...But to Connect

The title of this review pretty much sums it up. And I stupidly paid £20 to view the entire series. On top of my regular streaming fee. There are so many better sci fi series out there now. I'm a huge fan of Discovery but no more. I'm off to watch re-runs of the way more superior Battlestar.

Adama and the XO would be horrified.

Two characters that that Discovery needs to get rid of are Aidra and Gray Tal. They are nothing but filler for the show. The writers could easily fill out their worthless five / ten minutes of screen time with something else, or shorten the episode.

They don't add anything to the franchise. Having them walk into the conference room when Suru et al are in discussion is case in point. Junior officers and a civilian can do that? I don't think so. It seems the writers are obligated to have them integrated to the story-line, every episode, whether it is warranted or not.

The actor who portrays Aidra can't act. Why do they feel to embellish every line that are given to read?

I hope that Adira follows Gray out of the show.

I found the script of this episode quite honest, and whenever there is honesty something interestnig follows. Discovery hasn't fullfilled our hopes for a new series, but this episode is not to blame. Either what they are trying to say is too complex, or the pace they are using comes too short. I suspect it is the emphasis on emotions that consumes most of the 45 minutes, it can't be done, which leaves the impression that not much has happened. Overall I would put it above Voyager and Picard, certainly above DS9, while TOS and NG get a free pass because of the time they were made and the freedom of insipiration that discontinued episodes allowed them. I would not cancel this series, and hope they will go on, but maybe get a bit better.

It is increasingly feeling like characters' identities are driving the story, and the Star Trek universe is just a backdrop. I'm getting a bit bored. I want Star Trek. I'm getting a teen drama. Nothing against teen dramas, some are fantastic, but if I buy a tin of beans I expect beans. I'm getting increasingly irritated by the characters Adira and Gray, for example. Not because of who they are and what they do, but because of their clumsy inclusion in the story line. The Orville handles these issues much better.

After reading a lot of the early reviews for this one, I thought it would be another disaster like "all is possible", but instead this is easily a stands out episode of the entire series. Taking cues from TNG's "measure of a man" (but in no way living up to it), they finally managed to use the touchy freely nature of the show tot heir advantage.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with having emotions and perspectives in a show. Discovery simply tends to handle them in an enormously ham-fisted way, constantly Talking about how characters feel instead of Showing. One of the principle tenants of filmmaking and scriptwriting is to show and not tell. One which they unfortunately have yet to learn on this show.

But to conclude, here we have an episode of diplomacy in one storyline, and a moral dilemma in another storyline (though arguably both are), and not a single thing was exploded! Congratulations for making an episode of Star Trek, Discovery team! Now keep doing this!

(Feel free to explode things, but that's never supposed to be the principle goal of most Star Trek episodes. The goal should be to Resolve a problem, not to Explode a problem).

Now if we can just scale back on the constant "mystery box" plot devices, we'll be good to go! (look it up if you don't know what that is...but be aware, once you're conscious of it, it's hard to watch Discovery anymore due to their rampant overuse of it).