LizstarTrek - Discovery Season 4 episodes 9 -
Every Sunday my Twitch subs and I watch Star Trek in my Discord. Here are my reviews and thoughts on each of the episodes as I see it. If you’re curious about a nerd’s views on Star Trek episodes, please read on, I go quite in depth with some of these episodes! I’ve watched some Star Trek before but not all of it!
I know literally nothing about Discovery, except for The Burn, and that it leads into Strange New Worlds. So uh… I’ve been dreading this one. But hey, who knows! Maybe it’ll surprise me!!
It has not so far. Y’all ready to see Michael save the universe again???
The Examples - DIS 1.5/10
Michael STILL is trying to get her war criminal boyfriend to stop doing warcrimes and sends him a message about how the DMA is just accidental collatoral damage. He’s like “Nope. Don’t care, off to do warcrimes, I still love you by the way <3” fire this man into the sun??
Anyways Commander Nhan is back to help out. I do love how this show keeps writing out characters and then bringing them back a few episodes later. Wait did I say like? I find it kinda stupid. Why can’t they write out the BAD characters… or well, character. Just Michael.
They keep doing stuff with Saru and the Vulcan president. It’s actually kinda cute. More of that, please.
“Lots of people agree with Book…” Lots of people are saying this. Many online are saying Genocide Good actually. If that’s you, keep that to your fucking self and get out of starfleet, dude. I’d be on the bridge, raising my hand, and going “actually genocide is bad actually and I think we should be doing more to stop Book instead of being halfassed about this?? Also Saru should be in charge.”
They send a shuttle to try and sneak to Book’s ship, and of course Warcrime Scientist is like “oh I set up an autonomous defense grid of nanomachines :)” and they’re KILLING a bunch of Discovery’s crew. Book’s like “UM, YOU DID THAT WITHOUT TELLING ME ALSO STOP KILLING MY FRIENDS?” oh, so NOW you care. Afterward they barely get them out Michael immediately calls him and he’s standoffish and doesn’t care again. I already know this is gonna end with Book back with the good guys but frankly I can’t stand that idea, he’s kinda ruined for me.
Michael has been TRYING to stay out of this because of her conflict of interest, but steps in and does some gambit to get ahead of Book in his race to do genocide.
I forget if I mentioned it but this scientist asshole reminds me of Elon Musk, he is immensely unlikable.
Nahn and this guy take on basically the same exact role on each other’s respective ships. “Why are you not KILLING these people already???” Michael eventually gets sick of this shit and literally goes “this isn’t black and white, there’s a middle ground here, and I can get Book to see it.” YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING FOR THE PAST THREE EPISODES AND FAILING. You literally gave an ultimatum last episode!!!!
Michael goes ALONE to talk to Book about this, and gives him the middle ground. Based on recent data, the DMA will not be in an area with any casualties for a week. Give us a week to make first contact, at least. Book agrees. Of COURSE Michael saying the same thing over and over eventually wins. Tarka of course just… releases the weapon anyway. BTW of course Tarka’s plan to use the power source here to power his way back to his universe fails, so this was all done for nothing.
Everyone fucking fails. The end.
…And then Saru goes to Culber and is like “so it seems the president is interested in me and asked me to dinner. What the fuck do I do”. DUDE. WE JUST DECLARED WAR ON GOD ALIENS. I actually LIKE this plotline but this is not the time??? Culber calls him an idiot.
Then they see that another DMA appeared in the exact same place and Michael goes “It seems…. we just made first contact…” like it’s a deep line. This shit sucked.
The Galactic Barrier - DIS 2/10
Everyone is recovering and needs a new plan. Basically, the Federation has to rush to make it outside the Galactic Barrier so they can make first contact, and Book needs to make it through the Galactic Barrier so he can kill them at THEIR home instead. Book and Tarka are on very unfriendly terms right now after the last episode.
Adira is back, helping them find a way through the barrier. You know, a thing no one is known to have EVER done. The barrier is a weird Trek thing btw, but it’s been there since season 2 of TOS.
We learn some more Tarka backstory, which is wild cause I care about this guy less than the fucking Xindi scientist from season 3 of Enterprise, and that guy was dumb as hell. Basically he was in an Emerald Chain prison with another scientist, who was secretly building a dimensional teleporter to take him to the heaven of his people, which he beleived was an alternate universe. So now that’s where Tarka wants to go, to be with his boyfriend.
Zora has basically stopped being a character out of nowhere and they just go “the computer” again.
Ticking clock time, the DMA is now targetting Earth and Vulcan. Gee, maybe blowing up their shit was A Bad Idea. And then Michael’s like “I NEED TO TELL EVERYONE ON BOARD THAT AS WE GO OUT OF THE GALAXY THEIR FAMILY MIGHT BE DYING” dude no, that is a Very Bad Idea.
They make it through the galactic barrier, yaaay, of course this crew would be the one to finally make it out. Just that easy. Anyways this episode ends with yet another Michael oneliner cause they gotta make her seem cool. They are failing.
Rosetta - DIS 2/10
They arrive at a planet that used to be the home planet of the DMA aliens. It was apparently at one point a gas giant but then the gas disappeared and now it’s a rocky planet. Thats not how that works. Everyone walks slowmo down the hallway cause again they are trying to make this cool. They are failing.
Also Book and Tarka are just here now. IT REALLY WAS JUST THAT EASY.
Also why are we sending both the captain and the XO? Even the fucking president calls this out. She’s right. But Michael says something that is barely related and she’s like “oh I see, understood”. Michael is always correct. The leader of Earth ALSO goes “why are we going to these aliens’ old home planet instead of just talking to them? My planet might be about to explode.” and Michael goes “I hear you.” with an implied “but I don’t give a fuck what you think” after that.
As soon as they reach the surface, Saru starts freaking the hell out, using his super senses to sense something horrible. Um…. that was removed? He doesn’t have that anymore? That happened like, in season 2.
It’s delayed, but it eventually effects everyone else too. Except Detmer, for some reason. I think this is the first time Detmer is even out on an away mission. We then get a scene with Adina going “I wish I could be more like Detmer. Confident, able to go on away missions…” WE’VE NEVER SEEN HER DO ANY OF THAT.
We also get Book and Tarka sneaking onboard the ship. They’re trying to sneak to talk to the Earth Leader cause she’s also interested in stopping the aliens at any cost so maybe she can help us do warcrimes!! Also what the fuck? They’re just sneaking around, once people leave they skulk out. Do we not have any… scanners? Sensors? Security cameras??? I know we LITERALLY do not have a security officer, she left the show and they never replaced her.
Book talks to the Earth Leader and she goes “You have to promise to let us try diplomacy first, and if that doesn’t work, then I’ll back you doing warcrimes”. “You have my word.” THAT DIDN’T WORK LAST TIME, WHY THE FUCK DO WE BELIEVE FOR A SECOND TARKA WILL ALLOW THIS THIS time
We are getting Detmer backstory and character. This happens so extremely infrequently… she’s LITERALLY been here since episode one. She’s in 50 episodes out 65. And we are FINALLY learning ANYTHING about her at ALL. Anyways they learn that the aliens are scared and anxious, and had their home destroyed at one point, so mayb ethat’s a way to communicate? Fair enough. They also discover these chemicals they use to communicate, kinda like pheromones, so let’s use that to talk to them.
The story ends with a dun dun, Tarka kidnapped Reno and is holding her hostage. She’s nonplussed about it because she’s the best character in this show. God I wish she had more to do.
Species C-10 - DIS 3/10
Everyone is preparing for first content. Did no one realize Jett Reno has disappeared? She’s very loud, and has her fingers in everything, she’s pretty unignorable. She quickly gets to work trying to get Book to realize he’s being an idiot, but Book is an idiot so he ignores her.
They go to see the C-10, and are immediately attacked and dragged into the bubble. The Earth despot is like “welp, we failed. A soldier needs to realize when they’ve hit a wall, time to change tactics.” WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS. WE ARE STAR FLEET.
We don’t get to SEE the alien but we see its shape in the cloud. It spits out some complex pheromones showing 6 different emotions. It also blinks some lights at them. It’s trying to communicate! They spent like 2 minutes trying to explain that to me, when Spock woulda explained it in two sentences, but that’s fine.
Uuuunfortunately, the despot of Earth is like “welp, we can’t just talk to them normally and it’ll take time, so it’s time to kill.”
I hate all of these people. They are so stupid. At least we have Jett Reno who goes from “you’re hurting so you’re blind.” to “YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING KILL US ALL. LOOK AT THE GOD DAMN MATH”.
Normally I’d love this episode. They’re trying to sus out a language so they can communicate with an alien which is threatening them, possibly without realizing it. That is so Trek. It’s so Trek and could be so good. BUT THE WRITING IS BORING AND BAD AND WE HAVE ALL THIS EXTRA SHIT TO ADD A CLOCK ON TOP.
Okay so NOW Book says “I won’t do to the 10-C what they did to Kweijan”. NOW YOU’RE AGAINST GENOCIDE?! YOU’VE BEEN FOR IT FOR FOUR EPISODES. You’re only upset cause now it might actually hurt Discovery too, you fucking idiot. Anyways OBVIOUSLY the omnicidal gay Elon Musk betrays him so he can kill everyone cause he doesn’t actually care about anyone but his boyfriend.
Communication is going well as they send a breathable atmosphere bubble covered in peacefulness. But since Tarka is gonna fuck it all up I can’t be as invested in this cause it’s all gonna go to shit before they fix it further.
The president, president of Nivar, Saru, and of course Michael go into the bubble and it’s a replica of the Discovery bridge. Eh, why bother building a set? Also why is Saru here? They have a linguist who’s been doing ALL of the progress in this episode.
They do, in fact, communicate “you are hurting us” and they go “oh fuck we didn’t mean to, we’re sorry” aaaaand then of course Tarka starts killing them. At least Reno gets a message out of “FUCKING BLOW US UP.”
Coming Home - DIS 2/10
Assuming someone betrayed them, they start go and start asking around and immediately find out it was the fascist Earth despot who is like “I did it cause Booker told me it’d be fine and you were gone for 5 seconds, I got scared!” “BOOKER IS HOSTAGE AND YOU WERE LIED TO. COMMUNICATION WAS WORKING. YOU JUST KILLED EVERYONE.” “Whoops. My bad :) Pobody’s nerfect!”
Shoot every fascist into the sun.
The Nivarian president mind melds with the 10-C through a WINDOW, AND THE VACUUM OF SPACE. SHE COULD JUST DO THAT?! Maybe you shoulda done that earlier?! She explains after this, while in the sick bay cause it knocked her on her ass, that they’re a hive mind, confused and scared, and we’re running out of time to explain that those are not with us and we need to stop Booker’s ship.
Book manages to break him and Reno out and then sends Reno to Discovery as he tries to take back over his ship. Reno delivers the message that he loves Michael. That makes all of it worth it. :)
Also it looks like in order to win we’ll need the fascist’s help after all, I hate that. Oh apaprently she’s NOT the leader of earth, just like, their head general? Either way, her vibes are Bad. At least she’s gonna go do a suicide mission to try and stop them. “I’m with you captain, all the way.” - someone who gave up after they disappeared for 5 seconds earlier.
Book FINALLY gets through to Tarka who does a complete 180 when Book just flat out says “would your boyfriend want you to do galactic suicide”. That’s what it takes. He ends up sacrificing himself to stop it. And MAYBE his teleporter will send him to the afterlife with his boyfriend, who knows. The show tries to do this thing where it’s all sad about him doing this. Look, I don’t care HOW gay he is, genocide is decidedly ungroovy.
Wow, an ACTUALLY kinda good scene! The admiral and Tilly are staying behind on the Federation HQ as it’s exploding from the gravitational waves of the DMA, they stayed behind to evacuate as many as they could. They have a drink of Whisky as they talk about having few regrets. It’s good! Also Admiral Vance continues to be the only good admiral.
They try to communicate once again with the 10-c. They are, at least, kinda cool.
It’s so close to being good and Trekian buuuuut it’s so filled with stuff I don’t care about at all. Namely the stuff with Book and Tarka. They think Book might be dead btw, he’s missing, and Michael starts crying durring communications. Again, like one of the three emotions she’s allowed to show. She LITERALLY PIKACHU TEARS HIM BACK TO LIFE, because they see how sad she is and just RECONSTITUTES HIM BACK FROM HIS ATOMS AFTER HE WAS BLOWN TO FUCK.
THIS IS SO STUPID.
A major theme of this season was Michael learning to deal with loss AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN COMMIT TO THAT.
…Apparently they just intercepted his transporter signal and was holding him because they assumed it was important, but it’s still just, so dumb.
Book tells them that they don’t NEED the wall keeping them safe that they power with Boronite and they’re like “oh I see our bad” and they stop! That’s it! Success, victory, we win, Book and Michael are happy and we’ll just ignore the fact that Book was going to do a genocide until he wasn’t because he stopped in time.
At least Saru and the Nivarian President are hooking up now. They’re cute. AND uncensored handholding!
The Federation president says “I said you weren’t ready for a Voyager captaincy, but you are now”. I love hearing about character growth rather than seeing it :) And she also kind of commutes Book’s sentencing because “reasons matter”. Um, not when it comes to attempted genocide. He’s just gonna do community service.
Aaaand the season ends with more Michael Slam Poetry.
I hated this. This was the worst Trek season, I think, out of all of them. Yes, even Enterprise season 3 or Picard season 1. Really, really bad. In a different way. It’s not offensive, it’s just very bad and boring. Those seasons are at least fun to complain about, I had SOME enjoyment ranting about them. I didn’t even feel any enjoyment ranting about this. I just didn’t care. There was a SINGLE episode above… 3/10 I think???? Which is fucking BAD.