Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x06 - "Stormy Weather"

[Bay17]

I wasn't a fan of this episode. I'm not really liking this season overall. I thought we would get more answers about the DMA, and maybe even learn who was behind it, but instead we got another pep talk episode. It seems like if last season was filled with crying every episode-or just about-this season everyone is getting a pep talk.

The episode started off intriguing enough. I loved the cutaways to the crew and was hoping we would get more with them, but instead the episode focused more on Gray and Zora. I don't think either getting development is a bad thing, but I would like to see the bridge crew get the develop first, with many of them, if not all, being with DISCO from day one, or first season rather. The quick little info dumps like Owo gave, similar to Rhys last week, aren't cutting it. It's nice to get that information, but especially in the case of Owo it came at an awkward time.

While watching this episode I was wondering if the writers even had a culprit in mind for the DMA at this point in their creative/writing process. I imagine they are trying to use the DMA as a kind of overarching threat that allows them to delve into their characters and how they are reacting to it, but the issue to me seems that they are repeating themselves or sticking with the same characters going over the same traumas or feelings-without spreading around that misery more. This week, and last, I was thinking we might have gotten two better episodes if Rhys and Owo had been the leads, so they could show them responding to their past traumas by helping instead of giving quick monologues about them.

The series still impresses with its production values and I am liking Burnham's direct command style. This episode was ably directed by Mr. Frakes, and I expected nothing less. I really liked that scene where you really see how small Discovery is, like a speck in the vast darkness of space. I feel a bit bad because the series is giving me what I asked for (in some ways) but not in a way that I think is good, or good enough. There's nothing wrong with focusing on Burnham or Book, however, I think exploring Book's pain and grief, there should be progression (if not realistic, because it's a television series with finite time) and that his phantom father perhaps should've been used to provide another clue to the DMA instead of being another rung on the ladder for Book to pull himself out of the pit of despair.

Not much happened in terms of story progression. Yes, Book's brain provides some clues-which we the audience still are in the dark about-but did we need an hour to really accomplish that? (I did like the mention of the Galactic Barrier, which brought to mind the God Entity from Star Trek V, and then that the culprits were not from this galaxy, which made me think of the Kelvans). Further, the Burnham in peril plot didn't really work because I didn't buy them killing off the character. Again, this is where I think having Owo, Detmer, Nilsson, Bryce, or Rhys for some reason taking command would've upped the suspense. I did like that they put Pollard into the action, though I wasn't that impressed with the scene where she almost lost her life because I thought that one could've put her in more peril, with the hull blowing right before the force field kicked in. But it was a decent attempt to use a very underutilized character.

Back to Gray. I was thinking Gray might work as DISCO's Guinan. Right now there's nothing for Gray to do on board the vessel.

Agree with most of this. In particular, they bring in Book to be the quirky extra character (as well as a love interest) but they haven’t even fleshed out the bridge crew yet. Do that first and you don’t need quirky extra characters.

 

[DarKush]

Is Grey a android? In which case he should have been left behind to run the ship. This would give the character something to do, else it’ll end up with a Keko Obrien effect again. I was also puzzled why Burnham didn’t initiate a vacuum in the bridge, then there wouldn’t be any heat for her to fry in….. odd. I want a fan of this episode either. Just felt like another filler, where we have an amazing bad ass galactic phenomenon, just like in the past 2 series.

on the plus side, I liked the ships computer plot.

Yeah! Why didn't I think of that? It would've made more sense and also built on the relationship the episode had just established between Gray and Zora. Gray could then perhaps become the Zora 'whisperer', something to do on the vessel.

Bay17,

Only thing I disagree with you on is not needing characters like Book. He's one of my favorite characters on DISCO and one of the better ones in new Trek. I like what he brings to the series-particularly last season-and also how we see a different side of Burnham when she's with him (for both seasons). But yes, I do think the bridge crew needs to be fleshed out more (as well as Dr. Pollard), so much so now that episodes should be focused on them individually. I was thinking of a "Galileo Seven" kind of episode before Tilly and the cadets, that could've gave all of them something to chew on all at one time.

I think about ENT now and how underutilized Mayweather was, but in comparison to some of the DISCO ensemble, he would be the lead character. And I could say the same for Hoshi and perhaps even for Reed. If I really thought about it, I might be able to make the case for Porthos too.

I don't want it misconstrued that I think less attention be placed on Burnham. I think the writers have done their jobs well on developing her, but more so like how the Berman era did it where in many ways the captain was the anchor but various episodes were used to also develop the rest of the ensemble (with unfortunately uneven results, so this isn't just a DISCO problem when it comes to Trek, but it does feel more acute to me compared to the Berman era).

 

[Andyliini]

Wow, what an episode. It was a classic "ship is slowly getting destroyed, and we must escape", but with a modern twist. The visuals were great to watch one again, especially considering it was mostly just pitch black emptiness outside of the ship. Many characters were used equally, and Frakes' direction really brought out the best in them. I should know by now that when Frakes directs, it's usually a great one.

Ok, perhaps the rhythm got a bit slow towards the end, but all the way until they escaped the anomaly, I was hooked. The mystery of the anomaly draws ever closer, and if this upcoming mid-season brake was planned beforehand, it will be left at a paralyzing cliffhanger. And I can't wait to see it.

10/10

 

[Visitor1982]

I didn't really like this episode at all. I gave it a 6, but it's more like a 5 for me.

Discovery is way over the top with emotions. Starfleet is a MILITARY organisation, but the crew behaves like they're constantly at a shrink or something. It's so unprofessional. It's all so touchy, feely... and it's starting to annoy me.

I miss Tilly though. She was unprofessional, but fun.

I don't care about characters like Book, Adira or Grey... And this episode, nothing really happened storywise.

I love slow episodes like Duet, The Visitor, The Measure Of A Man, The Offspring, Someone To Watch Over Me, Barge of the Dead, The Forgotten or Cogenitor, but this one didn't gave us anything...

 

[Timelord Victorious]

Um...I'm not paranoid as a rule, but the heliopause leads me to conclude we're in trapped in solitary confinement. We are well and truly stuck here. And not by accident, either.

As mentioned, we’re not. At least not by anything “hot”.
Temperature in physics describes particle velocities. That only becomes a problem with very high particle density, like in an atmosphere.
The heliopause is still space with very low density.
I mean, right now, we have a probe diving into the sun’s corona despite temperatures going I to the millions of Celsius. A feat Star Trek writers only thought possible in the 24th century with magical shielding.

Cortez, despite being a trained "Yellow Shirt" in StarFleet, isn't blessed with "Plot armor" and dies immediately by getting sucked out into space, and nobody beams his body up immediately.

correction: not sucked… blown.

 

[eschaton]

Discovery is way over the top with emotions. Starfleet is a MILITARY organisation, but the crew behaves like they're constantly at a shrink or something. It's so unprofessional. It's all so touchy, feely... and it's starting to annoy me.

My only real issue with Discovery's emotional tone is it's shockingly one note. Every character is emotional, demonstrative, somber, damaged, and a good listener when there is a friend in need.

This is...boring. Where are the reserved repressed messes? Where are the happy-go-lucky quipsters? Where are the self absorbed who keep dragging the conversation back to themselves every time someone asks for help?

The lack of a dynamic character range means every interaction between two characters reads the same - character A shows vulnerability, and character B is a good ally. It honestly comes across as if everyone is a bunch of author avatars at times.

 

[Jaster]

Loved this. Good pacing and I like Frakes’ direction style.

The sonar reference made me think of the whale probe from The Voyage Home. That was a probe and nearly destroyed a planet. Imagine if it’s creators had reason to travel and we’re unwittingly causing catastrophic damage along the way.

 

[bookworm8571]

I didn't really like this episode at all. I gave it a 6, but it's more like a 5 for me.

Discovery is way over the top with emotions. Starfleet is a MILITARY organisation, but the crew behaves like they're constantly at a shrink or something. It's so unprofessional. It's all so touchy, feely... and it's starting to annoy me.

I miss Tilly though. She was unprofessional, but fun.

I don't care about characters like Book, Adira or Grey... And this episode, nothing really happened storywise.

I love slow episodes like Duet, The Visitor, The Measure Of A Man, The Offspring, Someone To Watch Over Me, Barge of the Dead, The Forgotten or Cogenitor, but this one didn't gave us anything...

I watch this show for the characters and their development and the stories. I don’t give a rip about the minutia of the ship or military hierarchy or lack thereof or epic dramatic action at the expense of said characters. I thought this was easily one of the best episodes of the series because of those character moments. I want more of them. I don’t particularly like Gray and Adira as characters but at least Gray was put to good use in the conversation with Zora. I do like Book and the cat and Book’s conversation with his dad. I also like the family trees and Zora’s rendition of Stormy Weather.

 

[Ovation]

Tech generally works more often than not if designed well & tested to meet the requirements.

Drama (and fiction generally) is about the exception, not the norm.

Starfleet is a MILITARY organisation

Well, this is certainly the one thing every fan of Trek considers indisputable. Oh, wait…

 

[Paul755]

You think every episode is a meh

no I don’t, I thought the previous two episodes were good. Just because I don’t mash the 9 or 10 in the poll for every episode doesn’t mean I think everything is a meh.

 

[dinzy]

It would have worked a lot better if Zora sent her to the pattern buffer and finished the mission alone.

Maybe that did happen but wont know if it ain't shown

I was expecting that to happen. Not sure why they didn't. Too lazy/busy to do the SFX instead of just fading to black?

 

[1001001]

I didn't like this one that much.

The being trapped part was good, and the initial stuff with the computer was interesting, but once we got into therapy mode, I just kind of rolled my eyes. Having the computer/sphere data/whatever as another character is fine, but geez...

6

 

[Tuskin38]

no I don’t, I thought the previous two episodes were good. Just because I don’t mash the 9 or 10 in the poll for every episode doesn’t mean I think everything is a meh.

I think I might have confused you with someone else, sorry

 

[Paul755]

I think I might have confused you with someone else, sorry

no worries. It happens. To be fair I wasn’t a huge fan of the season premiere so there is that.

 

[Noname Given]

I made the joke in another forum, but if the writers were going to go fanservicey anyway, they could have had her sing Sabotage since it's a famous Captain's favourite piece of classical music. lol

But yeah, like I said, I totally get it but it kills the world building for me. We live in an age where people barely go back to consume media that's from the 90s - which is why everything is being remade instead - so the idea of people in the future being so obsessed with the equivalent of Homer seems rather silly to me.

Right because nobody performs things like Shakespeare plays anymore... Oh wait...

 

[Nerys Myk]

Nobody says being "Competent" means being 100% infallible.

Tech generally works more often than not if designed well & tested to meet the requirements.

That's why the military has stringent requirements before they acquire a piece of tech and validate it against a giant set of criteria.

I'm sure StarFleet is similar in that it designs their tech to be reliable, and work in most of the listed criteria it's expected to encounter.

But it’s fiction. You get more dramatic mileage out of a warp core breach, a power outage in the middle of surgery or a stuck elevator.

 

[cooleddie74]

And as I pointed out more than once before the shields in "Relics(TNG)" worked as planned but the writers still found a way to break the physics of the 24th century Trek universe by beaming through them. So even when Trek technology works as intended the creators usually find a way to bend the rules so that cool and fun things still happen.

 

[Quinton]

And as I pointed out more than once before the shields in "Relics(TNG)" worked as planned but the writers still found a way to break the physics of the 24th century Trek universe by beaming through them. So even when Trek technology works as intended the creators usually find a way to bend the rules so that cool and fun things still happen.

#BanRelics
#TNGMoreLikeTNGeeWhiz
#NoCenturyForOldMontgomery

 

[cooleddie74]

Beaming through raised Federation shields? That's it. I'm out of the franchise. #ThisFarNoFarther #TheLineMustBeDrawnHere

 

[Quinton]

Beaming through raised Federation shields? That's it. I'm out of the franchise. #ThisFarNoFarther #TheLineMustBeDrawnHere

Personally, I do all my drinking at cooleddie's bar. That place is the last bastion of civil decency in this sad quadrant.