Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 4 (An Obol for Charon)

It seems to be a constant in the universe that when you’re in a rush, things pop up to block you.  When you’re late for a meeting, you catch all the red lights, for instance.  Or you don’t get a check you need until five minutes before the bank closes on Friday and the rent’s due Monday.  Or, like, when you’re chasing your science officer, who escaped from a psychiatric ward, and this giant sphere appears out of nowhere and stops you from moving.

Ok.  So, maybe that last one has never happened to any of you.  But it does describe what happens to the Discovery.  Spock has just escaped from a starbase where he was being examined when a sphere holds them and seemingly inserts a virus into their universal translator.

Many of the other systems are affected, but the big problem is Tilly being stuck in engineering with Paul Stamets and Jett Reno.  Stamets is a nice enough guy, but Reno seems to be a bit harsh.  This wouldn’t be a problem, except that Tilly is still dealing with that spore parasite that was manifesting as a hallucination.

Add to this that First Officer Saru is experiencing his death cycle.  His species normally undergoes this process right before being killed by the other major species on his planet, but he’s not on his planet.  So, what gives?

I’d like to say that everything works out, but that remains to be seen.  Spock is still out there, so that’s left unresolved.  Tilly disappears, but we have to assume she’ll be found.  As for Saru, his threat ganglia fall out.  He lives, but he has no idea what that really means for his species.  He’ll live without fear, but he’s never known it to happen to anyone.

It turns out that the sphere just wanted to dump its vast knowledge into the ship’s computer before dying.  This does give the crew a lot of information.  It would also explain something about The Next Generation.  In The Last Outpost, Data is able to give information on the T’Kon Empire.  I always wondered how Data had information on an Empire that ended about 600,000 years ago.  I doubt it’s directly from the sphere, but it’s possible.

In a nice bit of continuity, Number One comes onboard the Discovery for a few minutes.  We still don’t find out her name, though.  Maybe next time.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 1 Episode 5 (Choose Your Pain)

I’ve asked a few questions while watching Star Trek: Discovery.  Notably, I’ve wondered if ethical concerns would prohibit the ship’s spore drive from becoming useful in the long run.  “Choose Your Pain” is the first episode to really face that head on.  The ship’s spore drive requires a living navigator, but that comes at a steep price, especially for said navigator.  The creature that the Discovery is using, Ripper, is in pain and actually gives out during this episode.

Only one crew member, Michael Burnham, advocates for Ripper.  The problem is that when Ripper’s services aren’t needed, it’s not really an issue.  When Ripper is needed, it’s to save lives.  During this episode, the ship has to go into hostile territory and get out as soon as they have their captain.  This can’t be done without Ripper, which means it sucks when he curls up into a ball and can’t navigate the ship.

While in captivity, Captain Lorca has two cellmates.  One is Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudd.  Fans of the original series might remember him as the guy who was peddling would-be brides to miners.  He’s not a nice guy.  I don’t know that he deserves to be in a Klingon holding cell, but he’s not the kind of guy I’d want as a friend, either.

The other cellmate is Ash Tyler.  He’s a Starfleet officer who had the misfortune to be captured by the Klingons at the Battle of the Binary Stars.  How he’s survived seven months in Klingon captivity escapes Captain Lorca, but he’s still a Starfleet officer.  The two escape and leave Mudd behind.

I do think that the series is picking up.  We get some plot development and some character development, notably with First Officer Saru, who is left in command.  It would appear that this is the first time that he’s gone an extended period without the captain present, being that he has to look up how to be a captain.  I would have thought that an executive officer would have learned something about that by now.  Still, it’s nice to know that his head is in the right place.  It also gives the show a chance to drop a few familiar names.

Speaking of familiar names, I realize that the part of Mudd has to be recast.  I’m not saying that Rainn Wilson is a bad actor, but I was expecting something closer to Roger C. Carmel.  Instead, I had this lingering image of John Lithgow by the end of the episode.  (Maybe it’s my imagination.)

I’m beginning to get the sense that the writers are playing the long game here.  I suspect that more of my issues will be resolved as time goes by.  I had hoped to watch at least half the season, which would be to the end of this disc.  I may have to go put a hold on the third disc before I’m done with this one.

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