Season 4

It is amazing to me how many people are complaining about "woke" stuff. Hating real accurate emotions. Oh no... WOKE...

Sad thing it isnt woke at all.. The primary design of Gene Roddenberry was to take REAL LIFE issues and display them, work with them, find solutions to them. In hopes that all the different people around the world can connect and find common ground. All the characters were designed around cultural difference we have in our own world. I do believe this show is exactly the design intended by Gene and Star Trek itself as expressed by Gene himself about Star Trek in the past.

If you are actually complaining about "wokeness" it isnt wokeness at all but showing/dealing with life itself. It is a real shame that those who default to "woke" are actually cowards themselves. They feel threatened about finding common ground with those in their orbit.

Also ... if you think Star Trek is "woke" you were and never will be a Trekkie, nor will you provide any use in a healthy society. You in essence are merely an even weaker version of Control. (to keep with the theme)

We are a planet of humans not a planet of strangers. If you think connection and understanding of ones differences is a bad thing? Then we are truly doomed as A race.

This season is BS. Simple as that. It's perhaps only episode 11 and 12 that are kind of okay-ish. Let me unpack this.

Production value is still impressive (although I'm not too fond of that flashy Tron approach) but this season in particular (perhaps the whole show) lacks a true Star Trek spirit.

Let me start with the plot: what did I just witness? The season-long story line was a great opportunity to teleport the Star Trek franchise into "the golden age" of complex TV shows. Compare this to the Sopranos or Mad Men, where additional time allowed writers to progress more subtle and calmly, to work out characters, to add multiple layers to the main plot and to connect the stories told in every single episode to the whole show's plot. Great writers show you little breadcrumbs along the way - characters don't tell you directly what they feel or think - and they are ready to embrace the quieter moments. And in the end some of those puzzling bread crumbs actually do make sense and give you a broader picture of what and why something happens. But that should never be "on the nose" like in generic action movies. Disco's writers simply weren't able to achieve this here. Most of the "spare" time was filled with inconsequential blasts, explosions and exploring characters that nobody can relate too. The sum of all episodes is worse than some individual episodes but it should clearly be the other way 'round. Quick, tell me the names of the bridge officers! What are their dreams? What are their hopes? What do they do when off-duty? Who is friends with whom? Who has a pet? Who plays an instrument? Who is in a relationship? Who doesn't get along with a crew member? Who is the funny guy here? I bet you can't tell even though emotions (will talk about that later) are allegedly important in this show. Everybody defines character building differently, but to me, the first step is always to get to know those people so that I can relate to them.

Nobody behaves like Star Trek officers. The federation doesn't work as intended. Political leadership and decision making is not depicted how I'd imagine the future. It's not about small intellectual problems: they imagine the biggest imaginable threat possible. 'cause - like in a action movie - the stakes must be incredibly high so that the explosions can grow bigger. So why not create a thing out of the blue with an unpronounceable name that devours entire worlds? Its focus on heroes is striking: Only Discovery can save the galaxy (although the ship and it's crew are 900 years old fossils) and only Burnham can save Discovery. This destroys the idea that a ship is ultimately as good as its crew and the crews are part of wider system of worlds interconnected by diplomacy, trade, philosophical debates and the Federation (Here btw, you learn next to nothing about the socio-economical system in the quadrant which is a shame). No wonder I don't care about the crew and greater than life Burnham. Star Trek was always great when painting a broader picture of a more peaceful and more rational, science-based future and when it illustrated interplanetary connections and conflict avoidance. They showed you a mirror to tell you a lesson or two about the present. This show leaves the impression, it's mostly about explosions, jumping hastily from one event to the other (why can't they just do some boring space travel - space is big after all). Some of the episodes are totally inconsequential (Tilly with recruits) and ridiculous (Casino Royale enactment). They even don't capitalize on the beautiful little sub-plots like the two prisoner befriending each other or the computer's personal growth into a sentient being (which is told badly but isn't as ridiculous as it might seem given the computer's origins).

Many have criticized the depiction of feelings and emotions in this season. I am one of those critiques. I'm not against a more emotional approach per se (you can tell wonderful love stories or other emotional stories within the Trek universe and they actually did it well with "the Doc and the engineer" story!), but the way writers approach this issue ruins this show. I'm not at all against depicting emotions. Humans (perhaps even advanced computers) are no robots (and perhaps some of the older shows ignored this fact too often), but couldn't they tell that more subtle? Often, they endlessly discuss or verbally express their feelings although that's completely unnecessary (cause the viewership ain't stupid) or even inappropriate when time of the essence or the crew's mission can't be jeopardized by some whining individuals. I simply don't believe that's how a ship (any organization really) would operate. Almost nobody is up to the task of being an officer. I'm not saying they all should be cold-blooded professionals all the time. Plus, they can't refrain from pulling all the strings: sad orchestral music, close-ups, faces with eyes wide open, looking sad or looking confused at each other, all that pathetic whispering. And those scenes are not a small portion of the show: at times it feels that this is the actual show. But what's their end-goal here? Is all the pathos supposed to make me feel connected to the crew members? It simply doesn't work for me since I realize it's only a hollow illusion from the Hollywood 101 toolbox (This histrionic approach is perhaps seven more irritating to people like me that are not from the US). I want to feel attached to the crew because I like to witness their adventures through their eyes, experience their fear and trauma, experience the sweet feeling of success when they endure against all odds - I don't need filmmakers to tell me explicitly what to feel. [I don't criticize all things emotion-based when it comes to the alien species though. Using primarily emotions to communicate is at least quite innovative. And the first contact scene are probably the best and most satisfying scenes in this season - it's a shame they never tried to establish a real connection to the species.]

I know, that's probably stepping on thin ice, but I feel similar when it comes to the accusation that Discovery is "a woke show just for the sake of being a liberal beacon". The critiques are a bit harsh with regard to this complaint at times (feels to me that this is a debate that has to do with politics and is not entirely based upon the show). And there are obviously people in the other camp who count the number of minority characters mentioned and think that's a token for great story telling. It isn't. There's nothing wrong about showing a utopia where a crew member's personal life is so much different to what the contemporary (American, I might add) conservative might think is appropriate. Star Trek was always at the forefront of this evolution and I love this general premise. But couldn't they stop rubbing this into the audience's faces? Wouldn't it be much more powerful if those people and their problems were just "there". Accepted peers among the crew who don't feel the need to remind everyone constantly about their way of life? Too often it feels like those personal issues are discussed just for the sake of checking some boxes but most of the time all these issues are totally unconnected to the story and viewers are rather annoyed by those people instead of being emotionally connected to them. Or it's told super convoluted and barely comprehensible (trills, gender fluidity, an adoption by a gay couple, a ghost (?) companion- can you really summarize this story arch? I can't. And who cares, if they (sic!) end up as a glorified piano bar denizen). It's really like they had boxes to tick and they somehow squished everything into the show. But how's that of any consequence? Most of these issues have nothing to do with the main story. Everyone loved gay Garak 'cause he never explicitly talked about being gay but it totally made sense and was part of the reason why he lived his life like he did. Don't misunderstand me: I'm not saying Shut up! Don't ask, don't tell, then I don't care. This is a horrible advice given to minorities or the oppressed, but subtlety is so much more fun and powerful.