Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x07 - "Unification III"

The episode overall was okay, but toward the bottom of the pile for me. It contained the first thing in Discovery that I actually hated. Tilly being promoted is one of the most ridiculous moments in Trek history. I absolutely hated it. I’m just glad that it’s ‘acting’, because it’s actually a rubbish decision in my view. It undermines Saru and his decision-making ability, it undermines the seriousness of the show, and actually the history of Starfleet. I think it’s fair to say that I’m not a fan of that decision.

Well, yes. She’s the sister of Super Spock who worked with Super Kirk and Super Picard. Did Spock ever get to meet Super Deity Sisko?

How long before the show just follows one person where you have an episode where the main character just fixes a part. No dialogue, and a 15 minute break for lunch. I look forward to watching somebody eat a sandwich and slurp down a juice as the main B plot.

 

Ooh lord the Airiams funeral scenes were just terrible writing. I dont think we even had 1 scene with this character outside of the episode she died and we are supposed to care about her.

 

‘Terrible writing’ has to be the most overused, cliched comment in the history of Trek. It’s like some coverall for a myriad of other things. It’s a bit like ‘shitty netcode’ in PC gaming. It is like a placeholder to throw out there when the critic doesn’t know what’s actually wrong with something. It’s most often used when somebody subjectively doesn’t like a decision.

I’m still not over this Tilly decision though. Maybe it’s the the plot device that leads the way for Burnham becoming Captain or at least allows her to regain XO, and it’ll all make sense in the end, but as a decision from Saru, who I never liked that much anyway, it’s a sign that he isn’t quite as competent as he should be.

I just need SNW. Pike will calm me down.

 

I cared about her

 

I was totally siding with your Tilly criticism until you mentioned Pike and Strange New Worlds. Remembering Number One's bizarre behaviors (Q&A, demanding questions etc.) and insistence on being called "Number One" even by Starfleet Command, and suddenly Tilly doesn't seem that bad.

 

I mentioned it because Pike is probably my favourite Captain and is, to me, the ideal type of Leader; hyper competent whilst still relatable and personable. I loved Q&A, it’s actually some of my favourite ever Trek content.

The Tilly stuff might end up making sense overall, but it’s a hell of a choice to undermine Saru like that.

 

Eventually there will be an episode that mentions them again, even if it's just in passing. Each showrunner has a different view on what elements should be ignored (Chabon was by his own admission anti-Remans) but we'll get something some day. Just like a Sybok reference. Some day.

 

Notes on the latest episode:
- "Personal log. I'm about to get some strange."
- Like I said before, and many others have said since, Michael should just quit Starfleet and do her own things. She seems to agree with that assessment now.
- "One one-millionth of a microsecond" = A picosecond. I think Michael understands what a picosecond is.
- "What if you hadn't made it back?" - Don't worry, Tilly. She's the main character. She always makes it back.
- Ni'Var is an old fandom term for "Two in one" and was popular in the '70s. It later showed up in canon as the name of an Enterprise era starship. Fitting term for a planet collecting Vulcans and Romulans.
- And, really, Michael? You've been here for a year, and didn't bother asking anybody how the Vulcans were doing? It's practically your home planet! At least Discovery went high-tailing it to Earth at the first possibility.
- Good handling of the Romulan-Vulcan explanation. No big deal. Of course, they should have read up on their history, at least a Wikipedia summary of the past 1000 years, and stumbled on this info already. Acting as audience analogues is nice, but makes them look like naïve rubes.
- Ni'Var let the Federation a hundred years ago? Why not Two hundred or three hundred or fifty years ago? The Burn happens and everyone's just like, "Welp, I'm out."?
- "Vulcans would never abandon the Federation... unlike the Humans... err..."
- And yes, I've said countless times that Vulcans were practically isolationists who would leave the Federation at the drop of a hat. Romulans are imperialists who lost their homeworld and would like to be top dog again. So, of course the Vulcans want out at the first opportunity, and Romulans wouldn't. All makes sense to me, if not Michael.
- "Sir, I've just been demoted* (well, not technically) for massive repeated acts of insubordination. So, of course I can't follow the direct orders of the Starfleet Fleet Admiral. It would undermine my reprimand for insubordination."
- Lots of Spock flashbacks. Is this now a clip show? Picard and Data were getting some good angles for their personal log.
- Oh, God. Oh, no. This is not happening. He is not seriously promoting the least experienced crew member to serve as First Officer. This is a joke. Right? I guess she's the only one with her name in the opening credits. Poor Nilsson, and Detmer, and Owo, and Rhys, and... anyone on the ship. Anyone at all.
- "Uh, sir... what?" Yes, I agree. Astute observation on what the hell is happening, Ensign Tilly.
- Nice. Romulans on Discovery. That's 9 of 10 series appearances now, for my second-favorite species.
- STPicard references. Awesome.
- Uh, show... what? How is Gabrielle a Romulan warrior nun? I know you're about to explain... but I don't see how. There's too much going on in this episode.
- Romulo-Vulcans? I think that was one of the joke terms people were using to describe the United Species.
- All of the crew has more experience than you, Tilly. Unless Cadet Decker is still around.
- Wait, wait, wait... Gabrielle isn't real, right? She's some type of mental projection? This would make sense. They're beating her up mentally to get to the truth.
- Nice going, Michael. You started another Romulan-Vulcan War. Or, Romulo-Vulcan War.
- Gabrielle is staying on Ni'Var because Gabrielle is a figment of your imagination, Michael. It's going to be A Beautiful Mind all over again.
- All those crew are urging Tilly to take on the first officer position so they can get it more easily when she fails miserably.
- Is Saru going to at least make Tilly a Lieutenant? Pretty please?
- Careful, First Officer Tilly. I know Michael's your friend, but she's a dangerous rogue and loose cannon and will do her own thing at the drop of a hat. Confine her to quarters if need be.
- "Peace and Long Life" <-- that's what you say when someone tells you to LLAP. You blew it, Saru! She was really into you until that moment.
- Jesus Christ, Book's ship takes up the entire shuttlebay.

 

Burnham said in 'People of Earth' that Earth was too far for her to travel to. Considering Vulcan is only 16 light years from Earth it's reasonable to assume it was also too far for her to get to

 

Just another thought: Weren't we supposed to get some Burnham flashback scenes and a scene with Georgiou and Culbert having a conversation? That's what the promo photos released earlier this week was showing us, so wonder why they dropped those scenes?

 

Georgiou and Culber is probably from next weeks episode given what we see in the promo for next week.

 

Doesn't matter how far it is. Book is human. Ask him what happened to the Vulcans.

 

While overall I like the episode (Vulcans and Romulans finally united - yay!!) and the nod to Spock, Tilly's promotion was one thing that made this episode to be a 9 instead of 10 for me. Instead of promoting Stamets or Culber (both Lt Cmdrs) as acting XO, why he has to turn to a newbie Ensign instead? Not that I'm against Tilly and I think she does have a lot of talents, I just think she hasn't earned enough accomplishments and track records to become a XO at this point.

Promoting Tilly as an acting XO is a laughable premise, just like the premise of Acting Captain Wesley Crusher from a long ago TNG episode. And I really don't want to see Tilly becoming Wesley 2.0 (and some of her critics already called her that)

 

What does book being human have to do with it? Book is a human who wasn't born on Earth and it's stated in dialogue he hasn't even been to the Alpha Quadrant. Burnham says to him she has brought him to a 'new quadrant and a new start'.

 

Book has lived his entire life in another quadrant entirely from Earth and Vulcan, with long distance travel and communication all but impossible. How would he know anything about what became of Vulcan after the Burn?

 

Well, I feeling this season we are getting a psychological diagnosis of Michael Burnham. She is in a post-traumatic growth and suffers from a messianic complex, which one source describes as a "narcissistic personality disorder". There is a notorious historical figure from history who suffered from this condition, but I will not name him for it will derail this thread. (Godwin's Law) Then, her mother describes her child as having an emotional void from being an orphan living in an alien world, which is supposed to explain away the faults of this character. I will say this, although hate might be a strong word, I have come to hate this character.

What is post-traumatic growth?
Post-traumatic growth - Wikipedia

What is the messiah complex?
Messiah complex - Wikipedia

 

This episode was a 9.

And worth every moment.

 

Also, kudos to the producers for not giving us a long-winded, tedious explanation for Michael's mother's reappearance and how she is now living with the Vulcans and Romulans. They got straight to the chase and let her mother speak for herself. She arrived, she survived and she found a new way to make herself useful.

What could have been an overly melodramatic and drawn-out reunion was quick, satisfying and didn't linger on the little details that I'm sure we can figure out in our own heads.

 

Wait so you hate Burnham, because she is growing and experiencing a positive personality shift from her trauma? Also saying she has a Messiah complex is really inaccurate given it's associations to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, which Burnham does not exhibit.

I'm not going to mince words with you, using these psychological terminologies so fucking flippantly to justify your hate for a fictional character is pretty insulting to people who actually suffer through these conditions.