Star Trek: Discovery 4x6 "Stormy Weather" Review

rating: ***

the story: The ship accidentally gets stuck in a void created by the anomaly.

review: This might be one of those episodes I'll have to revisit later.  Watching it the first time I found myself surprisingly conflicted.  Even the showcase element at the end of "Stormy Weather" wasn't enough to completely sell me on it.

"Weather" evokes classic franchise storytelling (Voyager had a couple episodes where the ship got stuck in a pocket region of space), but never completely feels like a classic Discovery moment despite trying to be.  For me, this has long been a series defined by its smart characters sometimes spontaneously combining for sequences of fast-paced collaboration.  "Weather" lumbers along as literally everyone gets a say in how to resolve the crisis, a ponderous representation of the season's increased focus on inclusivity (Gray, who finally has a moment this episode trying to bolster Zora's spirits, has never felt as organic since a sensational debut in "Forget Me Not").  

When a solution is finally reached, it involves evoking yet another piece of franchise lore (Scotty being stuck in a transport buffer in Next Generation's "Relics") before putting the ship to considerable stress and Burnham at minimal risk (it's still a game effort at a mostly visual sequence, which was the best viewing experience of the episode and itself worth revisiting later).

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Fans often disagree, but I like when Star Trek evokes itself.  In literature, it's called resonance.
• series - As a part of the season arc I like how the episode further complicates attempting to understand the anomaly.  (This also feels like third season Enterprise territory, by the way.)
• character - Zora, the computer, is becoming a real character as of this episode as her evolution seriously complicates matters for the first time.
• essential - A previous stumbling block this season was the inability to adequately focus, although the more alarming part was how the episode just plain doesn't understand how this series works at its best, even in a scenario that seems tailor-made for it.  I don't blame director Jonathan Frakes for this (it seems the intent was to have the First Contact feel, at times, but the writing just didn't support it).