Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x09 - "Project Daedalus"

It has the sounds of waves and wind.

 

Some pretty nifty writing from Paradise tonight with Spock telling Burnham her issue with shouldering the burden of a major decision instead of allowing herself to grieve, and then having Burnham be faced with the burden of a impossible choice at the end of the episode. The fact that Paradise chooses to have Naan make the decision for Burnham will allow Burnham to grieve over Airiam, I'm guessing.

 

That could be the point, she wasn't able to make it and she's aware of it now.

 

It'll be interesting to see how they handle that discussion between her and Spock in the next episodes.

 

I thought it was a great episode. Ariam went from a character I didn't care about to having one of the most powerful deaths in Trek history. I know she wasn't fully developed but Jadzia Dax was and her death was crap so that is not always a factor in a great emotional death. Burnham having that choice was also part of the drama. I also liked the crew bonding clips but the lady with the air things on her face doesn't look like the aliens she was enough from TNG and DS9. She looks to human.

I also think the action was top notch this week, first with the space mines but then with the fist fight between Burnham and Araim. When Burnham went flying backwards in her suit it did kind of make me think for a minute of "Superman 2" with Zod's henchmen knocking the astronaut into space in slow motion.

As for next week with them setting up equipment and Burnham sitting in a chair and this all being a secret project it made me think of he movie "Contact." Maybe she will travel to the future to meet some Red Angels only for them to appear to her as her dead parents.


Jason

 

It would interesting to see both actually start to help each other since both are to spot such behaviors in each other. Instead of criticizing, it becomes something constructive and maybe rebuilding some sort of relationship.

 

If Burnham is somewhere near the big chair like 3rd or so, she shouldn't be rooming with folks she might need to space in an emergency situation. Troi had to learn that, seems Burnham does, too. It's like the Emperor said last season, Burnahm instigates valiantly but she has no follow through. She's busier trying to not make a mistake than achieve success.

 

Now if only Spock accused her of being a Mary Sue.

 

In honour of the late, great Airiam, I will post every time I mentioned her on TBBS previously:

In the arms of the angel

Fly away from here

From this dark cold hotel room

And the endlessness that you fear

You are pulled from the wreckage

Of your silent reverie

You're in the arms of the angel

May you find some comfort here

RIP LIEUTENANT COMMANDER AIRIAM 2.5
SHE FLEW TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN​

 

On Vulcan it's 'mary suerak'

 

It is not logical to point out the obvious

 

The line Spock says that he wasn’t the first mixed breed intrigues me. Did T’Pol and Trip attempt to have a kid again? ( I don’t think Trip died at the end).

If not I wonder who was the first successful Vulcan/human mixed breed?

 

But Spock uses logic, it would be out of character to say something so absurd.

 

Pros:

• Peck's Spock (outstanding)
• Mount's Pike (great even when screen time is brief)
• The rest of the crew (minus SMG) did well in their parts.

Cons:

• I didn't care about Ariem as a character because this episode constituted the sum total of her development. If the show wanted the audience to care they should have 'humanized' her (pun intended) sooner and more frequently.
• I'm leaning more and more toward blaming the acting chops (or lack thereof) of SMG rather than the writing. Her library of 5 facial expressions is essentially just 5 variations of 'Bewildered'.
• This episode seemed like filler which is odd considered that they lost a crew member. Not sure how to take that...

Random:
It's unpleasant that the writers feel the need to constantly telegraph how much of a model StarFleet officer Pike is (the admiral's "you're the best we have" speech). We get it - he'll stick to his principles even if it means suicide. This is more irritating because it is based on a fanatical philosophy - one that insists that it's better to rigidly stick to your high-minded principles and philosophy yet possibly die and contribute to the death of your civilization rather than be flexible enough to understand that sometimes life forces you to compromise for the greater good. It's the sort of thinking that comes from an 'artsy' crowd who have the benefit of living in a reasonably cushy society.

 

Probably one of the Vulcans on the v'tosh ka'tur party bus meeting with some boomers between Draylax and Delta IV.

 

No, it because he was a joke.
He was a smeg head and the Arnold rimmer of trek.
It was funny to make about what a dick he was.

I know we live in a post humour world now.........but really?

 

This is the Age of the Perpetually Incensed...why can't white males join the fun like everyone else?

 

Another 10 from me. I've given a lot of these out in Discovery season 2, we're not at the 'Inner Light' yet but I see no reason to hold them back. We may need to adjust the scale. Exceptional.

2x09 Daedalus thoughts/things noticed
- Cornwell mentions a Vulcan ambassador, a Logic Extremist
- What, exactly, is "Control"? A.I.?
- Tilly rulez, as always.
- Love that Cornwell is on a mission
- Can't be said enough. Anson Mount, Pike, a strong highlight to this season & Trek in general.
- Detmer mentions "Kadeskat" (spelling?)
- Airiam smiles, can fight, has friends.
- Airiam episode is SO welcome.
- Airiam, fiancee, beach memories, sea shells. Buddhist statues in quarters.
- Airiam has feelings, memories.
- Fantasic acting skills from everyone.
- Airiam is "cybernetically augmented per her. "Half robutt" per Tilly.
- Pike - "shitstorm"
- "Giving up our values in the name of security is to lose the battle in advance" - Pike (I agree!!!)
- 3D chess
- Species Barzan confirmed.
- Airiam under Section 31's control?
- Spock/Stamets is so good, mutual respect.
- I adore the Barzan, crewman "Nan/Nahn" (spelling?)
- Corrupted Airiam is not the Red Angel, but IS what wants to destroy all sentient life?
- "Captain Tilly" is inevitable. She earns it.
- "Control" controls Airiam?
- Airiam to Burnham - "Everything is because of YOU"

 

I assumed the lie detector Admiral Cornwell used on Spock was meant to be some version of the technology seen in "Wolf in the Fold." As long as they had that thing around, they might have used it on Tyler to confirm whether or not he was really the one who sabotaged the spore drive... or Spock could have mind melded with him. But I guess they had other stuff on their minds and maybe it was considered a waste of time since nearly everyone had already considered his guilt a foregone conclusion.

Though there's stuff like that I could nitpick (like, maybe I missed something, but I didn't know why Discovery couldn't beam Airiam up... or why Michael didn't immediately run over to help poor Nhan after she got Airiam in the airlock), but on an emotional level, I thought "Project Daedalus" was very effective; I was very tense during most of Airiam's scenes, not knowing when she was going to snap throughout most of the run time. I see I'm not alone in wishing that we'd gotten to know more about her prior to this, but it still managed to get me to feel sad about her death. I guess it still stung as much as it did because she has been around for pretty much the entire series and wasn't just some random character who shows up for one episode, unlike 99.9% of the deaths seen in Star Trek.

Also, I really liked Cornwell's little discussion with Pike about why Starfleet kept the Enterprise out of the war.

This is kind of silly, but I couldn't help finding it sort of cool to think that the first officer of the Enterprise D (and E) has now directed an episode featuring the (future) first officer of Kirk's Enterprise.

 

I wasn't so lucky, but that's something I've experienced with other streaming channels from time to time. When it happens, I generally just chalk it up to some sort of glitch.