Doing a temperature check on the season so far, since we're halfway through, I find myself growing less and less enthusiastic, even though I'd say I liked 3 out of 5 of the episodes thus far.
As is typically the case with Discovery, the pace seems to have slowed down quite a bit after the season opened with a bang. That isn't always a bad thing, but we were promised by the marketing a romp of a treasure hunt, and the last few episodes have lacked the Indiana Jones vibe entirely, settling into normal DIS (post Michelle Paradise) vibes.
Episode 4 told me that the Federation's survival was at stake, but I've been teased with this so many times now, there's a boy who cried wolf issue here. Moll and La'k aren't coming across as either threatening or compelling as antagonists - everything about them is a pastiche of things that I've seen done elsewhere better (including by Discovery). Michael Burnham has faced down warlords and emperesses and a killer AI. Now she's up against Bonnie and Clyde minus engaging banter.
Knowing it's the last season also makes me a bit annoyed at how little time we have remaining with the characters, and how underutilized many have been this season. Saru, for example, has been absent for two episodes straight. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to get satisfying conclusions to their character arcs, because we probably have at most another three episodes before we're stuck into the season endgame and the season shifts from character to plot more heavily. At least Rayner remains a breath of fresh air. Best decision the show could have made, giving Michael an XO with whom she has some tension.
As is typically the case with Discovery, the pace seems to have slowed down quite a bit after the season opened with a bang. That isn't always a bad thing, but we were promised by the marketing a romp of a treasure hunt, and the last few episodes have lacked the Indiana Jones vibe entirely, settling into normal DIS (post Michelle Paradise) vibes.
Episode 4 told me that the Federation's survival was at stake, but I've been teased with this so many times now, there's a boy who cried wolf issue here. Moll and La'k aren't coming across as either threatening or compelling as antagonists - everything about them is a pastiche of things that I've seen done elsewhere better (including by Discovery). Michael Burnham has faced down warlords and emperesses and a killer AI. Now she's up against Bonnie and Clyde minus engaging banter.
Knowing it's the last season also makes me a bit annoyed at how little time we have remaining with the characters, and how underutilized many have been this season. Saru, for example, has been absent for two episodes straight. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to get satisfying conclusions to their character arcs, because we probably have at most another three episodes before we're stuck into the season endgame and the season shifts from character to plot more heavily. At least Rayner remains a breath of fresh air. Best decision the show could have made, giving Michael an XO with whom she has some tension.
