Star Trek Discovery: 4x05 (The Examples)
Dec. 29th, 2021 01:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenIn which it turns out there is a villain after all.
This feels very TNG or Voyager in a lot of ways. That's not a criticism – not really praise either, just an observation; the very clear A and B plot division, the moral dilemma, the aliens of the week. I don't know if this is Discovery embracing that style of storytelling more, or just a result of COVID-era limitations meaning the cast had to be separated and weren't all available at the same time.
(And they're just trolling us at this point by giving one of the bridge extras his own storyline only for it to take place entirely off-screen, right?)
We get a major development in the anomaly storyline; sadly, it's not going to remain a natural phenomena, but is in fact the product of some powerful alien race. We get a few name-dropped – including what felt like a tip of the hat to Star Trek Online's Iconian War storyline – but I'm wiling to bet it won't be anyone we're familiar with. Outside of the Mirror Universe in season one, Discovery doesn't really use existing Star Trek elements as big reveals.
Tarka proves to be an interesting character, and a nice foil for Stamets. He's clearly not a nice person, who's not telling us everything – but at the same time, he does seem to be genuinely motivated by the desire to examine this mystery; while he puts the ship at risk, it doesn't seem to be out of malice so much as obsession and refusal to consider the possible dangers of his approach – flaws Stamets has also shown in the past.
It's also really fun that he's Risan – seeing one of them be an amoral jerk is a nice subversion, and makes them feel like a real people, not just an artificial culture that exists purely as resort staff.
Not entirely sure why all this dangerous science has to be done on the ship while they're conducting an evacuation; does Starfleet or Ni'Var not have a nice secure lab somewhere that could do this? But then, that's a question that could be asked about a lot of Star Trek stories, so it's not a major flaw.
Meanwhile, on the planet – it's nice to get another reminder that the Emerald Chain and their ruthlessness still hangs heavy over the region, and that the Federation's absence has allowed crueller societies to thrive. It's also neat that the aliens are a returning species last seen as a pre-warp culture in Enterprise – I'd like to see more reminders of just how much time has passed. Be neat to see space-faring Malcorians from TNG show up somewhere!
I'm not sure what to make of Felix, the convicted murderer. I certainly agree with Burnham that it's not their place to force a rescue on someone who doesn't want to be rescued. But it feels like there's a certain grandstanding element to his refusal to leave the prison; it's one thing to acknowledge one's crimes and accept punishment, quite another to make a grand statement by waiting until the most dramatic moment to reveal you're not leaving, and make a huge show of refusing to leave. I'm honestly not sure how much of that is an intended reading; if we're meant to see him as genuinely contrite, or whether we're meant to recognise that there's a certain performative element to his guilt.
It is nice to see how much this is affecting Book, and putting him into conflict with Burnham, with his need to see no-one left behind ever again conflicting with her refusal to deny Felix his right to choose his own fate.
I also liked the scene with Culber and Cronenberg's character; it feels like the writers have recognised that Culber's various traumatic experiences were given far too little attention in season two, and rather than sweep it all under the rug, they're going back to genuinely examine how this would affect him as a person and as a doctor. One thing I have come to greatly appreciate about Discovery is its willingness to acknowledge flaws it has made with its storytelling and trying to make use of that to tell new stories, and it's nice to see a big part of this season be looking at how characters are coping with events that were glossed over earlier.
This feels very TNG or Voyager in a lot of ways. That's not a criticism – not really praise either, just an observation; the very clear A and B plot division, the moral dilemma, the aliens of the week. I don't know if this is Discovery embracing that style of storytelling more, or just a result of COVID-era limitations meaning the cast had to be separated and weren't all available at the same time.
(And they're just trolling us at this point by giving one of the bridge extras his own storyline only for it to take place entirely off-screen, right?)
We get a major development in the anomaly storyline; sadly, it's not going to remain a natural phenomena, but is in fact the product of some powerful alien race. We get a few name-dropped – including what felt like a tip of the hat to Star Trek Online's Iconian War storyline – but I'm wiling to bet it won't be anyone we're familiar with. Outside of the Mirror Universe in season one, Discovery doesn't really use existing Star Trek elements as big reveals.
Tarka proves to be an interesting character, and a nice foil for Stamets. He's clearly not a nice person, who's not telling us everything – but at the same time, he does seem to be genuinely motivated by the desire to examine this mystery; while he puts the ship at risk, it doesn't seem to be out of malice so much as obsession and refusal to consider the possible dangers of his approach – flaws Stamets has also shown in the past.
It's also really fun that he's Risan – seeing one of them be an amoral jerk is a nice subversion, and makes them feel like a real people, not just an artificial culture that exists purely as resort staff.
Not entirely sure why all this dangerous science has to be done on the ship while they're conducting an evacuation; does Starfleet or Ni'Var not have a nice secure lab somewhere that could do this? But then, that's a question that could be asked about a lot of Star Trek stories, so it's not a major flaw.
Meanwhile, on the planet – it's nice to get another reminder that the Emerald Chain and their ruthlessness still hangs heavy over the region, and that the Federation's absence has allowed crueller societies to thrive. It's also neat that the aliens are a returning species last seen as a pre-warp culture in Enterprise – I'd like to see more reminders of just how much time has passed. Be neat to see space-faring Malcorians from TNG show up somewhere!
I'm not sure what to make of Felix, the convicted murderer. I certainly agree with Burnham that it's not their place to force a rescue on someone who doesn't want to be rescued. But it feels like there's a certain grandstanding element to his refusal to leave the prison; it's one thing to acknowledge one's crimes and accept punishment, quite another to make a grand statement by waiting until the most dramatic moment to reveal you're not leaving, and make a huge show of refusing to leave. I'm honestly not sure how much of that is an intended reading; if we're meant to see him as genuinely contrite, or whether we're meant to recognise that there's a certain performative element to his guilt.
It is nice to see how much this is affecting Book, and putting him into conflict with Burnham, with his need to see no-one left behind ever again conflicting with her refusal to deny Felix his right to choose his own fate.
I also liked the scene with Culber and Cronenberg's character; it feels like the writers have recognised that Culber's various traumatic experiences were given far too little attention in season two, and rather than sweep it all under the rug, they're going back to genuinely examine how this would affect him as a person and as a doctor. One thing I have come to greatly appreciate about Discovery is its willingness to acknowledge flaws it has made with its storytelling and trying to make use of that to tell new stories, and it's nice to see a big part of this season be looking at how characters are coping with events that were glossed over earlier.