The Most Disliked Episode of DISCO, Season 5 - 2025 Edition...

[Farscape One]

Welcome to our bi-yearly 'Most Disliked Episode' games! Now that the 'Least Disliked Episode' games hosted by BlueStuff (who inspired me to create these games, so thank you very much for paving the way) have concluded, we can begin the opposite side of that coin.

Here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your most favorite or the one you deem the 'best.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions (or Failures?)
2021 - "The Red Angel"
2023 - "The Red Angel"
2025 -


Season Five

"Red Directive"
"Under the Twin Moons"
"Jinaal"
"Face the Strange"
"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Labyrinths"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Farscape One]

Season 5... I had such mediocre hopes for it: have a decent flow of pace throughout the season and stick the landing. Seems like a small list, but considering what we got the previous 4 seasons, I was clearly asking for the world. And they could not even deliver on those two simple things.

This was such a mediocre, meh season. And I had some excitement knowing Callum Keith Rennie was cast as a lead in it. (Being perfectly honest, Rayner WAS the best part of the season, so at least the producers did SOMETHING right.) The concept was pretty decent: turn TNG's "The Chase" and make it even more an Indiana Jones style adventure. And while it was okay in concept, the execution was still very much lacking. Even adding in the Breen, which was a cool, mysterious race didn't help the season... in fact, they made the Breen LESS interesting. (HOW DO YOU SCREW THAT UP???!!!)

Having said all that, there were a couple decent episodes. Which leads me to my first save.

"Under the Twin Moons" was a nice look at Rayner, and it was wonderful to have him added to the cast and the ship. He was such a breath of fresh air... SEVERELY NEEDED in this series. Especially since Stamets lost his edge and bite long ago.


"Red Directive"
"Jinaal"
"Face the Strange"
"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Labyrinths"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Saving the debut. An exciting adventure and Rayner was a great addition.

"Jinaal"
"Face the Strange"
"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Labyrinths"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Seven of Five]

The only Season I've only watched once - when it came out. It was a hit and miss year, with forgettable enemies.

Face the Strange was a lot of fun even if it was a rip off of Shattered.


Jinaal"
"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Labyrinths"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "Jinaal".

Wilson Cruz is a delight. You can tell he was having a lot of fun here.


"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Labyrinths"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Im going to save Labyrinths for the cool librarian and the fun Efrosian.

"Mirrors"
"Whistlespeak"
"Erigah"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Sakonna]

Great balance of different plotlines in "Whistlespeak."

"Mirrors""
"Erigah"
"Lagrange Point"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "Lagrange Point".

Frakes directed it, so that helps... particularly since all the rest just had SO MANY issues. And frankly, not much of a fan of this episode, either.

But... I can give it credit for one thing. Burnham stopping IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MISSION UNDER A TICKING CLOCK to chat with Book about their relationship. It was one of the many examples of why I can never take this crew seriously as professionals. I really hate the scene. But I am saving the episode because of it.

Why, you ask?

Because at least Burnham finally acknowledged that having such a conversation in that kind of situation was not good timing. It only took the entire run of the series for someone on the show to actually realize it and say it out loud. Too bad they didn't have this epiphany earlier in the show... I might have viewed STAR TREK: THERAPY... I mean, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY... a little better.


"Mirrors""
"Erigah"
"Life, Itself"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Erigah is my final save, a lot of different characters get a chance to shine here.

"Mirrors""
"Life, Itself"

 

[Sakonna]

Hey, exactly the two finalists I think it should be!

I'll save "Mirrors", which is the dud of the season, and such a missed opportunity. It feels like they had to use the SNW sets to save money and that somehow brought them to this overworked mess of an episode. If they couldn't at least get Ethan Peck in this somehow to play Mirror Spock (even just for a short video left behind to watch on the viewscreen!), they really should have abandoned the whole idea and started again.

However, "Life, Itself" needs to win, because I just can. not. abide. the ending they tacked on this.

It is truly the most Discovery thing ever that they ACCIDENTALLY stumbled into a perfect series finale, without planning for it. But the initial version of "Life, Itself" would have worked spectacularly well as a series ender! I loved the quest this year, and the whole season was about themes of "moving on" and "what is my next act," and it all builds up to Saru's wedding? That would have been a beautiful way to end this show!

All they had to do to soar out on a high note was simply... not touch anything, and just stream what they had already shot. (Or limit themselves to expanding what they already had - more scenes at the wedding would have been a delight)

But instead, our intrepid writer/producers decided it just can't be a finale as is, and they HAD to add on this unbelievably stupid, cruel, contrived, extraneous, and forced flash-forward.

And the dangling plot thread they decided they MUST address was reconciling this all into "Calypso"? Which absolutely did not need to be done at all -- particularly because they already HAD provided a seamless explanation earlier in the season! We got all we needed on this in "Face The Strange"!

I was watching this finale with my family, and we were just riding high on it. We were so surprised how much we were loving it, and we kept remarking "what a great way to end!"

And then... we hit the added material. And the air starts going out of the room, as we sink deeper and deeper into that grim, bleak, pointless stupidity. The ending they give for Zora was actual fucking torture! For such a sweet, endearing character!!!!!

It is truly the most Discovery thing ever. Accidentally creating the perfect series finale, and all they have to do is leave it alone... so instead, their final act is to destroy it, at the last possible second, by jamming in twenty-something minutes of awful unneeded material.

Ah Disco. I loved you, but you were your own worst enemy. Your heart was always there, but no other Trek could self-sabotage like you could.

 

[Farscape One]

And fitting that the Most Disliked Episode of this season is actually the final episode of the series, "Life, Itself". It was pretty decent... until the tacked on ending. Utter garbage.

Thank you all for playing! I will start the Finals for DISCO shortly. Hope to see you all there!

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Life Itself is pretty great but is very much let down by the needless Calypso addition to the epilogue.