Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x07 - "Light and Shadows"

Really liked this episode and this season in general has greatly improved over S1 but that whole damn turbo lift contraption really irritates the shit out of me.

 

It is like that latest Bond movie where the villain says he was behind the plots of the other three movies. Seems rather contrived.

 

sorry, but that's nonsense. all it needs for those 'spousal' powers to be on the book is one federation member where this is the norm for two thousand years (may be with a veto for the spouse actually holding office). one member we might not have seen yet or one that we've known for years but which hasn't been discussed in depth (like the bolians)

... use your imagination

 

you are addicted, mam i refrain from watching it on anything but my 96"er

 

As I said it's not all that different than Kirk ( or Spock or McCoy) constantly running into old girlfriends, mentors and heroes.

 

exactly, and it certainly doesn't exclude a nice fanwank here and there

 

James Frain in the Ready Room.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2251770201510735

 

I loved it. I was having more and more questions after each scene, and it constantly kept me on the edge. I kept guessing what Spock's numbers might mean and initially believed they might mean Stardate 8419.47, a possible time for his death which he might have been shown, but it didn't make any sense after Burnham discovered they were mirrored. I thought he might have seen his death because of the mention of the Mutara Sector, so that red herring worked perfectly for me. At the end, I was surprised by the revelation that they were the coordinates for Talos IV, even if we already knew the show was going to revisit the place. The Talosian makeup (prosthetics combined with CGI? The veins definitely looked like it) looked really neat in the teaser for next week, by the way.

The family-centered scenes left me very angry at Sarek, especially with how deep in denial he is about how much he's hurt his children emotionally, treating them as his projects that can be trotted out before the public whenever needed. It was really hard for me to watch, with all the dysfunction in their family laid bare for all of us to see, and it has brought up a lot of painful childhood memories. I have the feeling Amanda has needed to have this discussion with Sarek for a very long time. What we saw and learned was consistent with what we were shown about Sarek in Season 1, and I think it's by itself a very good reason for Spock's reluctance about discussing his family. I certainly can't blame him for eventually coming to treat Kirk and McCoy as his true brothers. After all, several authors now believe the original version of the proverb about blood and water went 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.'

Random observations:

• Tilly was absolutely adorable as she tried to keep her f-bombs and her emotional outbursts in check. Saru's reactions reminded me a bit of Starship Down, specifically the clashes between Worf's formal, professional, command staff attitude and the casual, jovial, informal atmosphere of O'Brien and his enlisted engineers. Saru does have a point though, as Tilly is on the command track, so learning to control her emotions would serve her really well in the command chair. Hearing 'what the frick' brought a smile to my face instantly; I'm always delighted to see Tilly trying to follow suggestions about her behavior in her own awkward, personal way. But seriously, Saru shaking his head in disappointment at 'everything sounds cooler when you put time in front of it' was really uncalled for. I think Pike didn't have a problem with the comment at all.
• The effects of the temporal distortion in the teaser reminded me of We'll Always Have Paris, especially the scene with Picard & Co. seeing themselves in the turbolift.
• Vulcan looked absolutely gorgeous. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time we saw it rain there. The red leaves were also a neat touch, especially if the color was caused by anthocyanins, which serve to make plants more resistant to UV radiation - which would make sense on a desert planet that's presumably quite close to its star.
  
• As soon as the probe sprouted tentacles, it evoked that visceral, instinctive fear of the Borg in me, which increased tenfold when it started to download the shuttle's database. Please don't be the Borg, please don't be the Borg. It probably won't be them but I'll still cross my fingers just in case.
• But seriously, what happened to the probe and what did it do to Airiam?

 

I would love this season if at the end of it only Saru, Stamets, Georgiou, Pike and even Tilly survive.

The story is intriguing, however the show seems to take itself way too seriously and at the same time in a very cliche kind of way. If you want a space opera with lots of drama you need to be able to support it. And imho they cannot. They are not brave enough or competent, they keep borrowing moments and places from the history of Star Trek ("oh!! fans would love a Talos visit! gimmick time" etc etc).
I guess for many of you this works just fine. What can I say...

Best moment of the episode:
Michael: did you kill your mother?
Georgiou: It is a blur

 

i think the probe was blown up. as to airiam: that remains to be seen

 

Yeah, I should've written that clearer... I was wondering about what happened to it during that 500 years it was supposed to spend in the distortion. Other than the Borg, its modifications and general situation reminded me a little bit of Nomad and V'Ger as well; not specifically of course, more like the underlying concept of them.

 

Judging by her enigmatic cyborg expression at the end, I don’t think it is a good thing.

 

yes, that felt so random. michael seems to have a connection to everyone who is anyone.

 

So many shows now have this tiny universe problem.

Also, I loved prime Phillipa, but moustache twirling mirror one is really starting to ruin it for me.

 

Yes, she’s turning very one dimensional.

And the conversation about Burnham’s parents was ridiculous. Why mention it at all?

 

The control panel aboard the shuttlecraft does have switches with tiny black printed words underneath them. That ties in with many of the switches and buttons on the TOS shuttlecraft being labeled with small black descriptions so that's one more reason to like the internal layout and design of the Discovery's shuttlecraft. They're closer to the TOS shuttles in their overall controls and cockpit design than the TOS Movie shuttles.

 

What luck that it's the Enterprise-D that finds Scotty!

Of all the Starships!