I’m still not sure what to make of Star Trek: Discovery. I miss the good old days when most episodes had a distinct storyline. Some contributed more to the overall story, but most could stand on their own. Then, came CBS All Access. Discovery and Picard seemed to go the route of a serialized narrative. We progressed a little more each week, but there was usually little new stuff.
I think this episode typifies that. The Emerald Chain has taken over Discovery and infiltrated Starfleet/Federation headquarters. The assumption would be that they’re attacking, but Osyraa wants to negotiate. She has an idea to fold The Emerald Chain back into The Federation.
They left Captain Saru, Doctor Culber and Adira back in the radiation-laden nebula to take care of Su’Kal. We’ll have to wait to see what becomes of them. The point is that she honestly wants peace. She knows the game is up. The Emerald Chain has scientific prowess and The Federation has the spore drive. Put those together and they could go places. The only real holdup is that Osyraa would have to answer for her crimes. She’s not really keen on this, so it’s unclear of any such merger will actually happen.
Part of me feels like this was an unnecessary episode. You could have cut it out and it would have had little effect on the overall storyline. It occurs to me that it’s really the opposite problem. Discovery has a 13-episode arc this season. That’s half of what I was used to with The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
There were so many wasted opportunities. We never really got a good look at what had become of Earth, Vulcan or Trill. We know so little about The Emerald Chain. In fact, I know that it’s made up of Andoria and Orion. I think there are other planets, but I’m not sure. I think Osyraa is the leader, but I’m not clear on that. I think she mentioned something about others in positions of authority. A little background information could have gone a long way.
For that matter, we know so little of what happened to The Federation at large. At least three founding members are no longer members. How many more fragments are there? How vast is the known galaxy? There are so many questions. It would have been nice for the series to take a break and explore the 32nd Century a little more.
Maybe we’ll get that chance next season. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow. We could see the Federation return to normal. Maybe not. I’ll grant you that nine centuries is a lot of ground to cover. What we’re given is a feeble attempt, though. I really think Discovery can do so much better.
That’s part of the problem with doing a serialize season like this. It’s too long of an episode and too short of a season. It reminds me of a joke, wherein a guy goes to a restaurant. After eating the meal, the waiter asks how the food was. The man says, “I have two complaints: First, the food was horrible. Second, there wasn’t enough of it.” I want more and I want better. Is that too much to ask?
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