Star Trek Discovery: Season Three

[Mabus]

That scene with Detmer having a nervous breakdown and ranting at Stamets because... he just sits in a chair and plays with his mushroom? What? I get that they are all angry and all (I guess pot and other pain relievers aren't something the doctor could issue even though TOS never had that problem, because we need cheap drama!), but why single out Stamets of all people? The guy was in a coma with a metal piece in his chest when she DeannaTroi'd the ship. A ship that she flew to follow Burnham into the future, who was nowhere to be found when they exited the wormhole. There was no buildup to the rant. She had zero interaction with Stamets since the season started. If anything she should be angry at Burnham since she's responsible for them being in this mess. But I guess since the precious Michael Burnham can do no wrong (or at least long-lasting wrong), why get angry at her?
In fact, what Detmer said in her her rant, applies better to Burnham than to Stamets. Oh my God, I get it! Detmer was actually angry at Michael, but since no one is allowed to say anything against her, she just unloads her frustrations on the first random person that pops in her mind, in this case Stamets. Brilliant!

[Makeshift Python]

So, just got done with S3E5.

It must be tiring to follow a show purely just to hate-watch.

[cloudkitt]

So season 3 has been a large improvement so far, and this Burn thing was a well-played way to justify the use of the spore drive.

But why couldn't it have just all gone inert? "IT ALL ASPLODED!!11!1!" is such a "nuTrek" try too hard to maximize teh dramaz decision. You can say millions died all you want, but none of us have a reason to care about any of those people, they were all born over 800 years after anyone we know. And the Federation would still have collapsed without warp drive. AND you'd have the added story opportunities of hundreds of ships stranded in interstellar space, decades away from any other systems at impulse speeds (which could also let you mix in some relativistic speed time dilation if you wanted). But nope, screw story opportunities, we gotta put a big shiny death number up to show that we're *serious*.

Again, the season is good so far, and in the grand scheme of things this will probably be minor, and they could still do stories like this with ships that mysteriously didn't explode. It's just that it's a perfect example of the issues endemic to the new Trek series (and movies). They're so afraid of trusting themselves with a story that has stakes of anything less than MILLIONS DEAD.

[Link8909]

So season 3 has been a large improvement so far, and this Burn thing was a well-played way to justify the use of the spore drive.

But why couldn't it have just all gone inert? "IT ALL ASPLODED!!11!1!" is such a "nuTrek" try too hard to maximize teh dramaz decision. You can say millions died all you want, but none of us have a reason to care about any of those people, they were all born over 800 years after anyone we know. And the Federation would still have collapsed without warp drive. AND you'd have the added story opportunities of hundreds of ships stranded in interstellar space, decades away from any other systems at impulse speeds (which could also let you mix in some relativistic speed time dilation if you wanted). But nope, screw story opportunities, we gotta put a big shiny death number up to show that we're *serious*.

Again, the season is good so far, and in the grand scheme of things this will probably be minor, and they could still do stories like this with ships that mysteriously didn't explode. It's just that it's a perfect example of the issues endemic to the new Trek series (and movies). They're so afraid of trusting themselves with a story that has stakes of anything less than MILLIONS DEAD.

That's fair, while I like that season three is focusing more on the consequences of the Burn, you are right that they could have had the dilithium go inert instead of explode, and I do see how it's an artificial way of creating stakes, there is however still potential to have stories about ships stranded at sup-light speeds like Adira's generation ship, and as I said I like that we are seeing how other worlds like Earth and Trill were changed by the Burn and how the galaxy has adapted to it.

[Asvarduil]

So, just got done with S3E5.

It must be tiring to follow a show purely just to hate-watch.

If he's genuinely hate-watching, he'll probably burn out pretty soon. If he's in the closet about liking DISCO, he'll probably keep watching.

...And that's not an insult to him. He can like whatever he likes, I for one won't judge; it's neither my place nor my perogative. What I will say is that, if the only way he can discuss something he likes is with language couched in anger and disdain, it's clear that, to be blunt, they're lying to themself about their tastes, and maybe at a more fundamental level, about what they really believe, assuming they themselves know what they believe. Maybe they're just a lonely person who looks in on these wacky spacefaring leftists and - at great risk of being forcibly exiled from their far-right tribes - wants in on that action, on some level.

That's just one scenario of so many possible ones. People are weird, sometimes.

[Zargon]

It must be tiring to follow a show purely just to hate-watch.

I'm a nitpicker at heart and will always call out stuff.

[CharlesPhipps]

So season 3 has been a large improvement so far, and this Burn thing was a well-played way to justify the use of the spore drive.

But why couldn't it have just all gone inert? "IT ALL ASPLODED!!11!1!" is such a "nuTrek" try too hard to maximize teh dramaz decision.

Because if it all went inert, they would have quickly rebuilt. You need the nukes to drop for a Fallout-esque setting and that's what this is.

[Link8909]

So season 3 has been a large improvement so far, and this Burn thing was a well-played way to justify the use of the spore drive.

But why couldn't it have just all gone inert? "IT ALL ASPLODED!!11!1!" is such a "nuTrek" try too hard to maximize teh dramaz decision.

Because if it all went inert, they would have quickly rebuilt. You need the nukes to drop for a Fallout-esque setting and that's what this is.

Very true, Starfleet and other quadrant super-powers would have needed to loose a lot of their starships to truly create the scenario we see in season three.

[Link8909]

So, just got done with S3E5.

It must be tiring to follow a show purely just to hate-watch.

If he's genuinely hate-watching, he'll probably burn out pretty soon. If he's in the closet about liking DISCO, he'll probably keep watching.

...And that's not an insult to him. He can like whatever he likes, I for one won't judge; it's neither my place nor my perogative. What I will say is that, if the only way he can discuss something he likes is with language couched in anger and disdain, it's clear that, to be blunt, they're lying to themself about their tastes, and maybe at a more fundamental level, about what they really believe, assuming they themselves know what they believe. Maybe they're just a lonely person who looks in on these wacky spacefaring leftists and - at great risk of being forcibly exiled from their far-right tribes - wants in on that action, on some level.

That's just one scenario of so many possible ones. People are weird, sometimes.

Well said.

[Asvarduil]

That scene with Detmer having a nervous breakdown and ranting at Stamets because... he just sits in a chair and plays with his mushroom? What? I get that they are all angry and all (I guess pot and other pain relievers aren't something the doctor could issue even though TOS never had that problem, because we need cheap drama!), but why single out Stamets of all people? The guy was in a coma with a metal piece in his chest when she DeannaTroi'd the ship. A ship that she flew to follow Burnham into the future, who was nowhere to be found when they exited the wormhole. There was no buildup to the rant. She had zero interaction with Stamets since the season started. If anything she should be angry at Burnham since she's responsible for them being in this mess. But I guess since the precious Michael Burnham can do no wrong (or at least long-lasting wrong), why get angry at her?
In fact, what Detmer said in her her rant, applies better to Burnham than to Stamets. Oh my God, I get it! Detmer was actually angry at Michael, but since no one is allowed to say anything against her, she just unloads her frustrations on the first random person that pops in her mind, in this case Stamets. Brilliant!

So, as SF fans, we tend to overthink everything. Usually in SF, that's the right way to evaluate the work: there's tech that cancels out other tech, there's details that belie future plots and arcs.

Detmer's "little" freak-out isn't that. Detmer's freak-out is a human moment that's a product of stress, fear, relative isolation, jealousy at Stamets, ego (as she notes, pilots tend to be macho), and just all-around trauma.

Listening to her rant, she's been jealous of Stamets for his ability to "drive" the DASH across the galaxy while she has to stick to impulse or warp speeds. But all those other things are there, and her displacement to the 32nd century was basically the "straw" - more like an anvil - that broke the metaphorical camel's back.

She hasn't been OK since S3E2, and Culber is savvy enough to know it...but as the episode itself noted: people can only get help, when they're ready to accept it. She hasn't been ready, she's been trying to be the hotshot her pride demands her to be. It damn near broke her.

As to your theory that Detmer is angry at Michael, I'd say that once again my theory of "Fear of the Burnham Fastball Special" comes into play. Michael is, at a fundamental level, a loose cannon, whose "brilliant" ideas tend to spectacularly backfire. Saru getting her off the ship ASAP, especially before throwing the dinner, is probably going to develop into his go-to method of managing the pure chaos that is Science Commando Burnham.