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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x09 - "Terra Firma, Part 1"

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If I am not mistaken in the Beta canon the Terran Empire is the result of a Western Roman Empire that never fell.
I think you're right but would need to revisit it.
I mean since when do the Terrans care about the way they die?
Maybe some do. Kind of like some humans do. It's not all or nothing here.
Not sure why there was a question about whether to help Georgiou OR join the fleet against the Emerald Chain. I think they could have done both. Discovery could have spore jumped to the planet, dropped Michael and Georgiou off, and then spore jumped back to Starfleet. Or Michael and Georgiou could have taken Book's ship to go to the planet and Discovery could have stayed with the fleet.
I still don't think Vance trusts Discovery fully.
 
Anyone else get a slightly shady vibe from Saru when he dismissed everyone from his ready room after viewing the distress call? Is he scared the Kelpians caused the Burn? Does he have an idea he doesn't want to share yet? Something just seemed a bit off to me there.

Honestly, I read that as just he was horny.
 
I did think the honor talk was a bit Klingon, but at this point I can’t object to some worldbuilding to suggest how the MU manages to function.

I had bigger issues with the play that Stamets was narrating. The Terran Empire seems to have a concept of evil? I thought it "beyond" in a Nietzschean sense. If they define evil, they must define good as well...which raises the question what good is. If the Terran Empire was a bog-standard evil empire you could say something like "loyalty to the Terran Empire." But Terrans are sociopaths who believe that whatever you can successfully reach for, you should get - meaning even betraying the Emperor is fine as long as you aim for the king and don't miss.
 
So Georgiou went back in time to before Michael and Lorca rebelled against her. Doubtless the next episode will involve them tracking him down. If they do what I think they will, Lorca will not jump universes and end up in the prime timeline. Which means that the prime timeline and events will be altered, Discovery will probably have regular Lorca, and will not jump to the mirror universe.

I don’t know if this will happen, but I’m down with more Isaacs.
 
I still don't think Vance trusts Discovery fully.
Me either. He has them right under his thumb. And I don't think it has anything to do with "it's different in the 32nd Century". Saru can't even breath without turning to him first. I've never seen an Admiral in Starfleet watch a Captain this closely.

But, that having been said, at least they gave Vance more to do this time, like talking about bad decisions he's made, even though he didn't go into any detail, and being understanding of the situation on Discovery.
 
Well, I certainly didn't expect to revisit the Mirror Universe any time soon. I wonder how real Georgiou's experience is, because it felt really dreamlike, especially with how she kept narrating what was happening around her ("this is the day that...") during her discussion with Killy, who didn't seem to find it weird at all. Is it some sort of mental time travel like what Q did with Picard in Tapestry, that would ultimately not change history? Perhaps a bit like Kirk in the Nexus in Generations, using it as a chance to make things right at first before ultimately realizing none of this is real. Hearing Mirror Burnham's confession about how she resents the Emperor turning her from a master of the trash heap into someone whose entire existence is dependent on her, it feels to me as if "Carl" sent Georgiou to this exact moment in space and time to help her resolve her issues regarding Michael. She chided Prime Michael for how she only brought her to the Prime Universe because she couldn't let go of Prime Georgiou, but it seems like she is just as unable to let go of her adoptive daughter herself. I don't see yet what endgame this could lead to, but possibly it's to prepare her emotionally for the decision to leave Prime Michael behind and return to the 23rd century where she might survive, thereby setting up the scene for a Section 31 series. Whether that's correct or not, I feel we're missing a lot of context here that will only get clarified the next week.

Overall, I found I didn't care as much for the Mirror Universe as I first thought I would (I mean, Captain Killy the Very Awesomest in the flesh, how cool is that?), because I felt the whole time as if none of this was real at all, that this is all a journey to the center of the mind for Georgiou's own benefit, not unlike how Deep Space Nine and Voyager usually served as the setting for Bashir's and Janeway's mental experiences. And, well, also because the moment Georgiou stepped through that door, the entire focus went with her and we didn't hear about our Discovery for the rest of the episode. I wasn't exactly sold on her as a protagonist, because (for me, at least), she works better as a snarky foil to our heroes than as a master of her own story. That being said, I'm still worried for her and I keep wondering what this is all about.

I'm also curious who "Carl" is, with his oh-so-mysterious attitude, constant obfuscation, his bowler hat and tweed jacket, and I suspect we'll find out the next week. I have a feeling he gave evasive answers to Burnham's questions because he wanted to convey that this was Georgiou's journey alone and she should stay out of it. And he would've probably been right... I was convinced she would run through the door right after Georgiou.

Vance keeps being a pleasant surprise, with both his advice to Saru about leaving no one behind, and also letting Burnham help Georgiou while signaling she should be able to let her go. I loved that he had read up on Discovery and pointed out what had happened with Airiam, but perhaps he could've also mentioned that it was Burnham's fault that Georgiou was in the Prime Universe in the first place, because she couldn't let go of a mentor who was already dead. Of course, Georgiou told her that later herself.

Observations:
  • Kovich talking about Terrans being driven by instinct felt quite a bit racist to me. No wonder Hugh immediately called bullshit and prompted the computer to find a cure for her.
  • I was pleasantly surprised by Georgiou showing begrudging respect to Saru and Tilly, and found it very funny how she basically went all "does not compute" at receiving the full Tilly hug treatment... then she hugged her back, then immediately realized what she was doing and asked Burnham to get the hell out of here with a really embarrassed look on her face. I still maintain she has a shriveled, smoking, gray Romulan heart deep inside somewhere.
  • I'm especially intrigued by the dilithium nursery the Kelpiens claim to have found inside the nebula. Could it be that SB-19 was an attempt to artificially grow and farm dilithium crystals (instead of simply recrystallizing them over and over with possibly ever-diminishing results) that somehow went horribly wrong?
  • Did Mirror Stamets and Culber seriously use agonizers as party games? They reminded me of Brunt's Nausicaan henchmen from Body Parts (EDIT: Bar Association. I mean Bar Association. I never wrote Body Parts, no sir), the ones who kept throwing darts at each other.
 
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By that convoluted logic:
The Burn was Sarek's fault - for getting Burnham into Star Fleet
The Burn was Zephram Cochrane's fault for inventing Warp Drive (for Earth)
The Burn was Kirk's fault for saving Edith Keeler
The Burn was Q's fault for whatever Q does.
The Burn was [insert ST Character]'s fault for [insert something they did]
They choose to change time.

And this wasn't even an important time change, it was a mostly meaningless one.


Sorry to pick on your post, but the basis of your complaint is why I always was PISSED that Enterprise wasted 2 episodes on characters not in any way shape or form from the Prime Universe. And insult to injury they knew that the show was very likely never coming back when they did it. Even most of the other mirror universe episodes on Trek had at least the chance for our characters to reflect on what things could be like. UGGHHHH.

On this episode, at the very least the Empress has been a part and parcel of the show since near the end of the 1st season. So like it or not at least she is a character who has interacted heavily with the characters on Discovery, and we have seen some change in her character.
Except the Empress is being written out of the show for her own, so it's meaningless.

It's a double episode backdoor pilot, with all the problems that entails.
 
I liked this one a lot.

I can see how the bowler hat makes people think of Doctor Who, but Star Trek has a long history of omnipotent aliens taking human-in-goofy-historical-costume form.

I didn't care for the Mirror universe arc in season 1 at all, but I actually really enjoyed it here.

Also, the art deco 'Metropolis' look of the Mirror universe costuming really works for me. That hadn't clicked with me before.

I'm very pleased that it seems like something interesting is in the nebula.

Edit to add: Oh, and aside from some well-placed nods to Star Trek's most famous time travel episode, I'm not convinced that bowler hat guy has anything to do with the guardian of forever. But I guess we'll find out next week. Either way, nothing destroyed Star Trek this week. Better luck next time, bowler hat guy!
 
My, gosh, I haven't been so bored during a Disco episode since the talk fest that was season one's penultimate episode. I hate the MU. It has always been a cartoon, and you can't base a serious, several hour long dramatic arc on a cartoon. It's just a lot of grunting and kill-or-be-killed tropes. I agree with @Ryan Thomas Riddle , the Gaurdian/Q isn't very compelling. He's just another Sphinx at a cross roads with nothing interesting to say (yet, I guess).
I don't know what the endgame of this flash back is and I don't really care because, above all, I don't care about Philipa. She's never been much of an interesting character, just a sort of devil on your shoulder imp without much depth. I've been cheering for her demise since she left the MU. I don't know why anyone has any sympathy for her or wants her around.

@Harvey Might understand all that stuff better than I regarding Ellison's hold on the GoF concept.
How were they able to use it in TAS?
 
Every Mirror Universe episode ever is so bad. I can't believe anyone actually enjoys that stuff. It's so corny, cartoonish and can't be taken seriously at all.
 
Dunno if it was intentional or not, but when Burnham asks Carl "Who are you?" I couldn't help but chuckle and sing "Who who! Who Who!" in reference to the original CSI's theme by The Who and Paul Gulifoyle being part of the original cast
 
This is a franchise where women in go-go boots once stole Spock's brain to use as the main power source for their society's central computer and embarrassing Irish stereotypes once beamed onto an Enterprise with goats and other farm animals. Cartoonish is what Trek often does and it must be good at it if the franchise has lasted about 56 years.
 
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