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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x12 - "Through the Valley of Shadows"

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    241
It did look cool. Though it must have gone through some massive climate change in the 100 year between this episode and "Rightful Heir." :)

292

Planets are known to have seasons.
 
I don't think Pike's future is grim. There could be a lot worst fates than spending your life with the beautiful Vina.

The future wheelchair Pike was done extremely well. So did the purists expected it to look identical to the one in The Menagerie?
I felt that the left side of his face could have been a bit less like the Jackie Earl Haley version of Freddy Krueger, but other than that pretty decent
 
so mea culpa for misreading what kurtzman previously said about depicting pike’s accident. other than the fact that they distractingly reused discovery’s spore drive room down to the green screened warp core, i thought this was powerful. and in a way i never expected. the inevitability of what we knew happened to pike was stronger than any new interpretation. props to the writers for seeing that, and to anson mount for making me feel that punch in the gut.

we’ve spent so long being immune to the image of pike in the chair, it’s a huge feat that discovery was able to move beyond fry in futurama operating that thing with his gross bare foot. and connect it with the flesh and blood character they’ve created this season. they actually took an event from the lore and not just amended, but improved on it.

i was genuinely surprised by gant showing up and what they did with him. and i loved every minute of pike on boreth. i could’ve used more. i say it every week, but there’s good shit here. why does discovery insist on racing through it? is it lack of confidence or lack of interest in these concepts?

season 1 dwelled, it wallowed, basked in its questionable plotting. season 2 races past a ton of super interesting stuff. i do not know what’s worse. but i’m eager to see what happens next week. and knowing what we all know (and have known for 50 f-ing years) about pike, i’m worried about the guy. i think that’s saying a lot for a character whose fate i accepted before i even cared about him.
 
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. they actually took an <fill in the blank> from the lore and not just amended, but improved on it.
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That is one of the things they do, and that prequels have to do in order to be successful. So far, IMO, Discovery has done its job. Not perfectly, I will grant you, but far in excess of the franchise's previous 2 kicks at the can at amending/updating/improving on Star Trek history.
 
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Vietnam started in the 60’s? I did not know that. I thought it was a 70’s thing.

It started in the 50s actually, but got progressively worse through the 60s. The Gulf of Tomkin incident in 1964 escalated things a lot. And we Trek Fans got A Private Little War out of it.
 
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I gave that an 8. A bit of a step up from the last couple of confusing episodes, we had something with a (welcome) slower pace.

Pike saw his unfortunate mangled future on Boreth. I was already wondering about his fate at season's end, and now I think it will after what he saw.

I still don't understand why Tyler isn't on Qo'Nos now. He can still be on the show, maybe as a recurring character? He still seems like an awkward fit, even after L'Rell said his heart was after Burnham (blech ;)).

I liked seeing Reno back again, though it wasn't as annoying as her last appearance. It seems that she is a Stamets/Culber fan as well, like me, so she wants those crazy kids together again so they can work more efficiently. Learning about her dead wife was a nice, sad touch.

So far this season one of my highlights has been seeing Spock and Burnham interact, so I was happy they paired off again. The whole Control being inside the replica of the guy Burnham knew was intriguing at best.

The end was your standard countdown to destruction for the last two episodes. Of course the ship won't be destroyed, but it will be fun seeing the Enterprise and Number One again.
 
That was a fantastic ride. Nearly - but not quite - up there with If Memory Serves. The pacing was better, due to less expo-babble. I enjoyed the different stories intersecting and relating to each other. Reno's scenes with Stamets and Culber were pitch perfect for me, just the right amount of her character. Tyler and L'Rell's resolution regarding their son was also well done. Also enjoyed seeing the bridge crew having a meal together.

The two main highlights for me, though, were: Pike being confronted by his future and nobly accepting that fate for the greater good, and Spock and Burnham bantering as siblings on a joint mission together. That dynamic really works for me. Have we ever had siblings featured so prominently in Trek before?

Pike made me tear up. I was horrified along with him. That utterly despairing cry he gave after the vision was a pure gut punch. Superb acting by Anson Mount in all of his scenes tonight.

Weirdly, I think the mystic Klingon time monk thing works for me. It just felt like an awesome addition to the lore. I also liked the idea of Voq and L'rell's son being already grown up and guiding Pike.

And I don't know if anyone else noticed, but it felt like the writers were revisiting some earlier themes in terms of destiny, faith vs science and how everything is connected.

So CONTROL seemed less like a proto-borg this time. That swarm of nanites that Gant disintegrated into was pretty darn scary in a totally different kind of way. CONTROL is getting better at mimicking humans and its plan was pretty solid. I wonder why it didn't foresee that Spock would free himself in time to help his sister, though. Maybe not so perfect yet.

Tyler can never go back to Qo'onos because he's supposed to be dead, a traitor who killed L'Rell's son and then was executed by her personally. It would destabilize her rule.
 
good 7/10.
better than the last 2 episodes. once again the truth is clear that the series does better when there is no more red angel drama. the red angel has been the weakest part of season 2
 
Man, that Pike scene. Just brutal. And his anguish and then the haunted look when he was aboard ship. The poor guy. Who the eff would want to see a fate like that? Don't know if I could have done that. Brrr.

Going over to the S31 ship. D-U-M-B. I never see things coming, but this was so telegraphed. And who's to say that Control didn't slip into/hide aboard the shuttle to go over to Discovery?

How did they fall for the Gant bit? I mean, really, one survivor? And you're not the teeniest bit suspicious?

They'd make bad Romulans. ;)

Enjoyed the Spock/Burnham banter.
 
Another fantastic episode

7.5/10 Almost an 8

I'm only going to talk about the things that really stood out to me this episode.

Well what can I say. Loved this episode a whole bunch. I have to say the production design in this episode was fan-bloody-tastic. The Klingon Monastery looked amazing. Loved the look of the planet Boreth. So Son Of None is now a guardian of the time crystals which they seem to have a stockpile of. Also the one thing even Klingons are not game to experiment with. I find that most interesting. So Captain Pike has now learned of his fate and has somewhat accepted it in order to get a time crystal for Discovery to use.

I had chills when I started hearing those noises in the corridor and then knowing what those noises were going to be. I knew beforehand but I had chills all through that scene, and then when you see the wheelchair and the disfigured Pike. That was a real shock.

Michael and Spock seem to be getting along much better now and they had their phone call with Amanda and that was great. I liked seeing Amanda again and hearing her speak and she is wise. She knew what to say to Michael. She and Spock board a shuttle to head to the Section 31 ship only to find everyone has been cast out into space to die. They find one life sign onboard but that leads to an actin packed fight. I didn't think that guy was compromised by Control until he said a few lines that sounded like a real giveaway. We then know for sure this guy was nanofied. A dead person brought back by the power of nanobots and now a meat puppet. The fight was good actually and I did enjoy that. But the way they finally got a hand over control was not something I would have thought of doing what Spock did with the floor.

I do wonder what they did with all those nanites still magnetized on the floor? Wanting them contained would have been the thing to do so I'd have hoped they did put them somewhere they could not do any more harm, or somehow neutralized them or such. I'd like to think that was all done off screen.

So next week we get pew pew in space with 31 ships and the Disco, but not if the big E gets there in time for the big self destruct which I predict will be canceled at the very last second. That's my prediction for next week. The Enterprise does show up for the fight but then at the very last second the self destruct is called off.

Anyway another great episode. I enjoyed it very much.
 
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