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Star Trek: Discovery
A plan to capture the Red Angel brings back the crazy
I’ll say this: Discovery is almost never boring. Even when it’s batshit-crazy bonkers, it’s pretty exciting.
Consider “The Red Angel,” which is equal parts respectable and loony, measured and overwrought, exposition-filled and visceral, and either benefits or suffers from numerous WTF moments — I’m not sure which. It advances the season arc by answering questions that raise more questions. It has substantial character work, but nearly all of it surrounds a single character. Guess which one. This is entertaining, but I can’t call it good. It’s a sci-fi potboiler.
Discovery goes to the bench to fend off killer bots
The more I watch Discovery, the clearer it becomes this is a series that wants me to feel something above all else. I’m not saying it doesn’t also want me to think, or at least ponder its plots and puzzlements. But the creators of this show want me to experience it in a very immediate and visceral way, with scenes that are about emotions, conflict, camaraderie, action, peril, tension, and aesthetic and tactile conveyance. World building, problem solving, and intellectual debate are secondary.
The things I mentioned in the latter list are things I like about Trek. The things I mentioned in the former list are things I like about Trek that Discovery does more than any Trek series before it. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I like Discovery for what it is, even though I also long for some of the things it isn’t.
Discovery revisits ‘The Cage’ in its best episode yet
"If Memory Serves" is an episode that takes the qualities that are hallmarks of Discovery and employs them to tell a satisfying story. Against all odds, they’ve taken these disparate elements — prequel backfilling, strange old worlds, retcons on classic characters, impressive production values, vibrant and stylish filming techniques, Red Angel timeline shenanigans, Section Freaking 31 — and stitched together an episode that ultimately works because of performances and emotional resonance. It’s an absorbing and immersive dialogue-heavy outing that’s also a breathless plot and an homage to the franchise. And it’s the first episode of this series to reach greatness.
A visit to Vulcan finds Spock still lost
"Light and Shadows" is a connective-tissue piece-moving episode, rather than the more episodic-blended-with-serialized outing that has more typified season two. It’s significantly better than "Point of Light," despite being only a brisk 40 minutes long, because it takes time to breathe and deal with its characters and — well, it doesn’t have anything to do with the Klingons.
Connective tissue was what season one often lacked. Characters would drop off the map and then show up again under new circumstances, and it felt sometimes like we were missing entire episodes. Season two has been an improvement in this regard. "Light and Shadows" moves perhaps implausibly quickly in one regard: It moves Burnham from ship to planet to ship seemingly instantly.
Saru considers wielding truth over lies, life over death
“The Sound of Thunder” is probably the most riveting episode of Discovery yet (and was well on its way to an elusive four-star rating) for its first three acts — before it then rushes through a final act of overheated drama that has some considerable problems. Overall, this is still a very strong and satisfying hour of this series that ends with a major change in the status quo for two entire species. But the shortcuts and missed opportunities on the way to the conclusion take some bloom off the rose.
For the most part, this is an episode that has the necessary elements, weight, and established backstory to stand alone and work on its own merits. But the episode also tries to tie this standalone story into the Big Serial Arc of the season involving the Red Angel, while incrementally moving that arc forward. While I think tying your serial arc into individual standalone stories is the right way to do a season-long arc (as opposed to the “10-hour movie” that leads to lots of narrative drag), the way they do it here proves to be one piece too many.
See you on the other side
“Saints of Imperfection” is Discovery‘s heaviest venture into technobabble disaster plotting to date. That this episode is fairly focused, well-paced, involving, and has some solid moments of emotion makes it easier to look past some of the dopier and/or insane things happening here.
But the episode’s big reveal would’ve landed better if the series’ creators and actors weren’t so good at spoiling their own show in the press. I’ve known for months that Dr. Culber would be returning from the dead at some point this season. Part of that is my own fault for reading any headline about this show when I should know full well the creators will give plot points away if it means promoting their show. But then they also put Wilson Cruz’s name in the opening credits at the beginning of the hour, so by the time we get to the reveal that the “monster” terrorizing the mycelium network is actually Culber — who has been trapped there since he was killed by Voq/Ash last season — we have already figured it out.
An obol for classic Trek fans
“An Obol for Charon” is perhaps the most classic take on classic Trek yet from Discovery. After last week’s “Point of Light” seemed to go in about 15 directions at once in its pursuit of various serial subplots, “Obol” is very disciplined in focusing on the exploration aspects of Trek within the confines of a ship-in-peril premise and a tighter — if familiar — plot and structure. The result is a very solid outing, particularly with its late revelations, but one that is somewhat held back by some quirks in execution.
Checking in with L’Rell, Ash, Klingons, Section 31, Spock’s mom…
After the first two episodes of season two seemed to serve as a sort of re-calibration of this series to be a little more contemplative and a little less frenetic, we now get “Point of Light,” which serves as the un-re-calibration and feels like a structural throwback to season one. This is a rushed, overly busy episode featuring no fewer than four plotlines, executed at variable levels of pacing and interest. In some cases, the goal appears to have been to quickly move characters from point A to B at absolutely all costs. In other cases, we seem to be on a stationary bike. In no cases is this absorbing storytelling like in “Brother” or “New Eden,” because it’s just too much spread too thin. It’s more along the lines of: Well, all that just happened. Tune in next week to see where all this is maybe going!
Exploration, discovery reveal ‘New Eden’
If there’s a trend to note two episodes into season two of Discovery, it’s the more low-key approach. Rather than the frequent hey-look-at-me twists, turns, and sometimes-abrasive hyperbole of season one, these first two episodes take a more measured approach of contemplation and slow-burn plotting. That’s not to say there aren’t flashy moments of kineticism (exhibit one: the asteroid sequence of last week; exhibit two: more fun with asteroids here), but the story seems to be more intent on exploring a gradual sci-fi mystery while foregrounding a weekly plot that grows from it.
O ‘Brother,’ where art thou?
"Brother" is a not-riveting but very solid episode of Discovery that feels the most like pre-Discovery Star Trek since "The Vulcan Hello" (minus the Klingons and all their subtitles). Untethered from Secret Evil Mirror Captain Lorca and the less-than-coherent war with the Klingons, the series is free to turn out an episode that has the story beats of previous Trek series, except with better production values.
About those production values: Above all else, that’s what sets Discovery apart from previous Trek series. I have no idea what TNG or DS9 would’ve looked like if it were made with today’s technology and digital artists, but Discovery looks amazing. The level of detail in the visual effects and production design are of movie caliber. I know I’ve said that before, but it bears repeating. Meanwhile, the cinematography (particularly in Burnham’s dreamlike flashback sequences) is so artistically polished that it borders on excessive.