posted
I somehow feel conflicted about this episode. Intellectually, I feel like it did a lot right. However, I can't shake the feeling that I just wasn't all that excited by it.
The basic plot is that the DMA has left behind a rift of some sort that Discovery goes to investigate.
We finally get an episode that focuses not only on Zora's evolution, but on Gray as well. Having developed emotions, Zora is having a hard time keeping herself focused on her duties. Gray, not having a ton to do since he's not a Starfleet officer, helps Zora get through it.
Once trapped in the rift, Book tries to jump the ship out, only to get zapped pretty good. He starts hallucinating his father, who drives him to seek vengeance against whoever created the DMA. Also, we get Book's original name: Tareckx. Which is also his father's name as well?
Also, by analyzing the energy that zapped Book, our heroes determine that whatever created the DMA is extra-galactic. Nacene? Kelvans? Old Ones? Those robot tentacles from Picard? Also, I think this is the first time the galactic barrier has gotten mentioned since TOS.
I think my somewhat muted response to this episode stems from the fact that I was convinced this was the setup for "Calypso". Everybody was going into stasis in the transporter buffer ("Relics" reference?) leaving Zora alone. I thought for sure Disco would exit the rift, only to find itself back in its original time and leaving Zora to get back to the 32nd Century the long way 'round. The severe damage to the outer hull could have possibly explained why the ship looked like it did in "Calypso". But... nope.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
This was definitely an exposition episode.
So now we see what the signal thing in the credits is. Also, by 3190, you'd think self-aware computers would be the rule & not the exception, but I guess the KurtzTrek team is staunchly anti-AI. How short-sighted.
We been knew Book's OG name; Kyheem called him by it last season.
I, too, was thinking this was gonna tie into "Calypso", & wish it had. Alas. The pattern buffer thing makes me think that rather than be original, the writers are just scouring the lore for remote nod-&-wink references. That's what most of the modern novel writers do, & that's why I don't read them. Reference can be nice sometimes, but it's all the fuckin' time with these guys.
The DMA creators better not be more of the Picard AI bullshit. It also better not be a resurrected Gary Mitchell/Elizabeth Dehner, either, or tied to the Doomsday Machine. ....Maybe it's actually immortal media reps from Earth's past, & it's actually the DMCA. The whole season is an ironic warning about IP piracy.
Bryce is BACK, baby! Dr. Pollard, too. At first, when they had her check out the breach, I thought she was gonna get Joe Carey-ed.
Linus on a hot rock is an amazing image.
Re: slo-mo EV suit Burnham: {Zapp Brannigan} "The long, dramatic corridor." {/Zapp Brannigan}
Re: the exit solution: "Give me a ping, Vasily. One ping only, please."
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
… Yeah, it’s pretty-much gonna be the Andromedans, isn’t it?
It’s the scientific method made manifest: each week, another piece of the puzzle falls into place. It may not always make for perfectly well-rounded episodes every time, but at the same time almost every instalment this season has felt more whole than many episodes from Trek prehistory, which would often feel perfunctory, like they were ticking things off on a checklist. There’s not always an A plot and a B plot here - it’s why last week’s felt inferior to much of this season’s other outings, because that one did.
Shik’s reference to a Tumblr post (link pls?) in last week’s discussion hit a nerve with me - the dealing with trauma thing, I think it’s spot on. This week was more of the same, and it’s making this season quite unique.
posted
Could be the Kelvans. Might also be the people who built the Doomsday Machine. Spock mentioned it’s trajectory placed its origins from outside the galaxy as well. Similar M.O. as the DM - moving around on its own, changing direction based on nearby celestial objects that it devours. I’m thinking this is the DM Mk II.
Registered: Sep 2013
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
IT BETTER FUCKING WELL NOT BE.
quote:Originally posted by Lee: Shik’s reference to a Tumblr post (link pls?) in last week’s discussion hit a nerve with me - the dealing with trauma thing, I think it’s spot on. This week was more of the same, and it’s making this season quite unique.
I have been scouring Tumblr & cannot find it. That the site's search capability is fueled by an uncontrolled improbability generator adds to the chaos. I'm thinking now that I might've seen a screenshot of the post on Instagram. Regardless, I feel dumb for not archiving it somehow.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Ah well. I’ll just steal what you said and pass it off as my own.
Having looked up the Kelvans - couldn’t even remember their name! - I don’t think it’d be them: they were fleeing catastrophic changes to their own galaxy, it’d make no sense to use a weapon that trashes this one. The MO of the DMA is the same as the DM… eh? Hmm…
posted
As long as Book’s eyes didn’t turn silver, it turned out all right.
Very interesting that they bring up the galactic barrier. Krenim is right, it hasn’t been mentioned since TOS.
Possibly coincidental, but the MA article’s brief summary of the Enterprise being trapped in the void in “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” reads very closely to a summary of this episode.
I also made the connection to “Calypso”. And though it didn’t happen this episode, I can still see it coming. Saru made that too-casual mention of how easy repairs were with programmable matter; obviously whenever it happens they’ll use that justification for the inevItable reverse-makeover.
My speculation: they either want to stop the DMA from entering the galaxy or need observational data from before they spotted it. So they send Zora and Discovery to hold position and observe or whatever. Hence the strict orders in the Short Trek.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
The thing with the pattern buffer could be seeding for the future. For all we know when "Calypso" happens the crew are still aboard but stored for some reason.
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