Star Trek: Discovery season two review

    I binge watched Star Trek: Discovery with my wife and it's lent me an interesting perspective on the show, one that I might have not normally have had. I think this is one of those shows that lends itself well to binging with plotlines better appreciated in the serialized format over episodic content. Ironically, I feel like the Short Treks are doing a better job with the episodic writing and kind of wish they would have all be expanded to full episodes. There will be some mild spoilers in the review but nothing that is going to ruin anyone's enjoyment, IMHO. Consider yourself warned.

The alien here was VERY rude.

        As I mentioned, the problem with the show has never been its characters, its actors, or even its ideas: its problem has been that it jumps around so much that it never really commits to anything so audience investment is hurt. There have been three major captains headlining the Discovery by the start of season three and poor Saru gets replaced every time he thinks he's going to sit in the big chair permanently. I actually felt sorry for the guy by the end.
   
    The premise is that Captain Pike (Anson Mount), captain of the Enterprise in pilot "The Cage", has been assigned to temporarily captain the Discovery after the disastrous reign of two psychotic Mirror Universe nutbars. Pike immediately proves to be a popular, if out-of-step, officer who assigns them to investigate bizarre red lights that have appeared across the galaxy. Each of these lights appears over a crisis that our heroes have to involve themselves in. They also prove to be somehow connected to the recently incapacitated Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck).

    Here, the story and characters are much more consistent. The Red Lights storyline is all connected with the subplot about Section 31, Michael's past, her relationship with Spock, and other details. Indeed, it's a little too neatly connected as we get another example of "small universe" syndrome with Michael. She's not only Spock's foster sister and blamed for the start of the Klingon-Federation War but we find out her biological parents were incredibly important as well. Indeed, as game changing as the Spore Drive is, it is nothing to the invention they create. But more on that latter.

I ship it.

    Really, Captain Pike and Spock are the highlight of this season and that's something of a problem with this story as you shouldn't have your guest stars be the most enjoyable part of the story. Captain Pike brings a much needed TOS levity to his character and a lighter idealism that contrasts him sharply against the grimmer harder crew of the U.S.S Discovery. While Spock goes through a terrible crucible, Peck manages to give a dignified performance with several standout moments. My favorite is when he has Spock successfully deconstruct Michael Burnham's savior complex in what is probably the season's best scene.

    Ansom Mount's Pike also incorporates a good deal of the character's brief TOS history. This is post "The Cage" and we have scenes taken from the original episode. Pike longs for his lover from Talos IV while also being terrified of his future quadriplegic status (that he gets a glimpse of with some Klingon relics). He's an interesting character to put on the discovery, being of a slight mystical bent that isn't so quick to dismiss the inexplicable as Michael Burnham. I really liked him and am in agreement with those who say they would watch a Star Trek: The New Original Voyages series starring him, Rebecca Romijn's Number One, and Peck's Spock.

    The villain for this season proves to be Section 31, though it's not actually the ideological extreme of the Federation this time but an evil computer controlling it ala Person of Interest. A similar plotline existed in the Star Trek novelverse but this is apparently two people coming up with the concept independently. Control is not a particularly interesting villain and I'm not sure I buy his ability to wipe out all life in the galaxy. Did he gain control over the Omega Particle somehow? You'd think Q or the Borg would have something to say about that.

I also ship it. Even if it's wrong.

     I like Section 31 as a concept but purely in the context of being villains for our heroes to oppose. I prefer it to be more like James Bond's SPECTER or Mass Effect's Cerberus than treating it as Starfleet's black ops division. That's the way it's presented here with none of the previous series' secrecy. Of course, given how they nearly get the entire galaxy Skynet-ed, I'm of the mind that this would be a good reason to disband the organization. Another being Admiral Cartwright being its head during The Undiscovered Country but that's only true in my Star Trek Adventures campaign.

   Overall, I think this season is slightly better than the previous one. I didn't dislike season one but I felt that it suffered from an insufficient commitment to its Klingon Arc and having a problem with its main characters: Michael Burnham and Gabriel Lorca. The former suffered from going from multiple personality extremes while the latter had a very interesting character tossed out for the revelation he was not who he said he was.

I cannot be upset at Michelle Yeoh as a Space Vamp.

    Another matter is the story contains a fairly large bit of Empress Georgiou from the Mirror Universe vamping it up. I find Michelle Yeoh entertaining in just about everything she does and she's clearly having a ball. Yet, I'm not sure the characters would indulge her the way they do with her casually admitting to multiple counts of genocide (and she's the LESS racist ruler of her universe). Whenever Gul Dukat was entertaining on DS9 (and he was frequently very entertaining), Sisko could never manage more than tepid politeness since he knew Dukat was a mass murderer.

    Season two feels like the writers tried to address some of the fans' complaints. The Klingons have hair now, which looks better but makes the redesign even less necessary. We also get some explanation of the various bridge officers' backstory (some of which is quite good). The fact that the adventure is based around exploring strange new worlds and visiting new planets is also a welcome relief from the disjointed Klingon War and Mirror Universe episodes of season one. The horrible death of Hugh Culber in the first season is addressed, which is fortunate since that was a poor way of treating Star Trek's first gay couple (not counting Trill).

I love the remade Enterprise. Continuity be damned.

        Unfortunately, I do feel like the show is a bit too crowded as is with all the new characters to develop the cast as well as they could. Also, it all ends up being about Michael in the end as well. I like her but less is more sometimes. To use an analogy, Blofeld doesn't have to be James Bond's brother to make their relationship interesting and personal. Spock and Michael have some great scenes but their incredibly intense relationship and animosity comes from the fact the latter once called him a racist name once. I mean, seriously, Spock. Be like Elsa and let it go.

    The best episodes of season two are definitely "New Eden" which deals with the conflict between faith and science as well as the episodes dealing with Saru's homeworld ("The Sounds of Thunder" and "Light and Shadows"). Unfortunately, these are the episodes that have the least to deal with the actual main plot of the game. We also have the climax of the story deal with events using a character from Short Treks' first episode, which really should have been incorporated into the main plot.

Klingons have time-wizards. I unironically love this.

    I think it summarizes the problems with this show that the best part of the season is the individual personalized episodes as well as the guest stars. This isn't because Discovery's cast is bad or even underwhelming. No, I want more Tilly, Ash Tyler, Stamets, and Saru. Lots more. I want more bridge officers too. It's just that the show keeps throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the wall in hopes something will stick. It feels way too try hard. Why visit Talos IV? I dunno, because it's that thing you remember and liked if you're a hardcore Trekkie. Why is the ENTIRE UNIVERSE at stake? Because that makes the story bigger and this show is obsessed with bigger and bigger.

    Still, Discovery's second season is never boring. It's always entertaining. The fact there's too much stuff going on isn't the worst flaw for a space opera to have. The characters are entertaining, everyone seems to be having fun, and if Michael's history is approaching Chris Claremont's X-men's Summers Family Tree levels of ridiculousness then it's in good company. I just wish the writers would slow down and stop being so loud as Taylor Swift would say (my second musical reference in this review).

8/10