Star Trek: Discovery 4x11 "Rosetta" Review

rating: ***

the story: Burnham leads an away team that explores a planet that may be the key to understanding Species 10C.

review: This is the kind of episode that should absolutely happen in a serialized version of Star Trek that nonetheless still has to have episodic elements.  Too often Discovery has stumbled on such elements, especially ones that try to simulate classic franchise material, and yet this time everything works quite nicely.

The away team (as with the rest of the season, a spotlight is given to one of the bridge crew, this time Detmer, who ordinarily have mere supporting roles in the background) experiences strange sensations that might have played out in a more outlandish fashion had the episode not managed sufficient control of itself (actually, I've often yearned for this when watching Star Trek in general), moving on rather than lingering on a given element.  To wit: Saru is the first affected by the elements on the planet, but quickly enough Burnham and Culber are, too, and then they realize why, and solve the problem, and make further breakthroughs.

This whole process is mirrored by how Reno is featured in the episode.  Reno has been considered a regular member of the ensemble this season despite this being only her second appearance so far, and even in this one she doesn't seem like her usual self, initially, just an excuse to be present and accounted for, until the twist at the end that adds a much-welcome further wrinkle to the season arc.  To know more about that you'll just have to wait and read the review of the next episode, if you haven't by then caught up.

So for me it's quite a rewarding episode, including how the delegates are used.  It's very much a Xindi Council, third season Enterprise kind of experience for me, and as a fan of that season and series, it's nice to be able to say that.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - By side-stepping the typical pitfalls in Star Trek storytelling, it actually transcends them in a very welcome way.
• series - Which further distinguishes Discovery as blazing its own path.
• character - Detmer might end up feeling the most organic use of background characters in the foreground this season, though the Reno twist is my favorite, as it has far more potential.
• essential - The plot advances on a few levels, one in a very unexpected but very welcome way.

Star Trek: Discovery 4x10 "The Galactic Barrier" Review

rating: ***

the story: The crew reaches, well, the Galactic Barrier.

review: They aren't looking for God!  I know any fans (who are probably shuddering to do so, given its terrible and not totally earned reputation) making the association with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier can't help but think exactly that (but we still haven't identified Species 10C!), so let's just get that out of the way.

For me, the season just keeps getting better with these latest episodes.  I really wanted to grant "classic" status to this one, but decided it lacked the killer moment(s) that would truly warrant it, except for a wealth of character moments, chiefly among them Tarka's surprising backstory and Burnham burying the hatchet with President Rillak (finally putting her name in these reviews!), plus Saru in arguably his first real character arc, continuing along the journey to finding love with T'Rina (the actors playing all these recurring characters are omitted from the "notable guest-stars" section in large part because Discovery's use of such characters, from the first season onward, has been so much more steady than even Deep Space Nine's deep roster ever managed; I've instead been employing, for this series, the appearances of famous actors, which is why Oded Fehr regularly appears in it despite the fact that Vance is otherwise indistinguishable from the frequency of use as the others).

But Tarka!  Unexpected!  To say the least!  A very welcome one indeed, kind of the reverse of Lorca, in that he appeared to be a basically villainous character and now we see, apparently, that he's actually a good guy (mirrored by Rillak's arc, of course) looking for a little redemption.  For me it elevates the whole season, in addition to other pieces of the episode, including the delegate who cracks funny so randomly early on.  Often the series can labor on a fairly dour tone, when it's so often at its best in characters like Reno or the brilliant scientific minds getting to sound brilliant (I honestly don't believe any incarnation of the franchise has so successfully pushed science as being this cool, not since the original series, which famously did so with the introductions of so many gadgets like the transporter and communicator).

So an episode that doesn't seem overly eager to advance the season arc instead pushes all the right character buttons, which itself has been a significant goal of the season.  

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This is where I "deduct a point" in the inconclusive experience with the galactic barrier, which would itself have been the big deal in most other versions of this story.
• series - This is how confident the storytelling is, that it can hit that note without obsessing over it, because there's more to focus on, so much so that Kovich can actually suggest there's more stuff to worry about besides the DMA without giving so much as a hint as to what it is!
• character - Tarka, who wins distinction as a recurring character who essentially has his own episode, more directly than Airiam in the second season, more like Nog from Deep Space Nine.
• essential - It's the deft handling of all the characters that helps the episode shine, when there had been points earlier in the season where this much emphasis nearly sank the storytelling.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

David Cronenberg (Kovich)

Star Trek: Discovery 4x8 "All In" Review

rating: ***

the story: Burnham and Book pursue their separate goals at the same poker table.

review: I loved that the episode hinges on a (space) poker game.  As a franchise fan, it evokes Next Generation too easily to be ignored, and unlike that series, it's a game with truly high stakes.  While the episode sort of coasts along, that sequence, and how lively Burnham is (arguably the most lively she's been to date, in the whole series), it's very easy to love.  I think if the creators were paying attention to this production, they may've stumbled upon something very crucial to the continuing adventures of this crew.

It's a waltz, really, between Burnham and Book.  Book is an incredibly reluctant villain at this point, and for whatever reason once again reverting to a lethargic persona, which has been crushing his appeal all season.  Call it malaise, PTSD, or just uninspired acting, but it sets off Burnham's energy as never before, so I guess there's some positive to it.

Star Trek visits another attempt at the Star Wars cantina, and with all the moody (read: very, very dark) lighting, it's hard to really get into it, but the guy with all the goods is nothing like Quark in Deep Space Nine (but, and this is relevant because there's a Founder in the episode! Odo never let him get away with quite this much), and adds the same kind of energy as Book's other running mate, Tarka (although even he doesn't have much to do this episode), and Vance, who arguably has his best appearance to date feeling rotten he put so much faith in that guy.

The sequence with the bot Culber won't just clean like it desperately wants to is a nice touch, too, and how everyone finds what they're looking for, including the location of the unknown species and what their actual (probable) motivations are is handled so well, if Book hadn't turned so stubbornly into Eeyor I would've really loved this one.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - It feels like a nod to Next Generation, that epic (space) poker game.
• series - Several big developments for the season arc this episode.
• character - Arguably the most fun Michael Burnham has ever been.
• essential - Taking everything down a notch is the gloom in both the cinematography and the general character of Book.  

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x10 "A Moral Star, Part 2" Review

rating: ***

the story: We find out the Diviner's motivations.

review: The internet very troublingly suggested there might actually be merit to the Diviner's actions, that they represent a viable alternative look at the Federation.  I'm here to state categorically, as presented in this episode, this could not be farther from the truth.  He's no different from Nero in Star Trek attempting revenge without the least bit thinking it out, lashing out like, well, a villain.  

To put it simply, the Diviner is a time traveler who is attempting to gain revenge on the Federation for his homeworld's first contact, which led to a devastating civil war.  The Diviner assigning blame to the Federation, rather than his people, is absurd.  We've seen nothing noble about this guy, no redeeming quality, not even love for his daughter Gwyn (instead a possessiveness hinged only on her representing one last member of his species, after himself).

So that's what we learn this episode.  Very begrudgingly, he reveals all this to Gwyn, even as the rest of the good guys are mounting a plan to get the ship back.

The clever thing the episode does is tell the viewer what it needs to know, but prevent the characters themselves from knowing, which leaves a climactic moment free to leave an explosive dangling plot for when the series picks back up again in the fall.  We think they won!  They're getting what they wanted!

Well, careful what you wish for...

The episode ends as we meet up with the real Janeway, who will hopefully help all of us solve the mystery of what exactly happened to Chakotay.  Truthfully, I've watched the last few episodes expecting to learn something, anything, about that, but the series itself went in a different direction.  I really do hope the Diviner arc is over, at least with his active participation, at least in the snarling role he's had.  

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The sort of amazing that I want is perhaps a little impatient.  It doesn't want to wait so long for Chakotay.  
• series - One way or another, this is a definitive turning point for the series.
• character - He turns out to be very much a villain, but at least we get to see why the Diviner is one.
• essential - Hey, and they even have their own nifty uniforms now, too, I might add.  The show has found its stride.

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x9 "A Moral Star, Part 1" Review

rating: ***

the story: The Diviner finally gets his hands on the ship.

review: I haven't been overly patient with the Diviner arc mostly because it symbolizes how fast and loose the series has played with distances, which greatly simplifies the storytelling but has never been adequately explained.  To be a constant threat the Diviner needed a good enough reason to remain one once the crew had split off far beyond his reach.  This episode, he gets one, by getting the crew to return to him.

This is possible because his robotic henchman Drednok is able to visit the ship, which actually first occurred the previous episode (he apparently has multiple bodies).  The crew is faced with an ultimatum of relinquishing the ship or being responsible for the Diviner slaughtering the rest of the workforce in the mining camp they escaped from.

Anyway, what all this really amounts to is advancing the plot.  In a serialized story you kind of need to do that.  By the end of the episode, as indicated above, the Diviner "wins," and in the bargain has reunited with his wayward daughter Gwyn, which leaves us with a cliffhanger, and another review in which I consider whether the Diviner is worth more than he seems...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I don't think anything "great" happens in the episode.  Fans not committed to the series would not necessarily be missing anything.
  
• series - Although fans of Prodigy obviously would!
• character - The Diviner takes a step closer to becoming truly meaningful.
• essential - It seems increasingly likely that we approach the real end of the Diviner arc.

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x8 "Time Amok" Review

rating: ***

the story: Our crew ends up split in time.

review: Well, gosh darn it...I may actually be a fan of this show now.

This is my favorite episode of the first ten.  Typically I'm fairly generous with four stars/classic status (I guarantee you will find very few fans who have not only watched the whole franchise but enjoyed a lot of it).  It's true that even calling "Time Amok" my favorite I'm still not awarding it four.  I reserve that for when I think a real contribution has been made to franchise lore.  What I mean to say about this episode is that it has officially made it safe for me to believe Prodigy will reach that point.

There will be newer fans who will be absolutely flabbergasted even at that.  This is a version of Star Trek we've never seen before.  It's a true entry point, and it's perhaps for some new fans the only Star Trek that is going to make any sense at all to them, at least for the foreseeable future.  That's a plain fact.  

For me, until this point, the series was too self-conscious, too caught up trying to justify itself, too worry about what its characters were doing to just allow them to inhabit an episode.  In this one, for the first time ever, Janeway challenges them and they're...ready.  They just are, and all it takes in one purple wave to run through the ship and split them up.

The biggest beneficiary is Rok.  For all her early appearances this was the "gentle giant" whose main distinguishing factor was the little kid's voice.  While Dal spends so much time doing a bad impression of a Lower Decks we're-not-gonna-grow-up!!! attitude (which is mostly absent from the episode, another point in its favor), Rok has been waiting patiently for a spotlight.  The best tradition of Star Trek storytelling is that every main character eventually gets at least one.  What helps sell it is that the episode doesn't even worry about it, but just lets it happen.  In fact, other than the recurring bit about not wanting to be seen as "security material," there's no indication at all that this is a Rok episode until it turns into one.

It's truly organic storytelling.  Sometimes serialized TV finds this the hardest accomplishment, so busy just trying to move a story along.  Other than Gwyn's daddy arc, it really seemed as if Prodigy simply wasn't interested, and so my attention had faded.

It's not lost on me that the title of the episode deliberately riffs on a classic one (from the original series, and I will not tell you which one, even if you are new to Star Trek).

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Here's where I nominally dock a point.  You don't need to be an existing fan to understand this one at all, which is actually a good thing.
• series - Achieving a longstanding goal of getting the crew to function together by splitting it up.  Brilliant!
• character - Rok, who, as it turns out, rocks.
• essential - For Prodigy, a breakthrough moment to be celebrated.

notable guest-stars:

Robert Beltran (Chakotay)

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x6 "Kobayashi" Review

rating: ***

the story: Dal tries his luck with the Kobayashi Maru training program.

review: In all three Star Trek shows that've broadcast new episodes in the past few months, either the Kobayashi Maru program itself or something similar (in the case of Lower Decks) has been featured.  The fourth season premiere of Discovery was even titled "Kobayashi Maru," and now Prodigy builds an episode around the program, with the title "Kobayashi."  I don't know if the writers of these shows cross the hall, visit the same writing rooms, or there are producers suggesting any of this common material, but anyone actually watching all of it (Star Trek fans usually don't go out of their watch to watch all of it, as we all discovered in the '90s) might begin to consider the material somewhat repetitive.  Again, there's no reason to expect every fan to see all of it (resources like this blog in which one person does are probably rare), but those that do, it's an odd choice, whether deliberate or remarkable coincidence.

There's the good enough excuse that each of the series is approaching this material from different vantage points and theoretically even for different audiences.  Prodigy, for instance, is obviously intended for younger viewers, most of whom will probably never have seen any Star Trek before.  They might later track down all the source material for the dialogue uttering from the mouths of famous franchise characters like Spock, Uhura, Scotty, Odo, (and the new stuff from Crusher) (I don't know why Enterprise in particular should have been left out), or, eventually, attempt to watch all of it, I don't know.  The effort of putting this material together is itself perhaps the most ambitious and fan-friendly thing Prodigy has done, something those who haven't been watching, and perhaps don't intend to watch again might very well consider, as with the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," is worth the odd visit.  So it can be an experience for both new and existing fans.  

I haven't dubbed an episode of the series worth classic status yet.  This one comes closest.  The reservation, as always, comes with lead character Dal, who still doesn't feel like he's overly worth getting attached to, who keeps stumbling up against his limitations without really growing from the effort.  In a format like this it probably feels like exactly the right thing for the creators to be doing, since they're serializing the whole season, and thus don't want to be making definitive points too soon.  Which is, for me, a huge part of why this kind of TV should always be approached with caution, especially when the show goes out of its way, at the start, to let you know that the journey is going to be the whole point.  

The cast around Dal continues to be engaging, although they're increasingly one-note characters, except for the only other one, Gwyn, with an arc, and as of this episode, possibly not even exactly what it had previously seemed.  Her bad dad, the Diviner, hasn't given up yet his quest for the wayward Starfleet ship that also offers up tantalizing answers to its own mysteries, including a glimpse at Hologram Janeway's old running mate, Chakotay.  What if the Diviner isn't quite the villain he seemed?  But also, crucially, how does he stand even a remote chance, under his own power, of reaching the Protostar, which has leaped to an entirely different quadrant?  Unless Gwyn can convince everyone it's in anyone's interests to make it happen?

criteria analysis:

• franchise - All those familiar faces, and voices! are like puppy chow for fans.  Hard not to love. The Kobayashi Maru simulation is itself enticing, although the show's demonstration of it circles far around its parameters.
• series - A few tantalizing clues about why lies ahead, including our first glimpse at what lay behind.
• character - Dal is, for me, as hard to like as always, but placing him into familiar context at least places his struggle into a palatable light.
• essential - It's strange, for a series built around borrowing one familiar face to throw so many others at the viewer, and only a glimpse of the one who actually serves a purpose to the plot.  It's an episodic adventure that both yearns to be more than the series has been and sinks into the poorer instincts that have saddled it since the start.  

notable guest-stars:

Robert Beltran (Chakotay)

Star Trek: Discovery 4x7 "...But to Connect" Review

rating: ***

the story: With two options on how to proceed in confronting the crisis, an unexpected roadblock emerges in Zora's willingness to cooperate.

review: I enjoyed this much better than "Stormy Weather," and yet I'm not sure the resolution with Zora, the ship's computer now become its own entity, was entirely nailed.

Next Generation had previously tackled, in a number of ways, the upper thresholds of artificial intelligence, both in Data and within the ship's computer itself, among others, and of course Voyager's Doctor ("Latent Image," in particular), so Zora's arc was very much familiar, although approached from its own unique vantage point.  The problem is the viewer's ability to fully invest in a character they can't see but only hear.  in the Short Trek "Calypso," we did see Zora.  In a sense, the lasts two seasons have been competing with "Calypso," which was a standout experience on any number of levels.  Even its central character, Craft, has had a kind of stand-in with Book, who in "Connect" makes a bold decision I'll get back to later.  There's also the somewhat tangled web of those directly involved in her arc this episode.  David Cronenberg's Kovich gets arguably his biggest spotlight as part of it, as he's tasked with deciding how to handle Zora's evolution.  Stamets, surprisingly, is the one who has the biggest problem with it, and I'm not sure the episode nails his role.  Gray and Adira show up as Zora's cheerleaders, though neither one has particularly strong material to show for it.

Anyway, the episode presents two possible solutions to the crisis at hand.  One, once Zora agrees to cooperate, is to confront, peacefully if at all possible, those responsible for the anomaly, which involves a gathering of delegates to reach that conclusion, including a representative of Earth (that's another fun point to pick back up from last season).  The other is a weapon (evoking Insurrection) developed by Tarka, the tactless genius (whose very existence has finally convinced Stamets to find some) from "The Examples," who provides another welcome dose of friction, and in the end, an offer too tempting for Book to pass up.

(It's also worth noting that the potential enemy comes from beyond the Galactic Barrier, which we learned a few episodes ago; this is of course an unexpected reference to The Final Frontier; this whole arc has been drawing on familiar franchise lore, a deliberate bid to get fans who don't think Discovery is familiar enough to consider it well within the franchise fold after all.)

Unlike the talkiness of "Weather," the constant barrage of chatter works well in "Connect," an excellent example of Star Trek's intellectual proclivities.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Zora's arc ought to evoke plenty of familiar associations.
• series - The progress of the season arc advances in a carefully calculated way.
• character - Zora is once again the standout character in what is very close to a defining episode.
• essential - It feels like the show was hedging its bets with her.  Maybe I'm not being fair.

notable guest-stars:

David Cronenberg (Kovich)

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).

Star Trek: Discovery 4x4 "All Is Possible" Review

rating: ***

the story: Tilly discovers an unexpected new calling.

review: "All Is Possible" turns things right around from the last episode, in all the most dramatic ways possible.  "Choose to Live" seemed half-heartedly committed to everything it was attempting to do; "Possible" takes the total opposite tack.  Book really struggles with the loss of his family and homeworld, the Ni'Var make a stand (and decision), and so does Sylvia Tilly.

The Ni'Var, for those still struggling to keep up with modern Trek lore, are the Vulcans, and Romulans.  They're the reunified version that was first teased in Next Generation by none other than Spock.  Last season, "Unification III" dropped that particular bombshell in Discovery's far future, including how the Ni'Var were purposefully withholding participation in the Federation.  This season we're getting a better look at what that means, "Possible" might end up being the best spotlight.  Where "Live" seemed so reluctant to live up to its preceding material, "Possible" absolutely goes for the gusto.  The Emerald Chain arc, and the stirring defense of Federation ideals Vance made last season, also factors into the episode.  That would be more than enough to give "Possible" a glowing endorsement.

But it also makes a statement about Tilly, a clear turning point for a character who often seemed fairly directionless, except surprisingly in a command direction.  The one real stumble in "Possible" is Tilly referencing "how long" she coveted the captain's chair, which for all intents and purposes wasn't even a thing until she found out Mirror Tilly, "Killy," was everything she never seemed capable of becoming, confident, cool, and above all, unquestioned command material.

Eventually, by the end, Tilly remembers in "Possible" that her true motivating factor was her overbearing mom, whom she realizes now exists in a distant past, far, far out of reach, and thus no longer in control of all her choices.  So she opts for a different path.  (Even mentioning how "long" her career has been is kind of a mockery of poor Harry Kim, who would've killed to wait only a thousand years to reach lieutenant!)  She decides to become a teacher at Starfleet Academy.

O'Brien, at the end of Deep Space Nine, went that route.  The movies kind of suggested Kirk's crew went that route.  Maybe with Tilly, when we see her again, will get to actually show us some of that, and not just another junior officer training cruise disaster, which admittedly much of this episode is, though it spends less time on it than you'd think, and more just getting to the point (another huge difference from "Live").  "Possible" feels like more of a goodbye than even Saru's choice at the end of last season, which this season quickly disputed.  Some fans will always point to Tilly, and not Burnham, as the most uncomfortable character to swallow in the series (she's even the one who breached the potty mouth barrier!), and so it's kind of appropriate for a season that has been rebooting to more accessible parameters would seem to consider jettisoning Tilly rather than Burnham (who once again drifts away from her Kirk mode and toward Picard this episode).

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Arguably, especially for grumpy Enterprise viewers, this is the closest we've ever gotten to Vulcans not named Spock (or Tuvok) getting to represent themselves in a dignified manner, be motivated by their own concerns, and still come off looking good.
• series - A ton of great callbacks to previous events without needing to belabor them.
• character - For Tilly a kind of big goodbye.
• essential - Sort of like David Cronenberg making another appearance but not making too big a deal about it, this is a notable episode of modest achievement, just wanting to push things in a further direction. 

notable guest-stars:

David Cronenberg

Star Trek: Discovery 4x2 "Anomaly" Review

 rating: ***

the story: Book takes the lead in investigating the cosmic disturbance that destroyed his world.

review: The season premiere was mostly about getting comfortable in the new future setting; "Anomaly" is, effectively, a second premiere, in that it establishes what the season will actually be exploring, a black hole phenomenon that will be causing cataclysmic destruction wherever it travels.  As I write that, I call to mind not just the Nexus ribbon from Star Trek Generations but the Crystalline Entity from The Next Generation, not to mention V'Ger from The Motion Picture and the probe in The Voyage Home...So there's a lot of history behind this new arc.  By the end of the episode, our crew learns one incredibly inconvenient fact about the phenomenon: unlike the others it won't be able to be tracked...

Book debuted last season as a kind of replacement for Ash Tyler, a would-be love interest for Burnham and a rogue agent playing by his own rules.  As is pointed out during this episode, he isn't even a part of Starfleet, and so he doesn't have to take orders.  Although it's also pointed out that as long as he works alongside our crew, his decisions still affect it and so he has to take that into account.  This leads to an adventure alongside...Stamets??

That's one of the reasons I like the episode.  Too often Stamets, even more than Culber, has been defined almost solely by his relationship with Culber.  Introduced initially as a brilliant scientist on the cutting edge, Stamets drifted away from the plot and started worrying only about his lingering connection to the spore drive, the fate of Culber, and then "adopting" Adira and Gray.  "Anomaly" feels like a direct attempt to course correct, forcing him to have a long episode with a different character, and even a whole experience that grounds him in matters that finally force him to focus on his abilities.  

Saru returns to help consult on the new crisis, and now we have him returning to his original role as a trusted ally of Michael Burnham, which like last episode feels like an attempt to remind viewers that, yes, Burnham is okay to like, her old reputation finally consigned to the past, if indeed it were ever applicable.  She takes very much a backseat the whole episode, actually, even though of course she has every reason to take a personal interest in Book's escapade.  

And yes, as the internet has pointed out, this is the first time two episodes in the franchise have exactly the same title.  Next Generation indeed had "The Emissary" and Deep Space Nine "Emissary," and "The Muse" while Voyager had "Muse," but this is the first time there's no quibbling.  Enterprise had "Anomaly," too, during its third season, in which it explored a region of space with weird properties and of course a whole crisis around them.  It seems fitting.

Also fitting are appearances from several familiar species, including a representative from the Ni'Var (the reunited Vulcan/Romulan peoples) and a Ferengi, the first live action appearance since Enterprise as Starfleet considers how to handle the crisis.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Given all the roving threats in Star Trek lore, it seems fitting for Discovery to explore such matters in one of its season arcs.
• series - Like the first season, which unrolled its premise over the course of several episodes, this second episode of the fourth season has as much to do as the premiere.
• character - It's a spotlight for a grieving Book, and a very welcome fresh look at Stamets.
• essential - I'll reserve full marks on this one if only because no definitive points are made.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x5 "Terror Firma" Review

 rating: ***

the story: The characters escape the predator planet, and perhaps the Diviner, too.

review: In the second part of the "Dream Catcher" story, Prodigy appears to take a big leap and complete an arc begun at the start of the series.  

Now that everyone knows what kind of planet they've really found, escape is the main objective.  But there's also the question of what to do with Gwyn, the daughter of the Diviner, the tyrant who previously kept them all prisoner and who also wanted the lost Starfleet ship they found and escaped in.  As a new kind of Star Trek, it was difficult to know exactly how all this would play out, how long it would play out (and of course, there's hardly a guarantee that the Diviner arc ends here, although it's difficult to imagine him finding a way to credibly stay in close contact with them now).

Serialized storytelling is hardly new in the franchise at this point, and in most of it, the story stretches at least for a whole season.  In Discovery, however, there were elements that resolved within the first handful of episodes, such as Michael Burnham's status in Starfleet and the nature of the tardigrade helping power the spore drive.  Prodigy, as of "Terror Firma," seems to be following that model, an extended arc that traditionally would have played out in a pilot as setup for the premise.  New era, new rules.

The episode teases along the solution that rounds out the dilemma, the big mystery at the heart of the Protostar, which turns to be a protostar, a new propulsion system that surely would have been handy in Voyager itself, the series Prodigy seems so eager to evoke.  

In the process of working all this out, it's perhaps the first satisfying episode of the series so far.  Having discarded the familiar element that drove "Dream Catcher," "Terror Firma" instead is free to challenge the characters on their own terms, leaving Gwyn finally as an accepted ally, as she was clearly set up to be from the start.  That itself is a completed arc.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Janeway's nudge this episode helps Starfleet's best service tradition remain true.
• series - A welcome conclusion to the initial arc of Prodigy.
• character - Gwyn finally joins the good guys.
• essential -  The lack of heroic resolve from the ostensible lead character, Dal, remains a drawback.

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x3 "Starstruck" Review

 rating: ***

the story: The erstwhile crew meets Hologram Janeway.

review: The first regular episode of the series is also the first to explore how exactly Janeway, or Hologram Janeway, factors into Prodigy.  For long-term fans, Voyager's captain was itself the key selling point of the series.  The original series and Next Generation had their own follow-up films to ensure revisiting for at least a while, but that was the first two in what became an expanding franchise of characters, many of whom would never appear in another incarnation of Star Trek.  From Deep Space Nine onward, many characters would end up appearing only in their originating shows, or so it seemed.  Voyager has now gotten to luckiest, in the new era, with Seven in Picard, Paris showing up in Lower Decks, and now Janeway as a main character in Prodigy.

Hologram Janeway, and the ship she projects from, is the only standard Star Trek element of Prodigy.  She herself assumes the characters around her are cadets, and none of them are in a rush to correct her, so that's the premise, as far as she knows.

Amazingly, Kate Mulgrew sounds exactly as she always did.  Some actors, regardless of aging issues, end up sounding different when doing voice work, unless they're seasoned veterans of the form.  The depiction of Hologram Janeway is exactly as fans saw her in Voyager, so there's little confusion possible.  Anyone watching without that context knows this character as a reference tool who also volunteers Starfleet protocol when necessary but who is nonetheless very much beholden to a given set of parameters.  She doesn't adopt the role of captain, she can't control the newbies.  In some ways she's an interactive version of the computer voice Majel Roddenberry provided across much of the franchise.  (There's a whole generation of fans who shudder at the very thought.  I prefer not to seek out their opinions.)

Other than that, the episode is the cast just trying to figure out how little they know about a Starfleet ship, and not much beyond that.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The next gig for a well-known Star Trek character is pretty notable.
• series - The integration of that character into Prodigy is kind of the whole point of the episode.
• character - And that character is, of course, Janeway, recognizable in all aspects except...being in command.
• essential - Is it ironic that Janeway, famously having a holographic doctor, herself became a hologram?  This series lacks such self-awareness, alas.

Star Trek: Prodigy 1x1/1x2 "Lost and Found" Review

 rating: ***

the story: Inhabitants of a penal colony in the Delta Quadrant find an unexpected opportunity for escape when they find a Starfleet ship.

review: There's a lot of chatter online about Prodigy being the first time parents have been able to show their kids Star Trek they end up actually interested in.  Of course that's the whole point.  As a Star Trek show it's certainly unique.  It's the first time ever there's a crew made up entirely of characters who aren't in Starfleet (the Janeway hologram doesn't count).

The results have to be interpreted through that lens.  Fans have long clamored for something like this, but they usually envisioned the results to be a familiar alien species like, say, the Klingons.  There are no familiar aliens in Prodigy's main cast (except the Tellarite, who doesn't really look like a Tellarite, and the Medusan), even though they're all Delta Quadrant natives and of course that's where Voyager spent its run.

That means that the vibe is very, very different.  The main conflict is similar to a subplot of Discovery's third season (intentionally or not), and as it plays out feels more like Star Wars than Star Trek (an assessment many fans still hold over the Abrams films), which is not necessarily a bad thing, but very unfamiliar franchise territory.

The cast of characters, unlike Lower Decks (for a whole host of reasons), feels like traditional animated characters, especially as you would find in an animated film.  (The animation itself would be subpar for an animated film.)  Every character is meant to stand out as a unique type, and they're fun to watch, but not even the ostensible lead, Dal, is close to traditional Starfleet material, more like the vision fans always had of what the Maquis ought to have been like.  

(In fact, you might view Prodigy as what fans thought Voyager should have been like as a whole.)

So far the standout characters are Zero, who sounds like Helen Mirren, and Rok-Tahk, the proverbial gentle giant, whose arc is particularly well-crafted in this debut episode.  The others are works in progress, although the goop creature Murf is fun.

Since this is very much serialized material, the overall strength of the storytelling is going to rely on how well individual beats are handled, and the cumulative effect.  Once more Star Trek sails into the unknown...

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A bold new vision of Star Trek.
• series - It's a solid setup that introduces all the characters and the central premise.
• character - Even if I'm not sold on all of them, the cast is well-represented.
• essential - It's such a radical departure, and the familiar elements saved for so late in the episode, that it's difficult to judge how well this succeeds as a Star Trek series on the pilot alone.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x10 "First First Contact" Review

 rating: ***

the story: Freeman is offered another command.

review: The season finale ends with Lower Decks' first cliffhanger(s), and most of it makes up for the bit that falls very, very flat for me.

Let's get that out of the way first.  This is a series of franchise references, in some ways, sometimes so many and so often it can feel like that's the whole point, but most of the time they're handled perfectly and hilariously.  "First First Contact" is a rare blunder, and infuriatingly, one that the episode feels the need to harmer repeatedly.  This is the insistence on emphasizing guest-character Sonya Gomez, a minor character from a few episodes of The Next Generation, previously best known for spilling hot chocolate on Picard, now a starship captain.  It's obnoxious and on the nose and not even in character with how the concept of the series has used its cast of minor Starfleet officers.

So anyway, putting that aside the episode pivots on Captain Freeman, finally circling back to her after having such a notable role in the first season as the subplot of her being Mariner's mom played out and having nowhere the writers felt like going this season.  Apart from hitting overly familiar notes with Mariner (and Tendi; it's baffling how often they hit the same notes with Tendi), Freeman's arc circles the series back to the idea that the Cerritos itself is a "lower decks" starship in the fleet, an assignment Freeman would be happy to give up in order to upgrade her career.  

By the time she decides she actually wants to stay, after an amazing bit of heroism from the crew, we're thrown the curve of Starfleet actually coming to arrest her!

Then we get advancement for one of the main characters: Rutherford finding out there's a hidden truth behind his implant.  Here's hoping the next season has a much better idea of what it wants to accomplish.  One gets the sense that when conceiving this season, all they prepared was the setup of Boimler's transfer to the Titan.  This time there's drama better integrated to the Cerritos, and the characters themselves.  

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I'm knocking this point off for the Gomez blunder.
• series - A confident stride toward another season begins here!
• character - Freeman at last breaks free from the constraints of being a senior officer in a junior officer series.  And what about Rutherford???
• essential - Anytime there's a season finale cliffhanger, it deserves attention.  And this one does.

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x9 "wej Duj" Review

 rating: ***

the story: The lower decks crews of Vulcans, Klingons, Pakleds, and Starfleet unexpectedly converge.

review: I would probably have considered rating this one a classic if the online reaction hadn't been so overboard in emphasizing the role of the Vulcan in the episode.  Proclaimed an instant "best of" Vulcans!  Should be a regular character of the series!

Not that special.  What's actually special about "wej Duj" (Klingon for "three ships") is that it takes the premise of Lower Decks to further conclusions, as outlined in the story summary above.  The Vulcan and Klingon characters act as independent agents (they're essentially the Mariners of their crews), and while we've seen far more of how Klingon crews operate, this is still, for me, the more interesting of those arcs.  The Pakleds are Pakleds.  There's even a funny bit at the end featuring a Borg crew.

Meanwhile Boimler is once again trying to find a replacement crew, this time buddying up with Ransom (as is traditional in my reviews, even though Ransom is in every episode, and therefore so is Jerry O'Connell voicing him, when he has a particular spotlight, I include him as a "notable guest-star") in lying about being Hawaiian.  This is notable in that it's a rare instance of Boimler being anything but his impresion of Starfleet professional.  The arc ends with a mushy note of Boimler once again discovering his work is noticed.  Not even the only time this one has been done this season, so I'm not really counting it as a positive, and it's all the weirder because the episode otherwise is about the Mariner archetype, and she doesn't even have anything notable happening, which is another obvious oversight in a string of episodes that didn't think everything through.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The Klingon arc follows a grand tradition, and it's a rare instance of getting to hang out with Vulcans, too.
• series - It's the series doing an episode of just lower decks action!
• character - The Boimler arc falls a little flat for being overly familiar.
• essential - It's an episode the series had to do.  And mostly nailed.

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O'Connell (Ransom)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x8 "I, Excretus" Review

 rating: ***

the story: The crew is evaluated through a series of simulations.

review: Online, "I, Excretus" quickly became infamous for doing things that could only have happened in Lower Decks, and that might be the most concise summary possible.

Where I found real merit was Boimler getting to be Boimler again.  In the first season Boimler was best understood as the nutcase who believed in Starfleet protocol so passionately it blinded him to everything else.  Throughout the second season this took a distinct backseat to trying to reconcile him with Mariner, with whom the producers couldn't decide where they wanted to go.  It had seemed obvious that a romance was inevitable, but the season finale put a big kibosh on that (for now?), so "I, Excretus" was the chance to reboot him, so once again his ridiculous efficiency is highlighted, and as it flits in and out it probably hits what to this point in the series is its peak.

Simply put, he knows exactly how to handle the Borg.  In every other incarnation of the franchise this is beyond impossible, but for Boimler, at least as far as his simulations go, all he's capable of doing it doing it better.  And better.

The rest of the episode doesn't have anything worth comparing to that, another curiosity that developed during the season.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A lot of familiar strands here.  Let's settle on the appearance of the Borg Queen.
• series - Only in Lower Decks could things play out this way.
• character - And specifically for Boimler, who finally feels like Boimler again.
• essential - Again the series sabotages itself in failing to support its best material.

notable guest-stars:

Alice Krige (Borg Queen)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x6 "The Spy Humungous" Review

 rating: ***

the story: The Pakleds think they can field a spy???

review: The problem the season began to develop was the inability to juggle the a- and b-stories.  Originally the a-story was whatever the main characters were up to and the b-story was what was happening in the background, what would in a traditional Star Trek series have been the a-story.  In "Spy Humungous," the b-story is more interesting than the a-story antics.  The main characters are busy doing ridiculous things, while the b-story continues the Pakled arc.

In The Next Generation, the Pakleds were one of the early experiments to come up with aliens who weren't from the original series.  Everyone knows the Ferengi, from these experiments, because so much time was spent developing them, and they ended up appearing in each subsequent incarnation of the TV franchise, through Enterprise. The Pakleds weren't so fortunate.  Their simple-minded idiocy, though surprisingly effective, was difficult to take seriously, and there didn't seem anywhere to go with them past an introduction ("Samaritan Snare").  Then Lower Decks comes along and they're a perfect addition to a cartoon take on the franchise that, unlike The Animated Series, is comedic in tone.

Generally with additional exposure, aliens tend to get their culture explored.  Somehow "Spy Humungous" accomplishes exactly that.  And that's a tough act to follow.  Far more than the previous episode, "An Embarrassment of Dooplers," it's a rousing success, and doesn't need leaning into, because the joke sells itself, the hierarchy of a such a society (kind of a parody of Klingons, which in hindsight seems absolutely right), and plays out on two fronts, aboard the ship and on the Pakled homeworld.

The main character shenanigans feel far too expected in comparison.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The unexpected moment in which we dive into Pakled society!
• series - With such a heavy emphasis on the Pakleds, Lower Decks needed this moment.
• character - The problem with hitting the same notes relentlessly with the same characters is that either it's a sitcom in which that's exactly what it's supposed to, or you risk beating a dead horse.
• essential - Pakleds!  They are strong!

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x4 "Mugato, Gumato" Review

 rating: ***

the story: An away team grapples with Ferengi poachers.

review: In the original series there were two notable attempts at full-body costume aliens: the Gorn and the Mugato.  Of the two, the Gorn have gotten plenty of attention, and thanks to Enterprise even a another appearance in the franchise.  Finally, it's the Mugato's turn!

Unlike the Gorn, the Mugato is an animal, kind of an ape with a horn, and so naturally the horn is what the Ferengi poachers are after.  That setup allows Lower Decks to once again spotlight for fans who never quite got the Deep Space Nine memo that the Ferengi aren't one-dimensional anymore.  Mariner had a friend in the first season who played off that ignorance, but in this instance the Ferengi are more or less true to stereotype until a successful negotiation turns the tide.  (There's a whole running gag in the episode about negotiations, making the resolution all the more clever.)

Tendi, for the second episode in a row, is out to prove herself, while Boimler and Rutherford are scared out of their minds that Mariner has another secret, a plotline that feels a little lazy, especially after two episodes where the series knew exactly what it was doing, but it involves enough elements (including a bartender of considerably less insightful banter than Guinan, and another of the many accents the season has been spotlighting, which for an accent guy like me has been easy to enjoy).  Although, I guess, it's nice to be worrying about Mariner for exactly the kinds of reasons we did at the start of the series instead of the business with her mom (y'know, Captain Freeman).

criteria analysis:

• franchise - It's nice to have throwbacks like the Mugato, the Ferengi, and even Denobulans (!) in the mix.  Just imagine if anyone ever gets around to all the background aliens from the original cast movies!
• series - Probably only an animated series could successfully the Mugato anyway, right?
• character - The season has been throwing up different combinations between the lead characters, which here is once again refreshing, with Boimler and Rutherford teaming up for a change.
• essential - But the stakes are fairly low.

Star Trek: Discovery 3x11 “Su’Kal” Review

rating: ***

the story: At last! The secret origin of the Burn! But of course it’s complicated!

review: “Su’Kal” has importance to the season, of course, but it also echoes a franchise story archetype fans have sometimes grumbled about. When Enterprise did it (“Oasis”) it was assumed to be a ripoff of an earlier episode, Deep Space Nine’s “Shadowplay.” But it’s a story that literally goes back to the very first pilot, “The Cage,” in which Pike becomes embroiled in a fantasy constructed for someone else.

What helps “Su’Kal” stand out is how Burnham and Saru are involved. Burnham’s role is fairly comedic; she’s assumed to be a hologram, and so she adopts that approach. Saru’s is more personal. The source of the Burn is apparently a ship that was crewed by Kelpians. The lone survivor is one who has lived in isolation for decades, his only companions instruction holograms. When Saru leads an away team to visit this unexpected glimpse back to his people, he and the rest of the party are integrated into the program to look less threatening. And this means Saru does not look like Saru.

He looks a lot like, well, Doug Jones.

All that’s good. The subplot is the return of the Emerald Chain, who continue to be underwhelming foes even as they follow another franchise trope of the ship being quickly and easily taken over by the enemy. (Burnham and Book will surely rescue them next episode!)

The upside of that is seeing Tilly in command. It’s sort of like Sulu in the Kelvinverse Star Trek. It salvages the material. Hopefully to be improved upon next episode.

criteria analysis: 

>franchise - Classic franchise tropes revisited!

>series - A big moment for the season has arrived, a culmination point headed toward the climax.

>character - Somehow this is the first time Saru has gotten a spotlight without the problem being directly related to him. Just indirectly!

>essential - If it weren’t for that darn underdeveloped antagonist...

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr