Series Rewatch Leading Up to Season 3

[Lord Garth]

Finished the first seven episodes of the second season. I'm not going to go as detailed as I did with the first season.

"Brother" --> Does a good job of introducing Pike to DSC and setting up the Red Angel story arc.
"New Eden" --> Introduces Terralysium and adds to the Red Angel mystery.
"Point of Light" --> Wraps up loose ends with the Klingons from S1, brings Section 31 into the fold, and sends out Amanda on her search for Spock.
"An Obol for Charon" --> Gives Discovery 100,000 years worth of galactic data that will later embed itself into Discovery. And transitions Saru from someone who's prone to fear to someone who is bolder and will want to save his people from the Ba'ul.
"Saints of Imperfection" --> Weirdest episode of the season. Puts the strange in exploration and gives us back Hugh Culber. It also intertwines the Section 31 storyline with Discovery's. Good to see Cornwell back too, more of Georgiou... and I guess this is the start of super-annoying Super-Section 31 Tyler.
"The Sound of Thunder" --> Moves at a lightning pace, but gets the Kelpians out from underneath the Bu'al's thumb. Love the character design on the Ba'ul. They look really terrifying.
"Light and Shadows" --> We reach the half-way point of the season. Burnham finds Spock. Georgiou reveals to Leland she knows he's responsible for the death of Burnham's birth parents. Control taps into Discovery's computers and gains access to the data scrolls. Of other note: Pike and Tyler work things out. And I love when Amanda stands up to Sarek.

In "New Eden", Tilly tries to figure out how to make the Spore Drive possible to be operated without Stamets. I think this is something they'll continue to try to do in the third season with 32nd Century technology, so other people will be able to operate it if necessary. Or just have it be operated through Discovery's computer. I think the data scrolls from an "An Obol for Charon" will be harnessed through however Discovery's computer is upgraded, which will allow it to operate the Spore Drive. But that's only speculation. It could be wrong.

Anything else? Not immediately coming to mind other than I wish it would've been possible to see more of Number One. Onward to the rest of the season. I'm going to just barely make it before the third season drops.

 

[DigificWriter]

With DSC Season 3 imminently upon us and my rewatch of Season 2 almost complete, I find myself feeling sad that we're losing an OG member of the main cast in Shazad Latif, whose arcs with Burnham and Section 31 were highlights of the series for me.

 

[BillJ]

I find myself feeling sad that we're losing an OG member of the main cast in Shazad Latif, whose arcs with Burnham...

I thought Latif and Martin-Green had the chemistry of two wet pieces of cardboard slapping together. She already has more chemistry with the Booker character in the minute we saw them together than she ever did with TyVoq.

 

[fireproof78]

With DSC Season 3 imminently upon us and my rewatch of Season 2 almost complete, I find myself feeling sad that we're losing an OG member of the main cast in Shazad Latif, whose arcs with Burnham and Section 31 were highlights of the series for me.

Same here.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm not going to miss him. I can't stand him in the second season. There was a moment during "Light and Shadows" when I yelled at the screen "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" when Tyler kept going on and on at Pike.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Yeah, I really don't get that reaction.

Tyler/Voq has consistently been one of my favorite characters, and DSC won't be the same without him.

 

[BillJ]

...and DSC won't be the same without him.

Let's hope so.

 

[Lord Garth]

^ Yeah, I really don't get that reaction.

Tyler/Voq has consistently been one of my favorite characters, and DSC won't be the same without him.

Tyler became super-argumentative and I'm not a fan of super-argumentative. "Yet you post here!" Yeah, I do, but I only take things up to a point. I can't do 20 or 30 pages in a row, which I've actually seen some people do on here before.

And he just kept digging and digging at Pike. "Oh! This is all because you feel guilty for not being in the war!" Every five minutes it felt like. No. Pike's trying to do a job. Leave him alone.

 

[ananta]

I really liked Ash in the first season but found him slightly annoying in the second, he was something of a wet blanket.

Someone who was a revelation in s2 for me was Mia Kirshner who brought so much warmth and humanity to Amanda. I loved ever scene she was in, and James Frain grew on me immensely as Sarek. I’ll miss them.

i just set finished my rewatch, and damned if I don’t think “Such Sweet Sorrow” is one of the absolute best season finales Trek ever did have. In spite of a couple of very minor niggles I found it exhilarating and emotional and I can’t remember the last time I was left as desperate for the next season to begin.

 

[Lord Garth]

Getting to the end of Season 2. I'm going to make my takes not only short, but short-short. Super short. Like the shorts I wore when I was a kid back in the '80s.

"If Memory Serves" --> The sequel to "The Cage" I never knew I wanted.
"Project Daedalus" --> Control needed to hack into someone who could move around, Airiam gave it the easiest opportunity. They had to kill her to kill Control's mobility within Discovery. Unfortunate, but there we are. Glad we got to see more of her before she went.
"The Red Angel" --> Nice trolling of the Fandom Menace by the writers. First they say the Red Angel is Burnham, then they show it's Burnham's mother.
"Perpetual Infinity" --> Gabrielle Burnham is tethered to The Future. Since there's life in The Future in Season 3, it's possible there's a version of her there. So I think we'll see Gabrielle at some point in the third season or beyond.
"Through the Valley of Shadows" --> Nice resolution to the L'Rell/Tyler storyline. Presumably sets up Pike's arc in SNW. I'm glad we got a chance to see Spock and Burnham work together like a team on an away mission. I want to see more of these types of Klingons! Tanovic was great.

Time for "Such Sweet Sorrow"! I'm gonna make it.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Such Sweet Sorrow" --> "Such Sweet Sorrow" kicked ass and took names. Part I is the emotional core of the season. If anyone has to ask why, they wouldn't understand. And Part II is something that sends the season out with a bang. Literally. I feel like I could play this on the 4th of July. Some great fireworks.

"The Girl Who Made the Stars" --> I like the story Mike Burnham tells to Michael, and I have no doubt this is one of the stories that inspired her to become leader she is, whether she's actually a Captain or not. My niece liked this episode too. It's the only thing of Discovery she's seen. I'm looking forward to hearing what she thinks of DSC when she's old enough to watch more of it.

"Calypso" --> This is still one of my favorite pieces of Star Trek ever made. Not just of this era, but across all three generations. There's a magic and elegance to "Calypso" showing that no matter how far into the future Star Trek goes, there will still be humanity to it and in its characters.

I didn't think I'd make it all the way through in time, but bring on the third season! Starting in T-minus less than one hour...

 

[DigificWriter]

Since very early on in Discovery's run, I glommed on to its similarities to DS9, which it supplanted as my favorite Trek series, but for some reason I overlooked its similarities to what had been my second-favorite series, Voyager, and it was only as I rewatched Season 2 that I started noticing those similarities.

As a specific example, both parts of Such Sweet Sorrow bear a lot of similarities to the Voyager episodes Deadlock, Before and After, and Year of Hell, and it's actually a little bit strange that I hadn't noticed said similarities until now.

Another thing I noticed while rewatching the series is that the writers were much more overt in putting down 'signposts' telegraphing the fact that they knew where Season 2 was going to end and were working backwards to get the story and characters to that point, which, as an aspiring writer myself, kind of puts me in awe because it really demonstrates their level of talent.

 

[Ometiklan]

Rewatching S2 now. On the finale. Really enjoyed every episode thru the return to Talos IV. Save maybe the mycelial network episode.

Some things about the Ariam episode really bugged me, but I do not want to rehash those. 2nd half generally weaker.

Some things I still don't get avout the finale.

1) Why do they accept that "subspace relays are all out" & they cannot contact Starfleet. I mean, FFS, take a shuttle & do what Tyler did. Go directly. Inly the fate of all life in the galaxy, no biggie.

2) Saru's message gets to Siranna (and she's a pilot now!), but nothing to Starfleet.

3) Speaking of Klingons, I guess no more worries abourlt Ash being alive or sedition anymore? And still no message to Starfleet?

4) How does a photon torpedo get into the hull with the Shields up? And how does that puny blast shield stop it taking the ship out. Tough door!

5) Speaking of the missile, that seems so contrived. What, one of those robot things couldn't have pulled that lever? They could build a time travelling suit in an hour but not something that could pull a lever? No one has a rope?

6) Finally, most importantly, how is she able to make all those jumps when I thought the whole point was the crystal only had enough juice for a one way trip?

Look, I am sure I missed something, but that seems like a lot of silly/confusing stuff for one episode.

When logic & common sense get thrown out, because plot, you start to lose me. Someone talk me out of thinking the finale was poor.

Yeah, there are tons of logic issues in the finale. It feels like they had to rush to get to the conclusion that they wanted - Discovery forced to travel to the future with no chance to return - and worked backward from there, but with not enough time to make it all justified. Even in the finale moments they screw it up because they defeat Control (through the use of the stupidest plot point in all fiction: kill the head badguy and all the other badguys immediately stop) yet, Discovery acknowledges the win and continues into the wormhole anyway. I think they messed up the logic but the emotions hold together enough, just don't think about it too much.

Another biggy: Spock saying they have to wipe Discovery from existence and never speak of it again. Why? Obviously the writers/producers were over compensating for the "fan" question of "why have we never heard of Burnham and the Discovery in the historical records?" and figured, "hey, if we classify everything that solves it all!" But it is really stupid: so the hundreds and thousands and millions of people (including prisoners) who know about Michael Burnham the mutineer, who then saves the whole Federation and is given their highest (?) medal for service along with the whole main crew of the Discovery, and who is then given the most important mission of all time (allowing them to violate even General Order #1, to investigate the Red Signals) - you think you can magically remove all reference to her/it in the historical records by classifying the results of their finale mission? Bah.

Since very early on in Discovery's run, I glommed on to its similarities to DS9, which it supplanted as my favorite Trek series, but for some reason I overlooked its similarities to what had been my second-favorite series, Voyager, and it was only as I rewatched Season 2 that I started noticing those similarities.

As a specific example, both parts of Such Sweet Sorrow bear a lot of similarities to the Voyager episodes Deadlock, Before and After, and Year of Hell, and it's actually a little bit strange that I hadn't noticed said similarities until now.

Another thing I noticed while rewatching the series is that the writers were much more overt in putting down 'signposts' telegraphing the fact that they knew where Season 2 was going to end and were working backwards to get the story and characters to that point, which, as an aspiring writer myself, kind of puts me in awe because it really demonstrates their level of talent.

I really liked this part of the second season. All their actions built up to what they would need to save the day at the end. Well done on the writers part. Now if only the whole Section 31/Control bit wasn't a steaming pile...

 

[fireproof78]

you think you can magically remove all reference to her/it in the historical records by classifying the results of their finale mission?

Depends on who controls the information.

 

[Ometiklan]

Depends on who controls the information.

Well, based on the fact that everyone, including prisoners - in prison - knew who Michael Burnham was, I would say that the Federation/Starfleet does not control the information.

 

[fireproof78]

Well, based on the fact that everyone, including prisoners - in prison - knew who Michael Burnham was, I would say that the Federation/Starfleet does not control the information.

Unless the prisoners were former Starfleet. And then dismiss any statements as rumors.

 

[Lord Garth]

Another biggy: Spock saying they have to wipe Discovery from existence and never speak of it again. Why? Obviously the writers/producers were over compensating for the "fan" question of "why have we never heard of Burnham and the Discovery in the historical records?" and figured, "hey, if we classify everything that solves it all!" But it is really stupid: so the hundreds and thousands and millions of people (including prisoners) who know about Michael Burnham the mutineer, who then saves the whole Federation and is given their highest (?) medal for service along with the whole main crew of the Discovery, and who is then given the most important mission of all time (allowing them to violate even General Order #1, to investigate the Red Signals) - you think you can magically remove all reference to her/it in the historical records by classifying the results of their finale mission? Bah.

I try not to focus on that too much since we all know they really only swept Discovery so thoroughly under the carpet to shut up the "STD Sucks!" Crowd.

But there's another possibility. If they wipe out all records and eliminate a paper trail, then a new version of Control can't find anything about Discovery or the sphere data. It exists in memories but as long as there's no known record, it all becomes a myth.

And people, as we know, are not above Revisionist History or going along with it even when they know better. Columbus didn't "discover" America. The Native Americans did. Or, later on, the Europeans who settled Greenland did 500 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

I can see Starfleet suppressing knowledge about the Spore Drive, especially since it requires genetic manipulation for someone to operate and they wouldn't want their enemies to be able to duplicate the technology. 114 years later, Janeway wouldn't know anything about it when she was trying to get her ship home, wouldn't think to look it up since this was all before she was born, and wouldn't find anything on record anyway.

 

[Cyrus]

I just binge watched season 2. On my initial watch I had liked the episodes but thought the season arc (7 signals, Red Angel, Spock, Control) was a bit of mess. I expected the rewatch to be less enjoyable, with the season arc being more of a mess and full of inconsistencies since I knew how it would end.

But to my surprise it held well together, and the season arc seemed more solid doing the binge watch. I enjoyed it better the second time around. The Red Angel suit is still too much of a magic device but so is the spore drive, so didn't bother me too much.

The last episode was great. The space battles were too busy for my taste but the episode was spectacular.

Now time to catch up on season 3, I have only seen the first episode.