I felt like this was a solid episode, and not just because it doesn't deal with any of the monumentally stupid stuff from the last episode.
For me, the highlight of this episode were the Vance/Osyraa scenes. We haven't seen Vance interact with much of anyone besides Saru and Burnham before, and I know some folks out there in Internetland had been suspecting him of putting on a front for Discovery and that he was secretly evil. Osyraa, similarly, has thus far been a one-dimensional bad guy. Both of them get fleshed out quite well here, though. Vance is definitely on the side of the angels. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he pulled a Janeway here (being in a tough spot but holding true to Federation principles). Osyraa very much sees herself as someone who has done what was necessary to keep galactic civilization going, including commerce and scientific advancement. By Vance's own admission, her proposal for joining the Emerald Chain with the Federation was pretty reasonable. It's only once Vance insists that Osyraa step down as leader of the Emerald Chain and stand trial for what she's done that talks break down.
I really liked the character of Aurellio. The moment that Osyraa started playing the music for him, I expected him to be one of those amoral but wicked cultured scientists, but... nope. He was a good guy who had just seen a very different side of Osyraa and genuinely wanted to replicate the spore drive to help the galaxy. Also, are Osyraa and Aurellio married? Aurellio is married to an Orion, and the two of them seem to get along really well, but it was never outright stated.
The Discovery crew was mostly in a generic "we have to retake the ship" plot. Not bad, but not anything spectacular. Stamets gets a good scene where he's pleading with Burnham to let him stay on the ship to help rescue Culber and Adira, but Burnham ejects him off the ship anyway to keep Osyraa from using the spore drive.
Osyraa kills Ryn. Boo, I liked him.
We see that Zora has progressed to the point of her taking over a few DOTS to help out the Disco crew.
So, looks like next week we head back over to the stupid Burn plot for the season finale. Joy.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Agreed on the Vance/Osyraa scenes. Interesting thing, I kept feeling Vance was hedging whenever the president was mentioned. We haven't actually seen a president yet, & there's been both outright & implied statements that the Federation & Starfleet are now the same thing, so....maybe Cance is de facto president, & he's hiding that not-very-public fact?
Aurellio was nice, & at first I was like "32nd century & we still got dudes in Pikechairs?", but then I saw that was Kenneth Mitchell (the Vaughn Armstrong of Discovery), who's been in one for like a year due to ALS, so they get a pass there.
What I liked about the Stamets stuff was that he verbalized what we've all felt, namely "why the fuck does this get to be the Michael Burnham show all the fucking time?" He just wants to save his gays one time, goddammit!
Fun note: Ryn was played by Mary Wiseman's husband.
Three cheers for the Robopuff Girls! Blossom, Bubbles, & Buttercup better get to stick around.
Also, they should've kept the original title of "The Good Of The People".
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
So they flee to the future because they can’t just delete the spore data, and yet a bunch of pirates manage it in five minutes? Or did Zora (for it is “she”) just hastily move herself into the Powerpuff Bots to hide, since the pirates learning they couldn’t delete this large chunk of data might alert them to what they actually have, something potentially more valuable than even the spore drive?
Posted by Zipacna (Member # 1881) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shik: Agreed on the Vance/Osyraa scenes. Interesting thing, I kept feeling Vance was hedging whenever the president was mentioned. We haven't actually seen a president yet, & there's been both outright & implied statements that the Federation & Starfleet are now the same thing, so....maybe Cance is de facto president, & he's hiding that not-very-public fact?
Personally while watching the episode, I was half wondering whether the holograhic "lie detector" was the president or at least an avatar thereof. It would be a somewhat ironic twist on season 2 if they defeated control only for the Federation president to be an artifical intelligence anyway.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lee: So they flee to the future because they can’t just delete the spore data, and yet a bunch of pirates manage it in five minutes? Or did Zora (for it is “she”) just hastily move herself into the Powerpuff Bots to hide, since the pirates learning they couldn’t delete this large chunk of data might alert them to what they actually have, something potentially more valuable than even the spore drive?
Most likely the latter. It's already been established that the data program can do whatever it wants.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
Yet another "Burnham knows best" episode.
Honestly, I'm only still watching because of the Star Trek name and I'm glad it's almost over. A whole season with so much potential wasted for a second rate mystery and a second rate villain.