Star Trek: Discovery - Season 4 (With Spoilers)

[Deledrius]

That was a great ending, I more-or-less loved this season. Not perfect, but the ideas were making a great effort and most of the show's flaws were downplayed, obscured, or even fixed by the changes they've made. And it really helps to not have dire consequences for the forced moments. This was a good ending, and if the show had ended here it would have been a great spot to do it. I hope they can manage to top this next year, but it'll be hard. I'm so glad this show has come around to being a positive one; it still has tragedy in it but it doesn't consume the show's every moment and they can actually win sometimes without it being Burnham saving the day.

[Al-1701]

It did feel like a truly triumphant ending. And we did get to see the 10C in all their man-o-war glory.

I do wonder what they will do next season.

My one gripe: Tarka likely vaporized off screen. Too good for 'em, I say.

[Deledrius]

My one gripe: Tarka likely vaporized off screen. Too good for 'em, I say.

I didn't like him, but I did feel sorry for him. He was a miserable, smug, tragic character.

I do find it odd that they left his death ambiguous. For all we know, 10-C saved him too for questioning. His final expression seemed to imply a disappointed resignation that his device wouldn't work, so I doubt he made it out of the universe alive. In all likelihood he's dead, but the door's ever-so-slightly ajar if they want him back.

[Mabus]

So... why is the DMA only a problem in the year 3190? Why wasn't it a problem in the previous centuries? Or millennia? Sure, the galaxy is a big place, but someone would had to have seen the anomaly in some places. Hell, until the Burn, the Federation would have explored a good portion of the galaxy and surely they would have found evidence of something massive wrecking entire star systems. Did Species 10-C only switch to using the DMA to collect "moronite" in that very year? If so, what other power source did they use before? And why can't they use that anymore? They already had Dyson "rings" around stars, but apparently that wasn't enough. So what else did they use?

And speaking of said power, why did they surround themselves in that "hyperfield" thing in the first place? Was it to protect themselves from further magic asteroids that can somehow strip away the atmosphere of a gas giant but somehow leave large caverns intact? Or maybe they were afraid someone will invade them? Even though they're outside the galactic barrier where there are fewer stars and thus fewer aliens that could threaten them (Kelvans don't count since they don't matter anymore).

[Deledrius]

Good questions, and now that the season is over it's unlikely we'll get answers since they don't tend to revisit those kind of plot holes. We might get a show that spends an entire season answering them in thirty years though.

I do hope we get a background mention of the ongoing progress in building a relationship with 10-C. Now that they're able to have fully nuanced deep conversations with them it should move quickly.

[Al-1701]

It's possible they only moved their operations inside the galaxy recently after exhausting the regions closer to home (might also be why the thing was so big). We also don't know how long they've had the hyperfield up. It's probably something that will be left to the audience to speculate. We still don't know the nature of the people who sent the whale probe.

[Deledrius]

It's possible they only moved their operations inside the galaxy recently after exhausting the regions closer to home (might also be why the thing was so big). We also don't know how long they've had the hyperfield up. It's probably something that will be left to the audience to speculate. We still don't know the nature of the people who sent the whale probe.

I keep thinking these things are similar enough that they could be connected. If not, it does make me wonder if those who sent it are at least similar in nature. I don't need an explanation for the Whale Probe, and I'm generally tired of fiction that seeks to explain things that don't need explaining, but this story felt poised to connect the dots in a way that neither trivializes ST:IV nor makes it suddenly central to the entire universe. I think it could work well if that last mile is written thoughtfully.

[Mabus]

It's possible they only moved their operations inside the galaxy recently after exhausting the regions closer to home (might also be why the thing was so big). We also don't know how long they've had the hyperfield up. It's probably something that will be left to the audience to speculate. We still don't know the nature of the people who sent the whale probe.

The only explanation I could think of, as to why the 10-C hide inside the hyperfield and why they used a giant-ass anomaly to plough through the galaxy to mine for rare minerals, is that the Burn also reached them and damaged their civilization pretty badly. Since they had no idea what happened, they decided to create that hyperfield to protect themselves from any further incident (since the Federation couldn't scan inside the bubble, I'll assume it also blocks subspace effects), and since the Burn affected the subspace, the 10-C were unable to properly scan the galaxy, and assumed that everybody there died due to that incident, which is why they didn't bother to further check for any other lifeforms.

When that Kelpian kid that caused the Burn appeared at the beginning of the season, I assumed that he would play some role in this season's plot. Nope, they forgot about him, save for some off hand mentions.

[Deledrius]

That works pretty well. I like it!

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'll take franchises that aren't allowed to do prequels because of the fans for $600.