• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x04 - "All Is Possible"

Rate the episode...


  • Total voters
    137
because it's reheated ''familiar'' food sprinkled with ''humor'' and in my opinion overstayed it's welcome by season 2 which i did not and will probably not finish
I stopped watching three episodes into the second season, then binged the rest in one day and have yet to re-watch any episodes from the series. I don't dislike the show but if it suddenly ended, I wouldn't care. I like the humor in Lower Decks better than what was in The Orville, but it's not enough.

Of the animated Trek series, I like Prodigy a lot better. If I were 30 years younger, I'd have loved it. Which is ironic, because it was the one I originally wasn't planning on watching at all.
 
I stopped watching three episodes into the second season, then binged the rest in one day and have yet to re-watch any episodes from the series. I don't dislike the show but if it suddenly ended, I wouldn't care. I like the humor in Lower Decks better than what was in The Orville, but it's not enough.

Of the animated Trek series, I like Prodigy a lot better. If I were 30 years younger, I'd have loved it. Which is ironic, because it was the one I originally wasn't planning on watching at all.

I liked Lower Decks in the first season but I agree S2 got kinda stale for me. Not because it was bad, but there's just not enough going on to really have my interest. I ended up watching S2, but well after they aired and I really just had it on in the background while I did other things. I don't even think it's that funny, I just like the nostalgia and all the references to the prior shows. It might have been better as a 1 season show.

Prodigy is early in its run but so far I find it a much more engaging show.
 
And that's 100% fair. But DSC gets not slack and it's tiresome.
I agree, and that's why I said what I did. I just want you (and others) to know I don't hate on DSC, and I don't rag on it because I hope it fails, I want it to succeed in ways previous Treks couldn't. It's just I'm finding I might not be there if it does because I really and truly can't connect with most of the characters. Tilly I can, no problem, easy peasy, I adore her, she's my favorite. I love Georgiou because Michelle Yeoh is, bar none, a delight to watch, and she can ham it up with the best of them.

So when I say something negative about the show, it's never to be one of those folks who want it to fail, it's because I do love Star Trek so much, and it can be so maddening. I am so very glad you like the show and want it to be given a fair shake (I agree), and I hope it goes for many more years, and I do wish people would be fair to it. Criticize yes, but endlessly talking about how it's garbage and should fail, I just don't see the point in it. So I just wanted to share that.
 
Was thinking the exact same thing, actually. You’re not the only one. Her non-verbal nervous reaction formations to things people say and do (especially Burnham) are definitely making me question her trustworthiness.

Then again, maybe it’s just that she’s simply a high-ranking politician and she had to necessarily develop a kind of political predatory attitude towards... well... everything, especially from living in the post-Burn world where they were under constant siege somewhere by the Emerald Chain and other enemies scavenging for resources.

If Chelah Horsdal is really playing to these different levels in her character, she’s truly an excellent actor.
Rillak is a well-written (and well acted) character. She's primarily motivated by politics, but she's not completely selfish or driven by bad intentions. She's also fairly honest about her politics in that she literally says they are the reason for some of her actions. She hasn't shied away from explaining her motivations.

She's competent, pragmatic and (most of all) believable as a Federation president. She's not the altruistic hero or the Machiavellian villain. Her decisions have been ones you would expect a Federation president to make.

I suppose the writers COULD turn her down a evil path at some point but with the way she's being written so far I would suspect that won't be the case.

It is refreshing that Discovery hasn't fell into the cliche trap of the evil admiral or the conniving President (so far). Both Vance and Rillak are depicted as being good at their jobs and having reasonable morals.
 
Last edited:
I still dont trust President Rillak. Her mannerisms and her overall energy is just very suspicious. I have to stop letting the spoon and armadillo-like ridges stop me from making preconceived notions about anybody with Cardassian ancestry.
That's because the writers are badly foreshadowing some "heartless" decision that will "force" Michael to use her newly gained oversight committee powers to over rule her.
 
For me, this was the sort of shallow episode that gives Star Trek a bad name.

As someone has already posted, it’s paint by numbers, barely credible stuff. After months of negotiations, they hit a snag and both presidents just decide that’s it, it’s over? No conflict resolution process in the federation? It takes Burnham and Saru to say “Hey maybe there’s a compromise”? And that compromise is Burnham saving everything again?

Meanwhile the most basic “If you listen to other people maybe they’re not so bad after all” moralising in the Tilly story?

And why are all the ships vague, rounded, soft and fuzzy with no real shape to them. One of the features of Star Trek is that the ships are important characters in the show, both while in action and also as context-building wallpaper, so that fans can go “ooh look at that one!” They project strength and the prevalent culture. At the moment they’re just vague and pointless.

Some of the character development is welcome - the President, Burnham being told to think about the consequences of her actions (until she once again saves everyone and everything, and always whilst sincerely whispering her lines), Culbert.

But I really wish they hadn’t gone with an overarching plot that seems to be a COVID-replica - “we’re all being threatened, it’s important we all work together.” I know it’s true, I just don’t want to see it reflected in Star Trek. Why can’t we have something interesting, tense and entertaining instead?
 
But I really wish they hadn’t gone with an overarching plot that seems to be a COVID-replica - “we’re all being threatened, it’s important we all work together.” I know it’s true, I just don’t want to see it reflected in Star Trek. Why can’t we have something interesting, tense and entertaining instead?
Blame Michelle Paradise and the Writing Staff.

They wanted this seasons big bad to reflect COVID IRL.
 
Are you threatening me, Captain Burnham?
its treason then.

As someone has already posted, it’s paint by numbers, barely credible stuff. After months of negotiations, they hit a snag and both presidents just decide that’s it, it’s over?
Initially that was my reaction as well, but in the end we discover that the whole meeting was basically for the benefit of the presidents’ supporters and to get Michael and Saru involved: the two presidents were actually working together to bring in Starfleet as a solution. Subtlety: nice!
The solution itself is kinda simplistic and ironic in the way burnham seems to have nominated herself in a position of power, but it’s still interesting and if the second is intentional I’ll be mind-blown.

And why are all the ships vague, rounded, soft and fuzzy with no real shape to them.
that’s typical of discovery, unfortunately.
 
But I really wish they hadn’t gone with an overarching plot that seems to be a COVID-replica - “we’re all being threatened, it’s important we all work together.” I know it’s true, I just don’t want to see it reflected in Star Trek. Why can’t we have something interesting, tense and entertaining instead?
Star Trek was set up to do exactly that- comment on concerns of the day.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top