Species Ten-C

Species Ten-C has a classic sci-fi premise borrowed from various great movies like Arrival, Close Encounters, and Trek episodes like Darmok. The filmmakers here do it in their own distinctive Discovery way with emphasis on emotions and find the time for the obligatory (thankfully minimum) expressions of feeling.

For me it works pretty well thanks to solid A-B-C plots that link together well. In typical Trek style characters use their brains to resolve problems which is a big positive, plus several characters get to contribute. Lots of the imagery involves people standing about discussing technobabble which is also very Trek, but not exactly cinematic.

It finally portrays what the season 3 narrative has been crawling towards. I cannot say it has been worth the wait, but it is the most interesting and eventful episode since But To Connect. It ends in a suspenseful way that makes me want to know if/how it will resolve.

So, they have 30 mins to achieve impossible task, to understand how to communicate with far advanced species and to make them not kill, what, around 100 billion people on two planets?! In those moments captain and her first officer go for a private pep talk and TO SCREAM AT EACH ANOTHER???? Are writers of this show normal people I honestly ask? In what kind of echo chamber you have to live your whole life to think thats how would captain react in that situation, or any captain in any situation. My God this show is a mockery.

Less New Age psychobabble. Character revealed more through action, less through talk. Intriguing problem solving in the true Star Trek mold. I doubled my rating...but will it last?

I try honk comparing this to Arrival is a bit of a stretch...although the 'problem' of 1st contact is vaguely similar, the basic themes of leadership and the 'heroics' are uniquely Star Trek.

Dear writers of Discovery: the small distracting scenes where people have relatively in-depth conversations about their personal relationships or moods really doesn't happen when you are experiencing trauma (for instance, your home facing potential destruction) and you are under the gun to save people. Maybe talk to combat veterans? Wild fire or hurricane survivors?

Which is to say, 10-C story was fully dramatic enough, and this episode would have been as compelling as it deserved to be if you had focused on it.

I struggled how to rate this one...as usual, the episode itself was very good, but the pacing all wrong. What happened this week should have happened over 2 episodes earlier in the season. Disco has this pattern going, a great season premiere, then things slow down with fluff for most of the season, then the last couple episodes are crammed in.

I think that disco is a very good series, that is like a puzzle being put together by a child. The idea of the communication issues is great (Darmok anyone?) but I fear that once again, 10C will be rushed into the last episode, and a 8 episode arc gets crammed in.

The pieces to a very good show are all here, there is just a problem with how to communicate (heh...heh) them properly.