[5.8/10] This was a really disappointing end to what's otherwise been Discovery's best season. I don't mind action in my Star Trek, but this was (a.) pretty mediocre action and (b.) seemed ironically disconnected from the stories and themes of the season. It's like they dropped an unrelated mid-budget action movie into Discovery for some reason, with none of the emotional resonance or plot-relevance the show's been generating in its third season. This was basically "Burnham and company punch things, jump off of things, and blow things up" for an hour.
That said, I did like the story with Saru and company in the Verubin Nebula! It felt like pure Trek, in the sense that it was a crazy space anomaly, resolved through bonds between character, with a thematic aim of having courage to face the scary risks of what's beyond our doorsteps. They overexplained a lot of the mechanics of The Burn, but the core of that material was still good.
That said, from there, the episode was just an onslaught of random solutions to random problems, convenient narrative shortcuts, and unearned efforts to gin up emotion in the midst of false jeopardy. I didn't buy for a second that the show would let Tilly and the B-Team die, or that Burnham wouldn't escape the warp core explosion, or that Saru and company would perish in the nebula, and the show didn't really include enough tension or costs from these close shaves to make them seem worthwhile.
But hey, the status quo is reset, dilithium is safe and liable to make space travel easier going forward, and so maybe we can have more traditional Star Trek adventures going forward. Plus after 3 seasons, Burnham is officially captain (which is a little weird given that she almost bailed and recently got demoted, but that's a Star Trek tradition), which should be interesting.
On the whole, this was a really tepid finale to what was, nevertheless, a season that suggests Discovery's on an upswing. It still can't seem to get these big finales right, but it at least points the way forward in a way that gives me hope.
whaThis show is a highly polished turd. Season 1 had some interesting concepts, Season 2 was stupid. Season 3 is just nonsense and laughable.
Sonequa Martin-Green is and always has been just god awful as Michael Burnham. The overacting, the constant screaming and crying and all this crap. Plus her inexplicable decision-making process.
This season they seem to have decided to try and bring more attention to other members of the crew, but there's absolutely no emotional impact to the challenges and near-death experiences they face in this episode because these people are basically strangers to viewers. You have no backstory on practically any of them so it just feels completely out of place when they've got any dialog at all. In other Star Trek shows I knew all the main characters' names. I still don't have any clue what most of the Discoervy crew's names are.
The concept of the Burn is just silly and the reason for it is just plain stupid.
Tilly being captain makes no sense.
The turbolift fight scenes are pure idiocy. Discovery isn't that big. Why would they have so much empty space devoted to elevators in the ship? Where is all of this? Did no one stop to think about this?
Osyraa doesn't make for an interesting villain at all. Then they throw in this random wheelchair scientist guy who defends her?
Oh and that lie detector hologram thing, what the actual fuck was that?
Also what was the point of David Cronenberg's character? And why didn't anyone bother to make him look like he actually belonged in the show?
What the hell is the stuff Osyraa pushes Michael into in the data core?
What's with the stupid robots? The robot sacrificing itself has no impact, because they never bothered to establish these robots as mattering ever before. "It was my honor." Come on. I literally laughed.
Why would a holographic program make whatstheirface's dead boyfriend visible all of a sudden?
I'm not even complaining about how this "isn't Star Trek" and all that shit. By all means try something new. Look at Lower Decks, it manages to do something pretty new without completely shitting on everything that came before it. Discovery is just objectively a terrible show on every level that is masquerading as a good one.
I'm also not against diversity and inclusion but the transgender stuff in this season is just so damn forced. We get it, you're so woke.
9/10
Absolutely superb once again this Masterpiece of a show delivers another amazing season and
one Hella of a season finale.
This was an absolute Blast and
a thrill a minute.
Wow...just...wow.
Michael was phenomenal and I absolutely love her and once again my Girl saves the ship,crew,Federation and the Galaxy because she's Awesome and a frickin Badass and Oysaar never stood a chance. The vfx in this episode were off the charts but they are every single episode, you can tell that 1 million dollars an episode is money well spent because the visuals each episode are Epic and Breathtaking.
I loved the way that guy looked at Suru when he realised he looked the same, choked me up that.
I knew Paul was going to be a douchebag and a complete tool towards Michael and hold a grudge,
just when I was starting to like him, but he can go fcuk himself with those dirty looks he was giving her and you could just see what he was thinking.
Even Huge was cool and smiling but oh no not Paul the little bitch. If Oysaar would have got Paul the one component to the Spore Drive she would have destroyed the Federation and then the rest of the Galaxy. I said it when Tilly lost the ship on her first command,
Get Paul off that ship and as far from that
Spore Drive as possible,
At all cost. I'm just glad
Michael and the Admiral totally agreed. Paul needs to get over it and put his junk in the trunk, he could have been the main reason the entire known Galaxy
got enslaved if it wasn't for Michael.
Fantastic the Sphere data helped get the ship back and save the crew by transferring to the 23s.
They kept Osyaar's goons busy which allowed Michael to save the day,
Thank-You.
This Show is super frickin awesome amazing and the best Trek ever made and I'm so excited for
season 4.
With Book able to operate the Spore Drive, ha screw you Paul, not as unique as you like everyone to belive.
And Finally the most important
Captain Michael Burnham
of the USS DISCOVERY
now that has a very nice ring to it
and it's about damn time.
I've waited a very very long time for this and
she so deserves it and more.
I hope it's all about her next season because she is star trek discovery and star trek discovery is her.
And now she's
The Captain well the possibilities are endless.
"LET'S FLY"
(I love it)
Oh boy, another episode that was full of nonsensical/stupid Sci-Fi... It's a nice fantasy show but I wish there was more science in it. Yes, there's also fiction in Sci-Fi but please don't make it so obviously nonsensical that I feel like you're just messing with me (e.g. that elevator scene was horrible: why is there so much empty (i.e. wasted) space and why are elements of the elevator spawning out of nowhere?). Compared to the other issues this is a really minor thing but why is Saru telling Dr. Hugh Culber that: "The medicine has brought us some time, but we have only a few hours left, at most."
The best thing in this episode was the CGI (but it is sometimes hard to tell what is practical and what is CGI - which is a good thing but together with all the other distracting effects it makes it hard to comment on the CGI).
The cinematographers still really love pulsing and flashing lights, fog machines, and sparkles. One could actually make a drinking game out of that but it wouldn't be healthy... :D
I was excited for Captain Burnham at the end but that smile also made me a bit scared. Let's hope she'll fit the captains chair. I also hope that Paul can forgive Michael.
Review by ElliotVIP 6BlockedParent2021-01-08T00:41:33Z
I nearly rated this a 7 because it was a fun watch if you didn't pay too much attention to the detail. The best parts were definitely with Saru et al on the planet; the other parts felt shallow and drawn out with a lot of fairly vacuous action. A bit of a disappointing end to the season but on the plus side, at least we don't need to keep pretending that Michael isn't Discovery's leader. I just hope this doesn't mark the end of Saru's involvement, especially since we already lost Georgiou this season.
I do hope next season they focus on distinguishing the assorted crew members more because at the moment, outside of the more obviously senior officers, these assorted faces keep cropping up that all seem to have the same "happy NPC" personality.
As for all the people rating every episode 1s and 2s out of 10, bitching and moaning about alleged "bumming" and forced "diversity", you're 3 seasons in now and know what you're getting. Either accept this is what this particular Trek show is about and try and enjoy it by growing as a person, or find something else to do or watch - life is far too short. You'll feel better, I'm sure.