Star Trek: Discovery 2.06
Feb. 23rd, 2019 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which the most insane plan since Archer thought evolution was destiny is executed on a Star Trek show.
Seriously, as the kids say today, what even? Mind you, ideologically, this is the opposite of what Archer did in s2 of Enterprise, when he and Phlox decided that if they helped one of the two sentient species on a planet medically to survive, the other would never develop into who they were meant to be, therefore, any medical help for species A was improper. But it‘s no less bonkers. Not that I‘m okay with one species hoodwinking another into being killed off at an relatively early age, but what team Discovery did here was basically putting gasoline into fire, especially since they couldn‘t count on the angel ex machina appearing. They could have triggered genocide, not to mention suicides on a massive scale since the Kelpians had to assume they were going insane, and they did so without having the slightest precautionary measures in place of how to help the traumatized population in the best case scenario where both Kelpians and Ba‘ul don‘t kill/harm each other immediately. It‘s as spectacularly irresponsible as - oh, I don‘t know, Dubya invading Iraq without any kind of plan for how to keep it stable post Hussein? Brexit? Just -WHAT EVEN?
Show, I love you, but that was one seriously dumb episode. Well, every ST has (more than) one, so I guess this is your first.
Other than that, well, liked the Michael-Saru bond as always, liked that Culber isn‘t just fine and dandy after being ressurected - early on I thought we were heading towards parallels between him and Saru, asking themselves who they are now, especially since since Culber essentially has a brand new body he‘s primed for an existential crisis along the notes of „am I even original Hugh Culber or just a copy?“ -, not because I want him to be miserable but because I want emotional continuity. Speaking of, the scene between Pike and Tyler at the end was the first since the season opener where Pike‘s not so secretly feeling guilty about not having fought in the Klingon war comes up again, or rather, is the subtext of that conversation as Tyler lands a psychological punch while alluding to it. Which isn‘t very sympathetic but is the kind of character stuff I much prefer to bonkers plans. Oh, and I‘m somewhat relieved Saru detected a humanoid wearing a suit in the Red Angel, because that strikes a direly needed morally ambiguous note in all the „saviour“ talk. I‘m currently liking Pike more than Tyler, but in this I have to say he has the better argument, not least because I‘m a Babylon 5 fan and I tell you, that‘s a Vorlon!
In conclusion: what even?
Seriously, as the kids say today, what even? Mind you, ideologically, this is the opposite of what Archer did in s2 of Enterprise, when he and Phlox decided that if they helped one of the two sentient species on a planet medically to survive, the other would never develop into who they were meant to be, therefore, any medical help for species A was improper. But it‘s no less bonkers. Not that I‘m okay with one species hoodwinking another into being killed off at an relatively early age, but what team Discovery did here was basically putting gasoline into fire, especially since they couldn‘t count on the angel ex machina appearing. They could have triggered genocide, not to mention suicides on a massive scale since the Kelpians had to assume they were going insane, and they did so without having the slightest precautionary measures in place of how to help the traumatized population in the best case scenario where both Kelpians and Ba‘ul don‘t kill/harm each other immediately. It‘s as spectacularly irresponsible as - oh, I don‘t know, Dubya invading Iraq without any kind of plan for how to keep it stable post Hussein? Brexit? Just -WHAT EVEN?
Show, I love you, but that was one seriously dumb episode. Well, every ST has (more than) one, so I guess this is your first.
Other than that, well, liked the Michael-Saru bond as always, liked that Culber isn‘t just fine and dandy after being ressurected - early on I thought we were heading towards parallels between him and Saru, asking themselves who they are now, especially since since Culber essentially has a brand new body he‘s primed for an existential crisis along the notes of „am I even original Hugh Culber or just a copy?“ -, not because I want him to be miserable but because I want emotional continuity. Speaking of, the scene between Pike and Tyler at the end was the first since the season opener where Pike‘s not so secretly feeling guilty about not having fought in the Klingon war comes up again, or rather, is the subtext of that conversation as Tyler lands a psychological punch while alluding to it. Which isn‘t very sympathetic but is the kind of character stuff I much prefer to bonkers plans. Oh, and I‘m somewhat relieved Saru detected a humanoid wearing a suit in the Red Angel, because that strikes a direly needed morally ambiguous note in all the „saviour“ talk. I‘m currently liking Pike more than Tyler, but in this I have to say he has the better argument, not least because I‘m a Babylon 5 fan and I tell you, that‘s a Vorlon!
In conclusion: what even?
no subject
Date: 2019-02-23 01:18 pm (UTC)Honestly it strikes me as such an obviously flawed plan that I'd like to see the show acknowledge it in later episodes.
I also was a bit disappointed with the design of females kelpians, it would have been neat if they'd had the same angular sharpness than the males, instead of the unimaginative "softer, rounder, with lips fuller and more red" design the show went for.
Also, I had moments in this episode when I shouted at the TV for the director to drop the damn camera and stop making endless spiralling sequence shots around the characters for no reason. ^^
Clearly the weakest episode so far.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-25 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 01:47 am (UTC)THIS. It was so excessive it undercut some genuinely effective character moments with the announcement of Serious Drama! (The swelling music didn't help.)
Otoh, the lighting of the final Pike/Tyler scene was gorgeous and worked with the strength of the scene, perhaps because the writing had more quiet strength.