Star Trek Discovery: 3x13 (That Hope is You, Part Two)

[4thofeleven]

In which living in isolation is bad for your mental health.

There's a lot I like in this episode, and as far as the basic structure goes, it's much less of a mess than season one or two's finales – and, in general, this season has proven a lot more competent at telling a season-long arc without fumbling the conclusion.

At the same time, a lot of this episode feels oddly rushed – to such a degree that I almost wonder if an episode was cut, or if they initially planned on doing an old-school season-end cliffhanger and changed their mind at the last minute. Burnham's ruthless-if-understandable decisions last week are swept under the rug, with Stamets being literally dragged out of the story rather than getting a chance to offer his reaction or input. The Sphere Data robots end up being nothing more than cannon fodder in the corridor firefight. The potential moral dilemma of what to do with an individual capable of triggering a new Burn is quickly resolved with the abrupt declaration that he won't have those abilities if he leaves the nebula. And, of course, there's the weirdness of the Ni'var reinforcements arriving out of nowhere only to contribute absolutely nothing to the story.

And, of course, there's the decision to have Burnham take the centre chair at the end. And I'm not opposed to Burnham as captain, but as the conclusion to an episode in which both Saru and Tilly are showing real leadership, while Burnham operates primarily as a solo commando, it doesn't feel like an organic development. It's a very odd choice.

(Can I also say, I'm not a fan of the 32nd century uniforms? Or at least, I'm not a fan of them as duty uniforms. I think they'd make fine dress uniforms, but I'm not sure I want to see the cast in them all the time.)

Still, season three has been a real step forward for the show overall, and my quibbles about the resolution are just that. I've been looking back at some of the things I'd said about season one, and I'd forgotten how sceptical I was of this show when it began, and how much I disapproved of many of its choices. I think the show's really overcome that rocky beginning, and much of that is its willingness to take risks in storytelling to reinvent itself. I think season three's really proven itself as one of the strongest seasons Star Trek's ever done, where the closest it comes to failures are really just missed opportunities – and the show has shown its willingness to go back and fill in those gaps and correct the errors of the past – as it has by giving Dr. Culber the much needed character development that was affectingly absent last season.

(And it is delightful that, between Stamets and Culber, and Adira and Grey, that the show has decided that not only is it going to avoid 'bury your gays', it's going to take a step further and descend to the underworld to retrieve them!)

So I'm pretty positive overall, and optimistic about the show's future, even if this episode felt somewhat flawed compared to what we know the show is capable of.

Oh, and did anyone else find it hilarious that while Trill is back in the Federation, and Ni'var has entered negotiations, Earth doesn't even rate a mention?

Comments

[nic]

I need to re-watch this episode, because I spent the entire time terrified that a major character was going to die/be written out (Book, Saru; one of the bridge crew) that I couldn't actually enjoy it. Whereas instead it was a wonderful episode tying up lots of plot threads (while leaving some unattended, but still).

[4thofeleven]

Yeah, Discovery seems to have finally gotten the 'focus on a character only to kill them' trope out of their system, but I was still worried for Saru and Owo.