ST: Discovery 2.05
Feb. 16th, 2019 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI’m frightfully busy these weeks and could watch this episode only ten minutes or so at a time because of this, not due to its content. Not the ideal way to enjoy a Star Trek ep!
Which might influence my impressions. I enjoyed a lot of it – not least because Tilly got de-damseled again, and while everyone was on a mission to rescue her, she took the initiative and ended up bff with the Mycellial Network, or rather a representative of same. As a bonus, she figured out how to return Hugh Culber to the living outside of the network. Go Tilly!
Speaking of Culber the resurrected, I don’t think the science behind how he ended up in the network makes much sense, but then nor did the one behind Spock’s return to the living in ST III: The Search for Spock, and I’m perfectly prepared to handwave. (Especially considering that we’ve get to get a good Doylist explanation why it was necessary to kill the good Doctor off in the first place, rather than, say, leave him in a tv coma, which would have fulfilled the same Voq/Tyler storyline function in last season’s plot. If the space mushrooms plot this season depends on Hugh’s death, stint with them and return, there would be one.) Here’s to you, Hugh Culber, and may you never die again! The scenes with Stamets were appropriately touching.
What I’m still chewing on is the Section 31 thing. Not just the big retcon – for the benefit of non-DS9 watchers and DS9 forgetters, when Section 31 was introduced to the Star Trek verse on DS9, it wasn’t as Starfleet’s intelligence service – that one already existed, named, none too imaginatively, „Starfleet Intelligence“. It was as an additional to said service Black Ops operation whose very existence was so supersecret that none of our heroes knew about it until one of its agents showed up in Dr. Bashir’s bedroom, and then he still had trouble convincing anyone he wasn’t just crazy when talking about it because. Meanwhile, everyone in the Discovery era seems to know it exists and very blasé talking about its existence, and in fact it seems the only Intelligence service Starfleet currently has. Now, as far as I recall from Section 31 showing on Enterprise, that’s not entirely unprecedented – certainly Section 31 was less supersecret there, though still more so than here - , and you could fanwank that between the rough century of the TOS era and the DS9 era, the whole operation got officially dissolved, which is why by the time Sloan starts harassing Julian Bashir, everyone goes through the „Section 31? Never heard of it!“ motions.
But what is worrying me more is Cornwell’s „they may not be pretty, but they’re necessary“ speech late in the episode, because that sounds suspiciously like 24, and precisely what the last season argued against. (And then there’s the Doylist knowledge that a Section 31 spin-off is coming.) Do not want. Though maybe I’m paranoid and what will happen on this show will be precisely what will lead to Section 31 being officially dissolved.
On a minor but also irritating note: I don’t get the rationale of Pike being briefed about Lorca but not about Georgiou. And while it’s good Michael is distrustful of MirrorGeorgiou, emotional connection or not, I’m still waiting for someone to bring up the woman isn’t just guilty of a few ruthless shootouts but multiple genocides, constant torture in dealing with just about anyone for any reason (and, yeah, cannibalism) over in the other universe. This being said, hi, Pippa, and, see posts in this very journal last season, I’m all for Michael having an ongoing arch nemesis she has complicated emotions about, and vice versa.
Tyler/Voq as a Section 31 agent and back on Discovery: hmmmm. I liked that they let Stamets react, and presumably we’ll get some good character stuff between TylerVoq and Hugh Culber once the later is in better shape, but why Section 31 would think an Ex-Klingon with two identities and strong emotions about Michael Burnham could be trusted to work for them after about two weeks defeats me. I mean, the CIA kept rehiring my beloved Arvin Sloane on Alias, fine, but look, Arvin Sloane was really good at what he did, no matter who he did it for! (Usually himself and Rambaldi.) Tyler’s one stint as a spy-without-knowing-he-was went spectacularly pear-shaped. On his side, I also don’t see why he’d think any organisation hiring MirrorGeorgiou, who, see above, would be trustworthy to work for, but then again he doesn’t have that many options, so okay, maybe.
In conclusion: yay for the return of Culber (and all of Tilly’s scenes), et tu, Kat about Cornwell’s speech, hm, wait and see about anything Section 31.
Which might influence my impressions. I enjoyed a lot of it – not least because Tilly got de-damseled again, and while everyone was on a mission to rescue her, she took the initiative and ended up bff with the Mycellial Network, or rather a representative of same. As a bonus, she figured out how to return Hugh Culber to the living outside of the network. Go Tilly!
Speaking of Culber the resurrected, I don’t think the science behind how he ended up in the network makes much sense, but then nor did the one behind Spock’s return to the living in ST III: The Search for Spock, and I’m perfectly prepared to handwave. (Especially considering that we’ve get to get a good Doylist explanation why it was necessary to kill the good Doctor off in the first place, rather than, say, leave him in a tv coma, which would have fulfilled the same Voq/Tyler storyline function in last season’s plot. If the space mushrooms plot this season depends on Hugh’s death, stint with them and return, there would be one.) Here’s to you, Hugh Culber, and may you never die again! The scenes with Stamets were appropriately touching.
What I’m still chewing on is the Section 31 thing. Not just the big retcon – for the benefit of non-DS9 watchers and DS9 forgetters, when Section 31 was introduced to the Star Trek verse on DS9, it wasn’t as Starfleet’s intelligence service – that one already existed, named, none too imaginatively, „Starfleet Intelligence“. It was as an additional to said service Black Ops operation whose very existence was so supersecret that none of our heroes knew about it until one of its agents showed up in Dr. Bashir’s bedroom, and then he still had trouble convincing anyone he wasn’t just crazy when talking about it because. Meanwhile, everyone in the Discovery era seems to know it exists and very blasé talking about its existence, and in fact it seems the only Intelligence service Starfleet currently has. Now, as far as I recall from Section 31 showing on Enterprise, that’s not entirely unprecedented – certainly Section 31 was less supersecret there, though still more so than here - , and you could fanwank that between the rough century of the TOS era and the DS9 era, the whole operation got officially dissolved, which is why by the time Sloan starts harassing Julian Bashir, everyone goes through the „Section 31? Never heard of it!“ motions.
But what is worrying me more is Cornwell’s „they may not be pretty, but they’re necessary“ speech late in the episode, because that sounds suspiciously like 24, and precisely what the last season argued against. (And then there’s the Doylist knowledge that a Section 31 spin-off is coming.) Do not want. Though maybe I’m paranoid and what will happen on this show will be precisely what will lead to Section 31 being officially dissolved.
On a minor but also irritating note: I don’t get the rationale of Pike being briefed about Lorca but not about Georgiou. And while it’s good Michael is distrustful of MirrorGeorgiou, emotional connection or not, I’m still waiting for someone to bring up the woman isn’t just guilty of a few ruthless shootouts but multiple genocides, constant torture in dealing with just about anyone for any reason (and, yeah, cannibalism) over in the other universe. This being said, hi, Pippa, and, see posts in this very journal last season, I’m all for Michael having an ongoing arch nemesis she has complicated emotions about, and vice versa.
Tyler/Voq as a Section 31 agent and back on Discovery: hmmmm. I liked that they let Stamets react, and presumably we’ll get some good character stuff between TylerVoq and Hugh Culber once the later is in better shape, but why Section 31 would think an Ex-Klingon with two identities and strong emotions about Michael Burnham could be trusted to work for them after about two weeks defeats me. I mean, the CIA kept rehiring my beloved Arvin Sloane on Alias, fine, but look, Arvin Sloane was really good at what he did, no matter who he did it for! (Usually himself and Rambaldi.) Tyler’s one stint as a spy-without-knowing-he-was went spectacularly pear-shaped. On his side, I also don’t see why he’d think any organisation hiring MirrorGeorgiou, who, see above, would be trustworthy to work for, but then again he doesn’t have that many options, so okay, maybe.
In conclusion: yay for the return of Culber (and all of Tilly’s scenes), et tu, Kat about Cornwell’s speech, hm, wait and see about anything Section 31.
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no subject
Date: 2019-02-16 12:23 pm (UTC)I'm also on board with the handwaving re: mechanisms of Culber's resurrection, because it's sure nice to get a dimension-crossing gay love story like that and they did bother to give some plausible enough technobabble, what with Stamets being the one to push Hugh's energy signature into the network (as you theorized I think?) and the Mae storyline kindly providing a shapeable collection of matter on our side of the barrier to give him a new body.
The one thing I regret about this whole storyline? They gave Tilly about 20 minutes in this episode to warm up to Mae and go from "get away from me, I hate you" to "we shared a totally special connection and will see each other again". Just imagine if they didn't go for all the tedious back and forth over the last couple of episodes but told a more straightforward story about Tilly connecting with Mae! Would have had more impact IMO. I still enjoyed all their scenes in this one, I just think the build-up especially on Tilly's side could have been much better.
Last thing: Pike is growing on me more and more, I really like his distrust of everything Section 31, and I sure like his trust in Michael in contrast.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 12:21 pm (UTC)*nods* Also, in early s1 a lot of fans complained about Lorca's ethics (or lack of same) and thought the audience was supposed to approve his every action. Considering MirrorGeorgiou is already collecting Blackmail material on her boss and considering she is who she is, it would make sense if she were to get rid of him and then, under her command, got rid of any restraining ethics for Section 31 altogether.
re: better build up for Tilly and Mae: agreed.
Pike: ditto. Incidentally, it occurs to me that if Saru has a big story re: his people this season, that's another reason why TPTB didn't make him Captain yet but introduced Pike. Saru as Discovery's Captain would have responsibilities that might have made it impossible for him to do whatever he wants to do about the Kelpians, not without him stepping down from Command.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 11:56 pm (UTC)I've been thinking a lot about the scene last season where Stamets' mirror reflection gets out of sync, how profoundly unnerving and yet-open-ended it was, and I really wish some of that same skill set had been applied here—getting the weirdness and potential threat of the connection with May, but just giving it more uncertainty and letting Tilly's natural warmth fill in the gaps. Maybe when May inevitably comes back it will work better.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-17 01:29 pm (UTC)I had assumed that Section 31 would turn out to be involved in the Spock-hunt, and that Tyler would play a key role when he was found, but I hadn't expected him to return full-time so early in the plotline. I agree that Georgiou should realise that his loyalties will be to Burnham and Discovery, so I can only assume she's taken that into account and expects him to jump that way. (And on my other point, maybe her grand scheme, which probably isn't the same as Section 31's grand scheme, doesn't require L'Rell to retain control indefinitely.)
And I will never get used to the way they pronounce Georgiou "George-Joe". In my head it's "Ghe-or-ghi-oo" and I keep wondering why she doesn't correct them.
PS I knew May would lead to an explanation of Hugh-in-the-network, though I didn't see this particular solution (I did think Tilly would meet him there, and therefore suspected who May's "monster" might be).
But what will happen to the New Doctor? I hope she doesn't lose her job because Hugh's back.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-18 04:48 pm (UTC)Good point about Tyler's position on Discovery as a time bomb for L'Rell, though!
no subject
Date: 2019-02-20 03:55 am (UTC)Good point about Tyler's position on Discovery as a time bomb for L'Rell
Because no one's ever going to gossip to a friend back home about "You know that Lt Tyler I mentioned, the one who murdered the doctor and turned out to be a Klingon spy in disguise? Well he's back! Apparently he's spying for us now!"
no subject
Date: 2019-02-18 12:05 am (UTC)But yes, yes, yes a million times to Michael and Georgiou and their complicated history!
Now that Culber has been resurrected, I would love your thoughts on how Lorca will be brought back. I think the combination of Lorca's death by being dropped into the spores and the fortune cookie fortune make it inevitable, but the Culber explanation made so little sense to me that I don't quite see how it's going to work. But I really think the show won't leave him out for much longer.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-18 04:45 pm (UTC)"not all who wander are lostfortune cookie bit about the return of the lost as foreshadowing Hugh Culber, and possibly Lorca Prime, not Mirror (i.e. the only one we know) Lorca, though I do believe the later will come back at some point, too. (Just not this season yet.) Lorca Prime showing up would put him in a reverse position to Georgiou again - she's benefitting from her dead Prime counterpart's good reputation, whereas he would come into a Situation where everyone would blame him for MirrorLorca's misdeeds.In any case, though, it would depend on Jason Isaac's availability, so the real question should be: is he very busy right now or was when they shot this season?
no subject
Date: 2019-02-18 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-18 04:39 pm (UTC)