Star Trek: Discovery - Lethe

The ongoing story of this series is really a huge weak point (just like it always is in Star Trek). Lethe would have been a pretty decent episode if it weren't tied into this bigger plot. It's almost there and it's so frustrating that they mess it up like this.

That doesn't seem healthy, you should see a doctor.

The episode starts with a terrorist suicide bomber trying to kill Sarek as he's on his way to meet with some Klingons to discuss peace. They think that humans are bad and dumb and shouldn't be allowed to hang out with Vulcans, and since Sarek married one and adopted another he's obviously not one of their favourite people.

They love disco. Not a specific song or artist, the whole genre.

Michael's having lunch with her roommate and the new guy (the one who helped the captain escape from the Klingons last episode) when this goes down and her psychic link to Sarek tells her he's in trouble. So she tells the captain and he authorises a mission to go save Sarek.

That's a really colourful nebula.

They track him to a nebula but can't find him specifically, so Michael has to fly a shuttle in there and do a psychic link with him. Sarek's uncooperative at first but eventually relents and Michael finds out that the reason she didn't get into the Vulcan equivalent of Starfleet is because he chose Spock over her, and he regrets that. She saves him, but when he wakes up he won't admit to remembering any of that. And I've got to admit, that stuff is some good Star Trek. That's the sort of stuff I wanted to see from this show.

Of course the psychic connection manifests as them fist-fighting in his memories.

The other half of the plot is not so great though. The admiral who's shown up a couple of times so far and is friends with the captain shows up again, and she's worried that he's not psychologically fit for command. So she sleeps with him and he freaks out when she touches one of his scars and so she decides that that confirms her suspicions. But before she can report him to Starfleet she has to go do the mission that Sarek was going to do, only it turns out to be a trap and she's captured.

Honestly, if he hasn't been fired yet this probably wouldn't do it either.

And that's the stuff that's keeping me lukewarm on this show. For everything it does that makes me think they're actually trying to make a good Star Trek show they throw in more of this drama and intrigue and politics and whatever else that I just don't give a shit about. I want stand-alone stories every week with a crew of loyal, upstanding Starfleet officers who like each other and work together well. Is that so much to ask for?

Vulcan looks pretty cool though.

<< Choose Your Pain

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad >>