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4thofelevenIn which Section 31 was dead the whole time!
Ariam's story feels like a bit of a throw-back to TNG-era storytelling; we've seen it plenty of times in the past, the redshirt who gets a bit of background just to add a little pathos when they don't make it to the end of the episode. It's not something modern shows do as often; most modern shows would have spread out her scenes across multiple episodes, so it's not as obvious the character exists only to die. Still, it worked for me – I was invested in a character who's been basically set dressing for the past two years, but I can understand if other people saw it as a bit too manipulative to suddenly dump all her background on us just as she's written out.
(Though, of course, her memories are still uploaded to Discovery, so there is the potential for a resurrection. She could join the ever-growing list of Discovery crew who aren't quite sure if they're the same person they used to be!)
I do wonder, if this sort of cybernetic reconstruction is available in the Federation, why Pike ends up stuck with just a blinking light. But then, Pike's wheelchair was always absurdly primitive, even in the original series. I do like that cybernetics has been established now as common-place and unremarkable in the Federation.
Section 31, meanwhile, seems to have become a victim of its own paranoia. At least, I assume that's why Control's gone full Skynet – that's what happens when you build an AI that's sole directive is to identify threats and find ways to eliminate them. We also may be seeing a pre-destination paradox of sorts; Discovery and the Red Angel try to stop Control from wiping out all sapient life, so it sees them and the Federation as a threat to its existence, so it tries to wipe out all sapient life, so the Red Angel goes back to warn Discovery...
Incidentally, it's mentioned that the Section admirals have been dead for two weeks, so we can assume their conversation with Leland and Georgiou last week was faked by Control, and we never actually saw the real Patar.
Spock continues to be a real highlight of the show, and I'm surprised by how well he's being integrated into everything. His confrontation with Michael underlined all the unresolved issues between the siblings – and, I imagine, served as a proxy for some of his anger towards the rest of his family as well. It's interesting how Michael retreats even further away from her emotions when challenged; if anything, Spock seems far more willing to acknowledge his own feelings than she is. I'm hoping to see some consequences from this confrontation; it's interesting to see the writers put in Spock's mouth many of the criticisms of Michael as a character; that she's a bit bland, that she's too often the centre of attention. I also want to see some fallout from Ariam's death and its effect on Michael – it's basically her own personal Kobayashi Maru, and has echoes of her human parent's death.
Meanwhile, we get a nice scene between Spock and Stamets, that hopefully will help Stamets work out how to best help Hugh work through his issues. I am wondering, though, is there some reason the character of Hugh is getting so little screentime? Is the actor working on another project or something? His absence is increasingly awkward.
Oh, and I was very glad that Nhan made it to the end of the episode. I do have to wonder, though, why she'd need her breathing device while wearing a spacesuit – surely it could be equipped with her native atmosphere? Ah, the mysteries of Starfleet technology...
Ariam's story feels like a bit of a throw-back to TNG-era storytelling; we've seen it plenty of times in the past, the redshirt who gets a bit of background just to add a little pathos when they don't make it to the end of the episode. It's not something modern shows do as often; most modern shows would have spread out her scenes across multiple episodes, so it's not as obvious the character exists only to die. Still, it worked for me – I was invested in a character who's been basically set dressing for the past two years, but I can understand if other people saw it as a bit too manipulative to suddenly dump all her background on us just as she's written out.
(Though, of course, her memories are still uploaded to Discovery, so there is the potential for a resurrection. She could join the ever-growing list of Discovery crew who aren't quite sure if they're the same person they used to be!)
I do wonder, if this sort of cybernetic reconstruction is available in the Federation, why Pike ends up stuck with just a blinking light. But then, Pike's wheelchair was always absurdly primitive, even in the original series. I do like that cybernetics has been established now as common-place and unremarkable in the Federation.
Section 31, meanwhile, seems to have become a victim of its own paranoia. At least, I assume that's why Control's gone full Skynet – that's what happens when you build an AI that's sole directive is to identify threats and find ways to eliminate them. We also may be seeing a pre-destination paradox of sorts; Discovery and the Red Angel try to stop Control from wiping out all sapient life, so it sees them and the Federation as a threat to its existence, so it tries to wipe out all sapient life, so the Red Angel goes back to warn Discovery...
Incidentally, it's mentioned that the Section admirals have been dead for two weeks, so we can assume their conversation with Leland and Georgiou last week was faked by Control, and we never actually saw the real Patar.
Spock continues to be a real highlight of the show, and I'm surprised by how well he's being integrated into everything. His confrontation with Michael underlined all the unresolved issues between the siblings – and, I imagine, served as a proxy for some of his anger towards the rest of his family as well. It's interesting how Michael retreats even further away from her emotions when challenged; if anything, Spock seems far more willing to acknowledge his own feelings than she is. I'm hoping to see some consequences from this confrontation; it's interesting to see the writers put in Spock's mouth many of the criticisms of Michael as a character; that she's a bit bland, that she's too often the centre of attention. I also want to see some fallout from Ariam's death and its effect on Michael – it's basically her own personal Kobayashi Maru, and has echoes of her human parent's death.
Meanwhile, we get a nice scene between Spock and Stamets, that hopefully will help Stamets work out how to best help Hugh work through his issues. I am wondering, though, is there some reason the character of Hugh is getting so little screentime? Is the actor working on another project or something? His absence is increasingly awkward.
Oh, and I was very glad that Nhan made it to the end of the episode. I do have to wonder, though, why she'd need her breathing device while wearing a spacesuit – surely it could be equipped with her native atmosphere? Ah, the mysteries of Starfleet technology...