Star Trek: Discovery - Season 4 (With Spoilers)

[HumanXeroxMachine]

Welcome to the idiocy that is...Discovery.

Do what I did. Quit after season one and pretend it doesn't exist. Discovery is garbage and will melt your brain into cheese.

[Mabus]

You're right. Season 2 of Picard is coming up next week. Need to prepare for that.

[McAvoy]

Mabus,

I think for the rule of thumb for you is that you are not exactly biased to Discovery.

The breakdowns you do really could be done to any Trek episode.

Are you just gonna throw blanket statements to appear like you've said something clever?

And no, my nitpicking can't be applied to every single Trek episode, since most aren't stupid every 5 minutes, even the really awful ones. I'd have to really force myself to come up with something most of the time.

Also, way back in season 1 they specifically mentioned that the mycelial network expands throughout the entire universe and beyond. And yet now, because the plot demands so, the mycelial network ends at end of the galaxy. This is a perfect example of completely changing the plot to fit the story.

Yeah OK. I am saying stuff to look clever. There is a ton of inconsistencies in Trek before Discovery. Turning at warp? Transporting through shields? The actual speed of warp?

There is reason why such sites like Bernd's Ex Scientia exists.

Yes I could go through an episode like you do with a fine comb.

Does Discovery have its issues? Yes. Without a doubt. But to do a bitchfest doing a minute by minute breakdown on how much you hate it reflects you. Not the show. Am I still sounding clever yet?

[Thebestoftherest]

HEy does discovery still use the word salad approach of voyager?

[Deledrius]

Hey does discovery still use the word salad approach of voyager?

Not as much, though I felt there was an example of it this week. They tend to lean more on logic salad to advance the plot, though. It's the one major remaining frustration I have with the show.

[Thebestoftherest]

Thank you.

[Deledrius]

Hey does discovery still use the word salad approach of voyager?

You'll be glad to know this week's episode contains the wonderful brilliance embodied in the line "It's good to know that the laws of physics still apply outside of our Galaxy!".

Or maybe you won't. I know I personally facepalmed very hard.

I'm not sure what the writers on this show think a galaxy is, as I have a hard time even imagining what would make this line make sense, unless they believe each galaxy is a pocket universe or something. But that would be profoundly ignorant, and I don't want to make that assumption.

[Mabus]

Episode 11:
-Oh, so they remembered captain's log... OK, maybe this episode has a chance...
-"It was a gas giant until a series of massive asteroids hit and burned the gas away" ...I stand corrected
-Oh, nice Dyson "rings" around the star, though they look more like a rubber bands. No doubt they'll play no role in the story and will just be forgotten. Mainly cause the show's budget was already spent on space bubbles.
-Ah, the slowmo shot of the only Discovery characters that had more than 5 minutes of dialogue in the entire series, now shit just got real...
-"I have to be right!" Whoa, our Lord and Savior Michael Burnham just threatened the writers to make sure she wins again!
-Wait, hold on, how Booker get through the extremely dangerous Galactic barrier without a scratch or undetected? Oh well, I guess it's super easy, barely an inconvenience.
-And why does Booker not cloak his ship if he's that close to Discovery? I doubt that simple asteroid could block him.
-"Maybe if we stay cloaked" But... you aren't cloaked... also, what's with the dialogue between Booker and Tarka? There's something wrong with the scene, it's like each actor said their lines alone without interacting with the other actor and then the scenes were just edited together. There are like 20 cuts of each actor individually and lots of offscreen dialogue, like it was dubbed after. There are only like a few scenes where the two actors are together in the same shot. Did they had each actor say their lines alone and then the audio was added in post? I noticed that the editing in the show is really awful, does Paramount only allow the editors a single night to finish the film?
-"Madam president, I am the main character, so in the spirit of Trek, I must go down on the planet with my Number One, it's the law!"
-"Ha ha, I have more lines on dialogue in two episodes than most of you had in 4 seasons! Suck it!"
-Oh no, the Earth general is suddenly worried... anyway...
-Did the away team really beamed away while standing with their backs at the Federation delegation? Lmao, this is amazing, 10/10, what is there let to discuss?
-"It's good to know that the laws of physics still apply outside of our galaxy" ...while the planet's ionosphere is full of floating rocks...
-Ah yes, let's make everything grainy, that way we'll spend even less money on special effects.
-And yet again it's super-easy to beam on the Discovery...
-Ah, a graveyard of giants, who floated on gas giants... against winds of 1000 km/h... and somehow weren't atomized by impacts that stripped away an ENTIRE GAS GIANT!
-More feelings!
-So what is purpose of the character of Dr. Hirai? To be a convenient strawman?
-What's the mystery behind the screaming hallucinations? Well, I too fell the same when I'm watching the show.
-This episode, it's... spins wheel... Detmer that people think about!
-The suits can't block unknown harmful compounds? Compounds that somehow can breach through biohazard suits? And the suit can't measure the compound's properties? Like scan the dust? Oh right, I forgot: sensors aren't a thing in Star Trek anymore. My bad.
-"PTSD therapy came in handy" Really? When was that? When you piloted Booker's ship to destroy the Death Star guns?
-Ahahahahahahahahaha, wow, after all that's happened, Discovery still doesn't have proper internal security, wow, I'm impressed.
-Ah, so they're bringing in Ndoye to the side plot, OK, this might work if the writers don't screw up. I'm OK with it, really, I'm OK with it. It does shake things up a bit... on the third-to-last episode of the season...
-"They're taking care of their children, meaning... they care about their children" NO SHIT SHERLOCK! YOU DON'T SAY You know who else takes care of their children? Predators!
-"They value life" NO! They value THEIR life, not all life! Ahahahahahahaha! WTF, are they really pulling a "they love their children so they can't be evil" trope?
-"Cultural context" NO! Parental instinct is a hard-wired biological instinct! One of the most basic instincts out there! It's genetic!
-OK, hold on, what am I even watching? They're... getting high with dead baby dust? Are they getting high on... feelings? Yup, we have reached peak Discovery! Now they can literally get exposed to feelings!
-So this week, it's Detmer's time to have a tragic backstory!
-Ah yes, Reno can somehow smell people in engineering somehow
-And of course, the Rosetta stone was found when the first European traveled to Egypt
-Species 10-C created their own super-bubble safe space because they just died off? What?
-Shut up Detmer, don't question the episode's plot, you might be the next to leave the show. No! Saru, don't! You too will be removed!
-"We sent DOTs down to the planet's surface to scan for more of the hydrocarbons" ... you send people first in a hazardous area, and only then you send robots/probes? What the fuck actual fuck! Ahahahahahahaha! And only now you're doing analyses of the compounds? Wow!
-"Every time I appear on screen I have to act like an asshole, because that's my hat!"
-"It was good to see her" Lmao, Booker now has X-ray vision. It was clear that he didn't activate his hologram spying screen, so how did he see Burnham? He probably couldn't even hear her. Guess the VFX team forgot to add a hologram when Booker touched the wall.
-OK, I'm not gonna lie, that ending with Tarka holding Reno in a forcefield brig was pretty amusing and interesting.

So yeah, feelings! Discovery has reached a new peak, now feelings are being used to make first contact. There are two plots in the show now: the "feelings" A plot, which is mostly cringey with the occasional "so bad it's hilarious" moments and the Booker/Tarka B plot, which despite some flaws, is a lot more interesting, but mostly because something is happening, and it's (mostly) not cringey.

I also find it amusing that after 4 seasons, the writers decided that the most interesting plot should be given not to some of the characters that have been on the show for the last 5 years, but rather to a character that was only introduced in the previous season and a recurring character than was only introduced 6 episodes ago. And instead the bridge bunnies are be given a few stupid character moments, essentially breadcrumbs.

[Deledrius]

That was really good. Everything comes together so well this week, it almost makes me forget (and at least, no longer care) about the iffy pacing. Can't wait for this to wrap up. I hope they manage to win out, but it's going to be close.

I'm struck by the idea that this episode (technically, the season) is an attempt to combine Silicon Avatar with The Voyage Home's framing conflict and do it better. I'm 100% on board with that idea.

Incidentally, my guess that this is somehow related to the Whale Probe continues to remain a possibility.

I am enjoying seeing a Star Trek show really grapple with alien ideas, even if they are rushing the science a bit for the sake of entertainment. This was a lot of fun, and the sabotage element feels earned and valid, too.

[Mabus]

Episode 12:
-Close-up of the main characters' eyes! Probably how the producers understand the concept of "close look at the characters"
-Why are they so shocked at the size of the Tattoo bubble? Ent-D already encountered a Dyson sphere not that far from Earth's solar system, and surely they would have known about it when they updated their knowledge of the previous 900 years of exploration
-"Logically speaking, if Species 10-C wanted to respond, they would have done so already" And you're certain that your signal has penetrated the alien bubble how exactly? You said it yourself in one of the previous episode, the bubble blocks all EM radiation and almost everything else.
-You're gonna spray "We come in peace" chemicals on the surface of the alien bubble...? And somehow the aliens will know about it...? You said it yourself a few minutes ago... the alien field is 3 AU in diameter! That's like pissing in the English Channel and thinking that it will draw the sharks from Tahiti!
-Is having Dr. Hirai eat all the time the only character trait the writers could have given to him, apart from conveniently being an ass?
-"Any changes?" After 5 seconds? Wait like 5 minutes at least...?
-More space tentacles
-"So how can we keep our budget low? Why, just block the windows with some random blur light. Genius!"
-Wait, how does putting chewing gum on two combadges turn it into a PADD/hologram?
-Talking about the ships's feeling... again...
-How convenient that the aliens still allow Discovery to use their transporters inside the ship... oh right, it's so that Discovery can beam a "gift" to the aliens.
-"You share a name with someone, that's not confusing at all" Reno would be excellent at SinemaCins
-Ah, so "Cleveland Booker" is like "Dread Pirate Roberts", just a bullshit name, only here it's just bullshit since it has no role in the story
-Oh really, they're ripping off Arrival now? With the whole multi-limb mist aliens that communicate in an exotic way and share all of their thoughts at once?
-And speaking of that movie, at least there they had literally an entire team of people that worked on the language, and Banks was the head of said team, here it's just Michael Burnham and Munchin Guy... Why the fuck didn't they send an entire team of linguistics? Oh right, because Our Lord and Savior Michael Burnham has to once again save the day.
-Oh really? They're asking the help of the Bridge Bunnies now? I guess fuck experts, we need poorly developed characters. If they haven't been developed until now, why not start at this moment? Better late than never I guess...
-The chemist in me died when he saw that bullshit about light signals matching the molecule structure... that form of molecular structure is how we generally portray molecules and is about as accurate as comparing atoms with their electrons to planets orbiting a star; a realistic portrayal of a chemical molecule, especially a big one, like the one from the hologram, would be very different... why would a very alien species that barely has anything in common with us use a similar wrong portrayal of a chemical structure? And do the aliens assume that everyone in the universe communicate using an electron microscope?
-Oh now, the clearly untrustworthy guy is... untrustworthy... he's gonna kill us all with his plan...
-And the very alien species' language somehow can be converted into Latin alphabet, thank God they don't use pictographs like 1/4 of our human population does. And why would they even bother with nonsense Lincos-like language, that's a system WE developed because that's the best we can do with out current science, if a better system would be developed, we would switch to that... and the super-advanced civilization would no doubt use a different system, maybe even non-liniar;
-"I love math" Everyone loves something they don't understand
-Well that's one way of throwing away a decent plot line... I'm not talking about Booker being tossed away though...
-Ah yes... comedy... because yelling is funny...
-Wow... that is by far the laziest way of saving money... the hyperadvanced aliens decided to replicate the Discovery bridge... because I guess everyone will be comfortable and no one will ever be creeped out by that...
-... or maybe the aliens are asking you if you know anything about it, who used it, if so, why, you're being asked what's the deal with the weapon?
-Another visual goof, at 43:00, when Saru is on the right side of T'Rina, the image is slightly warped, I guess they must have forgotten to correct the visual distorsion
-How convenient for that pillar to materialize on the fake Discovery bridge so that Saru doesn't hold the orb in his arms and can button on it...
-"Great sadness" could also mean "Oops" or "Sorry not sorry" or "Thoughts and prayers", doesn't necessarily mean that they've realized they're causing destruction
-"That's the source of what I've been feeling" Just how shitty have sensors become 1000 years into the future that they can't pinpoint a sensor anomaly?
-Dramatic camera spinning! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Amazing and amusing. Earth is about to get annihilated, and despite having a few days to prepare, instead of sending a whole team of diplomats and xenolinguistics, Starfleet sends only Burnham and that guy who keeps eating, oh and the nameless bridge crew, who are now competent enough to help with a very complicated dilemma. It would have made more sense had Discovery been pulled into the alien bubble when the first DMA was destroyed, that way it would have made more sense why they went in so poorly prepared.

And the whole Arrival-like mist aliens is so damn ridiculous, at least in that film the aliens eventually get seen nearly fully, here it's just cheap CGI mist that never gets clear, and while that can work if done properly (which here it wasn't), in order to save budget the writers just decide to cover the windows in blur light so they don't have to show gas giant alien superstructures. It's just cheap mystery that feels so generic.

Also, how are these aliens incapable of stopping Booker's ship from just running away, the Voth were able to completely block Voyager and even transported the ship inside their own ship, here the aliens just leave Book's ship to get away after essentially attacking them. They have teleportation, since they beamed the away team back, but I guess, yet again, the plot has to happen, so competence is yet again forgotten.