“Under the Twin Moons”
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 2 – Debuted Thursday, April 4, 2024
Written by Alan McElroy
Directed by Doug Aarniokoski
The new season continues strong with more action and a focus on characters and Trek themes.
Meet the captains.
WARNING: Spoilers below!
RECAP
“Power of creation, here we come”
Captain Burnham has a moment to consider philosophical questions about the meaning of life as Discovery gets all that sand from Q’Mau removed. The profound stakes of her mission to find the Progenitors’ power have her pondering if she will find new purpose. Her mood could also be due to this being Saru’s last day as first officer. Before they can head off to find the next clue, Michael is summoned to a heated tribunal for Captain Rayner, called to the space carpet for his reckless actions in episode 1. Michael doesn’t want to be a squealer but when pressed, admits she disagreed with Rayner and told him so. His Burn-era cowboy ways aren’t cutting it with Admiral Vance and President Rillak, and once he accuses them of sitting on their “asses” ignoring threats, the Kellerun’s future in Starfleet is not looking good. After Vance checks in with Michael to make sure Book isn’t a distraction, she makes sure her ex (and Grudge) are settling in, keeping it friendly and profesh. He is to work with Hugh and Paul to sort out clues left behind by Dr. Vellek. She also gives him (and Grudge) a cute holo-mouse toy, so they’re going to be fine.
Arriving at Lyrek, Adira and Tilly (on loan from SFA as a “science specialist”) brief Burnham and Saru on how the shadow of twin moons points to an old Promellian necropolis, but an energy field means they will have to hoof (literally for Saru… ha!… sorry) from the beam-in spot. In tactical gear, Michael and Saru take a beat to acknowledge their “last dance” and appreciate the serene beauty of this garden spot before heading to the biggest pyramid. The pair takes this time to joke about Reno giving the Kelpien the nickname “Action Saru” and reminisce about how far they have come together. The former USS Shenzhou shipmates are way past their early sibling rivalry, now seeing the best in each other in this sweet moment that feels like a goodbye. Saru offers advice on his replacement as first officer, suggesting she find someone who stands their ground, not unlike Book… but not actually Book. The stakes rise when they spot a very old skeleton, but it still leaves time for Saru to drop a “grave disappointment” dad joke. A spike in the EM field has Tilly concerned, Michael assures there is nothing to worry about… oh, except the killer drones that just emerged from a giant collapsed four-eyed alien statue head. Run!
Action Saru… complete with Kung-fu Quills!
“We are running out of body parts here ”
On the Disco, Adira and Tilly struggle over how to help the landing party, now hiding under a giant stone foot as the drones fire on them, and then blow up on suicide runs (only to be replaced by more drones). As the flustered nerds run through a series of unworkable options, Rayner holograms himself into the situation—because he’s been secretly watching from HQ, but that’s totally not creepy—and starts guiding them towards a solution that factors in how the ancient Promellians would power an automated security system. The solve is to overload a phaser inside the giant statue head, the source of the drones, which sort of seems obvious, but still, teamwork! Michael wants to take the tough job of target distraction since Saru is about to get hitched, but he reminds her he is stronger and faster and T’Rina would expect him to do his duty. So off he goes like a Kelpien Steve Austin, dodging fire (actually getting hit once) and dispatching drones with his quills. Action Saru, indeed! Michael drops the phaser bomb, buying them time—by now it’s clear why Dr. Vellek chose this ancient graveyard to hide a clue. Sneaky Romulan.
While everyone else is dealing with the danger forest, Book and Culber are building a profile of this season’s adversaries. Moll and L’ak are dangerous but not inherently violent. Moll is human, but L’ak is a mystery. Book sees they are in love, and their actions in episode 1 show him they are “thrillseekers” having a bit of fun as “Sui” couriers who take the most dangerous jobs. This gives him the idea to reach out directly via “dark coms,” using cringy courier slang. They take the bait and have a not-so-friendly chat via hologram. The former couriers have figured out what’s at the end of Vellek’s rainbow, so his diary is no longer for sale. Book tries to scare them with the Starfleet boogeyman, but the cocky duo relishes the challenge. They question if he is a real courier but seem impressed when he reveals his identity as Cleveland Booker before they hang up the (untraceable) call. Yet Book spotted something—and after de-aging Moll’s image (thanks, Zora) he realizes he knows her. Real name Malinne, she is the daughter of Cleveland Booker IV, his mentor and namesake. He never actually met her, but figures she is “the closest thing to family” he has. Wow.
How is it I am answering to all these primitives from 900 years ago?
“You held my hand and I was not afraid.”
Back on the forest planet, Michael and Saru are under a ticking clock before the drones power up again as they arrive at where the clues pointed with no ancient power source to be found. Curiously, the stone pillar they do find has fresh phaser scorching… There must have been more clues but Moll and L’ak beat them to it! Thankfully SaruSuperVisionTM detects iridescent traces of writing in the form of a Romulan “revlav” poem. Michael deploys her old xenoanthropology powers to determine there are only four verses on the pillar, so where is the fifth? It must be hidden because Romulans are sneaky. They find the final verse under the pillar, which Moll and L’ak don’t have. She also finds a hidden object. Score! They beam out at literally the last second (naturally) before the EM defense field restarts. In the science lab, it turns out the thingie they found matches a mysterious symbol from the diary Stamets has been struggling with. Thanks to Zora creating a nice little stand, it’s now clear they have the first of five pieces of a map that will lead them to the Progenitors. And the poem tells them where piece number 2 is. “A world like no other where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira nails it: “We’re going to Trill.” Oh and Moll and L’ak only have the first four verses, which point to the wrong planet: Betazed, where hopefully the locals will passive-aggressively mock them telepathically.
Michael visits Saru as he packs up his very moist quarters. They reminsce again, recalling how in this very room she helped him through Vahar’ai. He offers her more parting advice to “trust the journey.” It’s one of those “it’s been an honor” kind of conversations and you can be forgiven for getting choked up, especially as Saru honors his friend, his family, with a Kelpien forehead embrace. Michael checks in with Vance who gives her the thumbs up on the day’s mission. As for Rayner, he has been asked to retire. She defends his actions and has the twinkle of an idea. Burnham finds the grumpy now former captain staring longingly at her ship. “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore,” he notes, which could be said about him. He is not willing to back down from his principles even if they did get him drummed out, but he regrets not anticipating what Moll and L’ak did on Q’Mau, putting all those people at risk. He seems lost, so Burnham offers him a lifeline… as her new XO. She’s impressed with how he helped out on the Lyrek mission even when no one asked him to. And he deserves a second chance like the one she got from Saru. He won’t be her “yes man,” and she’s counting on that. Zip up, it’s time for this mopey Kellerun to get back to work. Cue the music and fade to black.
Is that smell the swamp kelp?
ANALYSIS
Goodbye and hello
The second episode of this new season comes in just as strong as the first. With the premiere doing the heavy lifting of setting up the new tone, stakes, and plot arc for the season, episode 2 had more time to explore the characters and their arcs. A strong theme of second chances was woven into these character stories told mostly in pairs, with Michael and Saru getting top billing. Doug Jones was a standout on his last day on the job (thankfully not falling into the “retirony” trope) as he and Sonequa Martin-Green took a stroll (almost literally) through a memory lane of their series-long arc from rivals to family. Action Saru was a lot of fun and it was nice to see Discovery remember some of his cool Kelpien abilities. For the most part, the pacing kept things flowing between the character beats, although the show still has a thing for literally stopping the action for feelings sidebars. This can easily be forgiven as the production itself was gorgeous, with the second visit to a unique alien location. This season may have a new Indiana Jones tone and style, but this episode reminds us of the core Trek themes with messages like: “I think the world is bigger than our corner in it.”
Episode 2 also showed us what to expect from the new quest-focused season, laying out a map and clues that can form a nice structure that allow for standalone adventures which still fit into the big picture of the search for Progenitor gold. And even with that mystery thankfully revealed in episode 1, this episode presented us with some nice new ones like L’ak’s background and Book’s connection to Moll. This episode had more time to give almost everyone something to do and also clued us into their season arcs, although Stamets still gets the short end. Some of these characters are a bit lost, especially Book and Rayner, but we also see hints of how they will be found. Episode 2 was particularly good in defining Rayner, including his history with Vance, his drive and helpfulness on the mission, and the vulnerability under his gruff exterior. Callum Keith Rennie continues to impress as this great addition to the series. And it might be just a canon nod, but sharing the Grankite Order of Tactics honor with James T. Kirk is a hint at what they are going for with echoes of that legendary captain finding himself out of touch in post-Praxis 23rd century. No one can replace Saru (and he isn’t really leaving, just moving to Starfleet HQ), but the prospect of Rayner as Disco’s first officer opens up a whole new world of fun possibilities.
So do you get dizzy when the saucer spins around?
The visit to the planet and fighting off those drones certainly brought “The Arsenal of Freedom” vibes, but the ancient graveyard was actually another deep cut to the Promellans from “Booby Trap.” These types of things along with using bits of Romulan lore from Picard, like secret doors, shows how Discovery is fully embracing canon without indulging in nostalgia porn. Episode 2 also had more 32nd-century worldbuilding tidbits, including talk of Breen infighting and Orions (presumably Emerald Chain) regrouping. Hopefully these nods, along with some from episode 1, are part of a longer game of fleshing out this century and building upon the big season arc. Moll and L’ak now know what they are looking for and it’s likely they can start a bidding war with the various factions. That said, the show still ignores offering details on things that seem important, like what exactly is a Red Directive… and how has Rayner already done seven of them? And of course, keeping track of what programmable matter (which is essentially magic at this point) can and can’t do will only drive you crazy. But these are just nitpicks and in no way distracting from the overall enjoyment of the season so far.
Vance is disappointed his FedNet updates are flooded with “Zaddy” comments.
Final thoughts
Season 2 is off to a great start with an episode that is debatably better than the first, especially if you love these characters. The show has successfully pivoted without losing what makes Discovery, Discovery. After getting two in one day, it’s hard to have to wait for more.
Okay, but I am not moving into Saru’s swamp.
Bits
- “Under the Twin Moons” was released simultaneously with the first episode of the season (reviewed separately).
- Captain Burnham’s personal log was Stardate 866274.3. The last confirmed Stardate was 865783.7 in episode 411 “Rosetta.”
- The mention of the sands from Q’Mau from episode 501 having “unknown radiative properties” feels like something that could pay off later.
- Programable matter bracelets can make multiple phasers, in case you lose one or in this case, use one as a bomb.
- The Starfleet Corps of Engineering got their first shoutout for the 32nd century.
- Jett Reno came up with the nickname “Action Saru,” inspired in part by how he dealt with Zareh when the Discovery first arrived in the 32nd century in “That Hope Is You, Part 2.”
- Book, Moll, and L’ak trade a lot of 32nd-century slang, including “kav’kar,” which sort of means BS.
- Moll says since Vellek was a Romulan, his diary is out of the Federation’s jurisdiction, but the Romulans reunified with Vulcan to form Ni’Var, who have joined the Federation so ipso facto, it is their jurisdiction.
- Vance’s (previously unnamed) daughter is named Charlie.
- Saru’s quarters are going to be left as is, a microcosm of his swampy home planet Kaminar.
- It’s unclear why, but do not touch Kelpien swamp kelp when it is in bloom.
- Among the items Saru packs is the Kelpien knife used to cut off his threat ganglia in “An Obol For Charon.”
I hope T’Rina likes things misty.
More to come
Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek Podcast covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.
The fifth and final season of Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria. Discovery will also premiere on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuts on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Second episode was really good as well and i enjoyed the scenes with Burnham/Saru and Tilly/Adira they were sweet.
I love how the story so far is collecting pieces of a puzzle to find the Progenitor home world and their tech as i really enjoy puzzle stories.
I really like the characters of Moll/L’ak they are very interesting adversary especially Moll who book eventually realizes that she is the daughter of Cleveland Booker the 4th.
I really liked Raynar in this episode and it will be interesting to see him as Burnham’s first officer.
I have to admit I read these mainly for Anthony’s descriptions under the cut-scenes. I always get a chuckle. Thank you, Sir. 😊
The line about the primitives crossed my mind- like what Rayner might feel about having Burnham as a superior, or Tilly’s cadets think about her. I mean, yeah, technically they’re centuries older, but really…
I watched the prologue earlier this morning and after getting over the usual “no alpha hetero” males in command of Discovery, I thought the intro was very good. I also liked the crew hanging out together as friends. The only negative so far is the action scene with Burnham – IMHO something no captain of a Starship should be doing, but the producers or studio probably demanded some form of ridiculous and expensive action sequences.
The opening 6 minutes also made me ponder that the spore drive would have been much more accepted if it had somehow been introduced along with other 32nd century tech like the detached warp nacelles and personal transporters. Even the social evolution taking IDIC to the next level, tries to envision what society might look like 1100 plus years from now. Of course, having more mixed race humans and aliens might be more realistic, but that is a whole other issue. At least we have Saru.
So far I have seen a couple of spoiler free reviews and they are making me “cautiously” optimistic about S5. We shall see if that feeling is warranted two months from now. For now, I look forward to watching the first two episodes later this evening.
I don’t see the problem with Discovery not having a straight man in command… even though they have had three in previous seasons, if we include Saru.
Why would we not include Saru?
Because I think the OP was mostly talking about human men. And to be fair, we don’t know if Kelpeins have defined sexualities or whether they just go with the flow!
That is more than a fair comment, but viewer perceptions is what I am referring to. Doug Jones is an amazing actor and his portrayal of Saru is a credit to his acting ability – he comes across as truly alien and does so brilliantly. So yes, I perhaps should not have overlooked him. Btw for those who have not yet checked out this week’s Ready Room, you may want to do so. Doug Jones’ interview was great.
That said, by the end of E2 the addition of Raynor as the new Number One addresses what I was saying. Yes, I know he is also alien, but he does come across as someone who is more human. As someone else said earlier, he reminds many of 007! On top of that I really liked Booker’s line in response to Michael’s complaint’s about him – does he remind you of someone?
I am glad the politician didn’t get to fire Raynor (although he did lose his ship). Sniff sniff, it smells like a bureaucrat’s office in here haha.
Also, I did a major eyeroll in that opening scene of E1 with Burnham riding the hull of Lok and Moll’s ship. I was happy to see later in the episode it wasn’t exactly premeditated and her actions were somewhat justified and not the result of some really bad writing.
Nice to see the writers are actually addressing some of the complaints of the series. Cautiously optimistic and looking forward to next week!
Trek just isn’t Trek without a straight white man in charge. Gotcha.
Nope, Voyager and DS9 are great. Sorry if I offended anyone. I also liked seeing the Shenzhou, the Excelsior, and I hope we get to see the proposed Legacy Enterprise.
I know what you are trying to say, but considering my world is full of multicultural and gender minorities including my family, you are jumping to the wrong conclusion.
And ‘all your best friends are…’. But, yeah, the rotating captains of Discovery have been a major weakness of the series. ‘Captains for a season’ until recently. Lorca was by far the best of them, though he could have been slightly less hard-edged, perhaps?
I feel sorry for you, that you have to ‘get over’ the “no alpha hetero” males. The life you must lead. Such struggle.
😭 No “alpha hetro males”. 😭
The spore drive continues to be a pet peeve (of many this show has). I find it stupendously unbelievable that no one followed up on the spore drive tech over the ensuing 900 years. Much less still using dilithium for warp drive. Speaking of tech, I still find just being in the 32nd century problematic because it’s just impossible to even guess what kind of tech would be like that far out. Just look at how far humanity advanced from 1120 to 2020. Now increase that rate. Yeah. Pretty mindboggling. Just the next 100 years is a tough guess.
Okay?
Clarify?
It felt the technobabble was especially heavy in this episode, almost as if they needed the show to be a bit longer, so threw in an extra science problem followed by an immediate solution whenever they could!
It’s a science fiction show that uses advanced technologies to move the plot along. The characters were problem solving and it didn’t distract from the scene. It certainly wasn’t TNG level of technobabble.
Technobabble is a little awkward in Discovery sometimes. It was often a crutch in Berman era shows, but it came about as just a plausible-sounding way to quickly solve issues to move things along. Discovery simultaneously wants to use it for problem solving and to show the crew working together, but also feels it needs to honor the tradition of technobabble that really took hold with TNG. Because the action and pacing is more in line with the Kelvin films, at times it feels like padding I want to skip over. As when DS9 tamped down on it more and more by the end (to the point where it sticks out in stories like Tears of the Prophets which lean on it), it’s something of an incongruity.
At the same time, I don’t want to see things dumbed down to the same point as where Captain Kirk kicked a complicated engine component until it was fixed.
Burnham
I thought this was the better of the two episodes, personally, and I’m looking forward to more with Rayner in the future.
Here too. Rayner is currently what is making the show watchable.
Saru is really gone 2 episodes in? Interesting choice
He’s not gone. He’s gone from the ship.
I have a feeling he’ll be back. He’s shown in the promo in scenes not yet seen.
ok – the use of the phrase “Doug Jones last day on set” in the story made it seem like he was actually wrapped
They didn’t say that. It was a plot point, Saru’s ‘last day on the ship’.
The 32nd century world building they’re doing might also set up some stuff for Star Trek: Academy. To some extend – at times – it feels they’re back-door piloting (for the lack of a better word) certain stuff, like the mention of the Breen and some of the the new sets built for season 5. It’s subtle, but I feel it’s there.
I agree but I am glad they are starting to embrace it. We haven’t had much exploration of planets or species since they jumped forward so I like that we are getting brief glimpses of these things.
The writers have also done a better job giving more characters the chance to contribute to a solution this season. It’s not always a huge scene but they are there and I like it. Stamets, may be a character that’s struggling, but I like the idea that he specializes in “ancient” tech. It works given the time period he is from and it gives him a much needed presence in the show.
Burnham and Saru did a great job in their scenes together. This show was a great wrap up for his role as her number one. Vance and Burnham’s mentorship is also moving along quite well. I like that he listens to her and yet guides her when she starts to go down the wrong path. Such as when he reminded her to answer a direct question posed by the Federation President. Burnham is still quite rebellious by nature so his guidance helps to reign her in and remind her of the obligations she has to the rule book. Even if she doesn’t always like it. Glad she is paying her own second chance forward by giving Rayner a second chance.
The revelation, that Book knew Moll, was an interesting addition to the show. This mission is definitely getting very personal for him.
Unfortunately the 32nd century setting really should have been jetisoned. My personal preference would have been post TUC. But any time from there to Picard’s time frame would have been better. Sadly that show, which I was not entirely against the concept of, is not starting out on good footing.
The problem with prequel timelines is that you either walk all over canon or are somewhat restricted by it if you want to bring in big changing events.
I was all for the time jump and at the time was greatful that it wasn’t another pre Kirk timeline but they certainly didn’t make the most of it in seasons 3 and 4.
Looking forward to watching Discovery season 5 this evening. I have a feeling this will be a good final season.
Agree with this 100%.
Was never into the idea of Discovery being a prequel so was super excited with the time jump.
Unfortunately it mostly felt squandered in the last two seasons. But this season is showing real promise and hopefully will make the 32nd century feel more lived in and interesting.
I am more hopeful about the future now (pun intended ;)).
That’s only a problem if your writers and producers aren’t any good.
I was totally fine with the setting the show was in, but it meant the writers had to have the skill to respect what came before. If that couldn’t be done (and this has been said ad nauseum over the years) then just reboot. It’s not a big deal. Since producers were NEVER going to admit they made a mistake having them jumping to the future was the only obvious out. But how far they went was just problematic. There is no way they are going to convince audiences that is 800 years after TNG. Better to have been 100-200 years. Still difficult but at least the future tech would seem a bit more reasonable. And they could have done the exact same stories with the exact same tech.
Anyway, I think the 32md century was a huge mistake and I think the one and only one reason they are setting the SFA show there is to keep Star Trek Discovery alive. If it goes on long enough I guarantee every Star Trek Discovery character will show up there at least once.
I’d argue the pre-pro time for planning a new series is a far better way to flesh out the 32nd century than the shorter time Disco had between seasons. Sure, we’re stuck with the aesthetic, magic tech, and post-Burn storyline, but if they are good writers they’ll find things to make this setting more enticing.
I agree with this and I speak as someone who also doesn’t love the 32nd century setting.
But that’s only because Discovery haven’t done enough with it but it can still be good. Hopefully SFA will just do a better job with it.
Like a lot of people I was really excited to see it go into the far future. I never really cared about the 23rd century and certainly never been excited about it being a prequel to TOS. It was pretty eye rolling to me that was the only time period we were following two straight times after getting it again for JJ verse. Most people were ready to go back to the 24th century (but Post Nemesis) or just a completely new time period. I know a lot of old TOS fans really cared about it but everyone else was ready to move on again including other TOS fans. Just keeping it in this one era really bored me frankly.
Today that’s finally changed once Picard came along but I still wanted a completely new era going forward. But unfortunately it was Discovery that frankly sucked in any time period. Hopefully the new show will make this a more exciting era because Star Trek needs to do new things and new ideas. It can’t just be fighting the Klingons or Borg all the time.
For sire, but even though we seem to be aching for them to do something bolder and keep up this world-building in the 32nd century, it’s been frustrating to not really know anything about what has happened with the other races, including the Borg and the Klingons. We know the Breen are an Imperium now. Woo.
I thought these are two of the most satisfying, hopeful episodes of Discovery in terms of causal fan accessibility and potential rewatchability. This really feels like, “Start here!”
Saw them both with the audience organized by Paramount and NYC Away Team – fun despite complete downpours for the hours approaching the screening. Radiant SMG, Wilson Cruz and one of the season’s directors was there – so hopefully they got the idea that we liked this a whole lot.
In the season trailer it looks to me like they’re inside the sickbay from Pike’s Enterprise.
It is the snw enterprise sickbay set and a snw style constitution class is seen in the trailer inside a greenish colored nebula looks to have the registry number 1701 and the name enterprise on it and lots of hull damage to the saucer edge
Cool. I’m curious to see how it’ll work.
I imagine the episode will tie into Calypso and explain why to Zora it felt as if her crew had abandoned her for a thousand years. Maybe time moves differently in different parts of the nebula.
Could it be that they go back in time to the mirror universe 23rd century, but then have to go through an ion storm to do a shift or something and evacuate the ship, so they wind up back in ‘our’ 23rd century while leaving the ship someplace or somewhen to be CALYPSO’d later? Maybe they wind up in another quadrant so as to not be able to influence anything that happens as we know it in century 23 (not that that stopped TPTB from messing with all that already, given DSC s1/s2.)
I really hope this does not involve time travel. I’ve seen people bring up the Mirror Universe, but I totally missed any references to it in the trailer.
If both are involved, the only justification I see for it is to bring back Prime Universe Lorca.
OK, I don’t know what’s going on, but where the hell is The Ready Room? It seems to have disappeared from Amazon Prime (which is where I watch my Paramount+ subscription).
And I’m not just talking about no RR for the Disco fifth season season premiere and episode two… I mean that ALL of the Ready Room episodes from all of the other series and seasons have vanished from Amazon Prime.
Is it just me, or has anybody else also noticed this?
They moved it to startrek.com
You can always just find it on YouTube. That’s where I always watch it.
Better. But I think that can be chalked up to Rayner. Which means I can expect something awful to happen to him before the season runs out.
But… As I noticed in the first episode they are still clinging to that ridiculous habit of having conversations at the most inappropriate moments. I guess that’s their schtick so it’s not going to stop.
Debris hits Burnham while she floats in space. Burnham says a funny line….
Yeah…. Thats Star Trek Discovery.
Bad Style over substance.
It is a shame, that a show that diverse is written as poorly, generic and infantile as a saturday morning Cartoon.
While I am not usually the person to defend Discovery, I would also like to point out ST TAS was a Saturday Morning Cartoon and these days is as much of canon and the back story of Trek as anything else.
Lol .. TAS at least hast twice the charm and lucien and a giant spock.
I don’t denie Discovery status as canon. I am just schocked how about its quality.
So much to unpack here!
First, loved the first 2 eps. I was totally wrong about what I thought was going to happen but that is nothing new lol. But the Chase has me very excited.
I’m wondering if there will be a vague reference to Spock mentioning the Preservers in TOS’ Paradise ep. I know it’s not canon that the Preservers are the same as the Progenitors (or even exist) but IMO it would be a cool call back.
A device that can create life sounds a lot like Genesis to me except maybe the Progenitors succeeded where Carol and David failed??
watched it first in german version, which is quite awful. rewatched it in the original – far better. the german voice of burnham in particular has an enervating quality that sometimes makes it hard to take the character seriously. quite different in the original. you should always watch it in the original;)
rayner is great! great addition to the show.
Hört hört…
:)
I’d say something about my opinion on the 2 episodes but Laurie and Anthony on the last podcast said that we shouldn’t say bad things about Discovery in the comments. Discovery is fragile and needs censorship to protect it. Our opinions are unwanted. Resistance is futile.
They didn’t say that. They were talking about people who just come to rag on the show but never even watches it. They have no problem with people who actually watches it but still think it’s bad.
I hope I’m allowed an opinion after watching the previous 4 seasons. In my view, the show ends with third season. Afterwards, everything just feeling off for me. The fourth whole season could had easily (with many minutes to spare) be contained in a 2-part episode, the story was stretched beyond belief. Same thing seems to be happening with season 5, they just got an arc from TNG and will make a season out of it. 0 (zero) skills on new story generation and new ideas. I’m not a fan of that type of storytelling. I might get to watch this last season, much later, when I’ll stop thinking about the series lost potential and got nothing better to do.
The stone tablet segment really had some fun classic treasure story elements. I liked the National Treasure invisible ink on the back of the Declaration clue reference with Saru reading the residual bacteria traces. And the Romulan poem reveal mimicking the Indiana Jones Raiders Staff of Ra head piece reference with key information broken up into two parts ie “and take back one kadam…” And the bad guys only have the first part…(“They’re digging in the wrong place!”)
I’m a bit surprised by the somewhat muted response to the first two episodes. Not in the enthusiasm for them but in the number of original posts and responses.
Same. Someone else brought it up in the other review thread. You would think after 2 years and the shows final season there would be a lot more interest.
First episode of Picard last season got over 600 posts a year ago. I get Discovery is not Picard but this is very low in general.
It will be interesting to see where it lands when the streaming numbers come in.
It would be nice to see them break into the top 10 like SNW and Picard, but I am not expecting that to happen. Hopefully they can surprise me.
Yeah, I for one actually forgot that the S5 premiere was this week. Sadly, that is a function of my less than enthusiasm for the show overall. That said, I, of course, did watch both episodes by Saturday morning and I was pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic for the final season and I am looking forward to next week. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum.
It might be indicative of why the show was cancelled after 5 seasons.
The lack of interest is telling to me. Beyond that, I thought about writing a long comment going through everything but …. I just feel like I would be repeating the same criticisms that I’ve had about the show for a LOOOOOONNNNNGG time. And if people like this, more power to them and I don’t want to step on their excitement for it.
I’ll just say this. I found these episodes incredibly generic. It throws in some references to Trek lore but if you were annoyed by the way Discovery handled its characters and told its story in the first four seasons, nothing has changed. The same character melodrama where everyone is related to somebody or has (inappropriate) personal things going on during a crisis of galactic importance.
I’m thinking the same. Two premiere episodes for a show that’s ending after this season and hardly anyone seems to care.
I’m thinking the viewings have dropped like a stone.
I did like the episodes more than you did but certainly see your point., especially all the melodrama stuff. Sigh
We’ll see if any of the ratings outlets have data on how well it has done. Until then, I don’t want to speculate negatively based on something so circumstantial when it could just be down to interest in TM’s comment section in particular.
Of course you’re right but I been theorizing Discovery has already been losing viewers since season 4. I don’t believe it was just cancelled because it was getting too expensive but that a lot of people were just dropping out as well.
Possible. But then why buy it back from Netflix internationally if it’s not doing well overseas at least? Doesn’t mean season 4 didn’t underperform and they got buyer’s remorse, but weren’t there a lot of markets that little stunt deprived of seeing the show for months because Paramount+’s international rollout was so slow?
They relaxed things a bit to just have some fun, which does a world of good – the dour tone of seasons 3-4 was hard to take.
The melodrama is still awkward. They rarely find a way to discuss character development that doesn’t feel shoehorned and staged. The setup for seeing Gray next week, for instance, and Burnham taking time out of a life or death situation to argue with Saru over whether he was the best person to distract the drones, when clearly he was. You could argue because Burnham clearly likes to do it all, that’s in character, but belaboring it by having her waste time with a clumsy argument isn’t my favorite way they could have gone about that.
Book conveniently knowing Moll I’m not holding out a ton of hope for, but they’ve at least explored his loneliness so there’s a foundation for something there.
The show finally seems to be embracing Star Trek’s legacy instead of attempting to reinterpret it. They figured it out too late.
Not too shabby. Saru and Michael quipping while under attack by a Promellian booby trap with Tilly, Adira and Rayner problem-solving was urgent and fun. Rayner’s inclusion is only a good thing. I am a sucker of a quest story arc, so keep the puzzle pieces coming.
Definitely still a little clunky with how character development is handled. Culber immediately tries to extract Book’s inner feelings, Tilly, Adira and Burnham announce their state of mind in a way that doesn’t quite feel natural. But Rayner’s last scene works nicely.
I hope that with five puzzle pieces, the next four episodes don’t all follow the same formula as the second. This one was pretty good, but let’s not do it every time.
I liked this episode much better than the first one! This one felt as if everything worked together, without having action set pieces shoehorned in just to up the “action” quotient.
A lot of times in the past, it has felt as if Discovery was having people talk about their feelings when they should have been focusing on the mission. I thought it was a brilliant idea in the current episode to have Burnham and Saru need to transport in a considerable distance from their goal, so there would be time for them to talk about their leave-taking without its feeling out of place. We’ve got a long, dull walk, so we might as well use the time to say how much we’ll miss each other. That really worked for me.
Loved Burnham and Saru touching their heads together during their good bye. How DO you show affection to someone who’s a foot and a half taller than you, without it seeming as if you’re a child to a parent?