The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry

I fairly enjoyed this one for the intrigue around the captive life form aboard the Discovery, the Klingon scenes and some of the character moments for Burnham.

The plot generates most of its interest through Burnham's interaction with the creature and the treatment it receives aboard the Discovery, which isn't good. This situation is compelling because it feels totally alien to Star Trek. How it plays out in the overarching series narrative will be key to whether it will be fondly remembered as something that fits into the Trek vision of the future, but for me currently it is a bit early to tell.

I enjoyed the Klingon scenes and have somewhat got over the shock of how different they look as the scenes with the house politics are getting quite compelling.

Burnham as a main character is fairly understated, but you can see quite a bit of feeling in her eyes and facial expressions. This works well for the character as a human raised by Vulcans.

I struggled with some of the dialogue, particularly some of the humour which fell a bit flat for me and one scene towards the end which is a fairly emotional moment done in a quite cheesy way. There was also one sequence where someone does something so stupid it isn't even remotely plausible. You kind of get the impression it was contrived just for the shock value of what happens to the character.

All performances were to a high standard and the visuals/effects were excellent as always.

I am willing to view the whole series before passing too much negative judgement on how this fits into the franchise. Yes, it continues to be way out of sync with established canon but if at the end of it all we have a story that was enjoyable and doesn't completely contradict of Roddenberry's vision, I'll have no real problems with it.

For any hardcore Trek canon purists watching I see why it is so universally despised by you because it just totally disregards what came before it. As annoying as it might feel, you need to just live with it or stop watching, because it's only likely to cause you more frustration the more it goes on.

I am a huge fan of Jason Isaacs and of his character. It was a saving factor IMO for this show ( in my memory from my first watching). Now this is more like Star Trek. While I still am not a huge fan of the lead the show in general has improved over these first 4 episodes.

I have rather mixed feelings about the fourth episode, "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry." There is plenty of good stuff, but there is also some stuff that makes you scratch your head. Firstly, RIP Commander Landry, we hardly knew ye. I was disappointed she was killed off in such an uninspired way. She was one of the few strong female characters yet was ended by a creature known as the tardigrade, which will be pivotal for the Discovery's spore drive. Also, the Klingon scenes? Ugh. I still have mixed feelings about how they look. Voq and his second-in-command, L'Rell seem like they could have good storylines, but the writers will have to find a way to make them interesting. There are some great characterization scenes. Michael is still trying to settle in her new role as Saru and his ganglia, which senses death still mistrusts her. I am interested in Dr. Hugh Culber (played by Wilson Cruz). He seems to have some sort of relationship with Stamets. Otherwise, the episode is just Michael Burnham trying to get comfortable in her new position.

At the end of the last episode, the giant beast was transported in secrecy to Discovery. There is lots of time spent here around "Ripper" or the tardigrade which ultimately is responsible for the death of Lorca's Chief Security Officer. The beast may be the key for getting the spore drive up and running. Michael realizes that the creature is not a creature of destruction as she befriends it. Lorca pressures Stamets to get the spore drive running so he can use it to save a mining community. Meanwhile, regarding the Klingons, Voq is discarded from his ship and is sent to U. S. S Shenzhou where he is saved by L'Rell.

There is some decent stuff here, enough to give it a pass. I also consider the episode to be the first stumbling block of this new season. Still, I am very intrigued by the dynamic of this new crew. Everyone is so appealing. I do wonder what Lorca's purpose is. He is a man driven by a results-first approach but spent most of the episode squabbling over the spore drive. And the less Klingon scenes there are, the better. At least until they can refine their approach.

My Grade: B-

I liked this episode just as the previous one. Nice acting, the IHMO solid production, the incredible CGI, the weird Klingons that actually speak Klingon, the nice idea of the organic spores. Sci-Fi with all the wonderful nonsense. I hope that all the negativity around STD does not harm the continuity of the series. I am not going to see this episode five times to give a line by line of my liking or not liking. I plop down in my easy chair and turn on Channel 2, I mean Netflix and enjoy the show. Better than all this zombie stuff around. If you do not like STD then stay away from it, no problem. I just hope that Silvia Tilly is going to be a bit less silly..

You people make me feel ashamed, quickly dismissing this show because of the silliest of reasons. Give this show a chance. Remember how everyone wanted Enterprise to be cancelled... well by the time it was being cancelled WE ALL BEGGED FOR IT TO CONTINUE! Remember TNG's beginning and how average it was? Can you imagine if they pulled the plug before season 3???

The silliness in "This isn't Gene Roddenberry vision" is just plain stupid. But you're right, he definitely wouldn't like this show, but you know what else he didn't like? The wrath of khan, probably wouldn't of liked Deep Space Nine.

I respect if you legitimately don't like the show, if it's not your cup of earl grey. But the amount of 1 star reviews for silly bullshit just sickens me.

Anyway I thought this episode, just like episode 3 is feeling more and more trek-like. The crew interactions are warming up, and Michael's getting better. I can't wait to see whats next.