The Shuttle Pod Crew Encounters “The Red Angel”

Like last season, The Shuttle Pod has again transformed into Shuttle Pod At The Disco for the run of Star Trek: Discovery season two, with weekly podcasts about each new episode.

Shuttle Pod At The Disco – Season 2, Episode 10 – “The Red Angel”

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, Episode 10

Jared, Matt, and returning guest Laurie strap themselves in and discuss “The Red Angel.” The episode was well crafted, and most of the questions or concerns we had were part of the larger season themes and not about this episode specifically. The podcasters still have questions about Section 31 and the notion of a temporal arms race. Outside of these larger season-long plot questions, there were lots of satisfying smaller character moments, with especially poignant scenes between Burnham and Spock, Culber and Cornwell, and Burnham and Tyler. The reveal of who was in the Red Angel suit has us speculating on what’s next, as the season-long mystery is quickly coming to a head.

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Yeah… I felt while the funeral scene was well done it felt VERY out of place for someone we, the audience, never really knew. The first thing I thought of was, where was the service for Connolly? Sure, he was brought over with Pike but I get the feeling that if Nahn would bite the dust she would get this sort of treatment herself. Further, why did Culber not get this treatment?

Yes, we got the confirmation that Michael was the RA. But a side effect of that was that I automatically thought that meant it couldn’t be her. And this was cemented when they started talking about how to catch the RA right in front of Burnham. Why would they do that if they wanted to catch future Micheael? And why did you guys NOT mention this very obvious plot hole until a quick mention at the very end? And the fact that the trap worked meant that the RA could NOT be Burnham. So the reveal was not surprising at all. My guess was it was a future relative of Burnham. But parent would have been my next choice.

The cloaking stuff continues to bother me. The Romulans came up with a successful cloak. So well that Kirk was ordered to steal one! It was just head canon for why Klingons in the movies suddenly had cloaking tech. Therefore, there is no way in hell Klingons from pre-TOS had cloaking tech. Which is a MAJOR flaw in the show. This is not some small thing. It’s HUGE.

I would disagree about SMG. She does not have the acting chops to sell the scenes. She overplays everything. In her case, less is probably more.

The time crystal, while established last season, is still very silly. It was acceptable in that 1st season episode because that episode was not entirely serious. In a more serious setting it’s just too comic booky.

Burnham’s punch was also telegraphed before Leland even explained things to her. It was the VERY cliche thing to do and I found it to be a facepalm moment. It would have been better had she saved the angry punch for the gym scene. Also, the punch of Leland should have been saved for another time. A more appropriate time.

I am satisfied with Peck as Spock. I think he feels more like Spock than Quinto did. Quinto looked more like him but Peck seems to be channeling Nimoy a lot better. I think the beard is there to hide the fact that that he doesn’t look as close to Nimoy as Quinto does.

Regarding trying to communicate with the RA… This is not the first time they opted to act rashly rather than try and talk to something.

I found the Georgeau scenes with the others to be ridiculous. I thought only Till knew about the MU Georgeau stuff, for one thing. She is acting like they all already know. But then, everything involving her is difficult for me to buy into. Also, I thought Pike knew because Cromwell filled him in on it when he took over.

The thing about Culber is that nothing he does is going to get me to sympathize with him because I just can’t believe it’s the REAL Culber. This undermines the entire situation. The fact that the actor bulked up in the off season only enforces the concept that he is NOT Culber.

That Georgeau-Burnham moment I never bought. Because Georgeau is who she is. No one should ever trust anyone from the MU and even more so when she is acting like she cares about someone.

Regarding the MU discussion, the reasons given for the absurdity of it are reasons why it should be used in a VERY limited fashion. Using it as the basis for an ENTIRE season was just a terrible idea. Much less for more than a couple of episodes.

Yeah, time crystals might be easier to take if they gave them some Treknobabble name, like, I dunno, “temporal trilithium” or something. I’m just thankful they haven’t rebranded dilithium as “warp crystals.”

Yet…

Well, DS9 had a “Time Orb” that allowed them to back in time to the Kirk-era. Not much different

Except that was a very tongue in cheek, light hearded episode. Things like that can work depending on the tone that is set.

Do you know what’s bizarre? Time crystals are not a made-up thing! (Although of course in real life that don’t allow for time travel.)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_crystal

All the more reason to call them something else.

The Sybokaneers?
I’m a Sybokaneer as well! :-)

This episode was a mess from top to bottom, and only got worse with a repeat viewing. Convoluted and incomprehensible plotting married to some plain bad writing. Season 2’s flying into the proverbial mountain, as far as I’m concerned. There are certainly interesting concepts floating around in here, and the arc of the season had some potential but it’s all been let down by the writing and execution. Disappointing, to say the least.

The thing that bothered me most about this episode: Why would anyone even design an eye-scanning device with a needle that could protrude out the front of it. What would you even use such a thing for?

(If you’re going to tell me that the device’s plastic coating and internal circuitry became somehow animated from contact with the future AI, then that’s even more stupid)

LOL! That’s actually a good question. I think most of us may have assumed it was a self augmentation by the AI.