Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x09 - "Terra Firma, Part 1"

[Timo]

The scene where the Emperor enters the party is a good way to dodge a premise that might otherwise have slowed down the storytelling. Remember how the Emperor is supposed to be faceless? So of course nobody in that party even blinks, much less bows, when this silly lady in a silly robe enters - not until Killy rattles off all the names. Of which the crowd very quickly learns the first two, and gets to live another day...

It's just as well that we don't see any of their faces when Killy launches into the introduction. Continuity preserved!

We can now wonder which of the folks involved were high up enough to know who the Emperor is. Might be Killy knew, but Owosekun and the Honor Guard only learned when the hatch to the Emperor's shuttle opened. It's a bit unlikely that every Captain would know, even though Lorca rather obviously does.

Stamets would know, for a number of reasons. And his little number might have been not just decorative and asslickative but also necessarily informative for the great majority of the people gathered in the shuttlebay!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well I enjoyed that. What a turn?

The Emperor is back, long live the Emperor.
More Killy too.

I was hoping she'd kill her Michael but alas into the agony booth she goes. That's kind of disappointing, since when do you keep traitors alive?

Still well I enjoyed this, so this is how Georgiou gets back to the 23rd Century. Via a magic door.

So the Guardian Of Forever is now bipedal instead of a crystal donut of rock? OK I can dig it. Would have preferred the original but we can't have everything we want. My mind is tripping in joy. What happens next week I do wonder since we don't get previews or promos on netflix in Australia?

Spoiler

I was not expecting that the ship in the nebular would have been Kelpian..... Oooh that sounds interesting, and hopefully next week we learn more about that.

I liked it 7.5/10

 

[Roboturner913]

This was delightful! Can't wait for next week!

 

[TPezz]

Best episode of the season! And that’s a high compliment considering how fantastic this season has been so far.

So my guess is, Georgiou rewrites history to bring the two universes back into line with one another? I can dig that.

I REALLY hope that Jason Isaacs is a surprise guest next week! It would be SO cruel to tease it and not follow through!

As for the nebula ship, I still reckon it’s Discovery from Calypso and Zora has masked the frequency signature somehow and used a Kelpian avatar, knowing our Discovery is captained by Saru and would pull at his heartstrings. It would reflect back to S2 when Control was able to use holograms to fool S31 and the Federation.

 

[DarKush]

michael sees philippa's love for her as a weakness, it's not that the emperor is weak it's that she sees her as someone weak for loving her when all michael wants is to kill her and steal her position.

I went back and skimmed some of the first season MU episodes and I think what you're describing is a distinction without a difference. If Mirror Burnham sees that the Emperor has enough affection for her, so much that it makes her hesitate or stay her hand where she is concerned, that is a weakness in the Mirror Universe. Because if the goal is survival, self-preservation, and the Emperor's (I'll just say it) love for her daughter (a non-blood relation even) prevents her from killing an obvious threat, that's a weakness. I do agree that Mirror Burnham sees it that way and she's right. She resents the Emperor for 'rescuing' her, for exposing perhaps her own weakness, and she would've rather ruled in hell than served in heaven (thinking of Khan at the end of "Space Seed").

After looking back over bits of the first season's MU episodes, I do see that the writers were planting seeds for a softer Emperor Georgiou that are now sprouting. She was ruthless to everyone else, but she did have a weak spot for Michael, the Mirror and Prime versions, that has become more apparent to me than I realized before. And that was the doorway (pun intended) for her all around softening or connecting to a kind of Prime humanity, or Prime compassion. Though it's still mostly regarding Michael.

I rag on DISCO's writing (I find it uneven and the character development lacking) but I got to give them credit when they do plant seeds and let them grow and when they do think things out. Even though I still think if they had introduced Georgiou as more of a philosopher king (Marcus Aurelius) who was having doubts and regrets in the first season the redemption arc could've gone more smoothly than having her be more vicious and cocky (though I can see perhaps not just all of her blustering now as mostly a defense or coping mechanism after she got pulled into the Prime Universe; trapped in another reality she fell back on trying to be the shark in the pool).

Having her talking so tough, as well as the brutality she still utilized, made her 'change' feel more like an awkward swerve or lunge toward respectability ahead of Georgiou getting her own series. Now that I've looked back and connected it to "Terra Firma Part I" it's not as big of a leap as I once thought.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The first half of Discovery's two parter was good, especially being focussed on Empress Gorgeous, but stll felt like it's only happening because they have to get her back for her Section 31 series rather than being a natural plot or character development. Still it's also nice to see Yeoh get to show her range instead of just being a walking snark deliverer like she's been in the past few episodes.
I presume Carl is the Guardian Of Forever with a new Ellison dodging user interface....

 

[cultcross]

This seasons first miss for me. Setting up this interesting future, lots of things to explore, a mystery in the nebula, the Emerald Chain, and, oh, what's that? Back to the 23rdC mirror universe for two whole episodes to do a prequel to season one's worst story? Christ. What a disappointment.


The most overused Trek 'bit' ever returns, with the cheesy ridiculousness dialled up to eleven. Another long slog of watching the actors prance about in leather making eeeeevil faces while the main story is ignored. Didn't we have enough of this in season one?

I liked the Guardian setup, that was cool. The MU again though? Not enough facepalms in the world for that. Admiral Vance is as changeable as the plot demands, approving personal missions one week, being completely on message on Federation priorities the next.

Oh, and small nitpick from the start, "Lieutenant Commander Yor is the only known person to have traveled in time and dimensions!!"
Well except for bloody Spock, of course. Heard of him?

 

[TheMadCloner]

Rewatched it and focused more on the MU character interactions. Some thoughts:

- I feel like Nilsson and Bryce had a thing going. Or maybe Nilsson and Rhys. Or maybe both.

- Killy wasn't hard to read. She doesn't like Burnham and was disappointed Georgiou didn't kill Burnham. Could see Killy siding against Georgiou next week.

- Owo OTOH was very hard to read. Seemed almost pained at Burnham's betrayal, then seemed conflicted about Georgiou's decision not to kill Burnham. Maybe Owo and Burnham had a thing going as well. Can't really tell if Owo was relieved, disappointed or angry at Georgiou's decision to spare Burnham's life. Can't say how she will side next week.

- Detmer was probably on Burnham's side. Multiple looks at Burnham during the Stamets assassination scene.

- It'll be interesting to see where Bryce, Culber, Nilsson and Rhys side with next week. Especially since Rhys tried to kill Owo earlier, so that adds a layer of complexity to it.

- My guess is Landry dies (again) next week. Has a Trek character ever died 3 separate times on screen? Weyoun?

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Oh, and small nitpick from the start, "Lieutenant Commander Yor is the only known person to have traveled in time and dimensions!!"
Well except for bloody Spock, of course. Heard of him?

To nitpick the nitpick, Spock travelled to the past of his own universe to create the new universe, whereas Yor seems to have travelled to a future in that now-branched universe. No, it doesn't make any more sense that way, but the words spoken were correct. Ish.

 

[cultcross]

- My guess is Landry dies (again) next week. Has a Trek character ever died 3 separate times on screen? Weyoun?

Many - Janeway dies 17 times through Voyager's run, and Picard 9 during TNG and once in Picard.

 

[DEWLine]

For those who don't remember (or didn't know) Culber's mirror uniform was originally designed for Season 1, but was never used because they couldn't think of a way to bring Mirror Culber into the story. If he's still a doctor, I guess Mirror Starfleet Doctors wear red.

This image is from one of the Season 1 Ready Room episodes.

He posted a still image of himself in "Mirror" uniform on his Twitter account the other day...

 

[Discofan]

Many - Janeway dies 17 times through Voyager's run, and Picard 9 during TNG and once in Picard.

17 times! You're sure?

 

[DEWLine]

Another side note - Kepler 174d is a real planet.
Kepler-174d - Wikipedia

Yes. Good to see, yet I too have an issue with the idea that it would still be known by that name in either universe's version of the 2250's.

 

[cultcross]

There's a video of them all on YouTube somewhere. Granted, some are a bit technically correct (the best kind of correct) but they did kill her a lot.

 

[Noname Given]

Yes, that's certainly possible. I just think using that uniform on the Yor hologram was an odd choice.



So if it was banned in the 3000's, then logically Yor must have traveled to the prime universe after that date. Otherwise he would have been allowed to return to the Kelvin timeline.

Unless he died during the mission in the PU; And that's how they discovered he was a time soldier... IE - During the mission he started experiencing a similar effect to what's happening to emperor Georgiou; And after analyzing his corpse/or capturing him and getting him to admit the situation - they found out who he was, that he was a time soldier, and the reality he originated from.
^^^
And yes, it's overly complicated but I'm sure someone's fan fiction will fill in the blanks at some point down the road.

 

[TheMadCloner]

Many - Janeway dies 17 times through Voyager's run, and Picard 9 during TNG and once in Picard.

lol, damn, that's even worse than I thought for Janeway.

I didn't think Picard made it to 9 times though. Is that counting all the times the E-D explodes in Cause and Effect?

 

[cultcross]

lol, damn, that's even worse than I thought for Janeway.

I didn't think Picard made it to 9 times though. Is that counting all the times the E-D explodes in Cause and Effect?

It's counting Cause and Effect once. The correct phrasing would have been "Picard dies in some form in 9 episodes of TNG".

 

[TheMadCloner]

Yes. Good to see, yet I too have an issue with the idea that it would still be known by that name in either universe's version of the 2250's.

My head canon is that the Terrans probably don't spend a lot of effort or time specially naming planets that are of no particular strategic importance.

 

[Discofan]

It's counting Cause and Effect once. The correct phrasing would have been "Picard dies in some form in 9 episodes of TNG".

Does that include each time she "dies" in "Coda"? None of these deaths were real though.

 

[TheMadCloner]

It's counting Cause and Effect once. The correct phrasing would have been "Picard dies in some form in 9 episodes of TNG".

I also forgot that weird episode in Season 1 (or was it 2?) where Picard meets a copy of himself from the future that doesn't act like Picard at all. That was when Patrick Stewart was still figuring out to portray Picard.