Star Trek: Discovery 5x2 "Under the Twin Moons" Review

rating: **** (Classic)

summary: The crew begins its search for the clues that will help it locate the expected treasure.

review: The second episode of the fifth season lands better, for me, than the premiere, having more focus and more to say about the new circumstances and even new characters like Rayner.

Online, Discovery has become known as the worst of the new Star Treks, too polarizing or perhaps merely too ambitious to contend with the much more obvious crowd-pleasers that followed (Picard, Strange New Worlds, even Lower Decks).  As I look back at its legacy, though, I see a rich tapestry that's ably demonstrated all over again in "Under the Twin Moons."

What I've long loved best about Discovery is its ability to depict the classic "smartest in the room" mentality of Starfleet, spread generously around the whole room (last season maybe got a little carried away with this), which as Burnham and Saru are trying to survive another of those death squad security systems and then figuring out the clue behind it, is once again in full glory.

But the best part of the episode is how it revisits the complicated history Burnham and Saru share (just these two alone have reached what Gene used to call "beloved character status," at least as far as I'm concerned), and how Rayner gets to reflect it.  Rayner is interesting, a welcome new wrinkle in the far future the crew has inhabited now for three seasons, an example of the working reality Starfleet was in before the revival, and early on I even began to wonder if he'd not actually a double agent, actually working with the pair of villains we'll be following this season (which if he is would itself be another fascinating callback, this time to Lorca), but the end of the episode turns it around completely by having Burnham offer him second-in-command  Burnham's reputation at the start of the series still colors how many fans view her, which is unfortunate, so it's nice that the series itself continues to dwell on it.  If Voyager seemed (again, mostly in the unforgiving eyes of disgruntled fans) to shy away from its complicated origins, then it's nice for Discovery to have never lost sight of its overall arc.

I loved how last season the show finally moved past the straight hero complex and refocused on the science, and that this season follows up on that, while also tying in with the Next Generation episode "The Chase."  It's rare, even in a franchise that has long since moved on from its episodic storytelling origins, to revisit concepts from that period, but Discovery has long since demonstrated its ambitious nature.  This will be a heck of a way to go, and "Twins Moons" is a fine way to prove that.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The whole season links in with existing Star Trek lore!
• series - An episode that deepens long-term storytelling, from the start and as recently as the last two seasons.
• character - New character Rayner becomes integral to the season, and arguably, the series.
• essential - Another fine selling point for the series as a whole.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

David Cronenberg (Kovich)

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 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 4x5 "The Examples" Review

 rating: ****

the story: The crew has to evacuate a planet.

review: There's a point in "The Examples" where a project the smart people are working on is simply shut down.  This might seem a fairly disappointing moment, even considering a brief follow-up suggests one of the characters still thinks they know what they needed to know about it, and yet it helps illustrate the bold ways in which the episode strikes all the right notes without worrying too much about them, which can sometimes be a problem for a series that is sometimes brilliant and sometimes, even in seasons that are half the length of what a traditional season used to be, maddeningly vague.

The smart people include Stamets, his old rival Reno, and a visiting character (hopefully to be seen again!) who also helps extend the Emerald Chain fallout from last season, a brilliant scientist very much in the vein of Stamets and Reno, a character type the series does so well, difficult and yet rewarding to watch.  It's really, really wonderful to see Stamets in action again, which as I've pointed out really hasn't been the case since the first season, and even better to see Reno again (she debuted in the second season, fully formed), and if the guy does show up again it'll even be worth recording the other guy's name, too.  

They've assembled to try and figure out the secrets of the rogue anomaly, which this episode is now considered an artificial phenomenon, so very much in the character of V'Ger or the doomsday machine from "The Doomsday Machine" or even the Sphere-Builders from Enterprise (fans got all worked up online since the aliens in "Examples" were introduced in Enterprise; visual reference is also made to Denobulans, of which that show's Doctor Phlox was one).  

One of the things I love about the modern era of the franchise is how much easier it is to just reference known information rather than treat it as a new discovery every time it comes up.  (I'm still miffed, quite outsize to general fan opinion, that Starfleet wouldn't have known exactly what happened to Khan.)

Anyway, the episode also addresses one particular elephant in the room: the death and resurrection of Culber, and what that does to his continuing existence, including the additional psychiatric duties he's lately taken on.  No character has more surprised me in the series than Culber, since the second season, since he came back from the dead.  In the third season he became more interesting, and this season has obviously understood exactly what he's become, which is arguably more interesting than Stamets, which is why it's all the better that the season has also made such a renewed effort with him.

And the title characters, another prison drama in the franchise (Voyager was particularly keen on this, which makes it equally relevant to point out that, yes, there's a Starship Janeway in the episode, too, and one of the rare but always welcome Native American actors to show up in Star Trek, not even playing a role that has Native American connotations).  I love how this plays out, too.  The episode sort of teases it'll go one way, and then doesn't really dwell on any of the expectations, instead waiting until the end to hit unexpectedly poignant notes.

All this and Saru gets one outstanding moment, too.  Saru has really become a favorite of mine, too.  I find myself talking in his cadences at times.  Combine all this and this is why I love this episode, and how this season is developing, arguably the most smoothly of any arc in the series to date.  

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The callbacks serve to deepen connections the season has dedicated so much of its time already to help make apparent for skeptical fans.
• series - The season arc once again moves along in organic fashion.
• character - There's a lot to choose from.  Let's settle for Stamets and Culber.
• essential - A textbook example of a part of a serialized story that stands out on its own.

notable guest-stars:

Oden Fehr (Vance)

Tig Notaro (Reno)

David Cronenberg

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 3x13 “That Hope Is You, Part 2” Review

rating: ****

the story: The season finale, in which the Burn is resolved.

review: There’s a ton happening here, mostly resolving the Emerald Chain’s takeover of the ship but also Saru’s arc with the Kelpian responsible for the Burn.

Reclaiming the ship involves some truly cinematic action revolving around the turbolifts (staged like the action in Nemesis), which gives the episode a bigger feel than either of the previous finales in the series. It’s the best action of the series, period.

Some of the storytelling (as has been true throughout the series) is transparently convenient, hitting beats just to set things up, like using Adira to assist Saru mostly so Gray can be seen again (both figuratively and literally). I’m not overly complaining, I like the results, but clearly it was done without being overly concerned if the mechanics made much sense. The same with Saru, but it’s nice, what results, anyway.

It’s better when Book turns out to be capable of using the spore drive. It was dramatic, Burnham ejecting Stamets. Curiously, there was so much that needed to be done, and some of it gets very little time, mostly because so much suspense was deemed necessary, so that the backend of the episode feels rushed, even though we get a great moment or two of it. We even get a last minute glimpse of Reno, who was otherwise absent the last few episodes, in fact more or less replaced by Adira, mostly to get her to the point she and Gray need (you see what I mean) to happen.

But these are quibbles. The end result concludes a season that has better executed its arc than the previous two seasons, all its parts flowing together nicely. For some of my previous reservations on how rapidly the season progressed to rediscovering the Federation, it worked out wonderfully, and even the broad strokes of the Emerald Chain ended up strong enough to handle this standoff. 

And the ending...! Burnham is finally captain! Some fans have drawn parallels between this and Sisko getting that last pip in the finale of his third season. I can dig it. I love that Vance finally upholds the Kirk tradition of acknowledging the unorthodox is sometimes necessary (Burnham emphasizes the comparison by refusing to believe in a no-win scenario), that this is what Burnham has been doing since the beginning of the series. In a lot of ways, this is kind of the completion of the initial thesis of the series. I don’t know how many more episodes or seasons we get out of Discovery, but I think it has settled its legacy at this point.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - We haven’t had a movie since 2016. In a lot of ways this episode is as close as we’ve gotten since then.

>series - It’s a great season finale and a statement that resonates back to the beginning.

>character - Michael Burnham is finally recognized as the hero she is. And promoted to captain!

>essential - Sure it is! A worthy summation of the season at the very least, and a great season at that.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)

David Cronenberg

Kenneth Mitchell

Tig Notaro

Star Trek: Discovery 3x9 “Terra Firma, Part 1”

rating: ****

the story: Turns out Georgiou needs to return to the Mirror Universe.

review: Basically another of those stories the series essentially had to do, like finally concluding the mycelial network business (still had to look that up in order to spell it correctly) last season, which is to say, finally determining if Mirror Georgiou (y’know, the one we ended up spending the most time with) was actually worth spending all that time with.

To find out, she has to go back home, and be forced to decide whether she learned anything spending all that time in the prime universe or faced with a second chance if she would make different decisions.

And so basically “Terra Firma, Part 1” (and its concluding chapter) brings the Mirror Universe full circle, forcing someone from that side to decide to become a better person. Deep Space Nine, in its many visits, made strides in that direction, though it was mainly concerned with the long road of humans reclaiming a sense of self-determination. Enterprise, in its two trips, reveled in the atmosphere. Discovery was initially content to do much the same.

And “Terra Firma, Part 1” is much the same, though it hints at what follows. Instead it’s the setup, and as such allows us to see the Nirror Universe, once more, in its classic context, to see things like Captain Killy being Captain Killy (perhaps all the more interesting since Tilly meanwhile is finding her own command path). 

We also meet an intriguing figure who gets Georgiou there in the first place, memorable in this appearance alone, before we learn anything else (but that’s a good development from the second part, too).

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Any return to the Mirror Universe ought to at least provoke some interest, let alone one with some ambition.

>series - A story thread from the first season reaching its culmination...!

>character - At last Georgiou fully in the spotlight!

>essential - While the second part has big things to accomplish, and nails them, this one feels bigger, and is.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh

Paul Guilfoyle

Rekha Sharma

Odes Fehr 

David Cronenberg 

Star Trek: Discovery 3x5 “Die Trying” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The crew finds it difficult to reintegrate into the Starfleet it finds in the far future.

review: Five episodes into the season, and the arc of the crew finding themselves in a strange far future with a fractured Federation has steadily, and somewhat rapidly, advanced, with the help of one key plot device that has suddenly been turned on its head.

This is the kind of episode you can show the uninitiated that will help catch them up to speed. Key developments that aren’t necessarily essential to the episode, or season, itself, but rather the history of the series, are referenced, and the nature of the spore drive that has been a signature element is turned into an irresistible asset. In the far future the traditional warp engine fans have always known has been compromised. The unique spore drive the crew possesses, once thought if not irreconcilable then at least problematic, is suddenly the only thing the crew has that the Starfleet of this era can appreciate.

Of course, they have to fight tooth and nail to prove it, but it really boils down to a Star Trek staple: an admiral who doesn’t see eye-to-eye with a Starfleet crew. Fortunately, for a change there’s a happy ending to that relationship.

So we’re left with a few other things to dwell on. The first one is that, despite complications it’s nice to see everyone happy when they reach Starfleet headquarters. There’re Easter eggs in the ships (Voyager-J, one named Nog). Another callback is the conclusion of the Temporal Cold War that has left Starfleet paranoid about time travelers. Georgiou has an interesting conversation concerning the fate of the Mirror Universe. Nahn, part of the show’s considerable supporting ensemble, reaching an unexpected and emotional turning point.

And the series is perhaps settling into its oldest and best relationship: Burnham and Saru. Fans love to talk about Burnham’s earliest actions, which are never far from Saru’s thoughts, as well. Yet the two possess a complicated, trusting friendship, a partnership that increasingly feels level, with Saru unafraid to voice, in respectful tones, his hope that Burnham has grown since those early days.

All this and the first time the season tackles a typical franchise episodic element that feels natural, with a ship that has experienced a crisis and our crew needing to help set things right. Very familiar but executed well, and integrated into the rest of the story flawlessly.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A thrilling chance to see what Starfleet in this time period looks like, with a surprising number of familiar touches.

>series - A nice moment for new and existing fans to catch up with what’s been happening and what sets Discovery apart.

>character - I would’ve wanted a little more individual work, or even sharper ensemble work, to put in a vote for this category. A lot of nice little moments, though.

>essential - There’s a soft emphasis on disfunction in the crew, which actually seems to help, and that’s a nice way to emphasize what sets this series apart, that it sees hope as being possible in such a context, even though Gene Roddenberry famously wanted everyone to just get along.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Georgiou)

Tig Notaro (Reno)

David Cronenberg

Oded Fehr (Vance)