in this case, it really does make sense that it's about Burnham's arc, anyway.)
Some other thoughts:
- Burnham struggling to resist her, um, feelings for the shirtless Book from the time they were still together was worth a grin.
- The name-checking of the Krenim is appropriate, since the end of Voyager's "Year of Hell" (spoiler alert!) showed that if you destroy Krenim time-altering technology, it conveniently resets the timeline to where it "should" be — just as here.
- I initially criticized the title "Face the Strange" as overly generic, but it was pointed out to me that it's actually a David Bowie song lyric that thematically makes sense here, so I withdraw that criticism.
- The future-Discovery scene at first had me thinking we were visiting the scenario seen in the "Calypso" short (far and away the best of the mostly anemic Short Treks that I've seen, and I admittedly haven't seen them all). Are they going to somehow bring about that fate for the ship before the series ends (even if it's in an epilogue)?
- In the end, the time bug costs the Discovery crew just six hours, but that's enough for Moll and L'ak to overtake them in The Amazing Race.
Previous episode: Jinaal
Next episode: Mirrors
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43 comments on this post
voxymandias
This one's a 3-star for me. I liked the themes and central premise, but it was a little sloppy in the details.
Leif
@voxandias From the synopsis it sounds REALLY.BORING AND DISAPPOINTING..Please tell me it has COOL NEW ALIENS AND WONDROUS NEW ANOMALIES OR WORLDS ?? I haven't seen it yet.
Jeffrey's Tube
Discovery does Voyager's "Shattered," essentially. A classic Trek premise, well executed. Good episode, much enjoyed.
I thought for a minute the future version of the ship they visited was going to close the time loop on the Short Treks episode Calypso. But I don't think it did, or could have. I think at this point we have to accept that isn't going to happen. Calypso will probably be something that takes place in an alternate future that will never happen. Too bad, as I think, with a little plot massaging, they could have tied it off here. Maybe it would have been doing too much and drawn focus from the central message the episode was trying to convey. Okay, it definitely would have pushed the episode "off message." Which, for a Discovery episode, this one was unusually tight on sticking with, to its great advantage.
. . .
The Krenim got a shoutout. That little bug sure was the world's loudest stealth weapon though, tapping away at a hundred decibels while it traversed the ship's bulkheads. That sound effect I feel was a misstep, and one I'd guess was born out of not trusting the audience. We're going to miss the bug moving around, even though the camera is focused on it a lot, or we're not going to get that the little bug is super plot important if we don't also hear it? We won't get that it's a menace that at any moment is about to commence with the menace? You know, I think we would get it just fine, thanks. I don't know, this choice just . . . bugged me. (Yeah yeah, I said it. Don't shoot me.)
. . .
One might think that in a Starfleet that has fought a great time war, and with a time weapon that's old technology and a known quantity like this, a Starfleet vessel might have onboard defenses against such a weapon being deployed that automatically responds and negates it. But, we must let that go for the plot to happen. How many times do the holodecks malfunction, after all? And in the same ways? How many times does getting in the transporter lead to something wonky that propels the episode forward? How many people go flying across the bridge each time a photon torpedo hits the ship? Same idea. This kind of consideration doesn't matter. But I still had the thought and wanted to share it, in a winking kind of way.
. . .
Tune in next week when Stamet's tardigrade DNA suddenly lets him breathe underwater, and the week after that when his tardigrade DNA lets him understand all written languages instantly. I kid, I kid! It works for me, and is a nice use of the show's worldbuilding and its history. I just wonder if, based on the way Michael bald-faced proclaimed it, we the audience were supposed to respond with "Oh of course, OBVIOUSLY that's the case!" rather than "Sure, I'm game, let's roll with that." Ya know? Heh.
. . .
When Rayner asked Stamets how he could help, and Stamets told him "I need help rerouting the inertial dampers to that console," I half expected Rayner after walking over and fiddling with the console for a few moments to turn back around to Stamets and say "Yeah, I don't know how to do that." Because it's 23rd century tech and he's from the 32nd century. I'm just sayin'--the current generation of young adults that grew up with touchscreen iphones and all their "computing" being done in apps, ask them to edit the registry in Windows 95 or format a disk in DOS and see how well they do, ya know? There's something to be said for front end interfaces having now evolved to a point where they're the maximum intuitiveness for use by human beings and they won't evolve too much further in the future, so in the future even interfaces many generations back can be easily deduced without outside help after a little fiddling around, but 800 years is still 800 years. Again, this kind of thing doesn't matter, it just occurred to me and I got a little laugh from it and wanted to share.
. . .
Past Burnham, still all Vulcaned up, ALMOST cried when Rayner hit her with the speech. Almost! The tears were in her eyes. Her face screwed up. But she just barely held it back.
So this episode's "Burnham Cries Counter" remains a zero, by the very, very thinnest of margins.
. . .
32nd century medicine can de-age limbs? Cool. Wonder what applications that gets put towards. Ha!
. . .
No one they encountered in the past remembers anything, because none of it happened anymore. But I kind of wish Reno could remember everything and had known all this stuff was going to happen all along, and just never gave a shit about telling anyone because she couldn't be bothered. It would fit her character perfectly.
"Are you stuck in timeloop, Stamets?" "Well actually . . . yes." "Oh okay, well just map the chronal variances like this. Good luck, let me know how it turns out." And she turns and leaves to go carry on with whatever she was doing before she entered the lab, not bothered at all because it isn't any of her business. Heh.
. . .
Anyway, good episode. Much enjoyed.
Galadriel
Wow, that was gutsy. They dared to mention the Red Angel again, though I have spent so much energy in trying to forget that misbegotten storyline of S2.
Most of the past scenes I did not find very engaging, but the last one (in S1) stood out for the acting of Soneqa Martin-Green. She channeled her early character pretty well, all the anger in her body language contrasted with the permanent smile of S5 Burnham; a welcome change. Funny, how I just last week complained how badly the show had treated Airam; and now she is back, with more lines than she had ever gotten before her death episode.
I wonder whether the showrunners have by now decanonized the “Calypso” short trek (one of the best of them). Watching it, I had the impression that Discovery’s fate is sealed as much as Pike’s, but now it seems that a different future becomes a possibility. By the end of the season, the storyline should still lead to the “Calypso” setup, right?
Hell, the two thugs really don’t kid around. By now, they have killed two of two business partners; the only time they showed humanity was on board of the Romulan ship, where they used non-lethal weapons against the Discovery crew. Nevertheless, I am pretty sure they will get a pass by the end of the season and hug with everyone. BTW, I had assumed last week that the bug was a tracking device and did certainly not expect the mayhem it created. The first time it was spoke, I really parsed its name as “Kremlin chronophage”. Maybe it was a Russian inwention?
So, Discovery was constructed on the Earth surface, within viewing distance of the Golden Gate Bridge? That’s even worse than what JJ did, at least he didn’t waste valuable real estate for his construction site in the outback of Iowa.
When will Rayner buy Reno a Vesper martini at Red’s? I guess the two would come along pretty easily.
All combined, it was an entertaining action piece, and it is somewhat connected to the season’s arc; yet I still don’t know what was at the McGuffin co−ordinates obtained from Trill, and how Moll and L’ak could retrieve a clue from there. It also served as a good opportunity for Rayner to show his competence. But the sentimentality so typical of Discovery again went into overdrive. I actively hated the pep talk Burnham gave to her unconscious past self (why talk to someone who can’t listen? oh, never mind, she does monologues all day round), and also the Bridge scene with all the future friendship nonsense was a torture. Not to speak of Burnham taking every opportunity to smooch Booker in the middle of a time-critical mission.
Last week I should have given only 2 stars, make this 2½ this time.
Joseph B
I think this ep is as good as "Discovery" can get.
I'm giving it 3 1/2 stars -- with a half-star added for Zora playing "Que sera, sera" for 30 years!
Listen - This episode wasn't anywhere near perfect, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Keith Dalton
Honestly, if Callum Keith Rennie doesn't get a spinoff, will be pissed. He is the best part of this show.
Karl Zimmerman
That was a competent hour of Trek, if a bit of a retread from the Voyager episode Shattered - though done more effectively than on that series, because there was a purpose beyond memberberries, which was to further Rayner's arc, building a trusting relationship between him and Burnham. It also helped to showcase the changes in the characters over the course of the series - most notably Michael, but even Stamets made note of how he used to be much grumpier. It's always good to see the writers are being deliberate in their choices, and to reflect in what has become the final season regarding the total journey of Discovery.
I do have some individual grumbles, though. One was Michael monologuing to her past self - while unconscious - when there was a literal ticking clock. Discovery has always liked sticking these ridiculous, writerly moments when there should be suspense, and this has to be one of the most groan worthy. I also think the show missed a beat by not having Reno share a drink with Rayner at the end, and the closing scene needed to provide a bit more urgency - suggesting that Moll and Lakk actually beat the Discovery to the piece. That would have made all of this seem like a genuine setback, rather than just a random encounter.
By far the biggest miss though, was having Rayner talk down past Burnham. I think he should have killed her. Yeah, you could argue it wouldn't work with the heavy theming they're building about how Rayner needs to foster trust, but it's easy to flip it around and showcase she was at a point of low trust then, but has changed - and he can change as well. I also think it would make their relationship as captain and XO more interesting if he had defeated her in the past. I mean, goddamn, it's a throwaway timeline, why wouldn't you kill at least one person in the regular cast?
That said, I did like the episode overall, and I do think it's the most effective episode of Trek yet this season. More of this, please.
Galadriel
@Keith Dalton
I do not think this will happen. Rather, he will meet his noble end in Shaw fashion, or be assimilated into the smiling Discovery collective.
Norvo
I'll say this: I'd forgotten how utterly unlikeable and infuriatingly stubborn Michael Burnham was in the early seasons. Sonequa Martin-Green did a nice job showing us the difference.
A very ambitious show and a great way to see past crew members return, even if Saru only got to lay knocked out in the debris. Such a shame we lost Airiam, imagine how she'd have felt as a 23rd century cyborg in a 32rd century world... Obsolete and out of date as both man and machine. Shame she had to die.
All in all a pleasant way to spend 50 minutes with tolerable levels of Disco's unavoidable quirks like stroking Michael's ego or disrespecting the chain of command because feelings are more important than any order.
Now, let's get on with the big mystery puzzle before the Breen end Starfleet!
Chris W
PROS:
[1] A time jump storyline reminiscent of TNG’s “All Good Things…” or VOY’s “Shattered”. I thought it was well done.
[2] As far as emotional expositions go, this was an episode that demonstrated a stronger way to do that relative to most of DSC’s other attempts. Most things emotion-related were integrated well into the plot. It didn’t necessarily feel like they were artificially tacked on. It was also nice to see Rayner’s way for approaching Rhys pay off after last week’s awkward episode.
CONS:
[a] I wasn’t sold on how Michael convinced Airiam. I’m not sure it’s the best strategy either, in part because Airiam didn’t really have any storyline that demonstrably tied her to anyone. For some reason, I feel compelled to say that this was a minor negative to the overall episode.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
[i] Was Zora not updated with all available knowledge on how to detect something like an “old” time bug? I suppose if someone _really_ wanted to use it, one would update accordingly to bypass sensors.
[ii] I was hoping to see Craft from a Short Trek episode, but I suppose it makes sense that we don’t.
[iii] I liked that we hear about the Krenim again, even if we don’t see them. That antagonist from VOY’s “Year of Hell” was a very interesting villain.
[iv] With the way Rayner was cradling his hand after dealing with the time bug, I thought he was gonna lose it or something.
[v] Reno had some very interesting involvement in this episode. I can’t help but wonder what she does or does not remember, especially since she was someone that directly interacted with one of those Klingon time crystals. Star Trek has made a really big stink about how Pike deals with this knowledge, but Reno just goes about her life as if it’s no big deal. I seem to recall that she gave an expression like it _is_ a big deal when she interacted with that crystal, too…
[vi] BURNHAM: “Stamets lives outside of time because of his tardigrade DNA!” RAYNER: “Uhhhh… … …” 😆
@Jeffrey’s Tube – feeling like you and I are thinking on the same wavelength this week 👍
@Norvo - I'm sure Airiam would have gotten some solid upgrades if she were brought into the future!
Chris W
PS: The conversation and contrast between old- and new-Burnham was interesting! The fight sequence seemed kinda weak, though.
Original post: https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-dsc/s5/face-the-strange.php#comment-116764
Eric Jensen
Need to watch twice to appreciate this episode.
On first viewing, very enjoyable
Mal
Fucking boring.
I guess last week was an aberration.
StarMan
Gleaning snippets like "lost the trail" and "so and so found the next piece" suggest my plan to forgo the show until the penultimate episode will work out just fine.
Leif
@Galadriel Why do you think the season 2 red angel story was misbegotten? Because it didn't end with the red angel as a wondrous new alien life form? And even if it was similar to Shattered , wasn't this story somewhat ORIGINAL in its way like the time bug idea and staying in the same place during random jumps??
The Queen
Boy was that slow. I kept waiting for something to happen. But at the end we're just back in present time with no advancement in the plot at all. I don't require a show to be all plot at the expense of everything else - I like character moments and well-done arcs - but to have a whole episode with nothing at all except flinging about in time felt like padding to me.
Some of the scenes were interesting. I wonder if the Burnham & Booker scene was hinting that they'll get back together. Even though the Airiam sequence was obviously a response to audience squawking in season 1, I still appreciated it. I also liked the scene with Future Zora and her sad music.
The best part was the acting by Rennie. He bent a little but was not squashed down into a syrupy pool like the others. Though he was noticeably standing around in the background a lot, which seemed unlike him. I also liked the noticeable difference between the two Burnhams. Was Old Burnham a different actor some of the time? However, the fight was predictable and boring.
It seemed to me that the purpose of this episode was NOT to advance the plot, but to prove that "connection" was valuable and even Rayner could be made to see it. At least, by the end Burnham was showing respect to him. Now she just needs to smack down Tilly.
Jeffrey's Tube
I can 100% guarantee you Burnham and Booker will get back together by the end of the series. Not 99.9% guarantee you. 100%.
Doubt it will even take that long.
Bryan
A mercifully short and sweet journey through time in which the Discovery crew fluffs and flatters their former selves to get their way. What better way to grant them the validation they so desperately need than a literal echo chamber.
For this final season, it feels apt to go back in time to explore some of the series' highlights (and low-lights) but this potential is mostly squandered since what mainly separates one era from another is the color of people's uniforms and the general state of destruction the ship is in.
I get that some happy middle-ground between Reynar's grizzled old ways and the rest of the crew's over-familiarity needs to be reached, but it's not very endearing to watch them practically meltdown on Reynar over the gentlest of rebuffs.
- Why did Stammets inhabit his former self one scene, but Burnham encountered her actual double?
- Was it really necessary to tell Airiam that she's going to die?
Airiam: "Why yes, I am quite noble. Permission granted."
- Did Tilly lose weight to portray her former self? Maybe it's just the hair but she looked much better.
Burnham: "It's important to me that the crew be engaged and involved and encouraged to speak freely."
*5 minutes later*
Burnham: "GET OUT!"
Kyle
Very enjoyable, well done, tight episode. A time loop episode, nice break from following the bread crumbs. The way Disco should have been written and executed all along.
However, I still think Rayner is being treated poorly; different people have different command styles; and didn't Burnham say she didn't want a yes man? They could do a good cop/bad cop dynamic with the crew. Also, Rayner commanded a starship for thrity years; he may have to adapt to changing times but one does not need to change their command style or personality to do that. You could make the argument that he has to do things Burnham's way now that he is her XO, but again I'm sure she could utilize his command style without totally neutering him. She brought him on she needs to back his decisions with the crew, and let the crew know she has his back. The CO and XO should present a united front with the crew or else the crew will play them against each other like children play thier parents off of each other.
Another nit pick; I am not convinced by Burnham's mini speeches convincing the bridge crew that she was really who she said she was and meant well. Burnham: "Airiam, yo will sacrifice everythig for us!"
Detmer: No she wouldn't
Airiam: "Yes I would if I had to".
Oh, ok then; now I'm convinced. A weak point in the script the writers couldn't figure a way out of.
On the plus side, I don't think I've ever heard Ryhs and the bridge crew or Airiam in all of season 1 say as many lines as they all had today.
Chris W
@Bryan -
the technobabble used here is that Burnham and Rayner were mostly spared from the effects of the time bug due to their simultaneous use of their personal transporter as the time bug started to do its thing. The only effect is that they were always brought back to their initial relative position on the ship.
Stamets is different. His tardigrade DNA allowed him to be spared only some of the effects of the time bug by allowing him to take along all past knowledge and experiences, but he's not afforded the same benefit that Burnham and Rayner have with regards to separating himself in the same manner the transporter did for Burnham and Rayner.
The episode explains Stamets' situation with a single sentence Burnham says to Rayner very quickly. Stamets' skill/power/benefit was also demonstrated in episode s01e07.
AMA
Another solid outing. As other's have mentioned, the episode was reminiscent of Voyager's 'Shattered,' and effectively weaved the present and past. Wish the series started out with such a solid string of episodes.
I must say I laughed when Burnham said Discovery saved the universe. I guess that's something every member of the crew can hold over others in any just about any argument or disagreement. :p
Rahul
There's some good DSC here but I wouldn't call the episode excellent -- things only get a bit more critical with the time shifts when Burnham meets her younger self and Airiam. DSC had to get to an episode where Burnham and Rayner have to work together and it either totally blows up (unlikely) or Rayner falls into line under Burnham's command. So the latter takes place and it isn't totally cringe, though I feel Rayner's no-nonsense, pragmatism was written in a forced way in order to make a point about how he has to do things Burnham's way.
As far as the idea of time shifts and the technobabble to break it -- it's decent Trek sci-fi and I think Stamets' theory to solve the problem makes sense within a Trek sci-fi paradigm. The weakness is the time bugs themselves being the instrument of a way of enacting a Krenim "weapon" to hold Discovery in stasis basically. But we get the familiar ideas used in "Relativity", "Cause and Effect" but what I thought most of was "Lost" when the island kept shifting in time.
Is it a bit trite that Burnham tells Airiam she'll sacrifice herself while the rest of the bridge crew doesn't believe it but Airiam says she would? Might be easy for Airiam to just say as opposed to actually doing it if she had to. And then Rayner convinces a fiery younger Burnham that she'll deserve to be captain and that she should stand down? And why does DSC insist on throwing in a stupid fight scene between the 2 Burnhams? Probably because DSC feels it's a necessity to have some empty fight / action scenes.
The episode in touching on some of DSC's past does elevate the series overall in that it highlights some worthy sequences -- and as somebody who has seen every episode, it worked for me. But there needed to be a bit of a reason for all these visits to the past and that came with the final act. And this episode is not weighed down by Tilly and her insubordination / unprofessionalism. The problem is that DSC lays its "lessons" on pretty rich. I quite liked Jammer's line from "Jinaal" -- " it's foisting upon us Hallmark Greeting Card philosophies." So Rayner is contrite, admits he can be stubborn blah blah.
2.5 stars for "Face the Strange" -- close to 3 stars and the best episode of S5 thus far (which isn't saying much considering the mediocrity through the opening 3 episodes). But here DSC gives us some tried and true Trek sci-fi. But there's nothing too profound here and things get predictably and somewhat arbitrarily resolved. Burnham and Rayner will make a good team going forward but this season needs a better antagonist than Moll & L'Ak (and if they're ultimately working with the Breen).
Galadriel
@Leif “Why do you think the season 2 red angel story was misbegotten?”
Because (to quote Mr. Plinkett) “it doesn’t make any sense”. Just to name one of the most egregious problems: At the beginning of the season, Pike states that seven red signals have been observed; over the course of the season, some more show up, and at the end, Spock finally sees “the seventh signal”. Natural numbers do not work that way.
Another one was the death of Admiral Cornwall. Apart from all its ridiculous elements (the blast door that can withstand a tactical nuke), it contains a severe contradiction: Pike, at this time, is basically immortal, because the time crystal has sealed his fate. Why not have him play with the photon torpedo; then the universe must find a solution in which Pike survives, and probably everyone else also.
I have summarized a lot of my problems with the show in general and the storyline of S2 in particular in the discussion to “Such Sweet Sorrow 2”: https://www.jammersreviews.com/st-dsc/s2/such-sweet-sorrow-2.php#comment-63599
As I learnt later, the showrunners were exiled mid-season, and I am convinced that the season long story is a chimaera, put together from incompatible elements of different teams. Why, for example, did we never see Terralysium again?
Cletus
Good ep, nothing deep or thought provoking but solid. Like the call-out to krenim and temporal cold war and concept of time sabotage. Rayner continues to be best thing about s5 and clearly he's slowly getting Discofied by crew, but if writers show restraint and keep him around this level, don't think it will hurt the char. I kinda dug the rayner-burnham-stamets trio.
I chuckled at Burnham dressing down Rayner at start for not following her sensibilities as captain, oh how you've changed since s1. The requisite therapy sessions actually forwarded the plot so they weren't quite as grating, though as others said, had to roll my eyes at Burnham's monologue to her unconscious self, cmon writers. Martin-Green had some solid acting in her interaction with pre-breakup Book and as her younger self. And yeah thought for sure it would close with Rayner getting jett that drink with a sly wink she might've remembered, oh well.
Jeffrey's Tube
@ Jammer
"Star Trek: Self-Discovery."
Oh dear. I'm afraid that nomer might stick.
. . .
I kind of disagree about the time bug being "like using an excavator to swat a fly," though. I'm not so certain it's such a disproportionate tool for the purpose. Remember that, if it worked as intended, no one on Discovery would have even been aware it was happening, giving them absolutely no opportunity to escape the trap. And also Starfleet, when they eventually notice Discovery is missing, wouldn't be able to do anything about the trap either--but it would occupy them, trying to extricate Discovery from it, further slowing Starfleet down. Ultimately they would have to wait it out in order to be able to proceed. When you think about it, this kind of trap would be completely effective at leaving the Discovery crew without literally any options. And what other kind of trap, or sabotage, can you say that about? An exploded warp conduit can be repaired. A message can be sent to another Starfleet vessel to go to the next destination in the meantime (delegating). You know? Okay, there's the straight-up-murder option of blowing the ship to smithereens, but again, that wouldn't set Starfleet back as effectively because another ship would more quickly be assigned. And let's assume the straight-up-murder option still would have been harder, too.
If Michael Burnham hadn't been so super special that she happened to be beaming at the exact instant the trap went off, and if Stamets hadn't stuck his finger up a tardigrade's butthole that one time and swished it around to get some of its DNA inside him (I distinctly remember this happening), then this trap wouldn't have even allowed for the POSSIBILITY of its being defeated and Discovery escaping it. When you're up against an enemy that has already proven itself so resourceful, taking zero chances like so is completely warranted, imo. Prudent, even.
And heck, Discovery even got out of the unbeatable trap and it only took them six hours, so I guess the results prove it wasn't too disproportionate or extreme a weapon to use, too.
Mesut
Enjoyed reading Jammer's recap and analysis as always. I also thought for a moment there was going to be a tie-in to "Calypso."
That was a fun ride, best episode of this season. It was the first time since "Species 10-C" of last season that I found myself genuinely enthralled through the entire outing. Meaningful nods to past events, appearance by Airiam, and great performances by the two leading actors (especially Martin-Green contrasting the early-recent versions of Burnham, and nailing them) made it that much more enjoyable.
Reno deserves more screen time but I doubt it'll happen.
The Queen
Bryan and Kyle, you two rock, you said what I was thinking better than I could.
Matthew
@Jammer:
""Face the Strange" strikes me as a very generic and unimaginative title for this episode, and could've been used anywhere. Why not tie the title into something involving time or the character theme of change or personal journey?"
'Face the Strange' is a line from the chorus of the David Bowie song "Changes" :
"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Turn and face the strange
Ch-ch-changes
There's gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time"
So quite apt, in a roundabout way :)
Jammer
"'Face the Strange' is a line from the chorus of the David Bowie song 'Changes'"
Was not aware of this. I withdraw my statement.
Tim
Guess I’ll be the outlier here based on comments and Jammer’s three star rating.
Yawn.
I can’t recall the Voyager episode many are referencing, however, I do recall “All Good Things.” I served with “All Good Things.” I knew “All Good Things.” “All Good Things” was a friend of mine. “Face The Strange,” you are no “All Good Things.”
This whole episode seems contrived to reinforce the nonsense that we just need to talk about our feelings and hug it out.
Past Michael and Rhys have phasers held on Stamets and Rayner. Rayner has to Talk It Out ™. Did it occur to anyone to have their CO, Airiam, WHO HAD ALREADY AGREED TO HELP, simply order them to lower their weapons?!
The fight between Past and Current Michael was BORING. How many times have we seen this in Discovery and Picard? At this point I’m rooting for an Indiana Jones parody, have two characters queuing up for another Pointless Corridor Martial Arts Scene ™ and immediately end it with a phaser stun.
Hey writers, we get it, sometimes you just need to Hug It Out ™ even when faced with a ticking clock and existential threat to civilization.
2.0 stars. Boring.
Caloceptri
@Jammer
“We’ve lowered the stakes….. to merely the end of Federation hq in season five.” Haha!
Lol, season’s not over let. But if those turn out this be the stakes, an event no more catastrophic than destruction of federation hq (which is such a ugly thing to look at that destruction should be viewed as a mercy killing btw)k then, I guess you can say that this has been progress on the writers’ part, of a very peculiar sort.
Yanks
Another Discovery outing that didn't piss me off.
Two in a row!
I enjoyed this one.
I was surprisingly emotional seeing Airiam again... that kind of surprised me being how we only really knew her for one episode.
Burnham v Burnham fight... Not up to par. The standard has been set for me watching May v May in Agents of SHIELD. Gonna be hard to top that one.
I'm a little confused with the Crenim time travel shenanigans here. I'll admit, this may be a me problem, not a Discovery problem.
When Janeway crashed Voyager into the time ship, everything went back to "day one". The same thing happens here, even Airiam knew that was supposed to happen. No one on Voyager remembered anything, so how does Discovery know this even happened?
It was once to see Burnham with her season one hair.
I could rewatch this episode.
3 stars from me.
Yanks
Oh, I can understand how Moll and L'ak found the piece to the puzzle being how they have the notebook and all, but what good does it do them without the 3 other pieces Discovery has?
Mal
Come one @Jammer, 3 stars for "a passably entertaining" episode?!?
Or are you damning "Face the Strange" with faint praise ("a fairly solid Voyager-style outing")?
I know you don't aim for consistency in star-ratings between series, but 3 stars?? For this? When Strange New World's "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow" got only 2?!?
Oh for those golden days of yore when season-recaps were a time to re-evaluate star-ratings.
Oh well, I chalk this up to @Jammer being in an exceptionally good mood this week. Which, I mean, is awesome! Hope everyone is enjoying Spring. Michael certainly seems to be ;)
Trek fan
Three stars—this is an amusingly odd time travel romp that takes us back into previous seasons. It’s entertaining to recall some of the crazy Ivans this show has taken along the way. It’s not as deep or as entertaining as the Mudd time loop episode from season 1, but it’s fun. Some interesting Burnham self-reflections along the way, recalling a more interesting version of the character than where she’s landed.
Austin
I would give this 2 stars, which is probably the best of this season so far. I agree with Karl Zimmerman in that it doesn’t make sense when you have a ticking clock to stop and give a pep talk to your unconscious self. Also, I concur with most of you that the logic behind convincing Airam was about as weak-sauce as a sauce can be weak. Shouldn’t she be upset at the other crew members. “She’s going to sacrifice herself!” “Pfft, yeah right!” Gee thanks for the vote of support.
The trip down Discovery memory lane was fun. It would have been more fun if there were great plots to go back and visit, but alas there are none to be found on this show. Stammets was great in this episode! Reno’s line got me laughing pretty hard. “You’re not stuck in a temporal loop are you?” She plays it off as if she were kidding, but part of me thinks that even if she believed he WAS stuck in a temporal loop, she would have reacted the same way, like “eh, he’ll figure it out.”
So lots to like, lots to roll your eyes at, par for the course.
Tim
@ Yanks "I was surprisingly emotional seeing Airiam again... that kind of surprised me being how we only really knew her for one episode."
Airiam had more than the one episode. I don't think they flushed her out as well as they could have but she was more than the Redshirt of the Week.
@ Austin "Also, I concur with most of you that the logic behind convincing Airam was about as weak-sauce as a sauce can be weak."
I forgot about that nonsense in my annoyance with the rest of the episode.
"Hey Airiam, you know you can trust us, because you die in the future, and I know that's what you would be willing to do if necessary."
Isn't "willing to die, if necessary, to save the ship/mission" kind of an entry level requirement to join Starfleet?
Jeffrey's Tube
But we only REALLY knew Airiam for one episode, although she had been around for many, many episodes. Because Discovery.
. . .
It's weak but it makes as much sense as any of the other "character logic" on the show for why characters act the way they act, so I little noted it.
modulum
Crazy how Discovery is consistently actually quite good at these episodic, mystery-of-the-week science fiction romps - between Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad, New Eden, Sound of Thunder, Obol for Charon, and this, I'd argue these episodes are more imaginative and ambitious as classic "Star Trek" episodes than anything on SNW - and they keep going back to the melodrama/action-adventure well anyway. Really feel like a show that was more like this episode - episodic-ish sci-fi plots without being leashed to filling in easter eggs and lore like SNW - could have been genuinely great.
Jeff
"Star Trek - Self-Discovery"
LOL. I am so tired of the constant Leo Buscaglia-eque "tell me about your feelings" crap. It makes me wish for some Shatnerian lack of self awareness in just one character.
maq
Join all those with a positive feeling, I found the fight Burnham vs Burnham very well done. As all other intercrew interactions where solved with words this fight was ok, But logically captain Burnham would fairy easily have been able to convince herself. Anyhow technically well conducted.
Good tempo, good dialogues, involvement from all of the crew. Nice reprisal of Ariam. A pity that her character was ditched in season two.
Trek fan
PS — I don’t know about anyone else, but I was rooting for the old Burnham to best the new Burnham in the fight. I miss the old Burnham. She had edge and passion.
S. in Pa.
You know, it should have been the easiest thing in the world for Burnham to prove her identity to her younger self. She could have just started speaking to her (in Vulcan) about some event from her own childhood that nobody else could possibly know. Like, "Remember when Spock tried to do his first nerve pinch on me, and I kicked his little ass? Good times."
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