Star Trek Discovery 2.05 – Saints of Imperfection

This encapsulates all the thing I don’t like about Star Trek:

A crew member has gone missing. Someone has come up with a crazy scheme to get them back. Never mind the ‘needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one’. The ship is going into uncharted territory with hand waving science. In they go, the ship is at risk immediately with a strangely accurate clock ticking down to their destruction.

The rescue team, with minutes to go indulge in a ‘chat’ to retrieve another ‘dead’ crew member.   Then, deus ex machina, there is another ship that can help. And after wandering around a bit they all successfully come home.

Star Trek Discovery 2.04 An Obol for Charon

A mysterious sphere takes Discovery out of warp while the ship was en route to intercept Spock’s trail that was given to him by Number One. The sphere locks Discovery in place. The fungal parasite latches on to Tilly during the chaos caused to the ship while in status.

This episode just seems so pointless. It’s like a throw-back to the original series where the enterprise encounters a menace battles it, only to find it’s not what it appeared to be.

The bug and Tilly was also weird, so much for conservation of mass, as the thing is both on her arm and then encloses her. Maybe she has gone for good.

It also looks really weird to have Captain Pike in an orange command uniform, walking with officers in more modern looking uniforms.

Star Trek Discovery 2.03 Point of Light

Amanda Grayson arrives onboard Discovery with a stolen copy of Spock’s medical records from the psychiatric facility he has voluntarily entered.

Captain Christopher Pike orders Commander Michael Burnham to decrypt the files. The files include Spock’s drawing of a “red angel”, an image he often drew as a child.

Klingon Chancellor L’Rell introduces Ash/Voq to the baby son she and Voq had together. Klingon House leader Kol-sha threatens to kill Ash/Voq and L’Rell but they kill Kol-sha instead with the help of Philippa Georgiou.

This on really feels like some in-between episodes with multiple plot threads being set up for later pay-back (hopefully).

Star Trek Discovery 2.02 New Eden

Discovery, following another mysterious stellar signal, uses the Spore Drive and arrives at a planet with a previously unknown human population; evidence suggests that their culture dates from the time of World War III.

An away party including Captain Pike, Burnham, and Joann Owosekun investigate and discover a primitive society with a religion combining multiple human faiths; a few citizens preserve tales of the war. Much of the action takes place within the settlement’s church.

A better episode, this captures some of the spirit of the original show and Next Generation.

Star Trek: Discovery 2.01 – Brother

En route to Vulcan, the USS Discovery receives a distress call from the USS Enterprise. Captain Christopher Pike takes emergency command of the Discovery, explaining that the Enterprise was investigating seven mysterious signals when it was catastrophically damaged.

New season, new combination of characters. However it all feels a bit stilted and lacking in energy. Hopefully things will pick up.