Star Trek: Discovery - Season 4 (With Spoilers)

[CharlesPhipps]

You are welcome to your opinion but that is obvious bait.

I'm not sure there's bait in saying, "Streaming Star Trek - Still Going Strong" despite the constant hatedom.

[Worffan101]

So did this garbage show get any less garbage?

Honestly surprised it got renewed considering how much better Halo is doing in the reviews. Maybe Kurtzfuckwit really does know where the bodies are buried.

I mean, everyone agrees Season 3 is awesome. Because it is.

But I'm not sure how, "Does better than anything but Halo" is something to be worried about, especially since Halo drops the same night as Star Trek so everyone just watches Halo THEN Star Trek.

Also, guess what, everyone is hating on NuHalo as much as they did Star Trek.

You are welcome to your opinion but that is obvious bait.

Probably best to put that troll on ignore like I did years ago.

[clearspira]

You are welcome to your opinion but that is obvious bait.

I'm not sure there's bait in saying, "Streaming Star Trek - Still Going Strong" despite the constant hatedom.

That's not what you said. And you know full well that's not what you said which is why you cropped it.

[CharlesPhipps]

That's not what you said. And you know full well that's not what you said which is why you cropped it.

No, I said Season 3 was fucking awesome and I don't think anyone can be taken seriously who doesn't like it.

What are you referring to?

[Deledrius]

So did this garbage show get any less garbage?

Yeah, it does. Seasons 3 and 4 were a huge improvement. They have massive pacing issues and are still hastily writing their arcs from back to front, but the tone and morality of the show isn't all twisted up anymore, and for me that goes a long way. They've added some great new recurring cast, too, for the two most recent seasons.

The most important change for Season 4 (as much as I don't feel it was sufficiently earned) is that they finally stopped trying to write stories around a main character with an artificially inflated galactic importance; that conceit frequently put the main character in conflict with authority in a way that was often irreconcilable with the story beats and character arcs they wanted to tell. Now that she is an authority in the structure of the show, they don't have to knot themselves up about it and it greatly simplifies their already-strained ability to tell a prolonged story over the course of the season. It's a concept that never really worked outside of The Mutineer versus The Imposter Captain dynamic in Season 1 (and that season was a giant mess for other reasons).

So, yeah, as someone who was highly disappointed in Season 1, and disappointed by the lack of satisfying resolution in Season 2, I can say that in my opinion not only is the show less garbage now, it's actually not garbage at all. It has its share of weak moments, but it's no longer remotely anything that I would call garbage. There is a genuine effort being made to tell something positive with Discovery, and that's the sort of thing that goes a long way with me.

[Worffan101]

So did this garbage show get any less garbage?

Yeah, it does. Seasons 3 and 4 were a huge improvement. They have massive pacing issues and are still hastily writing their arcs from back to front, but the tone and morality of the show isn't all twisted up anymore, and for me that goes a long way. They've added some great new recurring cast, too, for the two most recent seasons.

The most important change for Season 4 (as much as I don't feel it was sufficiently earned) is that they finally stopped trying to write stories around a main character with an artificially inflated galactic importance; that conceit frequently put the main character in conflict with authority in a way that was often irreconcilable with the story beats and character arcs they wanted to tell. Now that she is an authority in the structure of the show, they don't have to knot themselves up about it and it greatly simplifies their already-strained ability to tell a prolonged story over the course of the season. It's a concept that never really worked outside of The Mutineer versus The Imposter Captain dynamic in Season 1 (and that season was a giant mess for other reasons).

So, yeah, as someone who was highly disappointed in Season 1, and disappointed by the lack of satisfying resolution in Season 2, I can say that in my opinion not only is the show less garbage now, it's actually not garbage at all. It has its share of weak moments, but it's no longer remotely anything that I would call garbage. There is a genuine effort being made to tell something positive with Discovery, and that's the sort of thing that goes a long way with me.

So basically it's ENT season 3, but with a different main character I hate.

Sounds like a huge improvement, but to take 4 seasons to get to "mediocre"?

I think I'll pass. Besides, I heard that some Human manages to survive with a Trill symbiote by "getting in touch with their new Trill half", which makes me want to shoot myself in the head just hearing it.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ironically, Season 4 is when I just stopped caring.

Tilly and Saru get sidelined for Michael and Michael is Captain.

She somehow became MORE irritating and I couldn't take seriously any argument where she attempted to assert authority, especially when she was needlessly hostile to the President of the Federation for no reason (and that came across as anti-democratic).

A lot of people love Season 4 and think its the best one but it's just...boring to me. I rewatch Season 1 and season 2 episodes. 3 is just awesome.

4? 4 is just meh to me. They took out the reasons I watched the show.

[Frustration]

In any organization, a person who doesn't take to being a subordinate well is unlikely to be trusted with additional authority. The people 'above' them can't take for granted that the subordinate isn't going to do their own thing, and the people 'below' them can't take for granted that their superior isn't going to get them in trouble.

Kirk has this reputation as a wild cowboy who plays by his own rules, but mostly he follows the orders he's given. Even moreso with TNG Picard. They're not slaves to authority, but they're largely compliant with it - and they accept the consequences for defying the authorities they've sworn to obey.

[CharlesPhipps]

In any organization, a person who doesn't take to being a subordinate well is unlikely to be trusted with additional authority. The people 'above' them can't take for granted that the subordinate isn't going to do their own thing, and the people 'below' them can't take for granted that their superior isn't going to get them in trouble.

Kirk has this reputation as a wild cowboy who plays by his own rules, but mostly he follows the orders he's given. Even moreso with TNG Picard. They're not slaves to authority, but they're largely compliant with it - and they accept the consequences for defying the authorities they've sworn to obey.

Yeah, that's exactly why I don't think Michael being promoted to captain was a bad idea. It also made her LESS INTERESTING.

Because realizing she wasn't a good fit for Captain last season was a good arc.

[Deledrius]

Because realizing she wasn't a good fit for Captain last season was a good arc.

I thought that was an interesting direction to take her, and I thought (and still think) Saru is a better captain. But I give them credit for realizing they didn't now how to write around her being the main character yet not the captain and finally fixed that jagged part of the character dynamics by making it so they simply didn't have to.

I'm really hoping they find a better spot to put Saru (and Tilly) soon, because Saru is still the best and most experienced leader, and as much as I think Tilly's arc this season was an interesting role for her we didn't get to see enough of it on-screen. We could have skipped the episode passing through the barrier and had a "meanwhile, somewhere with Tilly" side story and it would have worked great, IMO. Show what was happening with her and her cadets as they reacted to the news of Earth's impending threat by the anomaly...