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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x06 - "The Sound of Thunder"

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it was IMO a pitch-perfect Star Trek episode! Like, perfect. I loved every minute of it. It was adventurous, scary, dramatic - and the conflict was extremely multilayered, with antagonists instead of villains, and HOLY HELL were the visuals fucking amazing this time! :bolian:

Exactly how I felt. It was a good standalone episode with all the qualities you mentioned. But also picked up Saru story line from other episodes and Short Treks, and also tied in nicely with the seaon arc. This was a giant homerun for the series.

It could also be a setup for a future Prime Directive related episode (with either the Kelpians or Ba'ul wiping each other out). Episode 12 (which has the same writers and director) could be a follow up to this.
 
The Stronghold was stated as being 50km in diameter.

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Using that as a measuring stick the solid structure is somewhere between 10-15km tall and the floating obelisks somewhere between 15-20km tall. Which means to fully cover it to the point of invisibility like we saw we are talking about a water depth of somewhere between 30km to 40km.



From what we were told the Ba'ul were, at most, maybe eighty to a hundred years behind the Federation.

Of course from what we saw, the Ba'ul were actually more advanced then the Federation in certain area's.

Ever been out on a lake? I have. Ontario, Erie, Huron, Nicaragua. You can't see ten feet down.
 
Lakes are not all created equal.

Lake Tahoe, Crater Lake, Beaver Lake....those have much greater clarity, to name a few.

Yes, but I'm pretty sure that lake in particular was Lake Ontario, and crystal clear it ain't in real life and definitely wasn't in the ep. And even if the water is clear, light simply does not penetrate water very deeply, the maximum is pretty much 200m tops.
 
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Was that really some of them in the water near the end? Someone mentioned you could see them swimming away from the beach at the end of the episode. I didn't catch any of that so have to watch it again.

I was the one who mentioned this. Toward the end after the Kelpians go through that vahari thing, they are walking in their village, confused. Saru and his sister walk toward them. Around that time there is a scene showing these black things in the water, with part of them sticking out kind of like a shark fin, swimming away from the beach. I believe those were the Ba’ul.
 
I enjoyed the episode. 8/10 from me. I don't think we actually saw a real member of the ba'ul (sp)... that seemed like a way to seem more menacing to anyone there... they are probably small weak hamster people.

I also thought the ba'ul (sp) ships were a tad large... but maybe thats all they have... and maybe they are like city ships... dunno. Overall it was enjoyable. I was originally annoyed in the short trek that they broke the prime directive, but since the planet is warp capable already, and its just a more fuzzy interfere with a political\social situation, its not so bothersome to me. Saru is really one of the best characters of the show.
 
I just re-watched that scene. There are some pieces of wood sticking out of the water and also a small boat moored nearby as they walk past. I didn't see any evidence of creatures swimming or fins etc.

The two writers for this episode might revisit Kaminar since they are slated for a later episode, that would be cool.

The idea of the Ba'ul wanting to analyse Saru before killing him I think is meant to reflect their more methodical, intellectual nature. They speak derisively of the Kelpiens being slaves to their primal instincts, and that the Kelpiens can't/shouldn't govern themselves. They see themselves as more 'civilized'. But Saru has already proven that Kelpiens are not just savage people unable to grow or progress beyond their more predatory beginnings. The fact that their society is already different to how it was 2000 years ago means that they can change and adapt again if needed. The Ba'ul are the ones who are trying to maintain a status quo that favors them, but at the cost of countless Kelpien lives. While I do thing it's important to acknowledge that the apple-cart has been upset, and there might be very negative consequences for what happened because of the drastic nature of the steps taken, I also think we're supposed to have hope that Saru and Siranna are correct that the Kelpiens are capable of more. Of forgiveness and understanding. Otherwise the Ba'ul were right for committing ethnic cleansing over thousands of years. I don't think that's meant to be the correct message. The hard part will be trying to find a peaceful solution where both species don't have to live in fear.

I really liked that the writers decided the Ba'ul would be a paranoid, frightened race, but for good reason. Clearly they are reclusive, preferring to rule through deception and guile. For them it has been a winning strategy, until now. Because the truth got out. The truth they'd systemically been hiding from the Kelpiens about themselves.

It's important to consider that the push for progress in the form of the mass induced Vaha'arai came from Saru, a native Kelpien who had gone through the process, and then at the request of his sister as well, once she'd had the situation explained to her. The writers very deliberately had Saru ask and Siranna give her permission as spokesperson/priestess for the Kelpien people. It wasn't Pike just making a unilateral decision on his own.

An extra little detail I appreciated was the fact that the Ba'ul's back fins or spikes instinctively inflated in response to Saru's also instinctive quill attack. It was a reaction which undercut the words it was saying about the Kelpiens being the primal species, unable to control themselves.
 
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