Episode 15 "Will You Take My Hand"
....and that's a wrap!
After two absolutely fantastic, near perfect episodes, the season finale for me felt very rushed, cluttered and anti-climatic.
The ending, which tried so extremely hard to be inspiring, felt very forced.
And the overall tone of the episode was a complete mess for me.
What I liked... a non-violent solution to the Klingon problem. That was refreshing.... so long as you don't think about it too much.
I still don't understand how in less than 10 years this Klingon society is suppose to line up with TOS or even TNG in 80 years. In fact, my biggest gripe remains what the writers did with the Klingons (or did not do).... I hate every choice the producers made for the Klingons; from the new look to the radical (or is it radiicalized) change in their established culture solely for story purposes. And all the changes amounted to nothing as their was no weight to their storyline. The Klingon War... a war which pushes the Federation to considering GENOCIDE is NEVER SEEN! Its all talk, no show. Therefore, I, as a viewer feel none of the desperation of the Federation. Like many of the moments throughout this first season, the drama feels unearned.
Other Klingon frustrations.... after a season of the producers saying the Klingons want PURITY to protect their culture, they show a multii-cultural society on their home planet!!!! Wouldn't they be the first to go?
And don't get me started on the whole Ash Taylor/Voq subplot.... a pointless, wasted storyline. It could have been a powerful exploration about PTSD or rape or even gone the Manchurian Candidate route. But it was none of these things. Ash was nothing more than a plot device to Michael's supposed character growth.
Which leads into my next frustration... character development. Some worked much better than others. Saru easily had the best character arc for me. Michael's was the classic Hero's Journey, and while enjoyable, like many of the plot lines it felt too telegraphed. Stammets became a likeable character. Tilley is wonderful, though I found her comedic moments in the finale undermined the supposed building tension for the last act. As for the rest of the bridge crew, other than being gloriously cool looking furniture, the only arc they had was go from frowny face to smiley face. I still can't remember any of their names. And it leads me to another unearned moment.... when Taylor is exposed and comes to the cafeteria, the bridge crew all apparently feel his pain and all come to sit at his table to support him. On the surface, a wonderful feel good pure Star Trek moment. But when did Ash bond with this crew? Did we as an audience ever see them share a moment of friendship or comradeship before this? He killed a member of their crew, but they have empathy and foregiveness for Taylor. Where was that Federation empathy when Michael first boarded? Where were the Federation principles and ideals when they were experimenting (ie torturing) the Tardigrade to make the Spore Drive work? I suppose an argument could be made its an allegory of how the masses will blindly follow the lead of those in power often without questioning and that it takes someone of true courage to speak up and seek another path.
While all the season long plot points are tied up, it all feels too neat, too tidy and too rushed. With a couple of lines of dialogue, the Spore Drive is gone. Really?
As for that "cliffhanger"... on one level, it is a "wow" cool smile moment. On another, one has to wonder if it is a desperate attempt by producers to appease the long time fan base and use it explain Discovery's place in canon continuity? Will the Enterprise have TOS era bridge and what uniforms will they be wearing???? There are currently THREE TOS fully built set bridges in the USA that Paramount could rent (thus not having to build their own, heck one they CBS have a licencing agreement with) and they could recycle the uniforms from Kelvin movies. Heck, this could be the perfect excuse to get rid of the current uniforms and introduce the classic style ones... with the war over and Starfleet rebuilding, they introduce a new uniform for a new era? I wonder who will play Pike? It would be cool if they brought back Bruce Greenwood.
As with most television first seasons, this was a bumpy one as the writers/producers work out the kinks. Overall, very entertaining, but it's accelerated cinematic story style made for ham fisted story points, unearned emotional moments and undeveloped world building.
I would give season one of DISCOVERY a B-minus. Though that rating might go down after I do a full binge rewatch lol.
Compared to other first season Star Trek spin-offs:
TNG -- C
DS9 -- A-minus
VOY -- C-plus
ENT -- B