REVIEW || Star Trek: Discovery 1x08 and 1x09

I had considered not doing this blog post. I have done weekly reviews for every episode of Star Trek: Discovery since the first two-parter became available on Netflix. I've spoken at length about what I like about this series and also what I have not liked about it. With the last two episodes of Discovery, I have seriously begun to question this series. I was in Spain a fortnight ago and so I missed the penultimate episode of the mid-season break. When I got home, I had a double-bill of the latest two episodes and I can honestly say, neither of them impressed me. 

I had seen gifs floating around Twitter about bits that happened in the mid-season finale. Nothing that was an overt spoiler, thankfully. The spoilers were thankfully reserved until after I had watched the mid-season finale. Still, spoiler alert, people. It amazes me that, even now, people still haven't grasped that they are spoiling things for others when they blab on social media. 

So, without further adieu, let's get into the review aspect of this post.

1x08: SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM

I don't know about you but I don't know latin beyond 'carpe diem'. I have no idea what this title means and to be honest, I have no desire to know what it means. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the titles for Star Trek: Discovery, to me, have been somewhat convoluted. I found this episode wholly forgettable. Even now, I couldn't even tell you what happened in it beyond Saru being weird and Admiral Cornwell getting a hammering. That just goes to show you how invested I was in this episode. So, according to Wikipedia, the synopsis of this episode is...

Coming to the aid of another Federation ship, the Discovery is unable to prevent its destruction from a Klingon ship with their cloaking technology. Desperate for a way to detect these ships even when they are cloaked, Burnham, Tyler, and Saru are sent to Pahvo, a seemingly uninhabited planet with a naturally occurring crystalline transmitter that broadcasts the planet's vibrational frequency into space. They hope to use the transmitter to create a sonar for the hidden Klingon ships. They discover that Pahvo is inhabited with indigenous life that introduce Saru to their higher understanding of peace, and he attempts to force Burnham and Tyler to remain with him on the planet forever. Burnham is able to fight off Saru and broadcast the new signal. However, the Pahvo lifeforms adjust the signal to contact the Klingons as well, hoping to end the war. Kol receives the signal, after sentencing L'Rell to death: she had tried to help Cornwell escape in exchange for protection from Kol, leading to L'Rell apparently killing Cornwell to try save face with Kol.

While watching this, I found the idea of sonar to detect cloaked Klingon ships to be interesting. It seems like something that they should've already thought of. I always believed that Star Trek sensors had an element of sonar in them. I guess I was wrong. I definitely found it intriguing but the storyline surrounding it was not so captivating. With the episodes of the first half of season one and the Desperate Hours novel, I have finally come to the conclusion that I do not like Saru. I found him entertaining at the very start but he has continued to get on my nerves. In this episode, he sealed the deal as being my most disliked character. I don't care for his character. I know that I wouldn't care if anything happened to him. I can't really remember anything else about what happened on Pahvo.

The visuals for Pahvo were incredible. If there is one thing about Discovery that has consistently wowed me, it has been the special effects. They are simply superb.

The one thing that I did enjoy in this episode was Admiral Cornwell's appearance. I had found it interesting that there was such a gap between her abduction and then the writers returning to her. I had been curious about L'Rell for the past few episodes and when she said that she would question Cornwell, I braced myself for Cornwell's sake. Cornwell fascinates me. I want to know more about her and since she's alive, I'm very happy. I loved how L'Rell made the guards believe that she was torturing Cornwell when she just wanted to talk. I breathed a sigh of relief. But that scene where L'Rell and Cornwell really fight, I loved it! Cornwell really held her her own against a Klingon, that is, up until L'Rell played dirty and nearly broke her back. That held my interest into the next episode where I knew a rescue attempt would be happening thanks to Twitter. Besides, I wanted to know if she was going to be okay and if Kol would discover L'Rell's subterfuge. 

1x09: INTO THE FOREST I GO

Lorca is ordered to flee before the Klingons arrive, but disobeys orders to protect the lifeforms on Pahvo and their chances of detecting the cloaked ships. When the Klingons arrive, Tyler and Burnham transport to their ship and plant sensors that will help create an algorithm for detecting the cloaked ships. They find an alive Cornwell hidden with L'Rell, but encountering the latter sends Tyler into shock due to PTSD from her torturing and raping him. Lorca has Stamets make 133 micro-jumps in order to provide a three-dimensional reading of the sensors, while Burnham distracts Kol by challenging him to a fight. The jumps are completed, though not without trauma to Stamets. When the algorithm is calculated, Burnham, Tyler, Cornwell, and L'Rell (who wishes to defect) are transported back to the Discovery and the Klingon ship is destroyed. Stamets volunteers to make one more jump to safety, but tells Lorca it will be his last. However, Lorca changes the coordinates and they jump to an unknown destination surrounded by debris from Klingon ships.

There were two things that I liked about this episode; the micro-jumps and Cornwell. I loved the visual effect of the Discovery jumping here, there and everywhere around the cloaked Klingon ship. The special effects of Discovery jumping so frequently were spectacular. I adore the whole concept of how the ship jumps and how it appears to spin like a coin being flipped. It looks incredible and makes such an impact on the viewer. It's fantastic.

Cornwell, again, was the best thing in this episode. I loved how Burnham and Tyler found her and L'Rell. I liked how she attempted to keep Tyler focused and coherent by addressing the soldier side of him. She definitely appears to have a psychiatric background - I read on Memory Alpha that the show-runners revealed that she is trained in psychology and is evaluating Lorca, which definitely fits in with what happened in 'Lethe'.

Cornwell impresses me because she definitely seems able to hold her own, even with a spinal injury. I loved that she was able to fend off two full-size Klingons with a phaser pistol and talking Tyler down all while being unable to move and essentially a sitting duck. I hope to see more of her once she's up and about again. I think that she is my favourite female character on Discovery. It's not just because her name is so similar to Kathryn Janeway from Voyager. Katrina. Kathryn. Kat. Kath. It's not that much of a stretch. Moving on...

I know I have said it a couple of times before but I am really fed up of the Klingons speaking solely in Klingon. I get it. I understand why they're doing it. I get it. But I'm sick of having to have my eyes glued to the screen. I like to putter around and do a few menial things while watching television; I like to check other tabs on my laptop, put clothes away and tidy up a little bit as I watch TV. Discovery does not allow me that freedom because I can't understand what the Klingons are saying. So, if I putter around for 2 minutes and the scene changes to a Klingon one, I have to rewind it to the beginning of the scene. I'm over it. It was fun at first but now, it's no longer fun. The actors do an amazing job and I appreciate the hours that they've put in to learn and speak and act Klingon but for me, it's just not working anymore.

Another thing that's not working for me is Tyler and Burnham's relationship. It just doesn't seem natural to me. I can't explain exactly why that is for me but it just isn't gelling with me. I personally ship Lorca and Cornwell more than I do Tyler and Burnham. 

One thing that I absolutely despised about this episode was Tyler's PTSD flashbacks. Yes, I understand that it happens and that it shouldn't be hidden. Deep Space Nine touched at PTSD, and Discovery would undoubtedly be no stranger to PTSD with the Battle of the Binary Stars and Klingon incarceration and interrogation. I'm not saying that I hated that storyline. I appreciate Tyler's PTSD. I understand it. What I hated about the flashbacks was that Tyler's rape was actually shown. I got the concept from what Tyler was disclosing to Burnham. I got it. I understood that that was what he was getting at. I understood that that happened. I just did not need to see it. I could handle the vague torture flashes but what I could not tolerate was actually seeing L'Rell astride Tyler, gyrating, where their bodies connected and ultimately seeing her release from above where I subsequently saw her naked breasts. I could be pedantic and say that Mary Chieffo wasn't naked because it was all prosthetics but for the species, she was naked and Star Trek went down that route that I feared it would after the whole, "fucking cool" fiasco a few weeks ago. It actually had a sex scene. 

Not really "End of debate".

As a consequence of this, I am really having to consider whether or not I want to continue watching Star Trek: Discovery because to me, this is not Star Trek. It may have the name of Star Trek and it may be set on a ship in space under the flag of Starfleet, but this is not Star Trek and I'm not happy with it. I understand that Discovery has to compete with what audiences want these days, but this member of that audience does not want this. I'm fed up with all of the gratuitous sex and cursing on television. It isn't necessary. Sex and cursing were never necessary before in Star Trek. Sex appeal, yes, that was rife in it, but sex itself was never a factor. The occasional make-out session for characters, sure. Nemesis went on towards that but never crossed the line. Discovery keeps crossing the line for me. What makes Discovery so special that it was granted such permission? 

I really have to do some soul-searching between now and January when the second half of the first season will be aired about whether or not I want to continue watching it. I know that I love Lorca and Cornwell and want to know more about them but is that really enough to keep watching? I'm not even concerned about this unknown location where they've found themselves. I may be intrigued enough to binge watch it in several months time just to find out what happened but there is no excitement from week to week to watch the next episode. It's such a shame... We'll see what happens. 

** All gifs used in this post are from Tumblr.