Following the decoding of the distress call from the centuries old Kelpian starship, Saru, Burnham, and Culber mount a rescue mission into a strange new environment while Tilly, in her first major test as first officer of the ship, finds herself facing off against Osyra and the Emerald Chain.
I have mixed feelings.
Firstly, starting with the positives first, this episode certainly kept me guessing and, to be honest, it’s kind of my favorite thing about this entire season. I don’t know if it’s the fact that the show is being shot in Canada now or something, but the show is so much better now than what it used to be when it comes to keeping secrets unless it involves Voq, but honestly… that was obvious.
I really enjoyed the environment of the decaying holodeck, a dystopian nightmare to be trapped in that is for sure. I never thought Discovery would do a holodeck episode, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually was. Seeing Doug Jones without his makeup was so nice and a reminder of just what a gifted performer he is to convey so much emotion through the Saru makeup.
The negatives… Tilly really mucked up her first mission and it only goes to prop up the criticisms of her getting the XO job in the first place. Although she has handled the extra responsibility nicely, she been serving as more in a yeoman’s capacity… the second she gets in the command chair, she seems to collapse and everything goes sideways. I love Tilly, but to see her bluffs called and then have the ship taken right out from underneath her not only highlights her own inexperience, it also highlights Saru’s incredible negligence putting her in that position in the first place.
It’s hard to make a call on these two parters as there is no resolution and so much, including any plot points that may answer some of my critisisms, are up in the air. Needless to say, there were things I didn’t like about it, but there were more things about it that I did like. Everything on the Kelpian ship was great, everything off of it… not so much.
But, like I said, maybe the show will right itself in the coming episodes.
Jason Gaston 