Just watched "
Light and Shadows" and I am still processing everything. Overall I enjoyed it. Season 2 is a marked improvement over season 1. Every episode in season 2 seems to have a self contained storyline that is tied to the overarching story via B and C plots. This time the crew faces a temporal anomaly, while Burnham goes off to visit her parents on Vulcan. I enjoyed both plots, but the episode started out better than it concluded.
The A plot involving the temporal anomaly felt like pure Trek. To research the anomaly a probe has to be send and for some plot reason this probe has to be delivered via shuttle. Tyler and Pike team up to fly the shuttle and are of course sucked into the anomaly. What i loved was the scene afterwards where Saru informs the bridge crew that their objective has changed from research to rescue and proceeds to hand out orders. Writer Ted Sullivan knows how to write good lines for Doug Jones. He also wrote S1's "What's Past Is Prologue" in which Saru gave a commanding speech to the crew in a character defining moment. Here Saru excudes some fine leadership qualities as he calmly lays out his plan and delegates various responsibilites. He comes across as not only a leader, but also a tutor who is guiding the bridge crew in this latest crisis. I loved that the writers did not forget that Stamets has special temporal abilities. It was a nice instance of story continuity that has sometimes been lacking in this show but also prior Trek shows like Voyager and Enterprise. Why the writers felt the need to add a ticking clock in the form of radiation poisoning is beyond me. As time was constantly in flux in the anomaly anyways, tracking fatal exposure must have been impossible. If the radiation wasn't enough, Pike and Tyler also had to deal with a squid like futureprobe. It was all a bit much. Too much fabricated peril (losing two crewmen in an anomaly is terrible enough, I would think) and very little character moments. The resolution to all of these problems felt rushed. This was the shortest episode of the season clocking in at barely 40 minutes. This could've used 10 minutes more.
The B plot involving Michael's return to Vulcan to find Spock hidden there was interesting. I adored the brief glimpses of Vulcan we got here. The production design and visual effects were top notch, as usual. The Burnham/Amanda/Sarek scenes were... fascinating. But like the A plot, the story quickly falls apart when the writers try to shoehorn Section 31 into the mix. The brief excursion to a Leland's ship starts okay enough, Leland seems sincere when he offers to help Spock with his mental problems. But of course, there's a twist. After all, there must be a twist. Gourgiou tells Burnham that Leland doesn't care about Spock and will destroy his mind if ordered so. She helps Burnham to escape which involves a staged but nonetheless kick ass fight scene between Michael and Phillipa. Ted Sullivan seems to understand that if you have Michelle Yeoh as a cast member, you should at least have her kick some ass once in a while. I salute him. The plot ends which Burnham escaping with Spock and fleeing from Section 31 ships.
I like elements from both plots but it didn't come together as a whole. The writers seemed to be putting multiple things into motion and we'll just have to wait and see how these things pay off. I do wish that they had fleshed out one of these plots more, either the temporal anomaly plot or the Spock storyline. I also wonder what the timeline was for these events. Did Burnham go to Vulcan, speak to her parents, find Spock and bring him to Section 31 in under 5 hours? How small has the universe become?
Some random thoughts:
- The opening titles featured some changes. We got a better view of the Red Angel. And there were some new names among the producers like James Duff and Michelle Paradise. I am curious if these additions and the departure of Berg and Harberts will bring about a change to the storytelling. Season 2 has been an improvement, but there is still a lot that could benefit from some rethinking.
- Airiam has been infected by a virus. I was hoping we would to get to know this character better this season. Instead, she's been turned into a plot device.
- Jeff Russo's music has inproved greatly compared to season 1. Loving it.
- Where was Detmer?
-"Everything sounds better if you put time in front of it."- Tilly. And then that reaction shot of Saru!
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