“Red Directive” / “Under the Twin Moons”

I said I wouldn't be back on Disco unless Jammer's reviews indicated some kind of massive turnaround... yet here I am. I guess I really am a sucker!

Based on this premiere, though, I don't think I'm going to be commenting a whole lot on this season. The show just isn't engaging me anymore the way it did in its early days, when flashy Epic Action Trek was a shiny novelty that felt different. For me we were way past "diminishing returns" on that front by the end of season 3; by the end of season 4, the show felt bankrupt. It hadn't invested enough in the character development of its core cast and the action stuff felt increasingly rote and unable to make up for the repetitiveness of the plots.

But despite the obvious myriad problems with the show, the biggest one stood out again in this premiere: Burnham. As one of only three characters the show has maintained an ongoing interest in (the others being Book and Saru), it's essential that Burnham be able to hold the audience, and I just don't think she's up to it anymore.

In the early days I actually found her character quite interesting, and Sonequa Martin-Green was doing interesting things with her portrayal. A human raised amongst Vulcans, trained to think logically but not able to repress her emotions in the same way. A Starfleet scientist who went too far outside the rules and had to regain the trust of her colleagues. I think that's what has been lost over the course of season 3 and 4, and I think it's what finally did the show in. Over the course of these two episodes, there's almost no trace left of those interesting dynamics, the character is increasingly ill-defined by the writers and I've just lost all interest.

I'll still be watching the rest of this final season, I think. It's not unwatchably bad. Yet. And there's not much else good on TV right now that's really competing for my time. But if I'm going to feeling any strong emotions throughout I have the suspicion it's going to be disappointment. Disappointment that this show which arrived with such a bang and re-launched Star Trek on TV, didn't manage to take the route of all the other shows and get better with time, instead gradually losing its edge and fading away.

Tim C - instead of watching, why don't you just beat yourself over the head with a mallet? It'll save a lot of time. And maybe Jammer will show a clip of it at his upcoming confab.

A review for The Red Directive only - won't be able to watch Under the Twin Moons till later today:

A good episode, and likely the best season opener for Discovery. I just wish they had avoided a few crucial mistakes which really hampered my enjoyment.

On the good side, this was a well-paced action adventure with good utilization of most of the characters. The showrunner (Michelle Paradise) seemed to get the message that last season was too much of a downer, with the energy ticked up firmly into "romp" territory. Yet there's still plenty of focus on character, with every member of the main cast (and some of the extended cast) given a chance to shine. I also like they both introduced antagonists who seem a bit more complicated (Moll and L'ak - at least they love one another) and an ally they are clearly in conflict with (Captain Raynar). Finally, the little touches of continuity with the rest of Star Trek (first Picard Season 1, and then eventually TNG) is much appreciated. For the first time they're not just inventing a new threat out of whole cloth, but building on something that came before. And the idea of a simpler, archeological mystery plotline is pretty refreshing.

That said, some of the choices made here really took me out of the story.

The biggest one by far was having Michael and Book essentially break up off camera. Now, this isn't the fault of this episode per-se. I think the idea of them breaking up (or at least hitting a rocky patch) makes for good drama. However, last season one of the key themes seemed to be the undying love and trust between the two. Even when Book turned his back on the Federation and joined up with the closest thing the season had to a villain, Michael still didn't give up on him, and they ended the season rock solid. Now a few months of not returning calls, and they have 'issues?' This speaks to the major problem in Discovery with long-term character arcs. They don't plan enough from season to season. Really, it's Season 4's fault for having that consequence-free finale, but perhaps they believed the show was going to be canceled and wanted a happy ending? Regardless, this choice was so artificial it took me right out of the story.

A few of the scenes just didn't work either. The introduction of Captain Rayner as a disembodied voice over comms was just dumb, as it introduced a conflict without us know anything about him as a character. And while Saru's discussion with T'Rina about mortality near the end of the episode was mostly lovely, the argument that the settlement almost dying spurred it just didn't work for me, as he was not part of the away mission, the civilians were just tiny dots on the surface, and he's undoubtedly been in dozens of similar circumstances.

While I love the idea of The Chase being followed up on, I'm also a bit wary here. The whole point of that TNG episode was that the major powers believed they were on the hunt for a superweapon, but really, it was just a message from the ancient humanoids (apparently now called the progenitors). Now we hear that they actually had tech which could be a superweapon all along? Any conclusion to this may be troubling. If it's a red herring, they just retell The Chase a second time in longer form. If there really is some sort of superweapon, it completely undercuts the message of that episode.

Despite having three times as much to say about flaws/concerns, I did really like it. It's just got some major record scratches that make me see the seams.

Didn't post my last name before (stupid Chrome autocomplete). Since I use it here, might as well include it with an addendum.

It was noted on another forum that this season seems to be eschewing a mystery box format, and thinking further, I have to concur, and I'm grateful. This is probably a big portion of why the pacing feels right.

I'm sure there will be later reveals, but it's refreshing that we know exactly why the initial McGuffin was important by the end of the episode. There's still some hints as to terrible awful things to come, but at least the initial hush-hush is dealt with.

Jammer

These two episodes are airing as two different episodes. They the reviews just be two different reviews as usual. Not sure why these episodes are combined. They don’t need to be.

I just saw Red Redemption and liked it. It seemed to have a little too much Discovery sentimentality but the end reveal and the connection to “The Chase” improved the episode greatly. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

That should be Red Directive in my last post.

After five seasons I guess I should have accepted that Discovery is never going to be the Trek show I hoped it would be. Accepting diversity is actually a lesson that fits well with the franchise and this series in particular.

But it's been two years since I last visited Discovery and I'd forgotten just how many frustrating quirks and tics this show has. Admirals blatantly ignoring Starfleet protocols because they're curious. The endless, never-as-funny-as-the-writers-believe-it-is chattering of Tilly. Stamets always being a second away from self pity, Burnham miraculously having the right answer because she's Burnham... Oh, it's all back and it's in fine form.

The action sequences looked gorgeous, the special effects team did their usual bang up job... But I skipped through most of them. From the space chase to the Dune pastiche without the worms, it's beautiful to look at, but it's empty filler all the same.

As for this season's threat... The Progenitors make a comeback. Or, well, their tech at least. The technology they used to seed the primordeal soup of dozens of worlds with life. Not quite sure how this is any more of a threat than the Genesis device or simple genetic engineering, but we still got 8 episodes to see how it works out.

The good:

- Doctor Kovich is always a welcome addition
- Fred the early old Soong type android, the actor did a great job.
- Never saw two spaceships crash and use their shields as a bulwark

The meh:

- Still not sold on the Book/Burnham relationship
- L'ak and Moll lack a lot: chemistry, charm, convincing cunning

Came into the episodes not expecting much, even their release: for the first time in a long time, did not realize when the season was starting. With that said, I found both to be fairly enjoyable, in part due to some great visuals/alien worlds, and them being something of an homage to a past episode I quite like. Part of me also thought some version of these episodes would have made for a great introduction to the series. But, that's not what these episode are, and, by now, for me, the series carries with it a lot of baggage, most of which is not good. I like some of the characters - Burnham, Culber, Book, and the newest addition, Captain Rayner - just fine, but that's all. No real favourites. Consequently, I'll approach the season much like Grudge does a holographic mouse, with faint interest.

Somewhat relatedly, I am not looking forward to the new offshoots from the series: the Section 31 movie, and the academy series. Will likely and initially skip both.

Nothing particularly bad here, but nothing, for me, to get excited over either.

PROS:

[1] I like the premise, mystery, and puzzle. I just hope that the upcoming puzzles themselves are interesting. I'll be disappointed if any major solves are uninspired (i.e., repeats of other popular puzzles elsewhere in film or pop culture).

[2] I love the starship action!

[3] I like the idea of Saru and the Vulcan getting married

[4] I love the addition of Rayner! He's got Lorca & Shaw energy all about him. I also love the daring premise of him stepping down from the role of Captain to take a First Officer position. I think this sets up the potential for some truly great drama between Burnham and Rayner. They're two strong-minded individuals that will probably have some crazy dynamic conflicts. He also seems to be written in a way where we'll be expected to disagree with him on more than one occasion. But even so, he'll always have that "I set my ego aside" card in his back pocket as a foundation for every decision he makes, proving he's motivated by the mission and the benefit of the Federation (among the other actions he's taken that's established in these episodes).

CONS:

[a] We're still too deep into everyone's feelings. Are we generally in consensus that this is one of the show's flaws? I am _always_ a big proponent of character development, and I usually welcome talking about feelings on shows to address conflict, but I've hit my limit. It's really become a cumulative negative effect. I'm just like, "get to f**kin work!"

[b] I want someone to come up with fresh technobabble. The idea of using an EMP to disable technology is an overly-treaded tech in TV & film; for it to be used here in the far-flung future feels ridiculous. Compounding on that is the convenience of learning that a phaser can develop its own EMP.

[c] Kinda stupid that the Federation decided to discontinue development of the spore drive. I can see why writers may want to do that for storytelling reasons, but: goddamn you, writers, you already introduced the tech, backtracking like this just makes your characters seem idiotic. Especially when the reason seems to be "oh, someone destroyed the prototype. Let's give up!"

OTHER THOUGHTS:

[i] Soooo can officers just create as many phasers as they need provided their suits have the energy for it? Just how many phasers? Why didn't Saru use one when he was on the run?

[ii] I thought they all carry their own personal force field? Why didn't Saru have one when he was on the run?

[iii] I'm still hoping we will eventually see the bridge of a 32nd century starfleet ship before Discovery ends.

[iv] The tie-in to TNG... I honestly don't know how I feel about that. TNG is my favorite of all Trek franchises, but ever since we came off the heels of Picard's Season 3, it feels like we should have a nice long break from all that. I would have preferred a tie-in to DS9.

[v] I hope Zora will somehow play a more active role as an individual, kinda like KITT from Knight Rider. That may just be wishful thinking since she's always meant to be staffed with someone in command...

I haven't watched. I'm not sure I should, given my bias. In the past it was entertaining to tear it a new one each season.

Don't even know if it's available in my region, truth be told. But tell me:

- Is a mystery of galactic import revealed?

- Is the episode well-budgeted for a kinetic action sequence replete with quippy one-liners?

- Was there overly bombastic music playing over soppy, melodramatic character moments?

I must know.

@Karl Zimmerman

"It was noted on another forum that this season seems to be eschewing a mystery box format, and thinking further, I have to concur, and I'm grateful. This is probably a big portion of why the pacing feels right."

Good gravy - really?

Oh no, Discovery just introduced a straight white male as the new first officer. Whatever will this comment section bitch about now?

Burnham only cried twice per episode. Well, she may have cried three times in the second episode. Does it count as crying if the tear doesn't quite leave her eye?

Looks like the show is finally committing to some cool new 32nd century tech. Like infinite phaser summonses and autodeploying spacesuits on vacuum detection. The effort to create a consistent imagined technological "language" for this future is appreciated, if overdue. Although, no personal forcefields in those firefights? I guess it's the classic arms race thing: a gun is only effective as a gun if it can defeat a personal-sized forcefield, so any gun they would be using would be able to defeat a personal-sized forcefield, so why use a personal-sized forcefield at all. Or something like that.

Every time they do some kind of bike chase or drone shootout or whatever, I'm just kind of bored and biding my time until it's over and we can get back to the plot. Or the character moments (mixed bag that they are). Just, you know, something actually somewhat interesting. Not the reaction they're going for, considering that's where they're spending all their money and effort, and yet. Maybe it's a "me" thing. But is it? Or is it a "most Star Trek fans" thing?

Hey, when's the last time Discovery itself got into a firefight? Like a proper space battle, not just tiny little fighter craft or whatever. But two capital ships slugging it out. Was it honestly the season two finale? If you must be this way, Discovery, I would like to see that. How about spending some money on that?

Oh look Tilly's back. And she's in a whole bunch of scenes with Adira. And they are literally the same character. Like, they're exactly the same character. They're written the same way and any of their lines could be given to the other and they would be delivered in exactly the same manner. It's Big Tilly (Big Big Tilly) and Little Tilly. Double Tillyvision. Oh joy.

I'm honestly much more attached to many of the supporting cast, like Owo, Detmer, Vance, Kovich, Rillak, and T'Rina, than half of the main cast that the believes are worth all its focus. At least Book continues to be a bright spot. Book makes Burnham almost bearable at times.

I thought the actor who played Fred did a really good job. In a world where Discovery was a better show, they would have repaired Fred and dragged him along on this wild quest of theirs.

Which quest, I am glad it isn't yet another mystery we need to wait nearly the entire season to understand.

I didn't even bother getting excited when the Antarres showed up and was shuttling around with Discovery that we might finally get to go aboard and see the inside of a 32nd century ship because I knew we would not. AND: we didn't.

EMP was dumb. Listen, we can already shield against that shit. Want to tell me the future can't?

But at the end of the day, neither of these episodes committed any terrible sins, and perhaps that's the best I can say for them. I'm not terribly interested in anything the show is doing, but it didn't piss me off. Perhaps I'm more cynical now and less open to Discovery's take on Star Trek, having been two years since it was last on and with two seasons of Strange New Worlds, Picard season 3, and some honestly-pretty-great Lower Decks episodes having aired in the meantime, doing a vastly better job of being Trek.

@ Tim C

One option is:

- Watch the premiere (as you have).

- Find some decent shows to catch up on over the next several weeks.

- Return to Disco for the penultimate episode and pay attention to the recap.

Sorted. Going by past performance, we're only a couple of episodes away from mid-season malaise. They'll continue to drag it out & push it two-or-so episodes past it's expiry before the penultimate episode Big Reveal and whizz-bang season finale.

Going by past performance, that is. I mean last season we had Monty Python "get on with it" memes circulating.

It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the beginning of the end for ST: Discovery. When JT, one of Nu-Trek's greatest cheerleaders is starting to get cynical about the start of another season you know that its welcome cannot wear much thinner.

The final season encapsulates Discovery well with the MacGuffin they're chasing being a literal Mystery Box. Fortunately before long we find out what's inside and how it's meant to lead to still more MacGuffins. Looks like it's going to be a very cinematic action plot as they track down various pieces of the map, each culminating in frenetic and eye-catching set pieces. This...may actually not be so bad if you allow yourself to forget that you're watching Star Trek, but see it more aptly as a generic yet serviceable blockbuster showcase. Or at least, the made-for-TV equivalent of that. These action scenes are certainly well-done, and are complemented with flashy enough CGI.

I also liked the callback to the Progenitors and have always figured that some sort of follow-up to such an epic and important story was deserved... too bad it took them til the rushed final season of DISC to get to that point. Really hoping the writers don't fumble this promising opportunity to make something of it.

Some old problems rear their ugly heads as expected. Like how everyone gets all sentimental and navel-gazy especially right when there are more urgent and important matters at stake. Or how people suddenly know the answer to what we're told are nearly-insoluble problems...just because they're them and not someone else. Only the genius of Book can deduce that outlaws fleeing from the Federation would avoid Federation space. Only Burnham miraculously knows exactly which twinned-moon system to head to while the Starfleet Intelligence expert vacillates between thousands of possibilities. Annoyingly, they use this impossible or too-obvious knowledge for as leverage for why they're needed on this mission.

One thing I didn't quite get is why Rayner is basically fired for pulling the kind of audacious stunts that have gotten Burnham congratulated and promoted in the past. She's certainly no less mouthy about it than him either. The only difference is that the consequences didn't work out for the best...which wasn't even his fault to begin with. Burnham seems to have this reality-warping field around her which causes events to conveniently unfold in her favor. It's why she supplanted Saru as captain of the Discovery, and now it's why she gets her choice of first officer, precisely when the old one is about to leave. Only now it's even more insulting for this decorated captain to take a demotion in order to serve under her and it's framed as her doing this great favor to him. If she really respected him and cared about his interests, she'd convince Vance to give him back his command and not anything so self-serving and demoralizing as that.

But when Rayner initially asked Vance, "My mission or hers?" I half-expected to Vance to just smile and say "You know the drill."


Random thoughts:

- Burnham's all like "They're trapped in there and losing life support but WOW WEEEEEE, how fun is this?!"

- Burnham sounds kinda hoarse and a bit stilted at times... it is not a pleasant aural experience when she gets really excited or throws her voice

- Saru's impassioned words to T'Rina, about how she's 'his home, his family and still so much more' would be touching...if he didn't say basically the same thing to Sukal. Okay, maybe his steadfast devotion to the screaming manchild lacked the same romantic undertones, but here is a guy who keeps on treating his duty and decorated career like it's a secondary consideration to this or that newly introduced minor character with precious little in the way of development to justify such life-altering decisions. They're already considering getting married and they just barely met, it feels like....

- What happened to Tilly? Did she get swapped with her MU clone or is her hair and makeup person way overcompensating?

I watched the first episode not expecting much but actually it was quite enjoyable, except Tilly is surely the most annoying Star Trek character ever. Just horrendous. Her high speed gabbling waffle is so annoying. Imagine her teaching people which apparently is what she's going to be doing, horrific.

I loved Fred and thought that character had great potential. I haven't watched the second epsiode yet but looking at the comments above it looks like Discovery hasn't developed that, what a surprise - not!

Since it looks like Jammer will not be splitting up the review pages for the first two episode, my thoughts on Under the Twin Moons...

Eh, it's fine. Good even. Unlike the premier, there were no notably weird/awkward scenes which dragged things to a screeching halt. It was a competent hour or so of light action-adventure, with a few surprisingly adult emotional interactions for a show that veers too oft towards the maudlin. Michael and Saru arguing about which of them should risk their life (all while Michael cried) did absolutely nothing for me, but their final scene where Saru was packing up worked great - referencing back emotional moments across past seasons that didn't work then, but worked fine now. Even better was Michael's recruitment talk with Rayner for XO, which explicitly mirrored her entire arc, but didn't feel contrived. Probably helps a bit as well that Rayner feels like Lorca in terms of surface presentation.

Some of the choices made were incredibly tropey (ancient temple with booby traps, puzzle with missing pieces). Still, a tropey story isn't necessarily a bad story. I really can't think of anything other than nitpicks to complain about here (other than low-level unease regarding the season arc as a whole).

The two episodes were fine. Nothing great. Entertaining but never really rising above that. There’s plenty of heart-to-hearts (with crying, of course) while they are in a hurry and in a crisis, so not to worry.

They had the usual “National Treasure”-like movie tropes. Jungle temple with boobie traps, a puzzle with missing pieces that can only be found through a scavenger hunt. A team of experts can’t figure out puzzles, but Book and Burnham can figure them out instantly.

Moll looks like an extra from “Blade Runner”. Lak looks like…can’t put my finger on it, but maybe an amalgamation of several characters?

Why is the dead Romulan scientist so well preserved?

Self-sealing stem bolts! Ha!!

Fred was good to see. Interesting character who was offed too soon. Maybe he’s resuscitated later in the series?

That may have been the longest lasting landslide I have ever seen.

Why do the starships have to crash into the ground to deploy their shields to save the village?

Why do I struggle with the names of the bridge crew but care more for peripheral characters such as Vance and T’Rina?

The CGI action sequences whiz along quickly, but have that cartoonish sort of feel and lack of physicality that plagues a lot of CGI.

Tilly is back with a worse haircut than before. I guess she is there for all awkward females to relate to and all, but to me, she continues to be emotionally unfit to be an officer, much less a teacher. Her awkward bumbling goofy schtick is wearisome. It’s simply poor writing.

I like that they are following up on the Progenitors. Finally!! I hope they don’t make this awful.

I let that sink in overnight, and today I am still sur­pris­ed that I found the two epis­odes a lot bet­ter than my cy­ni­cal self had pre­dict­ed. But let’s speak about the negatives first.

The writing is as bad as ever, with numerous Marvelesk lines (“This is not what I expected when the night started”), in­appro­pri­ate col­loquia­lisms (“Duty calls”) and ex­po­si­tion that makes the cha­rac­ters look dumb (“What are the little tiny floaty things?”). When I heard “So­me­how, Dr. Vellek found their tech­no­logy” I burst into laugh­ter — se­ri­ous­ly, is there any­one be­sides the wri­ters that hasn’t seen the Ep9-memes? And even that got top­ped with “I think this is a map of some kind” (I wait­ed for “… and it leads to Luke Skywalker”).

The problems, however, go beyond choice of words, as the plot­ting re­mains a col­lec­tion of holes. Why does Star­fleet know a 800 year old Ro­mu­lan ship is a threat? Why does the Pump­kin & Ho­ney Bun­­ny team know what to steal from a ship full of anti­­qui­­ties? Why does every­one as­su­me they got the mor­sels while 99% of all stuff was still there? Why does Burn­ham sug­gest Lyrek and not any other planet with a multitude of moons in exotic con­fi­gu­ra­ti­ons? Why did pre­vious ex­pe­di­ti­ons to Lyrek not re­port on the de­fen­se sy­stem?

And, most importantly, what is so important about the Pro­geni­tors and their technological abilities? Sure, they know a lot about DNA and evolution so that they can seed the galaxy with some­thing (spores? bac­te­ria?) that will pro­du­ce an abun­dance of in­tel­li­gent life 4½ bil­lion years later, in a kind of pre­de­ter­min­ed evo­lu­ti­on. But I fail to see the tac­tical or cul­tu­ral or mili­tary sig­ni­fi­can­ce of that — really, it’s only a pro­gram writ­ten in DNA, not some se­mi-magi­cal mat­­ter and time re­ar­rang­ing gon­cu­la­tor.

And the hugging and smiling on the bridge goes on and on. Dis­co­v­e­ry is what it is. At least, Burn­ham stopped interrupting every­body, and I guess one has to be gra­te­ful for that.

Speaking of the Good: De­spite their sig­ni­fi­cant run­time, the two episodes did not bore me like much that happened in S3 and S4. There was a sense of ex­ci­te­ment and raw kinetic energy in the action, and the treasure hunt format did provide a satisfying mix of mystery and revelations, not that drag­ged-out mys­tery box BS we all know and loathe.

The Soong-style Android was an unexpected and welcome ad­di­ti­on, and one of the very first ti­mes that Trek v3 calls back to it­self. Since I am more le­ni­ent to PIC S1 than most here, I am ac­tu­ally hap­py to see that the Synth co­lo­ny ma­nag­ed to sur­vi­ve for some time. Also, “The Chase” always seemed an un­der­rat­ed TNG epis­ode to me; it is very far from perfect but poses an intriguing pre­mise. Thus, it is a good place to return and improve on it, in the same way as LD repeatedly did with me­dio­cre old epis­odes, of­ten with suc­cess.

This season also comes with some of the more interesting vil­lains of Trek v3. They are introduced as not exactly evil, but daring and cocky, and a lot of fun to watch. When Ho­ney Bun­ny murdered Fred mercilessly, I got unsure of what to think of them, but the re­ve­la­tion at the clos­ing of Ep. 2 con­vin­ces me that she will get the Jurati treatment in the end. Still, that sounds bet­ter than al­most all we had before in Trek v3, with the Diviner from PRO perhaps being the best (in no small part because of John Noble).

Another plus is Captain Rayner, an ex­pe­rienc­ed Cap­tain with a dif­fe­rent out­look on the world, doubt­less­ly shap­ed by his up­brin­ging in a post-Burn uni­ver­se. Please don’t turn him into a Burn­ham wor­ship­per, and don’t kill him off in Shaw style. I dare you, I double dare you, you motherwriters!

So yes, I am hooked enough to look forward to next Thursday with limited optimism (and any joke about “beaten Trek­kie syn­dro­me” here).

Starman - that's genius. This way Tim can pay for Paramount Plus and not watch the majority of the show.

If he's so desperate to get his nu-Trek fix, then I suggest he buy a bottle of vodka, watch the show for free on some Russian site, and shout insults at the show in some drunken hybridized version of Klingon and Yiddish.

Yeah, I'm surprised at this.

Because really, Episode 1 and 2 are better than the entirety of DISCO so far and I mean that put together. I didn't hate Season 1, I did hate Season 2, I was mostly pretty okay with Season 3 (and disliked the fact it Jettisoned all of the build up in the previous seasons) and HATED Season 4. However, Season 5 1 and 2 are fantastic.

+ This is a sequel to TNG's "The Chase", which I appreciate because I liked the Progenitors but I feel like they could have added a disclaimer, "Obviously, evolution is still real and true but it explains a few holes in the fossil record."

+ I absolutely love the villains are just a pair of smugglers and feel like they are so much of a breath of fresh air after the fact that universal threats were overwhelming all the other seasons. They're also incredibly fun villains as well.

+ The Tomb Raider/Uncharted energy was something I didn't expect to like as much as I did.

+ I really hate that they're writing Tilly off from being a captain because she had the most captain energy of them all. On the other hand, I have strong hopes Mary Wiseman will be the lead on Starfleet Academy.

+ Is the other Starfleet captain half-Ferengi?

+ I really would love to know what David Cronenberg is? He acts like he's the actual head of the Federation. I would not be surprised if he turns out to be CONTROL having been fixed and repaired.

+ The appearance of a Soong android was a welcome surprise.

+ I like how Stahmets reaction to the spore drive is, "Okay, they don't give a shit about it anymore in the future so I have no legacy whatsoever." It's kind of hilarious how this shoe has written away so much of its own premise.

+ Lots of excellent visuals.

+ I DO hate the fact that they have a "Blue Wall of Silence" in Starfleet by Burnham's reaction to being asked by the President to testify against her fellow officer. That's an attitude we totally need to get rid outside of a playground.

[[This season also comes with some of the more interesting vil­lains of Trek v3. They are introduced as not exactly evil, but daring and cocky, and a lot of fun to watch. When Ho­ney Bun­ny murdered Fred mercilessly, I got unsure of what to think of them, but the re­ve­la­tion at the clos­ing of Ep. 2 con­vin­ces me that she will get the Jurati treatment in the end. Still, that sounds bet­ter than al­most all we had before in Trek v3, with the Diviner from PRO perhaps being the best (in no small part because of John Noble).]]

@Galadriel

Eh, they only started blasting when Fred tried to stop them from leaving with his goon squad. It's not exactly self-defense but it's not exactly not self-defense either. It's the kind of thing Mal Reynolds would do if Badger tried to rip off their score.

Well, I saw the episode was available in my region (on our free-to-air streaming service). I thought what the hell, I'm not paying (well I suppose I am via my taxes) - one episode won't hurt, right?

Dear lord, what a mission. It took three attempts to finish the episode (the first check out was after “saxophone lessons”).

And I'm only referring to the first episode. Once the credits rolled after "let's fly", I couldn't have switched it off faster. Call it hyperbole if you want, but I had zero desire to watch the next episode.

That was bad – but so quintessentially Discovery.

Any glimmer of hope for this show’s improvement faded away somewhere in season 3. Yet, here I am, unable to resist checking in on its final stretch.

Olatunde Osunsanmi returns to direct, their trademark style in full force. This show tries so hard to be cool, yet despite its efforts - and those neck-breaking camera angles - it ends up being all style and no substance.

What's a Red Directive? Dunno. But apparently, it’s super-duper-important, except no one seems to take it seriously. Orders are disregarded as if they're just suggestions. What matters is that Michael Burnham must know the stakes and the reasons behind it all. She simply can't accept that it’s important, highly classified, and her job to execute it - a job she fails at least twice in one episode. No doubt a reprimand will be forthcoming – oh, what's that, Kovich? Yes, of course, she should spearhead the team. Silly me.

Perhaps you might be conjuring up a precedent set by some other Starfleet officer to render the above critique null and void. Sure, you could reference any number of episodes from the canon. But no matter which past episode you choose, were they ever this... obnoxious about it all?

The problem with Burnham in this episode is the same as every other – she's boring and ofttimes unlikeable.

Oh yes, her and Book started their little private little remember when … bit again. That’s always fun.

At least there’s Strange New Worlds. While watching this episode’s splendiferous CGI sequences, I couldn’t help but wonder how many extra episodes we could’ve squeezed out of SNW S2 if they’d just Batgirl’d (or Prodigy’d) this season. More SNW is the only Trek I have a shred of interest these days. They’ve only managed to get one live-action project right (apologies to Picard S3 fans) - just do that exclusively for a bit and give it all the damn money.

I went in with low expectations. Normally I get something out of Disco's whiz bang openers, airheaded as they typically are. But this time round, it did nothing for me.

A properly bad episode, but so very Disco - like they've taken the essence of the show and concentrated it into something even more ... Disco-ish. **shudder**

A thoroughly deserved 1 / 5

The way I viewed the scene at Fred's villa (or whatever) is that L'ak freaked out after Fred shot Moll in the shoulder. He then shot Fred multiple times in a fit of rage. Moll was unhappy that he did this (she was only mildly wounded) but finished Fred off to ensure that no witnesses were left behind.

Thus the entire scene was meant to showcase they were not irredeemably evil. La'k is a more hesitant character (he wanted to abandon the big find), but he loves Moll deeply and will do anything to protect her. Moll is more ruthless, but she didn't kill just for evil's sake, but to tie up a loose end (I dunno what happened to the armed guards, presumably we're meant to believe they died in the firefight and there was no reason to check).

@CT Phipps

Watch the scene again (33:45): The couple gets rid of the goons, and L’ak wounds Fred in a rage. Fred lies on the floor. Then Moll turns her wea­pon on him, says “I hope it was pain­ful”, and both fire at him while he is help­less. The scene cuts in the very mo­ment when their pha­sers dis­charge (34:44).

I am not saying Fred was anything less than a dick, but they exe­cut­ed him cold-bloodedly.

I'd say "Red Directive" is a shallow action-adventure with a couple of relationship stories thrown in for some depth. Overall found it disappointing as it's basically like a couple of acts from "The Chase". There's just nothing new, imaginative or even interesting here.

I suppose some seeds are planted for what the main characters will be doing next, but who really cares. Tilly's brought into the mix and she's still annoying, not funny (but I think there's an audience for her schtick). What I did like is Dr. Kovich -- interesting dynamic on DSC to see him put Burnham on her heels with "make sure this mission succeeds" and Burnham gives him that look like "don't you tell me what to do white man." In addition to "The Chase", had to think of "Gambit" with most of the episode being about chasing 2 mercenaries for an ancient artifact.

The Antares captain lent a bit of needed pragmatism and pushback to Burnham, so at least the episode wasn't all-out Burnham glorification. And of course they have to have their back-and-forth at warp speed and while on the sand motorcycles. Also had to think -- why are the respective ship captains doing this kind of stuff? Because it's television.

I liked the Saru / T'Rina courtship scenes. T'Rina wants to "codify" their mutual commitment. Saru's innocence in this whole thing is kind of refreshing.

Burnham and Booker have good chemistry -- they try and squeeze in some meaningful conversation whenever they can, even as L'Ak and Moll get away from the dusty planet and the Antares captain takes off. Just felt unprofessional seeing them chatting there given the urgency of the situation...

The bit about the 2 ships nosediving into the sand and extending their shields to stop an avalanche...ridiculous. As was Burnham in her super-suit in a warp bubble (though Trip did it without a special suit in "Divergence"). I guess she had zero effect on the mercenary ship's engines.

2 stars for "Red Directive" -- not a promising start to DSC S5. And thankfully this is DSC's final season. What's the main priority for Burnham here? Mend the relationship with Book, be heroic again but maybe in a more collaborative way? Hopefully we get a bit more intelligence to these episodes and less superficial action scenes. Be Trek, not Star Wars.

Will just add, in a far future where environmental suits can materialize when exposed to space, produce/replicate phasers, offer mobile transporters, and run detailed tricorder-like scans, it is a bit odd that they do not also offer some form of defense or shields. For that matter, it's a bit odd that some form of remote holo-emitter, like the one Geordi was experimenting with in 'Interace,' would not have been refined and exist by this point. Obviously the absence is for dramatic reasons, but the absence of plausible technology is, again, a bit odd. Then again, view screens are still the go-to three hundred years from now. Nitpicking.

Not as bad as I expected but still full of the Discovery tropes that have made this show borderline unwatchable. My partner and I discussed doing a re-watch to prep for the new season and both agreed we could not bear to slog through the last four seasons. Not a problem we've had with SNW or any other current production television show we watch. :(

S1 = Ugh, this is Star Trek now?!
S2 = Good to excellent.
S3 = Possibly the biggest letdown to a story arc since Game of Thrones.
S4 = Actually enjoyable Star Trek, tied with S2 for best of Disco.

We have pretty low expectations for this season and will simply be happy if the characters we care about (Saru, Stamets, Grudge) get a satisfying end to their respective arcs.

Incidentally, not sure how I feel about building an entire season on TNG's "The Chase". That was a decent enough episode (we re-watched it after the first Disco episode) that explained why there are so many humanoids in the Star Trek universe but as a foundation for Yet Another Mystery Box™ plot? Color me cynical, there's no way these show runners can pay this off; it'll be the "Kid has a temper tantrum and destroys galactic civilization" nonsense all over again. Wrath of Khan did the "creation of life, not death" thing already, in two hours, not ten, and there's no way this will be half as good. :(

@ Starman "Orders are disregarded as if they're just suggestions."

My USN veteran partner SCREAMED this at the television despite the instances you can point to in prior canon. Another entry in the long list of complaints we have that could have been avoided by having ONE veteran in the writer's room. Can't wait for the inevitable "highly trained Starfleet crew members cowering in fear so the audience knows how scary it is" scenes we'll get towards the middle of the season. :(

"But no matter which past episode you choose, were they ever this... obnoxious about it all?"

Nope.

While these offerings are an improvement pacing-wise over previous seasons, no episode of Discovery seems able to escape its fundamental flaws: magic technology and overbearing emotionalism. And despite the glowing early reviews, the Macguffin of THIS season will most likely turn out to be the worst of all.

Five seasons in, I remain unable to get into the series, no matter how I'm pressured to do so. The writing room of this show lacks an understanding of what allows actionable drama. It doesn't work as science fiction because it's too far removed from what we know today. Previous series worked hard to remain somewhat scientifically informed. Warp drive made sense theoretically and retained key limitations that allowed...y'know, plots. Technobabble abounded, but it existed in a recognizable universe. And the writers' team, once it all came together around TNG Season 3 at least, possessed good talent at riding the line, at least often enough to make the drama believable.

Here, nothing is coherent. The omniscience of 32nd century technology simply hemorrhages plot holes. I've said it before and I've said it again, tech like programmable matter, infinite phasers, and spore drives are prohibitive of drama. If you essentially have a supply of inexhaustible grenades, for example, millenia-old drones aren't going to be a problem. Just sucked all the reward out of that entire sequence (which went on for entirely too long). No matter how hard the writers try, the endless "Why couldn't they just...?"'s proliferate like hydra heads.

Yet you still have to have obstacles, and so we get moments in which Discovery's sensors are blocked by...sand...or how she's somehow damaged sufficiently to be immobilized for several days so she can't pursue the bad guys. Moments like these only stand out more glaringly in light of magic technology. There's no possible consistency. Indeed, even in previous series, it was hard to eliminate all such moments. I can't imagine what the writers were thinking making it ten times worse.

The Progenitors are only an extension of this problem. I appreciated the callback, but be honest - what is really supposed to happen with this technology beyond making it the Fun with DNA™ version of programmable matter? There's probably a reason that TNG didn't go any further with the idea, or allow Kirk to actually find God at the galactic center, or permit transwarp/slipstream/Warp 10 drive, or anything else - it means there's nothing else to discover. One episode in and the writers have already backed themselves into an inescapable corner. You can already see the Reset Button™ coming. It can't be allowed to fall into enemy hands, fine, but what would the good guys do with it that would allow for more show? It'd make them gods. It's tough to see any fate for it beyond it being destroyed somehow by the end of the season. A true Macguffin.

The excessive feelings are still there. The scenes just go on for several beats too long, relentlessly mawkish and saccharine. Too many Meaningful Stares™, too many tears. It's like the producers don't understand that these same goals can be achieved with less. It's almost just an editing problem. Yet they just won't trim it down. With previous series, there was a sense of real professionalism, trained adults working problems. When tender moments were needed, it meant all the MORE coming from capable heroes we looked up to. These people are basket cases. I would not trust my life to any of Burnham, Tilly, Stamets, or Adira, any more than I would the JJ version of Kirk or Spock. Good writing walks the line of obviousisms and telegraphings. There's no subtlety with Discovery.

And with each episode that goes by, I am also reminded of how this series has ruined the rest of the Trek universe as well. By setting the series in the 32nd century, it makes it impossible for me to appreciate any drama set in ANY prior century, because I already know the Federation will endure. The entire canon is now afflicted with terminal prequel syndrome. They're in the same boat with Strange New Worlds, which is faced with the dilemma of either retconning canon or playing out stories that rely entirely on execution and acting because no believable stakes can be offered. I desperately wish Discovery could somehow simply be partitioned off into its own parallel universe a la JJTrek and allowed to play out there, just so I could sit back, watch a show like Legacy, and partake in that small fiction trope of NOT KNOWING WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.

I hate Discovery. There really are coherent reasons to hate it, no matter what people say.

Other problems:

* I've never heard of an avalanche crossing ten miles of level desert floor before.

* Tilly and Adira should not have needed Rayner's coaching. They knew it was an ancient booby trap; thinking in historical context should have been the first place they mentally went. This is like the NASA director in "The Martian" needing to be reminded about planetary slingshot maneuvers by a junior analyst.

* Backing off the spore drive makes no sense. Just build another one. With resources like the Federation's, you shouldn't need to pick one God-drive over another, and if they're expecting us to believe that the Federation is lacking resources, well, they haven't done enough good world-rebuilding to convince anyone of that.

* Kovich being less secretive would have allowed everyone to do their jobs better and made the Red Directive a lot likelier to succeed. Just tell Poe - I mean, um, Burnham - what's going on!

* Tilly is just straight-up annoying at this point. Characters should have an arc after five years.

* Burnham's out-of-the-box thinking in hiring Rayner is undermined, for me, by Rayner's self-destructive tendencies. He wasn't interesting by shouting in that hearing and I didn't get a sense of someone who's really been in the trenches for thirty years. He certainly seems to have inherited none of his Vulcan ancestry. Ronny Cox did this shtick better.

* The villains are boring.

* So was the synth. Too much.

* Whatever anyone says, this season was NOT served well by revealing the Macguffin this soon. I'm not invested anymore, because the show's remaining pillars and execution aren't that compelling.

* The contemporaries of that 800-year-old Romulan scout ship could scan for life through entire planetary crusts. Discovery's sensors are blocked by...sand.

Oh, and...

* Please stop telling me that I have to love Discovery so that Star Trek will continue to be made. This is Hollywood. They don't know how to do anything other than recycling existing intellectual properties. They do movies based on board games, for crying out loud. Trek was out of production for a whopping two years before XI started getting made. It wouldn't get forgotten even if we wanted it to be. Even decades from now, there will still be someone in Hollywood willing to give Trek another try.

"It can't be allowed to fall into enemy hands, fine, but what would the good guys do with it that would allow for more show? It'd make them gods. It's tough to see any fate for it beyond it being destroyed somehow by the end of the season."

I wouldn't be surprised if Kovich heel-turned to villainy once he gets his hands on it, with Jewishness no longer considered one of the protected group-identities in these progressive circles. But never mind that, I would actually love to see Cronenberg be all like "Now it is finally mine.. absolute power!"

@Brandon Adams "I've never heard of an avalanche crossing ten miles of level desert floor before."

Living in the shadow of Mount Saint Helens brought that landslide (largest in recorded history) to mind, so I didn't find it THAT objectionable. The scene leading up to it however, +1 to everything you say; that scene could have ended with: "Burnham to Discovery, they're 500 meters in front of my position. Beam them into a holding cell."

We recently did our annual rewatch of the pre-JJ Star Trek movies, ending with Nemesis, and I found the Dune Buggy chase as insufferable today as it was when it premiered. Is there anything more out of place in the Trek universe than a car chase?

"Under the Twin Moons" is a better episode than "Red Directive" and I quite like Captain Rayner. He’s old school and a good captain. Good that the episode makes that clear with Adm. Vance’s praise. The actor Rennie played the Cylon Leoben on BSG, though I’m wondering what species he is here.

Then there’s this idea that “things have changed” and presumably Rayner doesn't fit in it anymore. I'd like to hear how DSC would elaborate on "things have changed" though when Rayner ripped into President Lesbian that was a bit too forced to illustrate. He alluded to "politics". But it's good that some kind of hearing or post-mortem was conducted regarding the whole avalanche event -- perhaps we don't see or know of this kind of thing on Trek enough.

Burnham hiring Rayner as her No.1 is probably the best move she's made all series for me. And that's a good move for the series. Rennie is a good actor and Rayner sounds like a terrific character to give a more pragmatic side to an argument.

I think DSC is making an effort to tone down the Maudlin. There were a few of these moments that could have gone overboard with the emoting -- like Burnham and Saru appreciating each other, Adira and Tilly back together. Fortunately no tears of sadness, crying. I can't stand Dr. Culber -- always going around asking Booker how he feels -- he's got that annoying early-TNG Troy characteristic.

But as for the plot -- it's just more of "The Chase". Next it's to Trill. (And likely a few more places after that to get all the pieces of the puzzle.) "The Arsenal of Freedom" scenes on the planet were tiresome. Gotta question Burnham and Saru being the only 2 on this away mission, but then again Kirk and Spock went on their share of away missions together too.

Booker must always have some personal / family connection with someone -- and here it's Moll. Not interested in knowing how this connection gets fleshed out.

2.5 stars for "Under the Twin Moons" -- I think DSC is trying to make Burnham more likeable and reasonable. She doesn't have to be the all-knowing hero all the time. She goes with Saru's idea on the planet. The world has changed bit is irksome but at least Rayner is well portrayed, well regarded by those who know what's going on.

Good luck to those of you still able to get through an episode - let alone two! - of this show. Even the addition of a Cylon isn't nearly enough for me.

If they were really going to riff of TNG, at least make some effort to emulate Captain Benjamin Maxwell's gravitas. "The Wounded" Leoben doth shout too much.

What's really sad is that the best scenes were those with ZERO cast members. When the whole Data-as-pawn-shop dealer scene was on, I was actually hooked. Moll, La'k, and especially J. Adam Brown (from "The Expanse") as the synth Fred - fun stuff. But my interest was short-lived.

All interest died the moment the regular cast came back on screen.

Even the usually fantastic Admiral Vance was blah at best.

Madam President too was a let down. Must be some issue with the directorial choices - the usually wonderful Chelah Horsdal (of "Man in the High Castle" fame), was... boring.

No point nit picking. Like how the fuck can Tilly break security codes that are 800 years more advanced? Who cares?

Not me.

In a world where people are telling fascinating stories with shows like Shogun and 3 Body Problem, it is basically criminal to waste your time with this crap.

@ Jammer "It's a beautiful ship," Rayner says of the Discovery. I only wish it were. It's actually pretty ugly. And I don't understand why all Federation ships on this series look so ... flattened, like they were smashed with a hydraulic press in a TikTok video.

+1

"It's a beautiful ship," Rayner says of the Discovery. I only wish it were. It's actually pretty ugly

lol

The very concept of this season is ill-conceived for me. The Chase was, first and foremost, an allegory. Yes, it was fairly interesting as a surface-level plot idea (and succinctly explained why so many of the Trek races were physiologically similar), but this was incidental to its real purpose, which is what it was telling US about OURSELVES. This is (or should be) the elemental, overriding purpose of all stories. 90s Trek had no interest in expanding on the idea of the Progenitors or investigating the in-universe implications therein. It didn't NEED to and the decision to use it as the basis for this season's arc represents yet another example of how NuTrek continually misunderstands the franchise on a fundamental philosophical level. At the risk of sounding elitist, I really do think the true magic of Trek is lost on many of the people who currently create and consume it. Indeed, I think the true magic of storytelling is lost on many people.

Sorry for the double post:

All great stories are essentially arguments. A writer will sit down with a 'premise' (originally defined by Hungarian-American playwright Lajos Egri as "a thematic truth") in mind. They have something to say, a point of view to share, an argument to make. They create characters, putting them through a series of narrative events that flow from one to the next, all of which serve as evidence for a conclusion that's revealed or elucidated (sometimes quite didactically) at the end. The reader/viewer either agrees with and (ideally) internalises that conclusion or disagrees with and dismisses it (leaving room for a counter-argument). This sums up the dramaturgical structure of classic episodic Trek (as well as Strange New Worlds and, to a lesser extent, Lower Decks), which the heavily serialised Discovery and Picard (season 3 slightly less so) eschews with their endless non-sequiturs and broad, vague themes (predominantly encompassing 'identity, 'trauma', and 'connection').

"Season five comes billed as a "galactic treasure hunt," and it's an open question whether such a formula can be sustained for 10 episodes without falling apart."

I predict molasses impact in approx. 3 episodes.

The personal reaction of a viewer is always valid.

Hell, I know people who somehow ADORE Season 2 of 'Picard' and we're still, despite this, good friends. From them, I enjoy hearing a differing view, especially one with reasonable, supporting details about what made them feel that way.

But then there's times where I can't help but wonder if we even saw the same thing.

Is that a tumbleweed lazily drifting thru the comments section?

Olatunde Osunsanmi Orbit? Nicely done, Jammer.

There was also that "why??" 180º camera spin when they were reviewing the files on the two scavengers.

@Tim

"Living in the shadow of Mount Saint Helens brought that landslide (largest in recorded history) to mind, so I didn't find it THAT objectionable."

Sure, but if we're gonna good-heartedly nitpick, that was a pyroclastic ejection. (I'm from the Tacoma area myself.)

Thanks for the reminder of the dune buggy chase. I can hear Mr. Plinkett now. It's good to remember that Berman-era Trek, too, had its share of jaw-dropping miscalculations. If only Kurtzman-trek didn't outpace it by triple in that department.

@ Brandon

There was a landslide immediately preceding the eruption. Most of it wound up in the river valley and is distinct from the pyroclastic deposits. You can (or could, before last year's washout/mudslide) see a lot of it from SR-504. :)

Berman era Trek had a lot of disappointments but still got the overall 'vibe' right. That's my biggest disappointment with Kurtzman-trek. It's dark and "gritty" for the sake of being dark and gritty. Nemesis was at least a one off. Kurtzman-trek takes the darkness of Nemesis and expands it to the entire universe. :(

“Aye, Mr. Saru.” Like nails on a chalkboard.

Whoever is in command of the ship is called CAPTAIN by the crew, regardless of rank. They wouldn’t respond to orders with their commanding officer’s name, especially in crunch time. “Aye, Sir,” sure. But not “Aye, Mr. Saru.”

A nitpick, sure, but one more sign the writer(s) have either never seen Star Trek or don’t care. Probably both.

Also I dearly want to know what dirt Olatunde Osunsanmi has on the producers, because he keeps getting episodes to direct despite the fact he’s a talentless hack whose one move seems to be spinning the camera around characters five times in a scene until the viewers are dizzy.

Also wouldnt Dr. Culber in his capacity as CMO insist that Captain Burnham have her bleeding head wounds treated ASAP? Judging by how SMG was acting, it seemed like she’d suffered a concussion during the dumbass podrace scene…

QUESTION CONCERN isn't anyone else worried they buried the lead or the BIG MUSTERYBis a NON STARTER since we ALREADY KNOW who the Proegenitors were and what their technology did..the previews billed the big mystery as the treasure for a mysterious technology ..bit we were just told what the technology does..so WHAT MYSTERY is there LEFT? WLand WHY were there NO NEW STRANGE ALIENS or STRANGE ENW WORLDS OR ANOMALIES this week. Why waste the planet on Star Wars knock off drones and we learned nothing about the Promelians despite being in their necropolis..WHY NOT? We better meet LOTS of NEW ALIENS and new WORLDS this season or Inwill be very disappointed. And there better be some new treasure or technology thst does something NEW and ORIGIbewides seed life like in ThebChase since we already KNOW about that one!

NEW and ORIGINAL* sorry stupid autocrrect

@Leif...

We have yet to see any of the original Progenitor technology so the extent of what it's capable of remains a mystery. Everything that was discovered about the Progenitors in "The Chase" was only what the Progenitors wanted them to find out, having left a trail of breadcrumbs to their holographic Hallmark greeting card.

An actual piece of Progenitor hardware is expected to have profound applications if even just their code, when finding its way into a tricorder, can spontaneously reprogram it do things that tricorders can't normally do.

Jammer, thanks for the great reviews. I would give the second episode 3 stars instead of 2.5 but loved the details in your review. Saru-Burnham scenes were my favorite and it was time we saw Saru's little arrows (whatever they are called) and his hyper-speed running in action. I think it was in the first season the last time we saw it.

I enjoyed the nods to the TNG episodes.

I don't get bothered by the action scenes as much as others here so it was entertaining for me, except for the warp-speed ride by Burnham which you explained perfectly as to why it was ridiculous. But I was into the sand avalanche scene. The visuals and cinematic experience are always top-notch in this show.

Rayner is a welcome addition to the cast, let's see how he turns out in his collaboration with Burnham.

Thanks again for your insight.

I should also add that I appreciated Chris W's review in the comments. Great points on the pros and cons.

I wasn’t too impressed by the first two episodes. There were some good parts in it – most notably the actor who played Fred – and I liked the more upbeat tone compared to previous seasons. But ultimately it felt like watching Star Wars. I was bored by the prolonged action sequences in both episodes. They are just a showcase for the talent of the VFX people but the scenes feel empty and meaningless.

I’ll keep watching but only because I know it’s the final season. There are just too many of the same old Disco tropes for me to really enjoy this show. A prime example was the scene aboard the Romulan ship: Burnham beams over with Rhys and Owo…only for them to be incapacitated so that the main character can continue on her own. I know, I know, Disco is not meant to be an ensemble show and that’s okay. But it just doesn’t work for me.

re: Jammer's critique of "flattish starships" - the better to create Enterprise starship keyrings! just had one keyring arrive in the post. Love it.
re: Jefferey tube welcoming new arrival Captn Rayner character as white man - I thought he looked incredibly like Steve McQueen aged on the computer, minus the pointed ears.
Re: new to me is Saru's extendable winged ears that can be weaponised: that's newsworthy science fiction, not?!

Burnham tumbling through space right into the bridge of Discovery and onto the captain's chair is one of the dumbest things I've seen in Star Trek. Also two starships crashing into the desert to stop an avalanche without taking major damage. Seriously, there's no sense of realism of plausibility in these shows. It doesn't seem like the writers care if viewers suspend their disbelief or about world-building.

I somehow missed the hilarity of the macguffin they were chasing in the first episode being a literal mystery box. Which they then promptly opened. Do we think the show is aware of all the criticisms and did that on purpose? Nah . . . right?

Can add me to the list of people who don't think we need a follow-up to The Chase. Didn't think it was a particularly strong TNG episode, just a little *wink wink* for the fans to why most of the aliens in the Star Trek universe look like humans in forehead and ear makeup, when the real reason is, of course, the reality of television production and also how that convention lends itself to telling allegorical stories about our world and what it means to be a human being. But, that's fine--it's not in and of itself a barrier to this story. Story points get repurposed all the time in service of other stories; what matters is whether those other stories are themselves worth telling. Here, I just don't know. It feels weak. The show acts like we, the audience, should "obviously" understand the major import of finding the technology of a species that several billion years ago designed and dropped some amino acids into some primordial pools. But what exactly could they discover with this so-called Progenitor tech that the Starfleet of the 32nd century doesn't already know or could do on their own? Kirk's Starfleet could do that shit themselves. I hope the show has some kind of clear idea that is believable within the rules and history of the universe they have established. But I'm not holding my breath.

You know, it occurs to me that just the quest for more knowledge should be enough. Just the quest for more knowledge about where we all come from should warrant all this great import and effort by the characters and by Starfleet. There doesn't need to be a threat posed by what they're chasing. There can still be plenty of danger along the way while they chase. It's not like dangers along the way are going to put Starfleet off the chase if they don't have the reason of stopping some kind of threat compelling them to continue. They're Starfleet. Risk in pursuit of knowledge is what they do. Risk is their business. That's what their starship is all about. That's why they're aboard her. Remember that, Discovery writers? For Star Trek, the pursuit of knowledge in and of itself is enough. Or it should be, if you're writing Star Trek correctly.

I liked both episodes, though it’s really STINO (Star Trek in name only) at this point, and I’m fine with that. I agree with the comparisons to Star Wars, and I’d say this stacks up pretty well against most of the Star Wars Disney + series.

I doubt they can sustain the momentum of "The Chase" and why borrow the story from TNG, there were many unsolved mysteries to explore, the Iconians would be new and more interesting. I did like the addition of the decendant of Data - may he can be repaired/reprogrammed and join the crew?

We will know soon how this season turns on, but I have tempered my expectations

My favorite bit of "Red Directive" is the tribble's struggle to climb a wall, failing, and scurrying away. A complete story there. No emoting. no exposition dump, no 10-episode season.

@Mesut - thank you for the shoutout! It's much appreciated!

@ Colin

You mean Ensign Furris McFurball?

And now we come to the death rattle of Star Trek Discovery. Hallelujah, let’s make it a quick and painless death. Two stars for both episodes of this two-part opener for the fifth and final season of a failed TV series.

I agree with Jammer’s thoughts on the interminable B movie action padding of these two stories. Just a few things to add—

1. My first thought as I watched Red Directive was “this feels like the last season of Star Trek Enterprise” again, with some interesting attempts at doing something new subsumed in an overall tone of boredom and the feeling of the show’s inevitable cancellation.

2. It’s been slightly over two years (!) between the end of Season 4 and the start of Season 5, and it shows: An early cocktail party scene introducing the returning regulars shows them noticeably older, grayer, and fatter than the last time we saw them. It’s a depressing reminder that this series abruptly vanished without explanation as the more thematically consistent Picard, Prodigy, Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds went on.

3. The time lapse between seasons is also depressing because most of the characters are hardly seen again after the cocktails scene; it feels like an obligatory and forced reminder that some supporting actors from past seasons are still hanging around in search of a way into a series that here sidelines them from the main plot.

4. The lack of basic storytelling skills in this series has become a real irritation that we must accept will never get better. Here we have the notion of a “red directive” in the title that is never explained, random beats like Saru’s marriage proposal tossed into the story without any real resonance, and the amiable but pointless continuation of the Book-Burnham relationship that still never goes anywhere interesting. Book is like a guest character who just won’t disappear, despite having no reason to still be on the show.

5. I really liked TNG’s “The Chase” as a kid: It was a cerebral, gentler, and more wholesome take on an Indiana Jones romp that felt refreshing in that series. This episode, or season arc if it pushes things that far, feels much less satisfying because (like most of Disco) it takes everything way too seriously. This series just doesn’t do fun well. The TNG story was more tongue-in-cheek, light, and enjoyable in a fantastical way that Patrick Stewart sold well. It’s worrisome to think that Discovery apparently wants to stretch a decent hourlong Trek episode from the 1990s into a 10-season arc.

6. The dressing down and demotion of Captain Rayner in “Under the Twin Moons” is stupid, derivative, and adds nothing to the story. From TOS to “Into Darkness,” Star Trek has leaned a bit too heavily on the “crazed captain” trope, with diminishing returns. Other than the redemptive arc of Commodore Decker in TOS’ “Doomsday Machine,” it rarely feels worth it, and that’s true again here. Why is Discovery adding another one-season series regular instead of spending more time developing the existing cast? Answer: This show’s ADHD largely prevents it from staying with the same group of characters long enough to develop any real audience identification with them.

7. If nothing else, I like the focus of these two episodes on the remaining core characters from Season 1: Burnham, Saru, and Tilly, with some minor Stamets and Culber stuff in the background.

8. Although this series still feels oddly downbeat and overly seriously, this season continues the season 4 trend of dialing down the forced emotions a bit. I noticed that Burnham doesn’t cry once in these first two episodes of season 5. That’s a real departure from earlier seasons where the fake tears flowed profusely in all her big scenes. She now comes across as almost unemotional by comparison. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet; it’s just something I noticed.

9. If this final season is really meant to be an adventure romp, Discovery really needs to lighten up and learn how to have a good time. These first two episodes of the final season are occasionally interesting, but there are not “fun.”

Hm.

I checked out of Disco S4 before the end cuz I got fed up…this isn’t promising.

I think it’s time to put it to bed, Discovery has played out as a show in search of an identity, because its creators (and I’m guessing moreso its creators’ Meddling Executive Superiors) cannot just allow it to be a Star Trek show.

I could swear it just sounds like there are too many people trying to all fight for the right to write, on this show.

It’d have been better to just hand the keys to Nick Meyer and have done with it. This show has just been a mess, even at the times that I’ve tried to engage with it, it’s just been a mess.

It’s too bad really. I’m just not gonna go for it again. I’m outtie.

Can’t wait to see the next episode of Strange New Worlds, though! Loving it!

5 seasons and still the same old problems - the insistence by writers to rinse and repeat is baffling considering they haven't grown the fanbase which was clearly the goal with the shift from "old/boring" Trek. The character of Saru will likely be the only legacy this show has, I wonder how popular disco panels are at cons.

I had to laugh at Burnham's typical overearnest log (writers can't help themselves) about the purpose of life. She saved the galaxy 4 seasons, now she's also going to find the origin and meaning of life while saving the galaxy again (I assume based on Kovichs grave warnings). She must be the most accomplished person in Starfleet history. I kind of hope she takes over as fleet admiral or prez in finale at this point.

Raynor actually is a good addition because he amazingly acts like a professional in Starfleet and not an impulsive overly emotional kid. But we'll see how long that lasts.

When I saw the trailer I almost talked myself into skipping season 5. ... But I just can't not watch new trek so...

Nice to see Eve Harlow. I enjoyed her in Ahsoka.

I'm not even going to get into riding star ships at warp and 32-century motorcycles... eeesh.

So, where did the video of the Projenitor come from? If memory serves, only Picard and Beverly went down to the planet surface in "The Chase".

I think the premise here is better than season 3&4. I kind of like the idea of racing to get pieces of a puzzle... but I'm not sure why this information would warrant a "red directive". What will someone do with this technology? ... create new life? Why wouldn't this be freely shared? ... especially in the 32nd century? This should have been explained.

I was happy Saru and our resident Naru ambassador got together, but it seemed dry... so, will Saru be gone the rest of the season? ... knowing my luck probably... he's my favorite character.

I'm over Tilly... 50 pounds heavier... you know, obesity hasn't been figured out in the 32nd century you know. I'm not looking forward to the Acadamy series. I could care less. I'd much prefer 7 captaining our new Enterprise.

Our new #1 is a white male... 10 bucks says he dies before the end of the series... why exactly was he forced to retire? why didn't both Star Ships wait in orbit and engage them when they left? Was it really because ADM Vance didn't put someone in charge? There ALWAYS need to be one person in charge. Was it because the almighty Michael had to be correct? So ADM Vance forces him to retire and then grants Burham permission to make him his #1? Who dreams this shit up?

On to Trill we go... do we think it's possible to get through an episode with no tears?

I did enjoy how Burnham and Saru figured out how to get the info on the planet...

... and I enjoyed "Action Saru"... and Fred.

2 stars for each of these.

Ni'Var, not Naru... I think this is too close to Star Wars... next I'll be saying Naboo

Okay, the second episode was a lot better than the first, and now I'm more on board with the multi-stage treasure hunt plot. Captain Rayner is also great, now that I see him as more than just Leoben with pointed ears. I'll miss Saru as Number One but Rayner is a solid replacement. I also enjoy how Book actually has some emotional stakes in this hunt now, and how Moll and L'ak are essentially what he and Michael used to be (off-screen, unfortunately) and maybe what he wished they still were. Dr. Culber looking out for his mental well-being is a nice touch. On to Trill...

Watching this episode on my iPad but keep clicking on notifications. So it has not really grabbed my attention.
I will give it another chance but I remember being glued to every DS9 and VOY episode. Somehow, Discovery has made me not care.

The show is trash

Even the commercials for the show are trash.

How this show was approved for 5 seasons Is beyond me. I’m curious to see how they will try to stretch out an entire season to rehash a TNG plot that efficiently told the story in 45 minutes. But hey, Picard did the same thing with All Good Things, and that turned out greeeeaaaat.

My major gripes: Riding a starship going warp speed is actually feasible because she’d be in the warp bubble. However, while inertial dampeners would prevent damage to the ship, her being outside the ship would result in Burnham getting obliterated. Which would be a real gift. She makes some pretty terrible decisions which results in her being removed from the mission. How does she get back on? By threatening to withhold vital information unless she’s added back on. An act she is both commended and rewarded for. Also, her and Raynor are grilled for a landslide they didn’t cause (you can get in trouble for maybe giving someone an idea???), which shouldn’t matter anyways because Kovich gave them explicit instructions that the artifact should be recovered regardless of collateral damage. Also Booker and Burnham broke up! How I wish I could muster a s**t to give.

SMG’s overacting takes me out of every scene she’s in, which is a shame, because episode 2 was much better. BUT I did like Tilly ina comedic role, and Saru was brilliant as always. Raynor is my new favorite character on the show, so he’ll probably die soon.

Also, everyone can stop watching the show now because I already know how it will end. The Progenitors will have a device that will allow humanoids to ascend like The Ancient in Stargate or the Q. Michael will find and use this device to ascend into an omnipotent, omniscient being who will be worshipped by all. Ahh, who am I kidding? Michael is ALREADY an omnipotent, omniscient being who is worshiped by all. ALL HAIL MICHAEL!

As always I will give it a chanse.

I did understand what it was about.
I was entertained.

But, this is not star trek. Still I hope I will be able to enjoy and understand the following episodes for what they are.