It seems like a lot of people liked the episode, but I agree, it was lazy writing for the most part. I did like Katherine Barrell as Harry Mud's Stella.
Or perhaps they are just big fans of Disco music. They were playing a rap remix of a Bee Gees song at their party.
Yeah, it might have been one of the better episodes so far, but for me that's not saying much. I'm not a fan of how evil they've made Harry Mudd either, he might have been a scheming buffon in TOS, but he didn't go about murdering many people. Speaking of Mudd, they made his wife rather young, considering TOS episode with her was about 11 years later, I don't think she went from a later 20's woman to someone in her 50's that quickly.
There is a reason why Groundhog Day wasn't centered on Ned Ryerson. A time-loop is a very powerful tool in science fiction, which can be used to explore concepts of learning, of trying out possibilities, of being stuck in regretful fantasies - but only for the person doing the looping. The other people have to be told what to do. The writers took a very promising concept and wasted it on three simple love stories and Mudd being flamboyantly inefficient in doing his job (although the actor portraying Mudd is excellent at being flamboyant - that part was very entertaining). The direction was poor on that first loop - there should have been a moment of disbelieving shock at the end of the loop and it just fizzled. TNG's "Cause and Effect" did so much better in just 90 seconds. Why does the captain leave extremely powerful and most likely illegal weapons lying around his room? Did the people doing special effects realize that by making the people in the windows the size they were, the USS Discovery is about as big as the Enterprise-D?
I know I said I was gonna wait out the first season to make a judgement on the show but this whole season is spread way too thin across too many story ideas. This global war doesn't feel epic, dangerous, or severe. The wonder of meeting new species or their interaction with someone new isn't given enough time to really delve into the nuance and culture shock that may be experienced. None of the crew members interactions feel all that deep or meaningful. This is what I would like for final episode of the first half of the season. The Klingon war ends, Cpt. Lorca dies, Ash Tyler dies, and the spore drive system is proven to be too much for Lt. Stamets and is shelved by Starfleet. Burnham is made Capt of Discovery after her heroics in the episode and given the mission to go explore the Universe to discover and meet new species.
I think they need the war not because they want to tell a story of war, but because war is easy mode for writers. All conflicts are simple, all moral questions can be quashed because inter arma enim silent leges.
Eight episodes in and my biggest problem with this show is that it's so utterly joyless and devoid of any charm. I can't see that changing any time soon, unfortunately. I do think the cast is decent for the most part and they could be a fun Trek ensemble if they had someone who could write actual Trek.
For me it feels like they took the approach of being a BSG clone, but it can't pull off the dark and edgy. They don't have the writers for it. These are the same people that were in charge of the WB show Pepper Dennis. One of the producers worked on such gems as Beverly Hills, 90210, Roswell, Off the Map, Revenge and Reign. Do you see a pattern here?
So a character unironically said that the war should not be stopped because it means the continued freedom of Michael. Huh. I've generally liked Kirsten Beyer's Voyager novels, but this felt awkward. If I were making this, I would start with the mission on the planet (that's the important thing in the plot, right?) and have the ship in orbit (because the away team need the ship's resources, right?). Then Discovery gets the distress call and leaves to help. Then have the battle. When you do it in that order, you point out the sad situation the Federation is in, and you properly set up Discovery failing and the away team being alone and Saru being in a situation to screw them over. Because they way it is now, the most important science taking place by all of Starfleet, by design, is three totally unsupported people in an unknown environment. And the battle has a weird dynamic where the Discovery is showing up in the nick of time, but then failing. And I'd make some other reason to come to the planet than that utterly unconvincing idea about natural sonar. I assume they are setting up some sort of "Errand of Mercy" situation - use something like that setup. Have the Klingons never held prisoners before meeting the Federation? How can they be so bad at it? There better be something in the next episode to justify the name "Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum", because there certainly wasn't anything in this one.
A weird ass episode with weird decisions. The weirdest of them all being the "one final jump" one. They were three hours away from Starbase 46 at warp 5. Why the need to risk another jump at all? Also, some of the flashback sequences to Tyler's torture didn't seem like torture at all, but some sort of operation being performed on him? Which makes me think that the earlier theory about him being a plant by the Klingon intelligence expert might be true after all. But not in the way I originally thought. I believed him to be a victim of Stockholm syndrome. But now I fear they might go the route of him being a Klingon who has been surgically altered to look human. Which would be an idiotic plot development for so many reasons.
When Tyler was in sick bay after last weeks episode one would think they'd notice if he was really a Klingon. If he turns out to be Voq it will really be some piss poor writing, not that that hasn't been an issue before this season. Apparently Klingon women don't have nipples? Those were some really smooth breasts compared to the rest of their body. Also, did anyone notice that Lorca did something when they did that one last jump? He punched in some override for the location. Maybe this has been taking place is some other dimension and that's why everything is so different. One can only hope.
They should have noticed he wasn't human from the moment he escaped with Lorca, since I would assume that he would have gone through a full physical upon his arrival on Discovery, for several reasons. So if he is revealed to be Voq or another Klingon it will be very poor writing indeed.
I missed the Lorca thing during my viewing. But based on this screenshot, you are right. The odd thing is, it's listed at jump 133. But didn't they do 133 jumps to beat the Klingon cloak? So wouldn't this be jump 134?
They did 132 jumps. Reading Dante's post my mind is being blown. I did not think of Voq or the multi-dimensional stuff at all, it would definitely explain a whole lot. There was a moment on the bridge last night, when discussing how to reveal the cloaking tech, where I thought it really felt like a Trek series. With that and Dant'es theories I actually have some pretty high hopes for the 2nd half of the season.
I could have sworn it was 132 but doing a quick look at a few recaps and they are all saying 133. So I am wrong.
They did say 133 jumps were needed. Maybe it's a mistake by production, but I doubt it. Also, let's not forget that whatever Lorca did, he did it on purpose. The Admiral was on her way back to Starbase 42 and she was already of the mind that he should be removed from his captaincy. He didn't sound too thrilled when he found out she was still alive and they rescued her. He knew that he'd had the ship taken away from him upon return to the Starbase so he made sure it wasn't going back there. Also, some more evidence that Tyler is Voq, what L'Rell said to him at the end there, that she would not let anyone hurt him and something will happen soon. Sure it could all be misdirection and she's protective of her little sex toy, but I don't know.
Also, one other thing. It's already been established that the Klingon received cloaking technology from the Romulans in 2268 due to a political alliance. STD takes place in 2255. The Klingons had nearly their entire fleet outfitted with cloaks in STD. They didn't have it in TOS. Does this lend credence to it taking place in another dimension? Did anyone get the little shoutout over the comms for Ensign Decker?