A potentially great film being held hostage by its PG-13 rating and its messy, all over the places screenwriting.
By PG-13 I don't simply mean its visuals/goriness, but most importantly its dialogues, themes, and storytelling it tries to raise. Let me explain.
First, the dialogues.
The film opens with murder and Batman narrating the city's anxious mood. We get a glimpse of noir in this scene, but it soon falls flat due to a very uninteresting, plain, forgettable choice of words Batman used in his narration. Mind you, this is not a jab at Pattinson - Pattinson delivered it nicely. But there is no emotion in his line of words - there is no adjectives, there is no strong feelings about how he regards the city full of its criminals.
Here's a line from the opening scene. "Two years of night has turned me to a nocturnal animal. I must choose my targets carefully. It's a big city. I can't be everywhere. But they don't know where I am. When that light hits the sky, it's not just a call. It's a warning to them. Fear... is a tool. They think I am hiding in the shadows. Watching. Waiting to strike. I am the shadows." Okay? Cool. But sounds like something from a cartoon. What does that tell us about you, Batman?
Compare this to a similar scene uttered by Rorschach in Watchmen. "The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. All those liberals and intellectuals, smooth talkers... Beneath me, this awful city, it screams like an abattoir full of retarded children, and the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences." You can say that Rorschach is extremely edgy (he is), but from that line alone we can tell his hatred towards the city, and even more so: his perspective, his philosophy that guides him to conduct his life and do what he does.
Rorschach's choice of words is sometimes verbose, but he is always expletive and at times graphic, making it clear to the audience what kind of person he is. Batman in this film does not. His words are always very safe, very carefully chosen, which strikes as an odd contrast to Pattinson's tortured portrayal of Batman as someone with a seemingly pent up anger. His choice of words is very PG-13 so that the kids can understand what Batman is trying to convey.
And this is not only in the opening scene. Throughout the film, the dialogues are written very plainly forgettable. It almost feels like the characters are having those conversations just to move the plot forward. Like that one encounter between Batman and Catwoman/Selina when she broke into the house to steal the passport or when Selina asked to finish off the "rat". They flow very oddly unnatural, as if those conversations are written to make them "trailer-able" (and the scenes indeed do appear on the trailer).
Almost in all crucial plot points the writers feel the need to have the characters to describe what has happened, or to explictly say what they are feeling - like almost every Gordon's scene in crime scene, or Selina's scene when she's speaking to Batman. It feels like the writers feel that the actors' expression just can't cut it and the audience has to be spoonfed with dialogues; almost like they're writing for kids.
Second, the storytelling.
Despite being a film about vengeance-fueled Batman (I actually like that cool "I'm vengeance" line) we don't get to see him actually being in full "vengeance" mode. Still in the opening we see Batman punching some thugs around. That looks a little bit painful but then the thugs seem to be fit enough to run away and Batman let them be. Then in the middle of the film we see Batman does something similar to mafias. Same, he just knocked them down but there's nothing really overboard with that. Then eventually in the car chase scene with the Penguin, Batman seem to be on "full rage mode", but over... what? He was just talking to Penguin a moment ago. The car chase scene itself is a bit pointless if not only to show off the Batmobile. And Batman did nothing to the Penguin after, just a normal questioning, not even harsher than Bale's Batman did to Heath's Joker in The Dark Knight - not in "'batshit insane' cop" mode as Penguin put it.
Batman's actions look very much apprehensive and controlled. Nothing too outrageous. Again, at odds with Pattinson's portrayal that seem to be full of anger; he's supposed to be really angry but somehow he still does not let his anger take the best of him. The only one time he went a bit overboard that shocked other characters is when he kept punching a villain near the end of the film. But even then it's not because his anger; it's because he injected some kind of drug (I guess some adrenaline shot). A very safe way to drop a parent-friendly message that "drug is bad, it can change you" in a PG-13 film.
And all that supposed anger... we don't get to see why he is angry and where his anger is directed at. Compare this to Arthur Fleck in Joker where it is clear as sky why Arthur would behave the way the does in the film. I mean we know his parents' death troubled him, but it's barely even discussed, not even in brief moments with Alfred (except in one that supposedly "shocking" moment). So... where's your vengeance, Mr. Vengeance? And what the hell are you vengeancing on?
Speaking of "shocking" moment... this is about the supposed Wayne family's involvement in the city's criminal affairs that has been teased early in the film. Its revelation was very anticlimactic: the supposed motive and the way it ended up the way it is, all very childish. If the film wanted the Wayne to be a "bad person", there's a lot of bads that a billionaire can do: tax evasion, blood diamond, funding illegal arms trade, fending off unions, hell, they can even do it the way the Waynes in Joker did it: hints of sexual abuses. But no, it has to be some bloody murder again, and all for a very trivial reason of "publicity". As if the film has to make it clear to the kids: "hey this guy's bad because he killed someone!" Which COULD work if the film puts makes taking someone's life has a very serious consequence. But it just pales to the serial killing The Riddler has done.
Even more anticlimactic considering how Bruce Wayne attempted to find a resolve in this matter only takes less than a 5 minute scene! It all involves only a bit of dialogues which boils down to how Thomas Wayne has a good reason to do so. Bruce somehow is convinced with that and has a change of heart instantly, making him looks very gullible.
And of course the ending is very weak and disappointing. First, Riddler's final show directly contradicts his initial goal to expose and destroy the corrupt elites. What he did instead is making the lives of the poor more difficult, very oxymoron for someone supposed to be as smart as him.
Second, the way Batman just ended up being "vengeance brings nothing and I should save people more than hurting people" does not get enough development to have him to say that in the end. Again - where's your vengeance? And how did you come to such character development if nothing is being developed on? And let's not get to how it's a very safe take against crime and corruption that closely resembles Disney's moralistic pandering in Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
Last, the visuals.
I'm not strictly speaking about gore, though that also factors in the discussion. The film sets this up as a film about hunting down a serial killer. But the film barely shows how cruel The Riddler can be to his victims. Again, back to the opening scene: we get it, Riddler killed the guy, but it does not look painful at all as it looks Riddler just knocked him twice. The sound design is very lacking that it does not seem what The Riddler done was conducted very painfully. Riddler then threw away his murder weapon, but we barely see blood. Yet when Gordon arrived to the crime scene, he described the victim as being struck multiple times with blood all over. What?
Similarly, when Riddler forced another victim to wear a bomb in his neck. The situation got pretty tense, but when the bomb eventually blow off, we just got some very small explosion like a small barrel just exploded, not a human being! I mean I'm not saying we need a gory explosion with head chopped off like in The Boys, but it does not look like what would happen if someone's head got blown off. Similarly when another character got almost blown off by a bomb - there's no burnt scar at all.
Why the hell are they setting up those possibly gory deaths and scars if they're not going to show how severe and painful these are? At least not the result - we don't need to see blood splattered everywhere - just how painful the process is. Sound design and acting of the actors (incl. twitching, for example) would've helped a lot even we don't see the gore, like what James Franco did in The 127 Hours or Hugh Jackman in Logan. In this film there's almost no tense at all resulting from those.
I'm not saying this film is terrible.
The acting, given the limited script they had, is excellent. Pattinson did his best, so did Paul Dano (always likes him as a villain), Zoe Kravitz, and the rest. Cinematography is fantastic; the lighting, angle, everything here is very great that makes a couple of very good trailers - perhaps one could even say that the whole film trades off coherency for making the scenes "trailer-able". The music is iconic, although with an almost decent music directing. And I guess this detective Batman is a fresh breath of air.
But all that does not make the movie good as in the end it's still all over the places and very PG-13.
Especially not with the 3 hours runtime where many scenes feel like a The Walking Dead filler episode.
If you're expecting a Batman film with similar gritty, tone to The Dark Knight trilogy or Joker, this film is not for you. But if you only want a live-action cartoon like pre-Nolan Batmans or The Long Halloween detective-style film, well, I guess you can be satisfied with this one.
Watching order
Because there are some issues with watching this, here is the order.
Copying from the site in case it ever goes down, but this info came from here: http://thunderpeel2001.blogspot.com/2010/02/battlestar-galactica-viewing-order.html
It's probably more confusing here on trakt, so go to the above linked site for a better layout.
The Miniseries
Night 1
Night 2
Season 1
1.01 33
1.02 Water
1.03 Bastille Day
1.04 Act of Contrition
1.05 You Can't Go Home Again
1.06 Litmus
1.07 Six Degrees of Separation
1.08 Flesh and Bone
1.09 Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down
1.10 The Hand of God
1.11 Colonial Day
1.12 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I
1.13 Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
Season 2
2.01 Scattered
2.02 Valley of Darkness
2.03 Fragged
2.04 Resistance
2.05 The Farm
2.06 Home, Part I
2.07 Home, Part II
2.08 Final Cut
2.09 Flight of the Phoenix
2.10 Pegasus (56 minute extended version)
2.11 Resurrection Ship, Part I
2.12 Resurrection Ship, Part II
2.13 Epiphanies
2.14 Black Market
2.15 Scar
2.16 Sacrifice
2.17 The Captain's Hand
Razor (101 minute extended version - not the 81 minute broadcast version)
Important note: This was originally broadcast just before Season 4, but chronologically it fits here, telling more of the Pegasus's story. Some people argue it's better to watch after Season 3, as originally broadcast, but it makes most sense to watch it here.
The reason that the placement of Razor is a hotly contested issue among BSG fans is because of a bit of dialogue at the very end (in the last 10 minutes) which sets the tone for Season 4 (barely even a spoiler). Everything else in this TV movie is not a spoiler.
So why place it here, and not where it was originally broadcast, if there's any sort of issue? Because, chronologically, the story is set here, and by the time you reach the end of Season 3, the story of Pegasus will feel like ancient history. Indeed, that was the complaint echoed around the internet from fans after Razor originally aired -- it had nothing to do with what was going on in the story at that time.
As a result of this, most fans agree it's better to watch Razor here. In doing so, you'll appreciate the story more and it will have greater emotionally resonance. In short: I highly recommend that you follow my advice and watch it here.
There is one small caveat, however: In order to deal with the above dialogue issue, and so not to unintentionally alter the tone of Season 3, I have two, very specific instructions that I recommend that you follow for your absolute optimum enjoyment.
I will try not to spoil anything with these instructions, so pay attention. You need to press MUTE on your TV (and/or turn off any subtitles) in the following two moments. Both of these moments occur in the last 10 minutes of the story, so you can relax and enjoy the first 90 mins before you need to worry.
Press MUTE when:
and shortly afterwards:
That's it! That's all you have to worry about. Two very small moments, and even if you don't unmute it, it's not a huge spoiler, it just unintentionally alters the tone of Season 3 if you don't, so do try your best to follow my instructions.
2.18 Downloaded
2.19 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I
2.20 Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II
The Resistance
A 10 episode web-based series bridging seasons 2 and 3. (25 mins.)
Season 3
3.01 Occupation
3.02 Precipice
3.03 Exodus, Part I
3.04 Exodus, Part II
3.05 Collaborators
3.06 Torn
3.07 A Measure of Salvation
3.08 Hero
3.09 Unfinished Business (70 minute extended version - Note: Not included on Region 2 DVDs, but is included on ALL Bluray releases.)
3.10 The Passage
3.11 The Eye of Jupiter
3.12 Rapture
3.13 Taking a Break From All Your Worries
3.14 The Woman King
3.15 A Day in the Life
3.16 Dirty Hands
3.17 Maelstrom
3.18 The Son Also Rises
3.19 Crossroads, Part I
3.20 Crossroads, Part II
Razor: Yes, this again. (Well this is where Razor was originally broadcast, after all.) Remember the last 10 minutes where I told you to MUTE two small moments? Well, guess what, now is when you get to go back and hear what was said. Watch the last 10 minutes of Razor here.
Season 4
4.01 He That Believeth In Me
4.02 Six of One
4.03 The Ties That Bind
4.04 Escape Velocity
4.05 The Road Less Traveled
4.06 Faith
4.07 Guess What's Coming to Dinner?
4.08 Sine Qua Non
4.09 The Hub
4.10 Revelations
Season 4 Continued (aka "Season 4.5" or "The Final Season")
4.11 Sometimes a Great Notion
The Face of the Enemy
A 10 episode web-based series (although it plays together like an intense mini-episode). (36 mins.)
4.12 A Disquiet Follows My Soul (53 minute extended version - only on Bluray releases)
4.13 The Oath
4.14 Blood on the Scales
4.15 No Exit
The Plan (DVD/Bluray movie)
A stand-alone movie that shows (approximately) the first two seasons from the Cylons' perspective. (You finally get to see "The Plan", mentioned all those times in the opening sequence!) Although The Plan was originally released after the show had finished, it is generally agreed that it should be watched here, so that everything is all tied up when you do reach the end.
4.16 Deadlock
4.17 Someone to Watch Over Me
4.18 Islanded In a Stream of Stars (62 minute extended version - only on BluRay releases and Region 1 DVDs)
4.19 Daybreak (150 minute extended version - only on BluRay releases and Region 1 DVDs)
The Plan : This is where this DVD/Bluray movie was originally released (after the show had finished). It seems universally agreed that it's preferable to watch this after No Exit, instead of after you've finished the entire series, but there's no harm in waiting until now.
Then Caprica the series: http://trakt.tv/show/caprica
THERE IS HALO THE GAME.... AND THEN THERE IS WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS IS... Apparently just having Master Chief in the story line 33% of the time qualifies it as Halo. Pablo aka the guy who plays Master Chief is just about the only decent actor in this entire series. This show ranks up there Obi Wan for let downs.
THIS SHOW IS THE MOST INCONSISTENT PIECE OF SHIT I HAVE EVER ENDURED!
WILL THIS SHOW EVER HAVE ACTION IN IT AGAIN??? ITS LIKE A CHEESY FUCKING SOAP OPERA!
What the fuck was the point of adding Perez's story line?
SERIOUSLY WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THE HAIRCUTS ON SET?
OMG the love story between the blonde and Master Chief is just soooo lame.... She is a terrible actress. WTF IS UP WITH THAT HAIRCUT? Halo continues to be a huge let down to those who played the game.
The new Cortana is still arguably worse then the one in the previous season... She must be the daugther/sister of someone important in Hollywood.
Do we only get to see Master Chief in his suit during the opening credits now? Fuck this show!
THEY CONTINUE TO ADD NEW STORY LINES INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON MASTER CHIEF! WTF DUDE?!?!?!?
The guy who replaced Halsey reminds me of a dick, cause he looks like one....
Kwan's story continues to disappoint and bore all viewers who played the game and we continue to ask, why the does this chick have a story line at all......... TERRIBLE ACTRESS CAN'T CONVEY THAT ENOUGH! I can't stand this bitch
UGHHHH THE NEW SPARTANS SUCK ASS.
Halsey and Miranda are supposedly these science genius' yet they are taking lessons from Kwan. God I hate the writers of this show.
Halsey, Miranda and Kwan aka "Halo's Angels" (Charlies Angels jab). However at least the Charlies Angels were fun to look at. DUDE... Halsey is supposedly some genius yet she stands on the bridge and almost dies from amazement. Again, fuck you writers....
The only reason i gave this show a shot is because of the game which it bares no resemblance to. There is no reason to continue watching it besides the fact that I am this many episodes in. That is the only reason I continue to watch. The story line, plot, actors/actress, CGI and most everything else about this show completely sucks ass!
I know now that the producers, actors, director, camera guys, etc never played the game Halo and just read the synopsis on the back of the game box. And we have this PoS Halo because of it. Next time play the game, ask the ones who loved the game what they want to see in the show and fuck all those who haven't played the game... STOP CATERING TO EVERYONE HOLLYWOOD!
I stopped watching halfway through episode 9 of season 7, and the show was one of my top 5 favorite shows on TV still airing, so it is really as bad as you say. This is mainly the fault of Eric Wallace, who is the worst showrunner ever, worse than Guggenheim (Arrow's showrunner).
Season 1: 9/10 (Amazing, one of the best seasons of the entire show)
Season 2: 9/10 (As good as Season 1)
Season 3: 8/10 (Great season but the villain is less cool and there are less good episodes)
Season 4: 7/10 (Good season overall but mediocre ending)
Season 5: 6/10 (Decent first half with Cicada, Terrible second half with Cicada II)
Season 6: 5/10 (Decent first half with Bloodwork, Mediocre second half with Mirror Monarch)
Season 7: 4/10 (The entire season sucks)
If you look at the showrunner per season, it's easy to see the reason why the show got worse over time.
Season 1 was led by Andrew Kreisberg
Season 2 was led by Andrew Kreisberg, Gabrielle Stanton, Aaron Helbing, and Todd Helbing
Season 3 was led by Andrew Kreisberg, Aaron and Todd Helbing
Season 4 was led by Andrew Kreisberg and Todd Helbing
And then Andrew Kreisberg was fired by the production team of The Flash because of sexual harassment accusations, there were even men who accused him, so he was a bisexual predator. I'm not saying that they should have kept Andrew Kreisberg, but they should have at least replaced him with someone who was able to provide the same level of quality as before.
So then, Season 5 was led by Todd Helbing. It was still pretty decent in my opinion, except for the part with Cicada II, but still there were some great parts with the Reverse Flash, which was my favorite character on the show, which Tom Cavanagh played so well.
But then, Todd Helbing had to leave because he felt like the show was preventing him from spending time with his family, he had children and wanted more time to spend with them and his wife, so he quit.
So, for Season 6 and Season 7, the CW chose Eric Wallace, and of course, they had no way of knowing what he would do with the show and it ended in disaster. And now, because of him, the ratings are worse than they have ever been. And there are only some fanboys/fangirls on Reddit who are blinded by fandom so much that they praise him, because most people hate what Eric Wallace has done with the show.
The main problem that the CW has is that it hires bad showrunners sometimes and instead of firing them, they let them stay, no matter how bad the ratings get. I have nothing against gender diversity, sexual diversity, or ethnic diversity, but it should never be seen as a replacement for good writing and a good cast of actors. The best actors of this show are mainly Grant Gustin (Barry Allen/The Flash), Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells/Reverse Flash) and Jesse L Martin (Joe West).
Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon) and Danielle Panabaker (Caitlin Snow) were also pretty good but their characters are being removed in order to be replaced by worse characters.
And the worst thing is that it doesn't take a genius to write good episodes of The Flash. Eric Wallace could have just given to the fans what they wanted instead of sacrificing quality for SJW politics and everyone would have been happy and the ratings would have been great. With the CGI that they have access to, it doesn't take much to make a fun show that lots of people will want to see.
The main things that are missing this season are (from most important to less important):
1) A good main villain (like Reverse Flash, Zoom and Devoe)
2) Good side villains (like Captain Cold, King Shark, Grodd, The Trickster, Pied Piper, Abra Kadabra, Vandal Savage)
3) A good cast of actors (The original main cast from season 1)
4) Enough episodes that focus on the story, and filler episodes should be at least more entertaining than those that focus on the story. Supernatural did this very well with episodes like "Mystery Spot", "Changing Channels", "The French Mistake", "Scoobynatural", "LARP and The Real Girl", "Ghostfacers", "Fan Fiction", "Yellow Fever", "The Real Ghostbusters", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "Time After Time".
5) Lots of action and only a bit of drama, but not too much so that it doesn't become a soap opera
6) Some progression of the characters, especially The Flash's powers and his speed should be getting better each season like how Clark's speed in Smallville kept getting better and better from season 1 to season 10. And if they are going to give lots of screen time to Allegra, then we should be seeing her using her powers a lot more, she almost never uses them. This show has great CGI that it almost never uses, and it's not like it costs too much because once you have the equipment for the CGI, it doesn't cost more money to add more since it is made from the computer, so they are just being lazy because the showrunner Eric Wallace is lazy.
7) More surprising plot twists throughout the season
8) Less useless dialogue and less cringey dialogue (with 45 minutes of runtime per episode, they should be able to do a lot more, even with their limited budget)
9) More screen time for the characters that people want to see (especially The Flash) and less screen time for side characters
10) More crossover events than just 1 per year. Crossovers are what people want to see, and since all the shows are filmed in the same studio, it shouldn't be very difficult to do it.
My prediction is that if the CW doesn't fire Eric Wallace, they will keep the show running until they start losing money, because although the ratings are bad, if they are still letting him run the show, it must be because they are satisfied with the profits, because the production of TV shows is always about making money, not necessarily pleasing the consumers, unlike in other industries, where public opinion would matter more.
Many people are so picky about the shows that they choose to watch that they will say that everything that the CW has ever made is bad, but the truth is that although it cannot match the level of quality of HBO or AMC shows, the CW is still able to make great TV shows on some occasions when they have a good enough showrunner. People often use Arrow and The Flash as examples to mock the CW but they forget that it's the same network which also made Smallville and Supernatural, both of which were extremely successful, so it's not the network that is to blame, it's the showrunners that the network picked. But even big studios like Warner Bros make that mistake a lot by hiring people like Zack Snyder or Joss Whedon to direct their movies, which makes them end up with bad ratings. I think that is because it is impossible to predict how well a showrunner will be, because even if you look at their history, it doesn't guarantee that their future work will be as good as what they made in the past since there are only a few directors who are able to maintain the same level of quality over many decades (guys like Quentin Tarantino).
I really wish the show either gets fixed or cancelled so that everyone can finally get what they want or just move on. And I am especially curious as to what will be Grant Gustin's next acting job after The Flash because he has a really good level of acting talent and he has a great singing voice too.
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.
I’m extremely disappointed :cry:
I really enjoyed the first two seasons, which led me to rate it 9 out of 10. But, wait what happened to the subsequent seasons of 3 and 4?
Season 3 definitely took a noticeable nose dive, however it was still reasonable to watch, believing it was leading up to what we’d expected in the first two seasons.
Season 4…wow, what an utter s**t show! I’m unbelievably bored and even worse…insulted with their slow and basic storylines of morality. Spelling everything out to us as though we are preschool children, then ending each episode with a speech to summarise the lesson of the show.
To make it worse, it’s changed from an exciting science fiction, fantasy show in to a relationship drama. Why do we have to hear in such detail from every character regarding how they feel and why they did what they chose to do, followed by tears or drawn out depressing scenes.
Do the current writers of the show need a long break or counselling? Or are they trying to make their viewers deeply depressed.
I suspect Sonequa Martin-Green is pregnant again and I wish her all the best, however the show shouldn’t be taking it easy to accommodate her personal situation. I’m sure they could continue with the speed of action in seasons 1 and 2, bringing forward other characters to fill in whilst the Commander of the Discovery takes a back seat. I may be wrong, but I can’t think of anything else that would effect the show as much.
I’m on S04 E08 and I don’t even want to watch it.
:face_with_symbols_over_mouth::face_vomiting::cry::rage:
[6.4/10] There is character in Star Trek: Discovery; it just gets squeezed out by action, exposition, more action, the obligatory table-setting, and then for a change of pace, a little more action.
I don’t mind a little high octane excitement in my Star Trek. Even the measured dignity of The Next Generation got into fisticuffs and firefights on multiple occasions. It’s a part of the franchise that goes all the way back to Kirk’s double ax handles on unsuspecting baddies.
But in Discovery’s penultimate episode, it feels like the point, rather than a side dish. As we head into the series finale, I care far more about whether everyone’s connections to one another stand than whether our heroes will inevitably overcome the challenge du jour, let alone the season’s overall arc. But there’s just not as much time for it when the show has to move all the pieces around the board so that they’re ready for next week’s installment, and try to keep the audience’s attention amid explosions and rampant random danger, as its number one priority.
I want to see Stamets and Dr. Culbert feel uneasy about Adira going on their first potentially deadly mission, and for Adira to rise to the occasion. But we can't! We have to spend time escaping from a black hole! I want to see Tilly convince Rayner it’s okay to sit in the captain’s chair, but there’s no time to develop that idea because the away team has to get stuck in a fiery exhaust port. God help me, I even want to see Burnham and Book express their regrets to one another, but we can only have a minute of it because they need to get into a fistfight with some random Breen soldiers.
The one story thread in “Lagrange Point” that gets any room to breathe is Saru and T’Rina’s parting. While the charge between the two of them has diminished somewhat since the show finally pulled the trigger on their relationship, there remains something cute about the quaint little couple. And even as the dialogue sounds stilted, the notion that both understand a devotion to service, since it’s part of their mutual admiration society, to T’Rina would only encourage Saru to seek a diplomatic solution in a dangerous situation, is a heartening one.
Even there, though, the time spent with the couple bouncing off one another is limited because we have to spend so much time with Federation potentates laying out the details of the byzantine situation with Discovery, the Progenitor tech, and two Breen factions so that they don’t have to bother explaining it next week. It is nice to see President Rillak again, and I appreciate that amid so many explosions and deadly situations, we do see some true-to-form attempts at a diplomatic solution. But whether it's in the Federation HQ boardroom, or the bridge of Discovery, or even the Breen warship, there’s so much robotic talk that only exists to get the audience up to speed on what’s happening, and it quickly becomes exhausting.
I get that, especially before a finale, you want to make sure everyone at home and on screen is on the same page. But it contributes to the lack of felt humanity that has, frankly, suffused Discovery since the beginning.
What kills me is that we get pieces of it! Or at least attempts at it! I am quietly over the moon for Adira coming into their own with smarts and courage to help save the day. You can see how much the attaboys mean to them, and Blu del Barrio sells it well. Rayner and Tilly’s grumpy/sunshine dynamic really clicks here, and as extra as Tilly’s dialogue is sometimes, her stumbling line-delivery makes her feel like a real person and not just an exposition-delivery mechanism like so many characters here. As corny as it is, I even like the playfulness we get between Book and Burnham once they’ve rushed through their personal issues and are instantly back to flirting for whatever reason.
Little of this is perfect. The same sterile approach to the aesthetic and lines and sometimes the performances, that's become Discovery’s house style, still weighs the show down. But by god, they’re trying! You catch glimpses of looser, more authentically personal interactions that would help make these characters feel real. (It’s part of what elevates Strange New Worlds despite that show spinning off of Discovery.) Instead, it’s crowded out by all the explosions and narrative heavy-machinery that “Lagrange Point” seems more interested in.
At least we get a good old fashioned wacky infiltration mission. The humor here is a bit zany for my tastes, and considering that this is supposedly a perilous mission the good guys might not return from, there’s rarely any sense of real danger. Burnham and company bluff through most situations with ease, and even when they don’t, the overacting Moll doesn’t kill them or otherwise fully neutralize them the way you’d expect. This is, as T’Pring might say, mainly a dose of hijinks. I like hijinks! But it detracts from the seriousness of what you’re pitching to the audience.
So does going to the well of dust-ups and destruction ten times an episode. Everything comes too easy for our heroes anyway in “Lagrange Point”. But even if it hadn't, even if you don’t just know that everything’s going to work out because the plot requires it to, the grand finale of ramming Discovery into the Breen shuttle bay and beaming the crew and the MacGuffin lands with minimal force. We’ve already seen scads of action and explosions in the first half of the episode, and again, the imagery is sterile and unreal, which makes it harder to emotionally invest. Your big honking set pieces won’t have the same impact if you’ve done something similar in scope and peril every ten minutes or so for no particular reason.
“Lagrange Point” still has some charms. Even though it’s inevitable, Michael and Moll being stuck in some liminal space offers an intriguing endgame. Rayner finding the self-assurance to sit in the big chair again exudes a rousing level of confidence to the crew and the audience. His chance to face his Breen tormentor has just as much promise. Him, Saru, Adira, and more having their minor moments of triumph is all a good thing.
Unfortunately, these gems have to be carefully pried out of a dull firmament full of rote descriptions of events seemingly meant to untangle the convoluted narrative knot Discovery has tied for itself and unavailing action meant to nudge a half-asleep audience awake. It’s all largely watchable, but easy to zone out in explosive set pieces and boardroom scenes alike in between those precious moments of character. All I can hope for is that this is a necessary evil to clear the decks for the series’ swan song, and that once this detritus is out of the way, there will be better things to come.
