Episode six. Spoilers after the jump.
Overall this was a bit of a bland episode. I never got very engaged in the drama around Burnham and Sarek – we already know that Sarek survives, and given the framing the ‘it was Sarek’s fault Burnham didn’t get into the thing she wanted to get in to’ was a pretty predictable outcome. The payoff was a very tiny advance in a relationship that we have very little stake in, plus getting another chess piece into position for the overall story (in the hostage admiral).
Again, there are some nice touches in the episode. The Tilly/Burnham relationship is growing nicely. I like that Tilly is brave enough to call Burnham a mentor. And it’s nice to see that Lorca is not approved of by the brass. He’s the most ‘non-Trek’ character in a lot of ways. ’The ends justify the means’ is clearly his approach to life. I hope, for the sake of the general ethos of Trek, that he gets some level of comeuppance for what he’s done. Personally I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind that he knew the outcome from sending the admiral on that mission.
But unlike last time there were a few smaller bits that rubbed the wrong way as well. Vulcan extremist is a tricky concept. It builds on what was seen in Enterprise, but undermines the resolution of that story. It’s not very well explained here – I would have thought the kind of racial purity/supremacy argument that seems to be in play would not long survive ‘logic’. And Stamets is overdoing the ‘weird’ thing.
Quick hits:
– The ‘DISCO’ exercise gear was pretty funny. I’d buy some if I were ever planning on exercising.
– I did not like them bringing holodeck technology into the TOS era – it’s established in TNG as being fairly new, and doesn’t fit with TOS at all. I’m ignoring the non-canon appearance of the Rec Room in TAS.
– Surely a Vulcan at least would know that ‘momentarily’ means ‘for a moment’, not ‘in a moment’.
– Burnham is wearing an IDIC medallion in the flashback, nice touch.
– I was expecting Lorca to want to try and exploit the Katra link thing as a weapon. Oh well, maybe next time.
– The way the computer advertises the health benefits of the food it serves would drive me insane.
745 down.