Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 4 (Forget Me Not)

I’m not sure what to make of Forget Me Not.  There’s a part of it that seems like filler.  There are some parts of the story that would present as unnecessary exposition.  On the other hand, it could be pure genius.  We see characters pivot and maybe start to work in the right direction.

The episode starts with a trip to the Trill home world.  Adira is a human carrying a symbiote.  She can’t access any of the previous hosts’ memories, which is a problem.  You might think the issue is that a human host isn’t supposed to be carrying a Trill symbiote, but that’s only a small part of it.  You see, one of the previous hosts is a Starfleet admiral that knows where Starfleet moved its headquarters.

This is where the filler comes in.  To me, it looks like an obstacle that the writers threw up to throw up another episode.  Adira faces resistance from the Trill welcoming party.  Michael and Adira get kicked off the planet in the most unapologetic way possible, but one member subverts that and guides them to the caves where Adira can reconnect with the previous host.

The series gets to spend an entire hour in orbit of Trill while everyone works out their issues.  This, of course, brings me to my second point.  Everyone has left their entire lives behind.  All their friends and loved ones are long dead and they’ve spent the first three episodes not acknowledging it.

Saru is trying his best as the new captain, but it’s not easy.  He hasn’t been captain that long and he’s looking for answers.  I wouldn’t expect any captain to be able to handle this situation, mind you.  What’s strange is that the ship’s computer offers a few really good suggestions.  For starters, allow the crew some down time.  Host a dinner for the bridge crew.  A Buster Keaton film is shown briefly, which the crew enjoys.

There is a part of the episode that is necessary.  Adira’s journey on the planet allows the crew to pause and take a good, hard look at what they’ve been through so far.  It also allows Adira and the Trill to acknowledge what has happened.  The welcoming part isn’t that welcoming of a human host.  It’s always been Trill host, and a select few at that.  Trill society has long held that only certain candidates are suitable to host a symbiote.

They initially buck at a human host because it’s an abomination.  It’s aberrant. They won’t tolerate it.  This makes it interesting to have a non-binary actor play the part of the host.  (To be clear, I acknowledge that Blu del Barrio prefers the they/them pronouns.  Since Adira is referred to as ‘she’ in the show, that’s how I’ll be referring to the character.)

It would seem that Adira Tal is standing in for all of those that would be brushed aside as an anomaly and, as such, not worthy of inclusion.  This is despite the fact that the Trill need to be as accepting as possible right now.  Their population has been decimated by The Burn and those that remain are cut off from their homeland.

Everyone is in a bad place right now.  The question is how to move forward.  Answers don’t always present themselves, but this is Star Trek.  Adira finds her way, as does Saru and the rest of the crew.  Considering that Discovery finds Starfleet next week, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

 

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Death Wish (2018)

I’ve never been a huge fan of remakes.  Sometimes, if I’ve never seen the original, I can enjoy the remake to some extent.  However, I find that there’s usually little need to remake something that did well originally.  Bruce Willis stars in Death Wish, a remake of the 1974 movie starring Charles Bronson.  Although I haven’s seen the original, I still came away feeling like there was something lacking with the 2018 version.  (I currently don’t plan on seeing the original, as I’m not a fan of Charles Bronson, either.)

From what I can tell, the plot is fairly similar.  In this case, Bruce Willis plays Paul Kersey, a Chicago doctor who has to go to work one night.  He should be celebrating his birthday with his wife and daughter.  Due to the sudden change in plans, burglars break into the Kersey house expecting it to be empty.  The thieves end up killing Paul’s wife, Lucy, and putting their daughter, Jordan, into a coma.

It doesn’t take Paul long to look into buying a gun.  He decides not to do it legally, but manages to swipe a gun from a gang member-turned-patient after the gun falls on the ground.  (This is Chicago, after all.)  All he has to do is get some ammunition and he’s all set to go into vigilante mode.

His first time out, Paul manages to prevent a carjacking, but gets caught on video.  His face isn’t shown, which works in his favor.  He did sustain an injury, though.  Being emboldened by the experience leads Paul to try again and to ultimately go after the people that killed his wife.

The movie goes down pretty much as you’d expect.  The police don’t seem to be able to do much.  It’s not necessarily out of incompetence, though.  The detectives have dozens of similar cases, each requiring a good deal of attention.  Many cases that come across their desks don’t have much evidence to work with.

Buying a gun has all the normal hurdles, like waiting periods and paperwork.  It’s no surprise that Paul declines the legal route, yet jumps at a gun without his name attached to it.  (It also comes in handy later in the movie.)

I never got the impression that the movie was explicitly for or against gun violence.  You have radio and TV personalities giving commentary, but the violence seems more like a backdrop to one-liners and action sequences.  There doesn’t seem to be any attempt to have a pro- or anti-gun message.  This may actually benefit the story, though.  After watching the movie, I’m not sure that editorializing would have worked.  I can’t imagine Paul giving someone a lecture on the benefits or costs of owning a gun.

I’m not a big fan of violent movies.  Since I haven’t seen similar movies, it’s hard to judge if the movie is cliché or not.  It’s definitely not a parody.  The movie seems to take itself seriously.  However, it was lacking on any sort of a real plot.  I didn’t really feel like I was rooting for anyone.  I didn’t leave the movie thinking about any sort of message.

I wouldn’t go into the movie expecting anything grand or epic.  As I said, it’s mostly action with a few jokes here and there.  This is one of those movies that manages to stay very true to the coming attractions.  I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised as to whether or not they’ll like it.

IMDb page