Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x04 - "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry"

[Captain Chris]

I must say I actually enjoyed that episode. Characters are evolving in the story and it's starting to make sense.

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Nearly all the Starfleet characters are at best morally grey, if not outright assholes.

Oh they’re all assholes all right. Outside Captain Georgiou (and maybe Cadet Tilly?) everyone else acts like a dick and behaves like they absolutely despise their crewmen.

 

[Fateor]

Tasers usually work fine too. But I've seen someone shot with 3, and keep going. Stun guns aren't consistently reliable when the stakes are death and the timing split second.

Try again.

It wasn't split second since she had enough time to change the setting and stunning had already been proven to put people down instantly. On the other hand short of blowing off their head people don't die instantly.

 

[Michael]

People have likened the tardigrade/spore drive storyline to “Devil in the Dark” and “Equinox”, which are good comparisons. But I think it also shares some similarities with the way the Romulans misused a telepathic Aenar in Enterprise to control their drone ship. Maybe there will be a point where the tardigrade (much like the Aenar) turns against its captors and jumps the ship right into a sun next time.

 

[Cake]

I almost guarantee it comes up as a plot point in future episodes.

Oh, I am sure it will come up again. But I doubt they will stop doing morally questionable things anytime soon. The show wants to be all dark and gritty.

I think this episode hinted at the first threads of them getting beyond their morally grey values, which Burnham's concerned over the welfare of the tardigrade and Stamets complaining about his mission.

If Lorca isn't dying anytime soon, they practically would have to mutiny though to change anything. I doubt this will happen in the near future. Maybe at the end of the season. So we will get more episodes with the Discovery crew doing questionable things. They might calm their bad conscience with the excuse that they were just following orders or war made their actions necessary, but this still doesn't make them particular likeable to me.

 

[Gonzo]

"Needs of the Many" - Corvan II needed relief/Federation citizens needed saving; and the war effort needed the Dilithium.

Yeah that's my take on it, Lorca was pushing hard because they simply had to intervene no matter the cost as the price of doing nothing was to lose the war there and then.

 

[Rahul]

Well. At least this one was a complete, finished episode. With set-up (the colony), conflict (start the shroom drive) and resolution ('splosions!). It even had a complete emotional arc! (the "last will" stuff) Sure, this episode also had a lot of set-ups for later episodes. But this one was a finished episode. With a complete story, and an arc, and stuff. Instead of the handfull unconnected set-up scenes that was the last episode. Now, this one wasnt exactly a good episode. But hey, I prefer mediocre Trek to a lot of other stuff.

Nitpicks:

• Gore! Yay! Am I the only one that thinks DIS is a bit too cruel for Trek? We saw another close-up of a mutilated corpse. The second episode in a row. And Michelle Yeoh's dead body was EATEN? Holy cow!
  
• Also: Starfleet is amazingly bad at "war". They have one(!) colony that powers the entire fleet with dilithium crystals. And they almost lost it. That's the stuff you really should protect better during a war.
• Where do Vulcans drill for dilithium? Andorians, and others? And why won't they share with humans?
  
• I don't believe that neither side salvaged the scene of the first battle. There were a lot of ships, many resources, maybe survivors, religious artifacts and unknown cloaking technology there. Also, securing the field of the first major battle could motivate either army. I don't believe no one showed up to secure this place!
• The death of Indian Cylon lady was one of the more stupid redshirt-deaths of Trek. Also: This series goes through major characters fast.
• The mushroom-galaxy-network-FTL-spore-drive is something only someone REALLY stoned could have come up with. Beats warp-10-salamanders by a mile.
  
• I wonder: Does Starfleet stop using the spore drive to spare these critters in the future? Because then they should have tried a few years later again, when they have better super-computers! Or do they fuck up big time at the end of the season and accidentally destroy the whole shroom network? We'll have to see.
• Saru not reacting to the critter and thus proving it's harmless was dumb. There are MANY vegetarian beasts to be rightfully afraid of. Hippos for example. I'd get scared next to one. Or this thingy.
• It's a bit weird they don't have any kind of double-door system for the critter. When Burnham turned off the shield, she risked not only her life, but also Tilly's and of every one else on the ship.
• Tilly is kind of a female Barclay, isn't she?
• The klingon stuff was tedious. Cut the crap. Such long, clichéd scenes would have already been unbearable between the traditional klingons. But those would have at least lead to more insights. These mulrats have as many dimensions to their characters as they have hair.

Final thoughts:
This episode was pretty mediocre Trek. But the character stuff was really great! I'm not sold on the main plot of the season, but I already care a lot for Burnham, Saru, Stamets, hell, even Tilly and Lorca (at least a little). So I'll keep watching. Shaking my head at the main plot. But looking forward to see what happens with our new Trek crew.

 

[Longinus]

Well. At least this one was a complete, finished episode. With set-up (the colony), conflict (start the shroom drive) and resolution ('splosions!). It even a complete emotional arc! (the "last will" stuff) Sure, this episode also had a lot of set-ups for later episodes. But this one was a finished episode. With a complete story, and an arc, and stuff. Instead of the handfull unconnected set-up scenes that was the last episode.

Good observation. It was probably one of the things that made me like this episode much more than the previous one.

 

[Paul Weaver]

i wonder if slasher will get to move to nicer quarters in the mushroom bay.

I assume im the 94th person to notice Kol is from house Kor, and has just marooned an albino Klingon. Something tells me it won't end well.

 

[Bgt]

4th episode of the new series, and I finally found somebody to root for: the Ripper fella!

So STD's universe is full with anethical Starfleet officers.
I am not sure why they are playing it this way...

• Is it the "antihero" trend of the peak tv era?
• Is it a way to redeem Michael by eventually turning her into a moral compass of the Federation values? (that means that Lorca is expendable or a feature villain)
• do they think that posing moral dilemmas, in the most un-startrekky way, is Star Trek?
• is it just random, as long as it looks cool?

As for characters development (hah!) Saru is still the less caricature of all. Oh and welcome ganglia

STD's Klingons are among the most annoying things I have ever watched on TV.
I was never very fond of their kind, in any Star Trek series/movie, but this is torture.
It is unpleasant to watch them and especially to listen to them. I FFWed almost all of their scenes.
I just hope the TPTB have realized this and they will fix it soon.

 

[Gonzo]

Good observation. It was probably one of the things that made me like this episode much more than the previous one.

I was ok with that in the episode before this as I consider it to be the true pilot and as such it can be forgiven for any setup scenes that were required.

I consider the first two episodes as more of a prologue than anything else, that's just me of course.

 

[Gonzo]

i wonder if slasher will get to move to nicer quarters in the mushroom bay.

I assume in the 94th person to notice Kol is from house Kor, and has just marooned an albino Klingon. Something tells me it won't end well.

We have seen an albino Klingon before in the Kor, Kolloth and Kang storyline on DS9, they could be one and the same which would be a nice connection.

If so it means we will probably get more of these kinds of connections as we go through the season.

 

[Gonzo]

4th episode of the new series, and I finally found somebody to root for: the Ripper fella!

So STD's universe is full with anethical Starfleet officers.
I am not sure why they are playing it this way...

• Is it the "antihero" trend of the peak tv era?
• Is it a way to redeem Michael by eventually turning her into a moral compass of the Federation values? (that means that Lorca is expendable or a feature villain)
• do they think that posing moral dilemmas, in the most un-startrekky way, is Star Trek?
• is it just random, as long as it looks cool?

As for characters development (hah!) Saru is still the less caricature of all. Oh and welcome ganglia

STD's Klingons are among the most annoying things I have ever watched on TV.
I was never very fond of their kind, in any Star Trek series/movie, but this is torture.
It is unpleasant to watch them and especially to listen to them. I FFWed almost all of their scenes.
I just hope the TPTB have realized this and they will fix it soon.

Must admit I wasn't a fan of the Klingon monologue in the first two episodes either but in small doses its not too bad.

 

[Admiral Bear]

Final thoughts:
This episode was pretty mediocre Trek.

Nah, it was just mediocre. The Tardigrade just reminds me of the Horta from TOS. I'm surprised the writers really didn't take the piss by giving Burnham mind meld powers so she could meld with the creature. Would've saved Landry, but as with nearly all the characters in STD, she was an expendable hard nosed bitch with no character, no purpose, and no storyline, so she had to go. Sadly, Landry sums up STD.

 

[Nerys Myk]

4th episode of the new series, and I finally found somebody to root for: the Ripper fella!

So STD's universe is full with anethical Starfleet officers.
I am not sure why they are playing it this way...

• Is it the "antihero" trend of the peak tv era?
• Is it a way to redeem Michael by eventually turning her into a moral compass of the Federation values? (that means that Lorca is expendable or a feature villain)
• do they think that posing moral dilemmas, in the most un-startrekky way, is Star Trek?
• is it just random, as long as it looks cool?

.

• Probably not. Not sure which character is the "anti-hero" though.
• Of course it is. Pretty much the point of her arc.
• Seems pretty Star Trekky to me. The difference is the dilemmas aren't solved in an hour and rehashed every other week.
• Huh?

 

[Paul Weaver]

We have seen an albino Klingon before in the Kor, Kolloth and Kang storyline on DS9

You don't say

It is unpleasant to watch them and especially to listen to them. I

The Americans had about 25% of the show in Russian, with subtitles. It does seem a shame here though as you end up missing the visual glory of the show (or missing the dialog).

 

[Gonzo]

You don't say

I cant tell if that was sarc...

Nevermind.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

but it licked Michael affectionately.

maybe we should call it the licker instead and paint it like a panda.

Cue videos on 24th century youtube of Ripper doing stuff like this:

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[Paradise City]

I like the Klingon stuff actually there could be a great subplot power struggle afoot there. That's not a problem. And they are quite alien and given that they speak an alien language rather than English, they are more substantial than what they might otherwise be if they where speaking in American accents. So I like all that.

I presume the Discovery crew are brutalised by war so they are not explorers by temperament anymore. They are tired and cynical and most aren't too detained by moral questions because of prolonged war fatigue.

Burnham has been brutalised by prison but not by war -- so when she gets back on a ship, her explorer instincts kick back in, setting herself up for moral clashes..etc

I enjoyed this episode, the acting is far more convincing. I'm enjoying Lorca, he's cool.

Saru is written in a nuanced way but we could lose the worm/tendril things. I find that more hokey and distracting for that character tbh.

Tilly is better too. And I generally dislike Barclayesque characters who aren't Barclay.

I'm not going to even bother trying to fathom this series according to broader canon, lol. What a complete mess! If only in my head anyway, this series is pure standalone.

The propulsion/navigation system is 100% for the birds, lol. And what's "Black Alert", lol? I'm calling that a Red Dwarf influence.

Traditional Trek as an influence struggles for a presence here in the form of Burnham's moral qualms on whether the use of this gigantic bacteria/Alien is ethical. For the rest the series has a dark nuBSG, Alien, Star Wars signature to it.

I did enjoy this episode all the same. The trailer for the next episode looks great.

 

[Paul Weaver]

prolonged war fatigue.

It's been 6 months and they haven't been on the front line. This isn't AR558.