Instead they got this guy.



You have to admit he has a point though.

 

"Choose your Pain" was the first not terrible episode. The dialogue is still fairly awful. Everyone is still angry and angsting. Burnham continues to be the worst Starfleet officer of all time, disobeying orders from on high for no apparent reason.

BUT the pacing and setup was more in line with a traditional self-contained episode of Trek. Lorca gets into a bad situation. We meet some intriguing side chars who he has to work with in order to escape. Saru is confronted with conflict from Burnham, engendering some self-insight. Stametz get to have a redeeming character moment in which he is not a 100% angry dickbag.

Also Dwight makes everything better.

 

Last night's episode finally felt like it was achieving something. Various characters encountering problems and solving them.

That is, until I saw the Klingon fighters. What the fuck was that? I continue to be wrenched violently out of the show by the sheer stupidity of all things Discovery!Klingon.

 

Spoiler

Ok, so I thought Part 1 of that two-parter was god awful. Just nothing about it was interesting to me, the aliens were boring, Sirou going aggro was boring, and the aliens inviting the Klingons was wtf? Part 2 was actually pretty good, though. The whole trauma thing for the male lead was pretty interesting, if disturbing. Surprised to see it in this show, to be honest.

However, what has me really hype is that ending. If they are actually stranded in the middle of nowhere, and the show is now going to be about them exploring the unknown and trying to get home for a while, that'd be way cooler than this war plot with the instant mushroom jump drive they've had going on.

 

So the premiere of the second half of season 1 is out.

There was talk on reddit about this being a near reboot and that it saves the show.

Anyone watch it? Because right now I just so down on this show that I can't even be arsed to pirate it.

 

...reboot? Saves the show? It was shit. Dire. Awful. Puts even more prominence on Cadet Aspergers, who is tied for worst character in my opinion.

 

Pity. After reading that I got all excited that they might actually be mad enough to go with the fan theory that this grim-angst version of Star Trek is the mirror universe and they had now jumped into Star Trek proper.

Back to forgetting this exists I guess.

 

It's not a reboot at all. It's just the obligatory Terran Empire arc that every Trek has to do at some point. That said, I love all things Terran Empire, and this ep, despite being super grimdark, was more in line with the lulzy episodes of Trek past. First episode of Discovery that I've legitimately enjoyed.

 

The first episode of s2 is out. Thought it was quite a bit better than literally anything in season 1. That said, still not as entertaining as even the worst (cough best cough) episodes of Voyager. I won't go into why I think Discovery is mostly garbage, as I'll just be rehashing points I've made elsewhere.

On a related note, I do recommend the Discovery minisodes "Star Trek: Short Treks", each about 15 to 18 mins. They were all quite good. Basically the old Trek format in shortform: smart, irreverant peaks into the lives of the characters and universe. I particularly liked the future one.

 

S2E2.

Now THAT is what modern Star Trek should look like. Despite moving at a mile a minute, everything was on point here.

Spoiler

The overarcing plot for the season seams like it is going to be investigating these weird signals, figuring out what's up with Spock, and determining what the angel thing is. These plot points will lead them to encounter various weird phenomena, thus returning to a format resembling episodic Trek.

Pike is the character Burnham needed in order to work as an effective MC. He is the calm, collected career Starfleet officer who can believably deal with all of her brash, gung-ho nonsense and flagrant disregard of rank.

Season is definitely focusing less on Burnham and more on the ensemble. Everybody is getting fun lines and quips and having a moment or two to shine. Lots of POV swaps.

Plot is straight out of the old playbook. Following the signals takes Discovery to a distant planet housing a human settlement where no human settlement could feasibly be. They investigate. Typical shenanigans ensue. Nothing groundbreaking, not a lot of poignant commentary, but it was fun. They even managed to throw in some nice hopeful moments at the end.

They're finally on the right track. Now the writers just need to slow down, breathe, and really think about the commentary they're trying to convey with each episode.

 

No... don't tempt me...

You'll get my hopes up, and then they'll be taken away.

 

I'll let you know at the end of the season with an @ if the quality is maintained.

 

So, is this nearing finished now? How did you find the second season @KHAAAAAAAN!! ?

 

It was actually really great up until about episode 10, and then it largely fell apart in the last 4 episodes. The plot nosedived into sheer stupidity and the character development basically dried up and shifted back to serialized Burnham wank.

 

Annnnnnnnnd we're back for Season 3.

Season 2 was largely good, but with the final arc taking a giant shit on everything.

Now that we're in the future and beyond all known continuity, it seems like the writers are finally realizing that Trek works best when A) it is not being overtly preachy, B) it is optimistic about the future and the good in people, C) it is focusing on the ensemble and a contained story, not Burnham and melodrama.

Too bad it took 3 seasons to get here and most of the fandom doesn't give a shit about the show anymore.