Star Trek: Discovery 3.05
Nov. 14th, 2020 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which our heroes meet the latest admiral and we find out Enterprise canon has long term consequences.
While the crew convincing Starfleet command within an episode of their good faith and ability to function as a team was somewhat too easy, I can handwave it, because honestly, I don't want to see the crew scattered over a dozen ships. Also there are just enough hints about future trouble, and I don't just mean Michael's new rogue agent tendencies. I noticed it's brought up twice that the civilian and military command of what now remains of the Federation is now the same, and historically, this just isn't a good thing. Also of course no one wants to talk about the Burn.
Otoh, using the fact Enterprise made a big deal about Temporal Wars in the 30th century to declare that afterwards (and before the Burn), time travel was firmly outlawed to prevent any more meddling with the past and future and to make this - and the fact their story was deleted from the records at the end of s2 - a reason why Discovery is severely side-eyed and distrusted at first when showing up? Excellent use of continuity, and one that doesn't make the current day Starfleet look like jerks. Given this history, they act sensibly. (And are coming around too quickly, if anything, but, see above.)
The scene between Georgiou and the Peter Capaldi resembling gentleman might just be, other than her scenes with Sarek and Gabrielle Burnham, the only times in the Primeverse so so far that the Emperor meets her match in verbal fencing. It's also the first time the show addresses that she, too, lost her entire universe. And you know, it works for me that it wasn't shown to affect her in s2 the way Not!Capaldi's remarks unsettle her here. Because in s2 she'd been given a new power structure to cliimb to the top to to keep her occupied, and anyway, she probably needed time to get over the undeniable fact she'd lost power and had been ready to die (fighting) when Micheal brought her to the Primeverse. And she knew the Terran Empire would continue, just with someone else on top, which given its history was nothing new. Not!Capaldi telling her the Terran Empire fell centuries ago, by contrast - without mentioning it was replaced by the just as vicious Alliance, I note - , and adding there haven't been any more universe-crossing incidents for centuries, either, that the parallel universes drifted apart further? That's different. She really can't go home again, and whether or not she ever wanted to, I don't think she'd realized this until now. And as much as MirrorPhilippa is fun with the quips and the fight scenes, this scene gives her more emotional depth and reality, imo. Not to mention: a worthy opponent!
(Sidenote: I'm trying to think whether the quick batting of eyelashes disorients holograms thing is incompatible with established canon. Wasn't there a Voyager plot line with a lot of sentient holograms vs organics? Clearly, the organics missed a trick there. *g*)
Nhan deciding to stay with the botanic ship at the end: I'll miss her. I really came to like her last season. But see, if she has to leave, this is a far better way to do it than killing her off. Andraste mentioned the Captain's chair might be jinxed, but for my money, the post of the Security Chief is the true Defense against the Dark Arts position on Discovery. Just think: Landry, Tyler, Nhan - place your bets now on whether the next one will outlast the season (and/or will end up in a different time)! More seriously, I do think the next one will probably be one of the future Starfleet people, thus providing inter-crew conflict for a while in a way Adira, who chose these people to be with, does not.
Other than the Temporal Wars and their fallout being a thing, the big nod to another Trek in this episode was the latest Voyager, which even as someone whose fave Trek is a tie between DS9 and TNG made me go "awww". Not least because it made me realise that until now, we only had future and past incarnataions of the Enterprise showing up.
Historical annoyance of the episode: Saru, Giotto might or might not have helped starting the Renaissance, but the Renaissance was definitely no less bloody than the era preceding it. Au contraire. Ask Harry Limes and Orson Welles.
Silliest thought of the episode on my part: Admiral Charles Vance is played by Oded Fehr, who just resembles Siddig El Fadil enough for me to do a double take when he was introduced and wonder whether he might be a Julian Bashir descendant.
While the crew convincing Starfleet command within an episode of their good faith and ability to function as a team was somewhat too easy, I can handwave it, because honestly, I don't want to see the crew scattered over a dozen ships. Also there are just enough hints about future trouble, and I don't just mean Michael's new rogue agent tendencies. I noticed it's brought up twice that the civilian and military command of what now remains of the Federation is now the same, and historically, this just isn't a good thing. Also of course no one wants to talk about the Burn.
Otoh, using the fact Enterprise made a big deal about Temporal Wars in the 30th century to declare that afterwards (and before the Burn), time travel was firmly outlawed to prevent any more meddling with the past and future and to make this - and the fact their story was deleted from the records at the end of s2 - a reason why Discovery is severely side-eyed and distrusted at first when showing up? Excellent use of continuity, and one that doesn't make the current day Starfleet look like jerks. Given this history, they act sensibly. (And are coming around too quickly, if anything, but, see above.)
The scene between Georgiou and the Peter Capaldi resembling gentleman might just be, other than her scenes with Sarek and Gabrielle Burnham, the only times in the Primeverse so so far that the Emperor meets her match in verbal fencing. It's also the first time the show addresses that she, too, lost her entire universe. And you know, it works for me that it wasn't shown to affect her in s2 the way Not!Capaldi's remarks unsettle her here. Because in s2 she'd been given a new power structure to cliimb to the top to to keep her occupied, and anyway, she probably needed time to get over the undeniable fact she'd lost power and had been ready to die (fighting) when Micheal brought her to the Primeverse. And she knew the Terran Empire would continue, just with someone else on top, which given its history was nothing new. Not!Capaldi telling her the Terran Empire fell centuries ago, by contrast - without mentioning it was replaced by the just as vicious Alliance, I note - , and adding there haven't been any more universe-crossing incidents for centuries, either, that the parallel universes drifted apart further? That's different. She really can't go home again, and whether or not she ever wanted to, I don't think she'd realized this until now. And as much as MirrorPhilippa is fun with the quips and the fight scenes, this scene gives her more emotional depth and reality, imo. Not to mention: a worthy opponent!
(Sidenote: I'm trying to think whether the quick batting of eyelashes disorients holograms thing is incompatible with established canon. Wasn't there a Voyager plot line with a lot of sentient holograms vs organics? Clearly, the organics missed a trick there. *g*)
Nhan deciding to stay with the botanic ship at the end: I'll miss her. I really came to like her last season. But see, if she has to leave, this is a far better way to do it than killing her off. Andraste mentioned the Captain's chair might be jinxed, but for my money, the post of the Security Chief is the true Defense against the Dark Arts position on Discovery. Just think: Landry, Tyler, Nhan - place your bets now on whether the next one will outlast the season (and/or will end up in a different time)! More seriously, I do think the next one will probably be one of the future Starfleet people, thus providing inter-crew conflict for a while in a way Adira, who chose these people to be with, does not.
Other than the Temporal Wars and their fallout being a thing, the big nod to another Trek in this episode was the latest Voyager, which even as someone whose fave Trek is a tie between DS9 and TNG made me go "awww". Not least because it made me realise that until now, we only had future and past incarnataions of the Enterprise showing up.
Historical annoyance of the episode: Saru, Giotto might or might not have helped starting the Renaissance, but the Renaissance was definitely no less bloody than the era preceding it. Au contraire. Ask Harry Limes and Orson Welles.
Silliest thought of the episode on my part: Admiral Charles Vance is played by Oded Fehr, who just resembles Siddig El Fadil enough for me to do a double take when he was introduced and wonder whether he might be a Julian Bashir descendant.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 12:53 pm (UTC)Also the exchanges amongst the engineering team, especially with regard to highly technical terms like "duh" and "gizmo." I have had similar conversations with our heads buried in an accelerator, to the amusement of a listening doctor.
["Dysfunction is the team. We've kind of accepted it." "No we haven't."]
The writing has been excellent, and more importantly the cast is all having a great deal of fun now playing their roles, and this is communicated to the audience. Which is the mark of a good ensemble cast.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 03:07 pm (UTC)Absolutely. And also, very much to my personal relief, I must say, the first time in a long while that the show is actually acknowledging Mirror!Georgiu being a highly intelligent, superbly manipulative and dangerous, genocide-approving mass murderess instead of just being slightly "morally shady".
(Seriously, the way the respective writers had Georgiu save the day in 3.02 annoyed me to such a degree that I probably would have stopped watching if it hadn't been for Cavendish's "Come on, let's give S3 a chance and at least try one more episode".)
I know, Michelle Yeoh is a wonderful actress and any TV series or movie that she is in is lucky to have her on board, but I couldn't help having serious issues with the way the above mentioned aspects of Georgiu's character got more or less swept under the carpet for the sake of a handful of "cool" fighting scenes and bits of snarky dialogue just for snarky dialogue's sake.
So, yay, Discovery writers, for giving Mirror!Georgiou more depth and scope. And yay for 3.03, 3.04. and 3.05 being three character-driven, exploration-driven and nuanced episodes in a row.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 04:08 pm (UTC)Cavendish and I have been discussing the episode a little bit more and he just uttered the theory that Capaldi-resembling guy might have originated from the mirrorverse as well, hence the glasses plus his interest in mirrorverse history and Georgiu...
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 03:09 pm (UTC)Reminds me of the Peacekeepers in Farscape, and the discussion in some of the rewatch posts about whether the Farscape setting is after the collapse of some interstellar super-civilisation.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 03:52 pm (UTC)I totally agree.
The Georgiou scenes were wonderful. Goodness, what a good character she is.
I really liked Nhan's choices in this episode. It didn't hit as hard as it could have because she hadn't been developed enough previously (a problem I have had several times with Discotrek), but it was well done and moving.
I love Saru so much (and I got weirdly emotional when the episode opened with him saying, "Captain's log," both because I love him as an individual character and because I want more non-human captains--and crew in general--in my Trek), but his take on the Renaissance was...reductive.
I love the idea of Vance being a Bashir descendant!
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 05:10 pm (UTC)Agreed that Nhan's choices were very moving. They also fit with a general Discocery theme of not treating the sake of the many and the sake of the few as mutually exclusive, but to look for a way to help both, i.e. Nhan finds a way to ensure the history the ship carries won't be lost, which also allows the bereft man the dignity of his own choice.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-14 06:07 pm (UTC)Yes, I love this theme very, very much.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-15 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-15 06:40 am (UTC)