DIE TRYING

I think when it comes to Season 3 of Discovery I have been feeling a little different for some reason. I have never really been the fan of the show, yet this season makes me come around big time. That being said so far what we have seen is a "strange new world" with some familiar elements that reminds me of something I will try to put into words now. Let's talk about he 5th episode of Discovery, Die Trying.

First Impressions

So, first things first after watching the episode I was a bit puzzled as it felt nothing like Discovery. Let me explain... In the first two season I've seen a gritty, dark world that I did not feel comfortable observing. It had too much gruesome elements, too much fight, blood, chopped off heads of Ash Tyler and baby klingon and for some reason it was violent. Every episode there's an explosion, there's a fight and and an overall fear of someone getting killed. This season so far and specially this last episode was non of those. It felt less like Discovery and more like Star Trek... and I liked that.

The episode was good though. Reaching Starfleet and the Federation was a good moment and full of excitement. Seeing all those ships and those honourably named ones was great. the much I loved the nod for both Voyager and the late Aron Eisenberg, I think the ship that carried the name USS Nog could have showed up in the viewscreen instead of Voyager, that would have been more significant - never the less it was a great touch and was nice to see that both the legacy of the USS Voyager and Captain Nog is living far in the future. 

The Federation feels similar, yet different. The organisation has changed after the Burn and of course it feels like that they still looking for answers what could have caused it - which I have a feeling that the crew of Discovery will find the answer for at the end of the season. Also it seems like that after he initial first episodes now we have a plot for the season and that is the searching for the lullaby that we heard before and in the Barzan ship - more about that a bit later. 

Home Sweet Starfleet ?

I think in some level a lesser warm welcome was expected here just as we got to see that with the encounter at Earth. A thousand year old ship just shows up in their doorstep and their time travel explanation was not really credible as they have banned that in the 31st century... I mean, time is a tricky thing anyway as if something is banned in one century might be allowed in a different one, but again time travel is complicated matter. 

So they have all these crazy looking ships with all the future technology and a "monolith" shows up happy to rejoin... it is understandable that the Admiral had some concerns. I could not help though feeling sorry for the crew when they mentioned that might gonna break them up and mix them with other ships. That felt like 21st century business management style right there - nothing changed. People from the HQ always knows what's better for the organisation, and they rarely consider individual needs or specific scenarios. I think if they would have broke off the crew that would have been a disaster for the team. They already made a big sacrifice leavening everything behind and they do not need a further tear apart from each other. I was genuinely concerned watching that conversation myself. 

I am glad that at the end - after a successful mission - they got the approval to stay and work together as a team. "Disfunction" as they stated in engineering is what keeps this team together and I suppose braking it apart would not be wise.

The one thing I have not expected is that "no five year missions" any more out there for any ships. So I would wonder what is the purpose of Starfleet now? Is just a collection of remaining ships hiding behind a perception filter licking their wound or they actually doing some military preparation against a new or old enemy? Lot of question I have about this... and I just hope the new episodes will answer them all. 

Untied threads

Okay, so there are some things I could not get over with after watching this episode and these are minor things that I believe will be explained in the next episode or two. First is Adira. She has been taken away from the very beginning to Medical and we got nothing from her by the end of the episode. I know she has been in the central focus on the previous one, but here she just disappeared and we have not seen her, not even remotely.

The Emperor was indeed acting weird at the end of the episode. she was frozen up and I think that will definitely come back at one point. She almost seemed like in a stasis of some kind and maybe she was hypnotised or something? Maybe Kovich is a Section 31 agent and used some advanced torture technique on her to put submissive thoughts into her head that she is not aware of? Who knows, but for sure she is acting weird for once... 

Now, the one big thing that left me puzzled is Nahn. She left the Enterprise ad the 23rd century behind and not being able to  make it home before the jump - like there was a shore leave episode in Season 2 anyway - she decides to stay aboard the Barzan ship with the scientist and his family whom they long gone. So Michael was lobbying to the Admiral not to pull the crew apart as they belong together, but now she just lets her behind in a ship with a total stranger? I mean, they are from the same race, but who said that two people from from the same nation will team up naturally like they knew each other right away? Also, it seems like she did not even asked the guy if she can stay aboard, or am I missing something? I find this extremely odd and silly in the same time... specially when there's no dilithium around wonder if she ever will make it. Also, what about the seeds? Aren't they soo precious to just leave them alone in a ship that barely makes it home?

COnclusion

So initially when I watched the episode I have had a higher ranking than I am about to give, but let's recap. The episode itself was good, lot of surprises when it comes to ship names - was not found of the design, but i am an old fashioned guy when it comes to this. The core characters were fun to watch, liked the little field trip type episode and for some strange reason this episode was less of a Discovery and more of a Star Trek to me. It is not a perfect episode though, as it did not execute things out well for me in a way I was hoping, quite a few things felt silly and Nahn's decision was just out of order in mind. This episode earned a week 3 out of 5 for me... yes, I stand by my words. :) _\\//