Star Trek Discovery

[Drunk Monk]

E4 - a time travel ep. 

Well played. It was a chance to review some major turning points in the show. Rayner & Michael must truly team up as they become unstuck in time. The problem (a time bug which is a weaponized spider that messes with time) is rushed so it doesn’t work as a stand alone because it moves so quickly. But it’s a prime example of Disco when it’s on top of its game. 

There’s even a captain vs herself fight - such a classic device in TOS. 

This is the best ep so far of this season. It’s Disco on fire.

[Drunk Monk]

S5 is like the Star Trek Da Vinci code season. Absurd clues hidden all over the place in the universe. Disco must find them to get the progenitors’ tech. It’s a tad vacuous and obvs, and the individual eps are more about action, flash & dazzle, with cursory drama and so many Easter eggs. This ep was the ISS Enterprize - not the USS enterprise. That’s right. My fav place to boldly go - the mirror universe. 

Twas fun. D00M recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

E6 was filler. Same recipe - find the next clue, solve by incredulous means, nearly die, save the day, meanwhile do a lot of navel gazing and take a moment to preach some woke notion. There was a prime directive violation but honestly, when did anyone follow the prime directive? 

This show ran its course when Georgiou went back in time. Now I’m just clinging on to see how it all ends.

[Drunk Monk]

Yet another of the same. There was a major revelation about Reno that was silly because her character, like all the others, will end soon, so why bother except to use it as yet another deus ex machina solve for the clue of the week. Then there was a major death of one of the key antagonists introduced this season. 

I should really watch the ep that introduced the Breen - think that was in DS9 and I’ve not watched all of those.

[Drunk Monk]

The final clue was found but not until after a deep dive into Burnham’s psychology (it’s the ‘labyrinth of the mind’) which gave window for Sonequa to overact in an almost Shatner level bit of expository that just didn’t work for me at all. So overdone pandering to the nerdy fandom and our neurosis.

On the flip side, there was a great engineering scene where a ridiculous amount of technobabble was spouted as the two lead engineers brainstormed the problem. What made it work was Reno, who sat on the sidelines (barring one key bit of technobabble that aided the discovery of the solution) making sarcastic comments about the cliche dynamics of the dialog that were funny in an almost meta way.

The end it nigh and I’m here for it.

[Drunk Monk]

So I watched DS9 s4e4 which was the introduction of the Breen. It was unimpressive and they works masks that reminded me of Leia’s bounty hunter disguise helmet in the beginning of E5 ESB. 

DS9 still doesn’t quite work for me.

[Drunk Monk]

The penultimate ep - Breen ships are as big as borg cubes which allowed the Disco to fly into the shuttle bay and wreck havoc. This ep was ridiculous in that Disco way, but it ended on a major cliffhanger that place Burham & Mol in the progenitor’s relic capsule which is a portal to what? Maybe the infinity space where Cronenberg hangs out? That’s my guess.

Tomorrow night is all about p+ finales.

[Drunk Monk]

The finale - an hour and a half episode. The whole quest was for naught, really just a big distraction to get us here. That gets resolved at around the halfway point and the rest is sentimentalism. Burnham gets her happily ever after, as do most of the crew apparently (maybe it’s me but I kinda wanted a death - if you want to pull my heartstrings, kill a major character). There’s a tease with the fate of Zora, which harkens back to a Short Trek. And Kovich (Cronenberg) reveals himself to be Daniels, a temporal agent from ST: Ent, which I barely remember. 

There is an opening where more Burnham stories might be told, but it skips to her, old and gray, a retire admiral living in a pastoral homestead mansion on some planet with weird deer and river monsters, with a son and her husband. 
Did it stick the landing? No and yes. This whole season as absurd, almost to the level of self caricature. But the epilogue reflection was sweet, reminding me that it was ST: Disco that reignited the franchise after the Kelvin timeline (J.J’s films). ST: LD, SNW & Prodigy are all in Disco’s wake. On that level, I’m glad the ending was happy. Disco started out great. Nonetheless, I’m glad they are putting it to rest now. 

Seasons 1 & 2 are D00M recommended, but once Michelle checks out, my recommendation ends.