Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x10 - "Terra Firma, Part 2"

[Lord Garth]

I liked that season 1 dynamic. I thought it was cool to see the trust-building and relationship-forming process rather than just being dumped as a viewer into a smoothly functioning team.

What I liked about the first season of Discovery is that it felt more like Battlestar Galactica. The tonal shift at the beginning of the second season took me about five episodes to completely warm up to.

But it wasn't the first time I've seen a TV series shift tone, so no big deal.

Underneath the S1 style of Discovery, I don't think most of the characters would still hate each other because several of them would've been killed off by now. DSC S1 had that "Anyone can die!" feeling to it. Except for Burnham or anyone who had to survive to TOS.

 

[Vger23]

What I liked about the first season of Discovery is that it felt more like Battlestar Galactica. The tonal shift at the beginning of the second season took me about five episodes to completely warm up to.

But it wasn't the first time I've seen a TV series shift tone, so no big deal.

Underneath the S1 style of Discovery, I don't think most of the characters would still hate each other because several of them would've been killed off by now. DSC S1 had that "Anyone can die!" feeling it. Except for Burnham or anyone who had to survive to TOS.

I still find S1 to be the most rewatchable of the three so far. I like them all, but for some reason, S1 has a richness to it I enjoy, warts and all.

 

[Noname Given]

Interesting article about the episode. According to an interview with the writers, the Guardian calling itself "Carl" was an homage to Carl Sagan.

Also, their original idea was not to do the MU at all.

"The writers also reveal they almost went a totally different direction with the episode. The original plan didn't involve the Mirror Universe at all.

"Burnham and Georgiou were going to beam down to the planet expecting to find the Guardian, and instead come across a lone house with a garden — not unlike the house in TNG’s “The Survivors." Its sole occupant, a mysterious Gardener, would turn out to be the Guardian," the writers explain. "Georgiou was going to live out her final hours there choosing to have a perfect day with (Prime) Burnham -- it involved baking an apple pie!"

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/star-trek-discovery-guardian-forever-carl-sagan

WOW. That idea sounds terrible IMO. Georgiou baking a pie with Michael?! WTF? I am glad they did the MU instead.

So, pretty much like Picard Ep. 7 with Riker cooking pizzas.

VERY HAPPY they ditched that as I really don't want to see Georgiou the little Home-maker.
(ALWAYS let Michelle Yeoh do what she does best on screen, and that take names and kick ass! - Which is ultimately what they did in the actual episodes.)

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

We need balance. We need someone to replace Georgiou... Send Tilly to the MU (she'll last less then five minutes there) and send us Killy. I'd love to see Killy in the regular universe.

 

[Vger23]

I liked this episode a lot more than it probably deserved. Georgiou has been my favorite character besides Saru since the beginning and it was just a really fun episode overall. Not sure about where this show is heading though. Without her we're down to what - five main characters?

They've been going with the thought of having a smaller core cast, and allowing the “season guest stars” to come an go on a long-term basis. It’s actually a cool way to keep things fresh

 

[fireproof78]

Man the whole "loss and suffering" thing is very overdone here it cant be the excuse for everything. Lots of shows are full of crews who suffered loss but still have good writing

I mean...OK. I don't have much of an answer beyond it works for me and loss and suffering is something is relatable, at least on my end. I don't see it as an excuse.

Is that true? I honestly dont remember that or any complains about it

I do remember that being a concern, that the crew lacked any sort of cohesion and didn't like each other, which was held against it because conflict among crews was not in line with what Star Trek was supposed to be.

 

[donners22]

I want these people to disagree more...does not make the crew less of a family if they do. Otherwise in the next episode all will love coffee..in the next it is tea..and so forth. It its bit bland writing, in my opinion.

My partner made the same observation. She liked Georgiou as a balance to some of the more...saccharine aspects of the show, and feels that they're all getting a bit too lovey dovey now. Then again, she disliked the characters from most of the previous Trek series.

Looks like the writers are planning to ditch Saru as Discovery's Captain. Hello, Captain Burnham?

Ugh, yeah, that line from Georgiou made me roll my eyes. I'm not thrilled at Burnham being captain, and it's frustrating that they're making Saru a bad captain to justify it.

Is that true? I honestly dont remember that or any complains about it

I'd have taken this as sarcastic if not for the "honestly". The character conflict was one of the big "not real Trek" knocks on the show from the outset.

 

[Jadeb]

We need balance. We need someone to replace Georgiou... Send Tilly to the MU (she'll last less then five minutes there) and send us Killy. I'd love to see Killy in the regular universe.

Seems like they’re setting Book up for this. That scene with Saru made a big deal of him operating outside the Federation and doing stuff Starfleet can’t.

I do remember that being a concern, that the crew lacked any sort of cohesion and didn't like each other, which was held against it because conflict among crews was not in line with what Star Trek was supposed to be.

TOS got the dynamic exactly right.

 

[fireproof78]

TOS got the dynamic exactly right.

Ok. But, I don't want it attempted again and again.

 

[Lord Garth]

Seems like they’re setting Book up for this. That scene with Saru made a big deal of him operating outside the Federation and doing stuff Starfleet can’t.

That's my take on it too.

 

[TPezz]

It was Georgiou who says she was sent back to Terra, not the GoF. He said it was a test. There’s nothing to say the experience was actually real.

Anyone who think this was a “sudden” redemption arch, clearly need to go back and watch S2.

Humans aren’t born “bad”. Our values and beliefs are affected by the environments we inhabit. We learn and we grow. Mirror Georgiou has. She’ll never be Prime Georgiou, as she didn’t have her experiences. But she has been affected by her time on Discovery in the PU, something she only realised within herself when she was put back into her old environment.

Great episodes! I’m sad to see Michelle Yeoh go as I’ve grown to love Georgiou. I really hope the S31 series is able to air in 2021.

 

[dinzy]

I can't objectively rate this so I gave it a 2. I liked most of it but the non-teaser cliffhanger with Georgiou is utter shit. I didn't care about the last 5 minutes just like the last episode of S2. Teaser is required. This whole 2 parter did nothing but set up an absolute cliffhanger. I have no patience. I want my escapism entertainment to respect that and at least give me a 10 second WTF visual.

Ok. So a time before the Mirror and Prime universes drifted is a very imprecise clue. The time window is really ENT, possibly before ENT through 500 years before S3. My guess is Romulan Wars era Prime Universe for the S31 setting because that is fan-wanky, but they really could do anything.

Arghhhhhh S31 is now my most anticipated Trek.

 

[Danny99]

This was another stronger episode until we returned back to the Prime Universe, where the scenes with Adira/Stamets/Reno & the goodbye toasts seemed tacked on and the former really could have been a part of the next episode getting back to The Burn storyline. A lot of the mirror stuff does so well on the strength of Michelle Yeoh, Sonequa Martin Green and Doug Jones. Like I said last week, this episode would have been better in a longer season where it didn't eat up two episodes of thirteen or fourteen.

It was another episode that showed Discovery does certain scenes really well, but can't seem to string those scenes with others into a strong episode. The scene between Georgiou and the mirror Saru when he thinks he is going to die because of Vahar'ai and she shocks him by telling him he is going to live through it. Strong, well-acted scene.

I'll echo the sentiment that someone else had that we didn't get to see a lot of Captain Killy as this feared killer. We didn't really get a lot of her interrogation techniques either, but it did give me insight into where I think they should have gone with the character. She should have been more of a sociopath, who is more of a mental torturer than a physical one and not as into the physical fighting. The fight choreography between her and Nilsson felt kind of awkward.

I guess I'm in the minority in not being the biggest fan of the original GoF voice coming through when he introduced himself. It felt out of place in the moment. I was a much bigger fan of other lines in the scene that called back to TOS about inviting people through, much like he/it did once Kirk and Spock returned. I preferred last season's callback to The Cage in the "previously on" with the cut from one Pike to the other. It also made sense to me that if you are going to have a Temporal War, you'd have factions trying to use the Guardian to transport them to any time or place.

I wasn't a fan of the season one diversion to the mirror universe, even less so of bringing Georgiou back, but the character grew on me. They knew they had to get her to wherever they needed her to be for her series, but like everything else in Discovery, they rushed to make her have this epiphany that the universe could be better. Frankly, she was a spare part this year. Book could have been filling in a lot of the scenes she had with Burnham this season. She could have been lost in the wormhole through technobabble and deposited wherever she needed to be and these episodes, in a slightly different form, could have been that series' premiere.

I felt the Duggan character was a missed opportunity to bring in another actor that we've seen in a little cameo. They'd already brought back Landry, Airiam, what would one more have been. I actually first thought about bringing Rainn Wilson back as Mudd with a chuckle, given how his prime counterpart got along with Lorca. I would've avoided Pike or Tyler, but maybe Leland or Cornwell.

 

[Lord Garth]

I can't objectively rate this so I gave it a 2. I liked most of it but the non-teaser cliffhanger with Georgiou is utter shit. I didn't care about the last 5 minutes just like the last episode of S2. Teaser is required. This whole 2 parter did nothing but set up an absolute cliffhanger. I have no patience. I want my escapism entertainment to respect that and at least give me a 10 second WTF visual.

Ok. So a time before the Mirror and Prime universes drifted is a very imprecise clue. The time window is really ENT, possibly before ENT through 500 years before S3. My guess is Romulan Wars era Prime Universe for the S31 setting because that is fan-wanky, but they really could do anything.

Arghhhhhh S31 is now my most anticipated Trek.

Rarely do I comment on other people's ratings, but this doesn't read like a 2.

 

[Nerys Myk]

We need balance. We need someone to replace Georgiou... Send Tilly to the MU (she'll last less then five minutes there) and send us Killy. I'd love to see Killy in the regular universe.

Hard pass.

 

[Firebird]

Honestly... Who cares? He acts like he's some gatekeeper of fandom, but he's just a hack with a YouTube channel.

I guess the DVD extras were good, so thanks for that Rob.

Related to this, I happened to look at his page on Memory Alpha the other day... I’m almost positive he wrote the thing himself. It reads so self-aggrandizing and spends an inordinate amount of time on how much he hates the Kelvin movies and Disco, none of which seems relevant to a basic encyclopedia entry on a Trek production crew member.

 

[Lord Garth]

He hates them because he's not working on them. Every other rationale he comes up with is bullshit.

I also don't really think he gives a shit about DSC either. It's just the current series, so it gets his ire. When DSC is over, he'll just move onto the next thing to hate on.

 

[Firebird]

He hates them because he's not working on them. Every other rationale he comes up with is bullshit.

The good part for everyone is he’s likely banned from participating in any Paramount/CBS production after his Axanar shenanigans.

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[cooleddie74]

He hates them because he's not working on them. Every other rationale he comes up with is bullshit.

I also don't really think he gives a shit about DSC either. It's just the current series, so it gets his ire. When DSC is over, he'll just move onto the next thing to hate on.

Did he rant about ENT or was the Berman Era exempt from his rage?

 

[Lord Garth]

Did he rant about ENT or was the Berman Era exempt from his rage?

I'm not that familiar with RMB but it seems like all his vitriol has been directed at Star Trek from 2009 on.

On a related note:

I recently went onto a YouTube Page that was pushing for a remastering of DS9. All the "hater" comments in there were directed at DSC, with a few token digs at PIC. Nothing about VOY, ENT, or the Abrams Films. Virtually all the trashing was aimed at DSC. Which seemed odd to me at first because I remember when B&B and JJ Abrams got all the hatred. Then I realized they're not getting it anymore because they're not the current thing. DSC is.

As soon as Discovery is over, I'll bet you they're all going to forget about it. The exact same thing happened with VOY when all the hate immediately shifted over to ENT.

EDITED TO ADD: Here's a link to what I'm talking about. Gotta love YouTube Commenters and how much they live up to the stereotype.