Lethe

For those who qualm and complain about fan service, I do not think you'll enjoy "Lethe." As a casual fan of the series, I found there was plenty to enjoy even if the episode is somewhat relying on its fan service to tell the story. In the pilot, we learn that Michael Burnham is the adopted daughter of Sarek...who happens to be Spock's father. Yes, Spock is namedropped as we learn some details about why those two are not on the same page. Something to do with the Vulcan Expeditionary Force. The main focus of this episode is a rescue mission for Sarek, whose ship was attacked by a Vulcan terrorist group. It may be another episode that focuses on Michael's daddy issues, but an important one, nonetheless. Sarek is an important part of Michael's life as he is responsible for her upbringing. All the right emotional notes were hit. Jason Isaacs continues to show incredible acting prowess as Lorca, the captain who lives life on the edge. There are things here that make me question Lorca's mental aptitude...just as Admiral Cornwell is doing. Why is he making love with a pistol holstered to his body? There definitely needs to be some answers.

The Ambassador's ship is seriously damaged after an attack from a Vulcan "logic extremist," a fancy phrase for terrorist. His wounded katra reaches out to Michael who in turns convinces Lorca to make haste for a rescue mission. The other major storyline revolves around Lorca and how he does not go by the rules...even if he consistently delivers results. Everything that happens left the door open for the Klingons to capture Cornwell in a trap designed for Sarek. That was a really awesome way to end the episode.

Overall, there is much to like here. This is more of a traditional episode when compared to what came earlier. Old lore is at play here. Even if we do not meet Spock, his presence is heavily acknowledged. Call that fan service or whatever, but something has to connect to the older series to bring in new possible fans. I have seen some episodes here or there, but this season so far has done wonders of making me a fan of this world. I also really like Tilly. I seem to be the only one, but what can you do.

My Grade: A-

-Watching captain Lorca i started to think how much i like an officer like Riker who knows his crew well enough to put his life in their hands in a crisis situation,an officer who can be a good friend but also a good leader in the same time.The complexity of the characters reminds me about the ones from Deep Space Nine,but that series had a dark tone mixed with a dark humor which makes the show much pleasant to watch .Probably this series is one of the best i ever saw ,but ,because the Producers changed the Klingons this series is the worst Star Trek show i ever saw ,even Star Trek:Enterprise is better,because it's easy to re-create something than dealing with certain restrictions due to the parameters imposed by the story (the look and the behavior of the The Motion Picture's Klingons in this case).It's too bad the Producers are not aware about how disappointing it is for the fans too see that kind of changes,because many of us liked even since we were children to imitate the races from shows like Star Wars or Star Trek.For us changing the Klingons is like changing Chewie in to a horse .I still believe this series is a REMAKE of the original universe ,because the changes are becoming bigger.

This one was quite interesting from a character perspective with focus on Burnham, Sarek and Lorca.

The most compelling element of the plot was the development of Lorca. There wasn't a great deal confirmed but there were many hints that there are big secrets to be revealed, particularly during his interaction with another character.

Sarek and Burnham's relationship and katra connection was heavily in focus, with some psychological themes around parent-child relationships addressed. This for me was okay, but done in a fairly uninspired way with more heavy exposition. I don't have a problem with this revisionist approach to the Sarek/Spock family history but it needs to be for the sake of something special, which so far it isn't. The flashback sequence where Sarek fights the telepathic connection and to visualise it, they show a physical fight between the two characters that feels very forced. I might be wrong but I have a picture of the film crew in my head shooting the scene as nothing but a dialogue sequence before someone pipes up and says "you know what would be really cool, if they actually fight right here" and nobody had the courage to tell them it's actually a bit silly.

The Klingon scene near the end felt very Game Of Thrones and done in a way to maximise shock value. For me it didn't add enough to the story to justify losing the potential family audience, but I think that ship had sailed in the previous episodes.

On a positive note all the performances were great as always, along with the visuals and effects.

I thought this was well done. We get to look into the past and get a fix on Burnham's transition to Starfleet. We also see the nutty Captain getting found out. The Klingons are not to be trusted and a trap is set. We also find out who the brother of Burnham is.

Must we do this? Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have actor Mary Wiseman run around the ship's corridors (people are working here, don't they have a gym?) and then get a lesson in nutrition from MB was obviously asleep at the wheel. She's a big girl. Ok, not as big as she's going to get a couple of seasons down the line but this scene is deliberately provocative. It's as if the writers want her to be ridiculed. If its just done to prove a point then it's unworthy of all concerned.

The whole Michael Burnham-was-adopted-by-Vulcans thing never really made any sense to me. She has already been given superhuman powers of.........well, you name it, she's got it, so maybe it was intended somehow to excuse her perennial insolence. Again, the suspicion forms that we are being challenged to dislike her.

I flicked through the rest to remind myself that it was as bad as I'd remembered and checked in with the good folks at Memory Alpha so as to be sure I had not overlooked anything important. I hadn't.

One thing I would love to be able to expunge from my memory, however, was the World's Least Charismatic Love Scene. Jeremy Isaacs and Jayne Brook as Admiral Cornwell manage to hop into bed together while exhibiting less shared chemistry than two strangers discussing the latest football score. It was so bad it desrves some sort of award.