Thursday, April 18, 2019

Discovery 2x14 "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham makes her leap into history.

review: This is kind of instantly the high water mark for epic Star Trek TV storytelling in a single episode (though it obviously continues and contains elements from previous episodes).  It's a bombastic sendoff for the Discovery crew in its original timeframe, and a nifty packaging for why we don't hear about any of this in later (earlier) incarnations of the franchise.

Okay, so that last part might be a point of debate for some fans, who will naturally feel dismissive for any number of reasons.  What a cheap way to explain it! they'll say.  But forget them.  This has been a series that has consistently enmeshed itself in familiar lore while carving a separate destiny.  Now it seems it's reached the point where the unknown will truly be embraced, and all we have to do is wait for next season.  This is how season finales are done, folks.  This is one of the best I've ever seen.

So of course there's lots to appreciate.  We get flashes of that brilliance Discovery has so enjoyed celebrating about Starfleet officers.  We get callbacks to all the signals the crew followed throughout the season (and how the whole of it feels so satisfying in summary).  We get Burnham and Spock in a bittersweet farewell.  We get Stamets and Culber finally reconciling.  We get Tilly's queen friend saving the day.  We get Control being defeated.  We get Georgiou being truly heroic.  We get repair droids! 

Just a lot of good stuff.  The episode ends with Pike, Number One, and Spock (shaved! in uniform!) on the bridge of the Enterprise (and the credits featuring the original theme!), nudging us to what Star Trek was when it began, and it feels right.  So often fans have struggled to identify Discovery with the original series, so it seems appropriate that a season that spent so much time with familiar elements concludes on such a note. This might be the kind of experience Enterprise tried to capture in its final episode, with a holodeck simulation aboard Picard's ship of Archer's crew.  Then again, it might be equally controversial.  But then, again, forget the fans who will view the results that way.

criteria analysis:
  • franchise - A rewarding way to bridge the Enterprise with the Discovery.
  • series - Setting the Discovery definitively along its own destiny.
  • character - Burnham becomes the symbol of what Spock later finds in Kirk & Bones.
  • essential - An affirmation of Discovery's place in the franchise.
notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Rebecca Romijn (Number One)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Saturday, April 13, 2019

Discovery 2x13 "Such Sweet Sorrow"

rating: ****

the story: Deciding on a final course of action to thwart Control.

review: "Such Sweet Sorrow" is an excellent follow-up to "Through the Valley of Shadows," and an even better way to smooth over the rough patch of discovering the identity of the Red Angel while also building on it, and as the second season has been doing so well, emphasizing the strengths of its characters and how they embody the franchise tradition of utilizing brilliant minds in concert.

And blowing up a ship?  Almost!  And saying dramatic goodbyes?  Yep!

My biggest criticism of the season is that it began to overplay the dramatic moments.  Once Saru nearly died, it was hard to top.  What "Such Sweet Sorrow" does so brilliantly is not play things the same way, but rather circle back to the tradition of optimism in the franchise, crews supporting each other, defying fate (lookin' at you, Pike!) and the odds.  Once the solution to the Control problem becomes, once and for all, time travel, Burnham volunteers to carry it out, even though it becomes equally clear that she can expect to be lost in the future as a result.  But just as she decides to walk this course alone, everyone rallies around her, at least to help her reach the point where she'll get to make the jump. 

Two notable exceptions: Pike, of course, who the season has made clear has a specific destiny, and nothing done here is going to change that, and Tyler.  Burnham and Tyler have been on a rollercoaster ride across Discovery's two seasons.  One might expect Tyler, of all people, to finally commit to Burnham.  No doubt we'll learn more of what follows for him, and for them, later (I have to chuckle at my early season efforts at prognostication, believing Tyler and Section 31 to have a limited role in it), whether in the season finale (next episode) or at some point in the future.

This is a series that keeps its cards close to the vest, and yet sometimes it allows a wink or two to escape.  "Such Sweet Sorrow" gives us a literal wink, perhaps, when Georgiou finally tells Pike who she really is, and he winks back to her.  Does that mean we'll see more about that later?

Anyway, the episode also features a lot of great visuals, and even a redemption of the seemingly vapid Tilly Short Trek.  Plenty to enjoy.

criteria analysis:
  • franchise - Our first look at the Discovery version of the classic Enterprise bridge!
  • series - A dramatic setup to the season finale.
  • character - Burnham's arc reaches a satisfying climax.
  • essential - Where does she goes from here?  I think the question itself is raised eloquently.
notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)
Rebecca Romijn (Number One)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
James Frain (Sarek)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)

Discovery 2x12 "Through the Valley of Shadows"

rating: ****

the story: Burnham has a showdown with another Control avatar.

review: This is a series that's at its best when it needs to be.  There are rough patches at times, but there are in books, too, which any reader ought to be able to acknowledge.  When a long-form TV story is being told, there will be episodes where things that have to happen won't resonate as well as they should, especially if the complexity of the story is sufficient where risks have to be taken.  This season of Discovery has had considerable complexity, and considerable risks have been taken.  Much of the complexity has taken the shape of applying parallel structures to successive arcs.  Much of the storytelling itself has as a result become familiar.  If one version hasn't worked as well as another, there's always a chance to see it again.

The Section 31 threat, as the season has crystalized around, finds a new mode of expression in "Through the Valley of Shadows," in a single episode repeating the Leland arc but with greater focus and clarity, and as a result, execution, with a colleague Burnham knew from the Shinzou (the ship she served aboard at the beginning of the series, with the original Georgiou).

But most significantly, what helps the episode succeed so well is how it allows Discovery's eclectic cast of characters do what they do best, which is work together to solve problems.  For instance, we get to see Reno again, and her relationship with Stamets has now reached the point where she's willing to speak on his behalf to Culber, and that in itself is satisfying for all three characters.  These are characters who rarely mince words.  They take risks at alarming rates, in a very classic franchise tradition, both in their willingness to try and save the whole universe at great personal sacrifice, and they don't mind doing so at the personal level, either.  That was kind of the whole point of the series, looking beyond the Roddenberry template of a unified front, and discovering that it still exists anyway.  The Reno/Stamets/Culber sequence demonstrates that in spades.

Does it get better than that?  Wow it does!  It's Pike's second big moment of the season, and second direct acknowledgement of his ultimate fate.  And to do so, Discovery handles even niftier Star Trek continuity, digging deep to showcase Klingon time crystals (and Tyler's son!).  You'd have to be willing to remember Voyager and its series finale ("Endgame") to grin about that one.  I'm glad Pike has had this chance to shine, and his role in the season has been the most rewarding element of it.

criteria analysis:
  • franchise - There's a satisfying deep cut of lore to savor here.
  • series - But it's also satisfying for Discovery fans.
  • character - Pike gets the nod as biggest beneficiary of the episode.
  • essential - But really, everyone wins.
notable guest-stars:
Ethan Peck (Spock)
Tig Notaro (Reno)
Shazad Latif (Tyler)
Wilson Cruz (Culber)
Mia Kirshner (Amanda)
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