@lefthandedguitarist I often agree with you, but in this particular episode I found Mudd to be some sort of Q without any of the charm or charisma :(
@misnomer You disagree with me?! How DARE YOU?! :p
It probably helps me a bit that I have no attachment to the Original Series version of Harry Mudd and considered him a bit of a foppish idiot, so seeing a version of him with a bit more drive and wit just clicks with me better.
@lefthandedguitarist Ahah! I'm glad you took it lightly :D I actually don't even remember the original Mudd, but I reckon that pretty much EVERYONE from TOS seemed like an idiot to me (except Spock, of course). It's all due to the more naive essence of that show, anyway. I was criticising Discovery's Mudd for the character that he was in this episode (or, more accurately, for what he appear to be to me): a clown version of Q (who was already some sort of clown on his own, but a charming one). Mudd wasn't my only gripe with this episode, I just didn't like the way the story unfolded (I mean, I love this kind of episodes in other shows and I fell asleep during this one) and Michael is starting to become a wee bit too much of a Mary Sue for my liking.
But, anyway, you review episodes much better than I do, I'm not as good in putting my thoughts and feelings into words as you are. I haven't seen your reviews in the latest The Orville episodes, and they are missed, that show continues to surprise everyone with its unexpected Star Trek quality. I hope you haven't given up on it.
Sorry for rambling, I'll leave the lengthy comments to you, now, and I hope I'll be liking more of them around the website ;)
@misnomer I'm waaay behind on The Orville (still actually waiting for it to have a UK broadcast), but really am looking forward to getting back into it. I just don't like to have too many shows on the go at once.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2017-10-30T15:47:20Z
Now, this is classic Star Trek! Despite a few problems, this is a delight to watch from start to finish and is Discovery's first foray into the tried-and-tested 'bottle show'. These episodes often end up being my favourites, we are given a situation and really get to dive into it. They often reveal a lot about our characters and usually have fun doing it. Great examples of this include 'Civil Defense' (DS9), 'Disaster' (TNG), 'Explorers' (DS9) and of course the other classic Trek time-loop show, 'Cause and Effect' (TNG).
If I had any doubts about Rainn Wilson's portrayal of Harry Mudd, this episode easily washed them away. He's a lot of fun and full of energy, as well as managing to come off as a fairly complex person. It was interesting the way he was quite cruel to the crew of the Discovery, and then shrivels up at the sight of Stella and her father. I think there was a missed opportunity to make her a bit more like the shrew seen in The Original Series, but it's important to remember that what we saw there was Mudd's own vision of her rather than the actual person. The various deaths were quite mean spirited, despite being somewhat offset due to the fact that they weren't permanent A couple were also pretty funny, although I never quite got the impression that those little purple balls caused an "agonising" death.
Mostly, I think I enjoyed that this episode showed us the characters in more relaxed and natural states. Captain Lorca's apathy at finding a space whale is quite funny and even endearing, as he tells his crew to just get on with it (loved that he's finally sitting in the chair, too). Tilly continues to just delight me, and drunk Tilly is even better. It seems to me that she's hiding a lot of confidence under a socially awkward front. Stamets possibly emerged as the best part for me, this new happy version of him is charming and fun to spend time with (again, PLEASE let us get back to that mirror image thing from a couple of episodes ago).
The Burnham/Tyler pairing is maybe not my favourite thing. I don't feel a huge amount of chemistry between them, but then again Michael's standoffish nature means that she doesn't really have chemistry with anybody. I think it's more down to me not really clicking with the character of Tyler, as I talked about in my review for the previous episode. He feels like he's fit in too easily and his personality is a bare minimum.
Where the episode could have done a slightly better job is with the various time loop escapades. The movement through them became a bit too quick, and we are supposed to understand that Stamets explains things to Burnham who explains things to Tyler who explains things to Lorca, etc. every time, and everyone just accepts what they're being told and gets to action? That took me out of things a bit, and I would have been perfectly happy to have longer scenes that established things better. It's also hard to ignore the fact that the episode should have been all from Stamet's point-of-view, as he's the one dealing with it all.
Overall though, damn this was fantastic. The use of the introductory log and mostly self-contained nature of the episode made this feel so much like it was a part of the franchise I love. Mostly, though, it let us get a grip on these new characters and let them just get on with things as opposed to being dragged along by plot mechanics.