Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x09 - "Rubicon"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
There's a soda?
Must be a European drink
I actually really enjoyed the look of the cloak. It let you still track the vessel, but gave the audience the illusion of what it needed to.
And visually I liked much of the episode, I just would have destroyed him at the beginning of the episode. Her feelings are utterly irrelevant in a threat to full star systems. And yeah, an accidental release of their weapon in the region of the asteroid is acceptable collateral damage in something of this large of threat.
This ain't Kansas City! We ain't got none of that fancy European stuff here.
Which is not Kansas. I learned that the other day.
I predicted that Tarke would ignore the deal struck between Booker and Burnham and destroy the DMA. I am still not clear on whether he is from Burnham's universe or another universe.
After seeing Boba Fett and now Discovery, I think it's probable that future historians of this time in media will say that writers struggled with the "middle ground" in telling season wide story arcs. They either shorted the story by telling it too quickly or dragged the story out too long. I am struggling to name a story arc that worked.
We have a new ship name to add to the Starfleet Registry - the USS Mitchell. I am curious to know if this ship was an homage to Gary Mitchell.
After seeing Boba Fett and now Discovery, I think it's probable that future historians of this time in media will say that writers struggled with the "middle ground" in telling season wide story arcs. They either shorted the story by telling it too quickly or dragged the story out too long. I am struggling to name a story arc that worked.
We have a new ship name to add to the Starfleet Registry - the USS Mitchell. I am curious to know if this ship was an homage to Gary Mitchell.
Some wonderful character moments, but weaker than the rest of the season so far. You KNEW he was going to set off the weapon no matter what several episodes ago. I did love Saru and his crush problems. Nahn was great to have back as well. Hope for some real forward progress next week.
It’s been that way for 55 years. It ain’t JUST Discovery. 25 years ago they wrapped it up with a bow and a reset in 46 minutes flat.
Well you can now record that for posterity, as I've fixed the poll.
Not my most high-quality and thought-provoking post, but here is where I stand on episode scores this season.
Kobayashi Maru: 8
The Anomaly: 7
Choose to Live: 8
All Is Possible: 8
The Examples: 7
Stormy Weather: 9
...But to Connect: 9
All In: 8
Rubicon: 7
I think, in some ways, I agree that this was the fourth season at its (still decent) weakest. But the little character moments strewn throughout help it stay afloat for me. Plus, man... the DMA sure is pretty, huh?
Kobayashi Maru: 8
The Anomaly: 7
Choose to Live: 8
All Is Possible: 8
The Examples: 7
Stormy Weather: 9
...But to Connect: 9
All In: 8
Rubicon: 7
I think, in some ways, I agree that this was the fourth season at its (still decent) weakest. But the little character moments strewn throughout help it stay afloat for me. Plus, man... the DMA sure is pretty, huh?
Am I the only one who sees the DMA controller as a bunch of nested Dodecahedrons?
Discovery took a Full Spread of Quantum Torpedoes (9x consecutive hits spread across the hull)
Discovery's Shields went from 50% down to 20%.
Shield technology got pretty tough by the 32nd century to take that much abuse and still be alive.
Discovery took a Full Spread of Quantum Torpedoes (9x consecutive hits spread across the hull)
Discovery's Shields went from 50% down to 20%.
Shield technology got pretty tough by the 32nd century to take that much abuse and still be alive.
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I don't mind the storyline arc... but Disco's issue is that its spending TOO much time on side stuff which detracts from the main plot (which could have been so much richer by this point).
Honestly, there are way too few episodes in a season to spend time on this much side stuff (which could have been progressed along with the main plot at the same time).
Agreed... but at the same time, not enough has happened.
I actually liked this episode very much, after the weak one from last week. I gave it an 8.
This episode was fine. It could have used more tension and drama between Burnham and Nahn. I kept thinking those scenes would have been a lot more compelling with someone like Riker and Shelby in those roles. Plus at one point they stepped off of the bridge for a private conversation immediately after the ship was hit by a full spread of quantum torpedoes. That was weird.
I did like the shuttle craft sequence. That had some tension.
Maybe I missed it, but did the Rhys thing go anywhere? That felt like it was missing a resolution.
I did like the shuttle craft sequence. That had some tension.
Maybe I missed it, but did the Rhys thing go anywhere? That felt like it was missing a resolution.
The DMA controller reminded me of Omega Molecule... but then upon closer inspection, nah.
But in essence, they ARE nested Dodcahedrons (in motion).
Really? I found that to be a weak showing for shields.
Then again, size isn't everything in Trek, so small ships can pack a punch and power... but I also think SF shields and weapons seem to be incredibly weak in this era.
I also don't understand how was Disco so weak against Osyraa's ship (or any other enemy ship) and yet overpowered against fellow SF ships.
If you remember, when Disco arrived in the 32nd century and faced off against Earth ships which also had quantum torpedoes, 2 torpedoes did moderate damage to the ship (this was before it got future upgrades).
In all honesty, that made 0 sense.
1 or 2 quantum torpedoes should have been more than enough to destroy Disco (pre-upgrades)... and now, SF basically upgraded the ship so it can withstand 9 Quantum torpedoes when originally it could already deal with 2 before the upgrades?
That's some extremely unimpressive stuff given the passage of time.
The USS Defiant from the 23rd century was able to lay waste to 22nd century Mirror universe ships in pretty much one or two bursts (phasers or torpedoes).
24th century weapons should have basically had the same effect on Disco... and yet, the effect was nowhere near the same (probably because its a hero ship and the show couldn't go on if it was destroyed).
32nd century ships can apparently just make however weapons they want/need using programmable matter, but apparently no similar thing can be done to shore up the shields during a battle.
I know. I thought to myself: 'ok wait, the ship was just hit by a bunch of torpedoes, time is of the essence and you just want to go into the back room to have a private conversation?'.
I can see Rhys' point of view, but it also seemed a bit pointless to carry on with that.
Better than last week, but still, not Discovery's finest.
I'll start with the positive I guess. Once again, this is a cohesive episode which tells a simple story, and (aside from the little romantic subplot between Saru and T'Rina) there's really no fluff here to muddy things. The paring down of the core crew to Michael/Saru/Stamets/Culber makes this show feel much tighter. I suppose having Nhan come back is a good thing?
I liked the idea of using the tension between Michael's duty and her love for Book as a dramatic element in theory. However, in practice, it just doesn't work out. Part of it is how completely loving/accepting the two of them still are despite their differences. Relationships are boring without tension, and it really would make sense if one or the other of them was a little...I dunno...angry and resentful maybe? Keeping their overall commitment is fine, but there's not even a smidge of hurt feelings, or even irritation here. Real long-term relationships do not work that way. It would be vastly more interesting to see something like Miles and Keiko at loggerheads in a major crisis than this is.
But the worse aspect is the writing tells us Michael is right, even though she's clearly wrong. It is clearly a flaw if you cannot put your personal feelings aside when it comes to duty, but Michael continues to say "there must be a middle ground!" And the story almost gives it to her, until Tarka decides to take solo action. At that point it's clear the mission is a failure - Michael had the chance to kill Book clean, and couldn't do it, so now the Federation must suffer with the consequences of her sentimentality. Yet Nhan doesn't point this out to Michael, instead having a weird heart to heart, and implying that she made the right call in the end. WTF?!? I mean, we know as viewers that all is not lost here - that Species 10-C will not destroy the Federation - but why not let Michael's actions have some negative consequences in the short term - even if it's just a dressing down and her standing falling in the eyes of Starfleet. This mission was a failure, so let it end on a sour note.
A minor niggle, but the way they shoehorned in Nhan also bothered me. We already weirdly have two captains on a single ship, and now a commander giving orders to a captain? The writers don't really care about rank at all do they?
Like some others, I'm tiring of the season arc. So little has been revealed about Species 10-C to date, which is because the writers are way more interested in the interpersonal dynamics between Michael and Book than they are the threat itself. I'm preparing myself to be underwhelmed - finding out it's some misunderstood humanoid species that had no idea they were hurting anyone. But I'm still hoping maybe they're dark matter aliens or something more interesting instead.
I'll start with the positive I guess. Once again, this is a cohesive episode which tells a simple story, and (aside from the little romantic subplot between Saru and T'Rina) there's really no fluff here to muddy things. The paring down of the core crew to Michael/Saru/Stamets/Culber makes this show feel much tighter. I suppose having Nhan come back is a good thing?
I liked the idea of using the tension between Michael's duty and her love for Book as a dramatic element in theory. However, in practice, it just doesn't work out. Part of it is how completely loving/accepting the two of them still are despite their differences. Relationships are boring without tension, and it really would make sense if one or the other of them was a little...I dunno...angry and resentful maybe? Keeping their overall commitment is fine, but there's not even a smidge of hurt feelings, or even irritation here. Real long-term relationships do not work that way. It would be vastly more interesting to see something like Miles and Keiko at loggerheads in a major crisis than this is.
But the worse aspect is the writing tells us Michael is right, even though she's clearly wrong. It is clearly a flaw if you cannot put your personal feelings aside when it comes to duty, but Michael continues to say "there must be a middle ground!" And the story almost gives it to her, until Tarka decides to take solo action. At that point it's clear the mission is a failure - Michael had the chance to kill Book clean, and couldn't do it, so now the Federation must suffer with the consequences of her sentimentality. Yet Nhan doesn't point this out to Michael, instead having a weird heart to heart, and implying that she made the right call in the end. WTF?!? I mean, we know as viewers that all is not lost here - that Species 10-C will not destroy the Federation - but why not let Michael's actions have some negative consequences in the short term - even if it's just a dressing down and her standing falling in the eyes of Starfleet. This mission was a failure, so let it end on a sour note.
A minor niggle, but the way they shoehorned in Nhan also bothered me. We already weirdly have two captains on a single ship, and now a commander giving orders to a captain? The writers don't really care about rank at all do they?
Like some others, I'm tiring of the season arc. So little has been revealed about Species 10-C to date, which is because the writers are way more interested in the interpersonal dynamics between Michael and Book than they are the threat itself. I'm preparing myself to be underwhelmed - finding out it's some misunderstood humanoid species that had no idea they were hurting anyone. But I'm still hoping maybe they're dark matter aliens or something more interesting instead.
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