Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x05 - "Die Trying"

Then they give her command of Discovery!

 

Yeah, I'm thinking that Saru should have led the mission and kept her back at Nu-Starfleet.

I'm honestly surprised that Saru was willing to abdicate the Center Seat for her early on but, cast lead and all...

 

Very good episode. Discovery FINALLY has found his Trek soul. Still no clues on whether the Burn affected only the Federation or other powers as well. Still a lot of unanswered questions - hopefully we'll get there soon. The music thingy makes me believe this is some sort of extra-dimensional thing. I hope the Terrans are not involved - leave the Mirror Universe alone please.

 

I wouldn't mind a heads-up on the Borg, the Founders and others, either. Obviously, it wouldn't be an update for the DSC crew, who have never heard of them, but for us.

Do we have any idea where HQ is located? If they have these outposts (and their reach is limited now), would it be near what used to be Bajoran/ Cardassian territory?

That's what I first assumed and I would love it, particularly if it's not a clear-cut case of good vs. bad. If both descendants of SF have some good stuff going for them, or even if the V'draysh turned out to be the "better" one (without SF being a villain, just different). "Unification III" could refer to re-integrating these two groups rather than Vulcans and Romulans. (Of course, maybe Vulcans are in one group, Romulans on the other.)

Very uneven, a bit off, and rushed in the end? (Speaking as a Picard fan, but pacing was not its strong suit.)

 

I thought it was a good episode, I give it an 8. -1 for Burnham back to being an annoying bellend.

 

So, she's like Kirk? Spock? Worf? Starfleet seems to have no changed much in that regard.

 

The Starfleet HQ set seems to have been made from the Shenzhou/S31 ship set.

https://twitter.com/TrekCore/status/1327279934071508994/photo/1

https://twitter.com/majavrvilo/status/1327287327555612677

 

Yeah, just like they were all pirates and not starfleet officers (both sides) and needed hostages to collaborate on something…

So why bring it up? Yes, there are going to be haplessy put together stories in the 32th century and beyond, on the other hand there are hopefully be ones built with care and love. I think that a good target, especially in for-profit writing, is getting at least up to a good middle ground.

By all means!

Actually I'm curious about what's going on here…I was never a fan of the 24th century MU and the Discovery interpretation managed to be bare and over the top at the same time, perhaps a new take could be better.

 

They will not be, though I would welcome a return to the MU at a latter date.

 

More like a bit slow and then rushed (for Discovery).
I don't mind the buildup, but S3 only has 12 episodes... and we're already 5 episodes in (next week we'll be halfway into season 3).
That doesn't (exactly) give the show a lot of time.... but it also depends on whether or not they decide to extend the story about the burn and bringing the Federation back to Season 4 and 5.

 

Did Rachael Ancheril leave the show for good (excluding future cameos)? Seems like she was just made a series regular billing-wise this season.

 

This was a great episode, sans the melodic memory-program somehow embedded in everyone. That was a bit nuBSG for my taste. I'm still interested in where they take it and hopeful that it's not one of these oh-so-clever plot innovations but has a more down-to-earth (ha!) explanation.

Three things stood out to me in this episode, and they were pacing, thoughtful writing, and balanced emotion.

Pacing: Some of my biggest issues with the first two seasons were the breakneck pacing and plot-device clocks and countdowns that made watching the episode stressful but also needlessly so, as you knew they'd "make it out of the pinch somehow." Not the case in this episode, and generally the third season so far. There was a sense of urgency (curing infected people) but no clock. This created a nice suspenseful pressure without all the stress. A+.

Thoughtful writing: Referencing the patterns of history, particularly the dark ages and the innovative thinking that (arguably) ended them, was quite nice. Reminiscent of the thoughtful writing of TNG and latter DS9. No technobabbly plot devices like "Oh humans evolved away from empathy and unless we (Michael) fix this evolutionary error we'll never get the good old Federation back," just, "History's lessons say that even when things are bad for a long time, they can get better, particularly when we shock the system with creativity."

Balanced emotion: I was so happy to see just a bit of very understandable crying this episode. Though I'm not adverse to the new more emotion-friendly Trekverse, particularly in the acknowledgment of PTSD, crying has been far overused the past two seasons as a signal for "Oh wow this is soooo important, guys." Michael's emotional connections with Saru and others in this episode were deep, thoughtful and conveyed mostly through her (non-crying) eyes and expressions. Great acting. Much better balance of emotion and and ease up on the crying crutch.

Overall, I loved it. Gave it a 10. I'm a sucker for these kinds of episodes, though.

 

I didn't. I just responded to the usual complaints about the central character of the show being central to an episode of the show.

 

It WAS Saru who offered to stay at SF/Fed HQ... though, Vince's attitude when he said 'come back fast, or it will come down on him' was an unnecessary threat (and very unlike Starfleet - though, he and the rest of Staffleet were as he said 'in triage' for a long time, so a bit of a 'slip' is not exactly inexcusable).

Still, it wouldn't exactly be Starfleet's way to hold people hostage for collateral - at all.
And, Discovery showed up on its own accord and willingly submit to debrief of all crewmembers... that alone would have to go a long way to assuage Vance that the likelihood is high they are who they say they are.

 

Starfleet still have every reason to be suspicious.

 

For me there were just too many missing pieces in the episode or things that just don't make sense

- Where was it stated that starfleet was expecting Discovery when Saru was taking the ship through the distortion field. He actually says "they are expecting us" I don't recall this.
- Who was that old man that was interviewing Phillipa - he wasn't even introduced or anything. It just jumps right into the scene of them talking like we are supposed to know what's going on.
- Why would AI holograms be susceptible to eyelash blinking - so weird and makes no sense and the technobabble associated with Philippas explanation seems really far fetched
- The whole CME thing with the seed ship captain was totally unnecessary, it added nothing to the story
- how can Nhan automatically take control of the seed ship - no transfer of commands or anything
- Discovery leaves immediately when Burnham beans to the ship - no goodbyes, nothing? Saru never questions why Nhan is staying behind - it was just too fast

I think they skip too much of the pieces that join the story together making it kind of confusing, and/or just implausible.

Overall I like the story so far and the look and feel of everything. But they really need to stop trying to either fit too much into an episode or remove stuff that detracts from the overall plot. It's just too much.

 

Oh and one more thing I missed in my post was this

- why on earth would they leave a seed ship carrying the most important cargo for the federation just floating around in a spaceship susceptible to damage from ion storms and other hazards. I mean why not just keep it within the distortion field. or on a planet like Earth which has powerful defenses.