And here we have it, the real blemish on an otherwise great show and a contender for the worst episode in the whole Trek franchise. This is quite a disgusting episode for very clear reasons: it makes light of sexism, sexual assault and attempts to turn trans-genderism/gender identity into a joke. I honestly have no idea how anyone thought this was a good idea, other maybe than "it'll be funny!". It's a shame, because the episode starts with the very interesting issue of women getting equal rights on Ferenginar before becoming derailed. It also has the superb Wallace Shawn and Jeffrey Combs doing their usual excellent work.
We open with Quark, a character we've come to love through his faults, openly encouraging a female employee to perform sexual acts on him under the threat of being fired. But it's okay, right? It's meant to be funny.
Quark is forced to have gender reassignment and becomes woman. It's okay, it's meant to be funny.
We all laugh at Quark trying to act like a woman, and the way his hormones now make him feel. It's okay, it's meant to be funny.
A Ferengi male traps female-Quark in his quarters and chases her around in an attempt to have sex with her against her will. It's all very slapstick. It's meant to be funny!
At the end, it turns out that Quark's female employee actually wants to perform the work-enforced sex acts on him! Women always say yes if you're persistent enough, right? SO FUNNY!
Quark doesn't actually learn anything from his experience as a woman! Ha! Sexism wasn't ever a real thing! Oh MY!
it's amazing how doctor who fans hate doctor who, no surprise some people who have never liked the show keep on trying to make it look bad. guess what, disliking things says only about you, not the things themselves. those guys are the worst, but this series is the best, and they truly don't deserve it ;))) chibnall shows an amazing storytelling skill; jodie whittaker is an incredible actor and her doctor is such a good and nuanced one it never fails to entertain, she will be remembered as one of the most underrated ever (because the fanbase guys suck); the side adventures other than the new and old characters just expands this universe so much, making it new again, it's incredible; the decision to take one good director was also a good one to this short -- and clearly expensive -- series. i LOVE azure and swarm. plus, the idea of time as it is presented here is just amazing and gives so much for the future of a very old tv show. this is one of the best series we've had and i'm glad chibnall had the balls to do something completely different from what he was doing, showing a great side of his writing. it's perfect in every way
also: ESTAUTIUS!!!!!!!!!!
Star Trek has been desperately in need of a fresh new angle for a long time. The JJ Abrams films attempted that and while they mostly got by on the charms of the actors, they mostly missed what Star Trek is at its core.
I was excited about Discovery from the start. We've been given a serialised show with a more adult centre which was exactly what I was after (and the reason that DS9 remains the best the franchise has ever done). Now that the season is finished, I can look back and see that while it took some odd turns, lacked any coherent message and had some strange choices along the way, the show has kept me gripped and excited from start to finish.
On the good side, the show is a visual treat and has to rank among the best looking television shows ever. It's clear that, unlike so much Trek of the past, money was available. The action sequences, of which there are many (and there always have been in this franchise, with the Original Series really laying the foundation for that) are creative and exciting.
I also have grown to really like the characters, especially Stamets, Tilly and Saru. Indeed, they managed to consistently outshine the lead character of Michael Burnham who at this point I actually think is the weakest link. That's not at all the fault of Sonequa Martin who does a fantastic job in the role, but more the agonisingly poor dialgoue and storyline her character is lumped with. Especially in regards to her romance with Ash Tyler, a pairing which lacked chemistry from the start and is derailed no end by Tyler himself being so thoroughly uninteresting.
I was pleasantly surprised by the twists along the way (a shame that so many people on line guessed them beforehand, I would have loved to have not seen them coming), and the excursion to the Mirror Universe was the highlight of the season. This managed to also show us how important Jason Isaacs was to the cast, and his absence is now sorely felt.
If anything, I think the season has suffered from too much focus on Burnham at the expense of the rest of the crew. Discovery never feels like a cohesive unit of characters, more like the Michael Burnham show. Nobody has a personal journey outside of her. I think it's completely possible to tell a fully serialised story but still allow for other characters to get narrative arcs dedicated entirely to them. I feel like I barely know anything about them - who is that robot lady on the bridge and why aren't we dedicating lots of time to her?! Another low point has been the poor depiction of the Klingons; not only because the new design looks terrible but mostly because their scenes slowed down the narrative so much.
Star Trek is about exploration and ideas and Discovery does manage to fit this in but also forgets about it in place of trying to find "cool" moments. Trek is also about people (something many fans seem to forget) and how we treat others, and Discovery maybe gets a bit too specific and melodramatic with this. But I've watched the entire season with a smile on my face and feel very eager to see more. I love the serialised storytelling, but I'd like to see things lean more towards the whole crew rather than just Burnham, allow for side stories and not be so serious all the time. The season wrapped up in an extremely convenient and honestly stupid way, so going ahead the show needs to forge a path that says what this show is actually ABOUT. It could also do with slowing down a bit and letting us take in the characters.
