Starfleet is fast-tracking the mission to make first contact with Species 10-C.
Notably, Kovich is not going along. Everyone else wonders what could be more important than the first contact mission, but Kovich evades answering. Bryce is also not going, as he is working with Kovich on his mystery project.
Who is going is Rillak. Apparently she was the Federation's top diplomat for quite some time.
The DMA 2.0 is far more efficient than the first, and will be moving on from its current location far faster than the original would have.
Adira's back! They've been gone a while. And Stamets is in full Papa Bear mode.
We actually get to see the Galactic Barrier again. The SFX look great, although it looks a little different than it did in TOS.
Poor Saru. The guy asks T'Rina out, only for her to get called away. He later is flummoxed to find that she wound up being the Vulcan delegate due to the fast-tracking.
Of course the bridge crew all plan to visit Earth locations after this is all over and of course the DMA 2.0 changes course towards Earth.
The ship gets through the Barrier and sets a course towards a planet near 10-C's hyperfield.
While all this is going on, Book and Tarka need some programmable anti-matter to protect Book's ship from the Barrier. Yeah, even though Book is not happy with Tarka, he's still helping him. We get flashbacks to Tarka's time as a slave to the Emerald Chain. We find out that Tarka's on the up-and-up about wanting to find his friend, and even though he's no less a jerk in the present, this does make him a bit more sympathetic. (This being Disco, though, I expect that this means he'll die next episode. )
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I have this feeling that Tilly is somehow involved with Kovich's project, too. Probably some weird shit like Human Instrumentality from Evangelion.
Translator prop parade! Both of Kovich's jokes went over well with me. Good to know "Gilligan's Island" is still part of the human lexicon 1200 years on.
"Earth's moon". BITCH, JUST CALL IT LUNA. THAT'S ITS NAME.
Of course Tarka's on a redemption arc. He'll probably end up filling the Sacrificial Saviour trope. ...Actually, I bet 10-C has something to do with Kayalise. I bet the hyperfield is Kayalise, or a portal to it, or something. I bet Oros is there & that the DMA was designed by him. I bet Tarka's gonna hit the trope by having to sacrifice the dream & his friend to save the galaxy. SARU. GET THAT VUSSY, BABY.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I liked Kovich’s jokes too. (And the new scientist’s reaction to them.) Too bad the whole “there’s stuff I need to do that I don’t want to tell you about” bit just *screams* Section 31 (again). That great conversation he had with Tilly a while back about why he was so suspicious of Discovery made him seem more like a historical and psychological expert than some sort of shadow-government figure. But now he’s back to those old excuses again.
As soon as they said the DMA-2 was going to jump sooner than the first would’ve, I just knew it was going to jump near Earth next. Predictability is not always a virtue, Disco.
That being said, I really appreciated this episode. Lots of good character moments, the kind of quiet moments that aren’t really tied to the season arc but still explore the characters in some way. Saru, Stamets, even Burnham and Rillak’s cooperation, were interesting and relatable.
And of course Tarka’s backstory, which was long overdue. Once again, I’m surprised that he actually *doesnt* have a hidden agenda. I was so suspicious when he claimed to have perfect knowledge of the DMA controller and seemed to have all the answers, but it turns out that yes, he really is that smart. He’s just an asshole, albeit a guilt-tormented one. It grounds his story and makes the whole thing slightly more sympathetic.
I just hope that the payoff with Species 10-C (I really hate that name, it sounds like a Borg designation) is worth it. The more they build up the mystery and the lack of context, they’d better be more than humanoids in latex.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
The return of Picard next week seems to be generating much more excitement. And it’ll make a bigger splash by virtue of being on Prime internationally instead of having to have non-Yanks either watch on PlutoTV or get it off Pirate Bay. This despite the first season being awful. But some actual proper starships this time rather than the cut’n’paste fleet - Steamrunners, Novas, and a new Stargazer, still with four nacelles (hoping it’ll turn out to be a deep space explorer like I hypothesised in another thread the Constellations and Cheyennes were).
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