Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x05 - "The Examples"

Strange examples of races he chose as examples. I wonder if it’s a race we already know about.

 

Iconian survivors? What?

The replicator now goes "ding!" just like a microwave. Not impressed.

Good episode this week.

 

It was implied in "Contagion" that the Iconians used their technology to flee their homeworld, so it is believable that they survived to the 32nd century.

There were some misspellings on the chart and shortening of names. The thing that got me was that the DMA jumped a thousand light years, yet the chart shows an area of space that is less than a hundred light years across. Oopsie. (To be clear, I am using the chart from Picard's "Maps and Legends" for the measurement. Here is the link: Star Trek: Picard — andrewjarvis.art)

For the first time, I felt that Michael Burnham was not posing as a captain and was actually acting like one when she faced down the magistrate.

For me, this was another successful episode.

 

Yes, that scene about analyzing the languages does suggest some of them survived.

 

Talaxians. Using a Leola-Root Drive! Dang them!

 

A big step forward after last week, which really didn't do it for me. Easily the best episode yet this season. And the reason basically comes down to mature storytelling and the lack of clear solutions - a theme which cuts through the entire episode.

Starting with the A plot - Burnham and Book trying to save the five prisoners left to die on the asteroid - I really appreciated that while there were a number of smaller challenges they solved easily - like the robot bugs, and the force fields - there was one challenge they couldn't face down, which was saving a single man who didn't want to be saved. This actually harkened back to the first episode of the season, when President Rillak explicitly told Burnham that part of command was accepting there were some losses that were unavoidable. Michael Greyeyes (who I wasn't really aware of before as an actor) absolutely sells the character of Felix, giving the required pathos to someone who otherwise may have been a bit of a stock character. About the only thing I didn't like here was Booker believing that Felix had to be saved against his will. Trauma or no, it didn't really feel true to his character, as Book seems like the kind of man who would understand when someone wants to die on their own terms.

The B plot involving the investigation of the DMA made me initially nervous, because it seemed like they were again leaning into the whole "Stamets is a thin-skinned, insecure wreck barely in control of his emotions" but it surprised me in a very pleasant way. I knew from seeing him on The Expanse Shawn Dolye would be great, but he exceeded my expectations as Ruon Tarka: larger than life without becoming the butt of a joke, and a great foil in this episode. I liked the sudden pivot away from Stamets' insecurity regarding Tarka to the two of them "allying" in a way against Saru. And I loved that ultimately they failed - that no pat answer was offered at the end of the episode.

That brings us to the "C plot" which is basically about Culber facing down his continuing trauma he was in denial about. I have to say that I found his scene with Kovich a little too writerly and unnatural, particularly when he just guessed Culber's internal mental state perfectly. However, the scenes between Culber and Stamets were fantastic - the only time since Season 1 they've actually felt like a real couple who know all of each others warts.

In terms of minor notes, it is a shame that we didn't see some of the bridge regulars here, but my understanding is COVID protocols limited how many people could be on stage at any one time. Reno's scenes are very obviously just pasted in later, which kind of hurts the flow of the episode. It's no surprise to not see Tilly, but I was surprised to not see Adira or Gray at all - though I'm quite happy with them leaving out a character if they don't really have a story purpose.

 

This is the best episode of the season so far for me. I still am not hooked on this season, but this episode did a lot of things right enough for me. Loved a lot of the Easter Eggs; wished that Vance had thrown a couple more names in, like the Voth (because they seemed pretty powerful) or Species 8472. I even liked the seeds of divergence between Burnham and Book and how that was born out of ethical/philosophical conflict. I don't want it to lead to them breaking up because Burnham/Book are one of the best things DISCO has ever done, though I would like to see more conversations about the role of the Federation and Starfleet, juxtaposing their differing experiences (if there are times when they do come into conflict).

I liked that Rhys got a little more screen time and even a bit of backstory. I could've done without the Culber subplot. That could've been held back for later, I would rather seen Rhys in action on the planet. I did like the use of the Akaali, it seems that someone in the writing room is a big ENT fan this season.

Though I don't think the Culber subplot was needed this episode, I did like the advice Kovich gave him. I didn't care for the Risan/Risian scientist-which was expected-though I did like that he was Risian, and I also like that he perhaps has some tie to who the big bad is this season, if he isn't the mastermind behind it all. I did enjoy the actor from The Expanse so I know he could carry off playing the big bad without needing to bring in someone else. And there's something neat about potentially having a Risian as the big bad (for some reason Soran from GEN comes to mind).

This episode was my favorite with Burnham in the captain's chair. I really liked how she ran things (though if it was me I would've left the prisoners behind the first time they rejected my offer of help, but that's just me), and I hope we see more of Burnham in command like this in future episodes.

 

I can't wait to see how this kinky reference fits into Discovery. (Please God not the MU again)

 

Yeah, I realize that, but it has been centuries so the mark they leave could have changed. Still, you make good points and frankly I like your suggestions better about the writers' intentions than my own.

 

It's only been 3 eps w/o Owo and 2 w/o Detmer. And 2 of the last 3 episodes had zero scenes on the bridge, so it doesn't surprise me that our bridge crew characters have been scarce in this run of episodes (I remember being surprised they even called in Detmer for "Choose To Live", IIRC she was just hanging out in the bar).

And actually, I was thrilled to see some proper aliens on the bridge this week! Except for Yeoman Giant Bug Head, it annoys me the Disco bridge crew is otherwise entirely human. I've been waiting for some of the alien lower deckers to start hassling Burnham about representation.

 

So it seems we finally have our protagonist antagonist of the season.
(error, error, ERROR)

Mr. Gal-a-Leo appears to have been the one that may have created the Mcguffin in the first place.

Another maniacal EGO caught up in his own genius.
Stamets may actually end up learning a lot more about himself by looking in this mirror.

Interesting direction this is going.
Gave it an 8.

 

The Akaali evolved a lot in just 1,000 years. Good on them. From a medieval agrarian culture in 2151 to having advanced force fields, automated defense systems with a form of AI and establishing interplanetary colonies by 3190. I liked this week's episode a lot. The slowest part that dragged down the episode the most was the Kovich-Culber scene but I'd give this one a solid 9.

DSC has gone from a hot mess for most of its first three seasons to a pretty consistently entertaining series this season. It's still my least-favorite live action Trek by a lot but at least it's no longer disappointing on a weekly basis.

 

Def the best episode of the season. Give it an 8. Loved seeing Reno again. Been too long. And nice to see Tig Notaro in the opening credits. I know that Tig did not want to travel because of COVID but Reno was a little off and part of that might have been that it was terribly obvious she was not on set with any of the other actors in the scene.

Still, the plot was truly Trekkian. I was a little unsure and I'm not thrilled of the concept of this being a created phenomena but I'm really enjoying this season now that its gotten going.

Don't you mean antagonist?

 

Fantastic episode of television. That scientist from Risa is so much fun. Wish he and Reno had gotten a chance to play off of each other a little more, but the fact he got Saru to do a Chewbacca roar was a clear highlight of the episode for me.

 

Essentially nothing. A quick glance in a wide shot that's rapidly pulling back, over which we hear some communication between the ships.

 

As usual just some distant shots of some rather dull looking ships.

 

(USS Janeway in the middle)

OOPS ... yep ... fixed.

 

How about a piece of toast and one pea?

"grumpy lady"

 

I liked this episode.

I liked the prisoner who stayed behind and Michael giving the girl the family tree orb that the prisoner had stolen. It added some really touching characterization to what otherwise would have just been a standard action plot of rescuing prisoners and overcoming dangers. I also really appreciated the ethical question of whether to leave the prisoner behind who wanted to pay his penance for his real crimes versus the other prisoners who were wrongfully imprisoned.

I liked the Risa scientist. The actor did a great job. He was supremely confident as most geniuses are. I liked the dialogue like when he says something like "I am great admirer of your work Stamets but let's improve on it". It was a mix of "I admire your work" but also "I am far superior to you and will greatly improve your work". The reality is that Stamets is a dinosaur. He is a scientist from almost 1000 years in the past. It makes total sense that a scientist from that time would look down on him. Imagine if we got to meet Isaac Newton. We would feel the same way. We would admire Newton for his contributions but our science is far more advanced than what Newton had.

The episode also gave us some more info on the DMA which was great. I like the concept that a hyper advanced civilization built the DMA. It is possible that the DMA is their way of exploring and they are so far advanced, that we are like ants to them, so they don't really care about the damage it is causing. Similar to how we might not care about killing a few ants while we are exploring a jungle. or maybe the DMA is an interstellar terraformer. The DMA creator use it to transform a region of space prior to their colonization. It would be like when we raze the ground to build a new shopping mall. It will be interesting to see if the crisis is resolved by Discovery communicating with the DMA creators and trying to form some sort of understanding. I just hope if the show goes that route that it is done in an intelligent way and not too sappy. But knowing Discovery, Michael will probably give some sappy, inspiring speech that convinces the DMA creators to leave peacefully.

I like the advice that Kovich gave to Culber. I also really liked the scene in the bar between Booker and the Risa scientist. It definitely seems like he is going to try to use Booker.