The Galactic Barrier

That's what I hear in my head. Bones demanding that Cpt. James T. Kirk DO SOMETHING...anything...to turn things around. This is more about the season than this particular episode. I do enjoy the characters but they're not DOING anything. They're certainly not doing enough. This is DISCOVERY yet they aren't really doing that so much as they're discovering how much baggage they're all carrying around from the past to the future. If they want to "find themselves" or do "team building exercises," then they should go back to the Academy and join one of Tilly's training classes. Otherwise, Michael needs to man up, pull up her big girl panties and LEAD her crew. Mooning over a man is something you do in your quarters, not on the ship's bridge in front of your entire crew!

Adira is an angsty teenager on a ship full of adults, with a synth replica of their love interest. He likes me/He doesn't like me. *eyeroll* We get it. Bring on some other teens/young adults so their story isn't so annoyingly obnoxious to grown folks watching. Adira and Gray need to step up into their new respective roles or step off. It's tiresome. FYI, this is not about they/them, etc so don't come for over it. I don't give two hoots and a tinker's damn about who they love or who they are.

The whole damn ship's crew is in need of some major counseling sessions with Deanna Troi, even Culber needs this. Maybe especially Culber. There's no discipline on this ship because the Captain has none. She's as much of a loose cannon/wild card as Tarka. The bickering between the crew members over the best course of action and why it should be one way vs another exemplifies exactly why Star Fleet demands Duty First among their members. Tighten up this ship and it's crew.

Now get out there and DISCOVER something!

One of the key 'Canon', defining elements of the Star Trek universe is directly challenged here.,

The impassible 'Galactic Barrier'.,

Baring in mind how vast the existing galaxy these characters inhabit, and the subsequent timelines of each series; question arising being how come 'Star Fleet', (whose primary mission was exploratory survey missions), haven't already a whole database just specifically for this 'Barrier', and need to conduct an ad-hoc mission just to penetrate just by excuse of this impending disaster??

It's another double-down episode upon similar theme., sub-plot giving a far more obvious focus upon 'Imprisonment and Escape'.

Unfortunately the more unique sci-fi aspects have again been swamped by giving vent to character / crew doubts.

Fortunately the effects team(s) are the saviours of this episode making the visuals interesting., distracting most from the lack of conclusive progress to the plot. Trimming of some monologues could've improved overall balance.

Would someone please take action without having to explain why? Do we always need a backstory to every action that is taken? For the last couple seasons (at least) half of the episode is devoted to explaining how something in their past is making them behave in a certain way.

In DS9 Sisco loses his wife in the first episode, and we don't hear about it every week. I think the Voyager crew talked less about being on the other side of the galaxy less than this crew talks about their feelings. Bring back Philippa Georgiou. At least she didn't care what people thought.

More angst. More feelings. More introspection. More pulling up the dark side of our pasts. This has to be one of the dullest shows I have ever watched. For God's sake, can we get to the thing we've been waiting for--the DMA thing. We have schoolboy crushes. We have heavy discussions. To make matters worse, the Trill girl is back from summer camp and ready to be annoying. Of course, there is now an urgency just thrown in. The DMA is going to knock out the former Vulcan and Earth, just when the Discovery is heading toward a diplomatic mission. On the way they should pick up Dr. Phil, Joyce Brothers, and Ruth Westheimer to help with the negotiations.

I like the storyline. It's interesting. But the dialogue is aweful. Everyone has an emotional issue that needs to be talked our every damn minute of this shows. It's one big message on mental health. It's aweful. Please stop doing this. Get back to the storyline please.