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4thofelevenIn which a Vulcan doctoral defence involves just as many gongs as you'd expect.
A bit less than the sum of its parts, I felt – this was a massively overstuffed story, and should have been spread across multiple episodes. As it was, we had the introduction of a new and very different Vulcan, dealing with the fallout of Burnham's decisions last week, the subplot with Tilly, reintroducing Burnham to her mother – all in what was effectively a 'bottle' episode, giving none of the stories really enough time to breathe. I really wish they'd saved some of the budget they spent on those - admittedly spectacular - panoramas of Iceland so we could have had a look at new Vulcan from the ground.
Now, don't get me wrong, there was a lot I liked – and that's why I'm a little disappointed, because I wanted more of all these things!
The resolution of Vulcan-Romulan unification finally wrapped up a storyline that's been largely ignored for the last thirty years. Even when the Romulans have been getting more attention, their ancestral connection to Vulcan hasn't been focused on. So it was very gratifying to see that Spock's work eventually paid off, and that the Romulans have survived the various indignities they suffered in the late twenty-fourth century.
I was particularly pleased to see that reunification hasn't led to the extinction of Romulan culture. An issue I always had with the original TNG Unification two-parter was that Spock's rhetoric always had an unfortunate whiff of cultural supremacy to it. Granted, the Romulan imperial state was an authoritarian nightmare – but the Vulcans have also always had issues accepting differences and deviations from the norm. The Romulans have a right to be wary of being absorbed by the unyielding orthodoxy of Surak's teachings, so it was good to see their own culture and traditions surviving on Ni'var, with some aspects of their society – such as the Qowat Milat – being adopted into the Vulcan mainstream. It's a unification on equal terms, and even if that does mean there are tensions, it's nice to see the Romulans as equal partners in a new society.
(The introduction of Vulcan-Romulan hybrids as a significant faction in Ni'var society is also intriguing, and something I'd really have liked to see more of.)
Burnham's journey in this episode had some interesting tension one normally doesn't get in Star Trek when a character is considering leaving their ship or Starfleet – but Discovery has reinvented itself so many times that it did seem like a genuine possibility that she might leave and season four would have followed Burnham and Book (and Grudge!) as independent operators. While, as I said, it did leave the episode feeling overstuffed, it was appropriate that all this would finally come to a head at Vulcan. Burnham's emotional issues are largely a result of her upbringing on Vulcan; like her foster family, she's inflexible, hides her feelings even from herself, and is prone to making all-or-nothing choices. We can only hope that now she's been forced to confront all the fears she's been holding back, she can finally relax a little and remember that she's not the sole person who can solve problems.
As for Tilly's unexpected promotion; well, why not? It strains a little credibility, but as Saru pointed out in “Far From Home”, she's a perfect representative of Federation idealism and optimism – and how many other command-trained officers are there on Discovery anyway? It was, after all, a weird science testbed prototype, not a ship of the line, and I imagine most of the crew are more like Stamets, chosen for their specific expertise rather than for their officer's skills. And it is treated in-story as an unexpected and unorthodox choice, rather than just something we're expected to accept as normal (*cough* 2009 movie *cough*), so I'm willing to give it a go.
Saru might want to watch his back, though – given the usual life-span of Discovery captains, we might be seeing Captain Killy in the centre chair next season...
A bit less than the sum of its parts, I felt – this was a massively overstuffed story, and should have been spread across multiple episodes. As it was, we had the introduction of a new and very different Vulcan, dealing with the fallout of Burnham's decisions last week, the subplot with Tilly, reintroducing Burnham to her mother – all in what was effectively a 'bottle' episode, giving none of the stories really enough time to breathe. I really wish they'd saved some of the budget they spent on those - admittedly spectacular - panoramas of Iceland so we could have had a look at new Vulcan from the ground.
Now, don't get me wrong, there was a lot I liked – and that's why I'm a little disappointed, because I wanted more of all these things!
The resolution of Vulcan-Romulan unification finally wrapped up a storyline that's been largely ignored for the last thirty years. Even when the Romulans have been getting more attention, their ancestral connection to Vulcan hasn't been focused on. So it was very gratifying to see that Spock's work eventually paid off, and that the Romulans have survived the various indignities they suffered in the late twenty-fourth century.
I was particularly pleased to see that reunification hasn't led to the extinction of Romulan culture. An issue I always had with the original TNG Unification two-parter was that Spock's rhetoric always had an unfortunate whiff of cultural supremacy to it. Granted, the Romulan imperial state was an authoritarian nightmare – but the Vulcans have also always had issues accepting differences and deviations from the norm. The Romulans have a right to be wary of being absorbed by the unyielding orthodoxy of Surak's teachings, so it was good to see their own culture and traditions surviving on Ni'var, with some aspects of their society – such as the Qowat Milat – being adopted into the Vulcan mainstream. It's a unification on equal terms, and even if that does mean there are tensions, it's nice to see the Romulans as equal partners in a new society.
(The introduction of Vulcan-Romulan hybrids as a significant faction in Ni'var society is also intriguing, and something I'd really have liked to see more of.)
Burnham's journey in this episode had some interesting tension one normally doesn't get in Star Trek when a character is considering leaving their ship or Starfleet – but Discovery has reinvented itself so many times that it did seem like a genuine possibility that she might leave and season four would have followed Burnham and Book (and Grudge!) as independent operators. While, as I said, it did leave the episode feeling overstuffed, it was appropriate that all this would finally come to a head at Vulcan. Burnham's emotional issues are largely a result of her upbringing on Vulcan; like her foster family, she's inflexible, hides her feelings even from herself, and is prone to making all-or-nothing choices. We can only hope that now she's been forced to confront all the fears she's been holding back, she can finally relax a little and remember that she's not the sole person who can solve problems.
As for Tilly's unexpected promotion; well, why not? It strains a little credibility, but as Saru pointed out in “Far From Home”, she's a perfect representative of Federation idealism and optimism – and how many other command-trained officers are there on Discovery anyway? It was, after all, a weird science testbed prototype, not a ship of the line, and I imagine most of the crew are more like Stamets, chosen for their specific expertise rather than for their officer's skills. And it is treated in-story as an unexpected and unorthodox choice, rather than just something we're expected to accept as normal (*cough* 2009 movie *cough*), so I'm willing to give it a go.
Saru might want to watch his back, though – given the usual life-span of Discovery captains, we might be seeing Captain Killy in the centre chair next season...
no subject
on 2020-12-02 08:50 pm (UTC)After last week's episode, I sat down and looked at the ranks of all of the Discovery regulars and had decided that NONE of them were fit to be first officer. (If only Nhan were still around!) I expected them to have to take on a temporary crew member from the Federation. I'm baffled that he selected Tilly; because her lack of confidence in herself is the last thing you need in a command officer. Sure, give her more experience, but to put her in a position where she is responsible for lives? I don't agree.