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Post by the light works on Apr 9, 2019 15:31:55 GMT
I'm just not known as a warn and fuzzy person. Well, maybe fuzzy. and with that, it's time to go get back onto the compressor install. day 3 of a three hour job.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 9, 2019 17:08:28 GMT
I'm just not known as a warn and fuzzy person. Well, maybe fuzzy. and with that, it's time to go get back onto the compressor install. day 3 of a three hour job. Good idea, as I have already given out way too much personal information.
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Post by mrfatso on Apr 9, 2019 21:54:42 GMT
Another factor would be the closure of stores like Toys R Us and department stores like Sears in America and their equivalents in other countries like mine, the traditional outlets of these types of toys to children at full price.
There's no point in companies buying the licence for these shows and selling them to discount retailers they need mass market full price retailers to make their fees and production costs worthwhile.
I suspect there will need to be a long hard look at the models of the Television and film companies and the retail stores that now exist before a new marketing no plan comes to pass.
I remember the late 1990s when TSR had over expanded their Dungeon and Dragons game, we went to a UK Gen Con and were given goodie bags contain box set supplements from Ravenloft etc, and paperback novels because they had printed too many and it was costing them more in storage costs than to give them away free to attendees. TSR basically went under and D&D was sold to,Wizards of the Coast.
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Post by the light works on Apr 10, 2019 14:47:19 GMT
Another factor would be the closure of stores like Toys R Us and department stores like Sears in America and their equivalents in other countries like mine, the traditional outlets of these types of toys to children at full price. There's no point in companies buying the licence for these shows and selling them to discount retailers they need mass market full price retailers to make their fees and production costs worthwhile. I suspect there will need to be a long hard look at the models of the Television and film companies and the retail stores that now exist before a new marketing no plan comes to pass. I remember the late 1990s when TSR had over expanded their Dungeon and Dragons game, we went to a UK Gen Con and were given goodie bags contain box set supplements from Ravenloft etc, and paperback novels because they had printed too many and it was costing them more in storage costs than to give them away free to attendees. TSR basically went under and D&D was sold to,Wizards of the Coast. except, of course, for the difference between TSR producing more volume of material than its customer base could buy, and STD not having a customer base.
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Post by WhutScreenName on Apr 10, 2019 15:38:02 GMT
I never really heard much about the Patrick Stewart series... what seems to be the problem with it? I would think that having him be a part of it, would mean it's going to follow established cannon, am I wrong?
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Post by the light works on Apr 10, 2019 15:51:50 GMT
I never really heard much about the Patrick Stewart series... what seems to be the problem with it? I would think that having him be a part of it, would mean it's going to follow established cannon, am I wrong? I have only heard rumors of its existence and nothing else about it. - and apparently details are being kept secret other than it is set 20 years after Picard's last appearance.
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Post by Cybermortis on Apr 10, 2019 16:27:16 GMT
I never really heard much about the Patrick Stewart series... what seems to be the problem with it? I would think that having him be a part of it, would mean it's going to follow established cannon, am I wrong? Yeap. First off it is being produced under the Bad Robot licence, so has to be 25% different, and the visual style chosen was similar to that used for STD. Second is that the Picard series was/is being produced by Kurtzman. The same person who gave us the nasty unwanted STD we are currently suffering from. The person who treats establish Trek Cannon with the same tender care as an axe treats a tree. Last of all, if the first two didn't clue you in, the series would involve Picard acting as the head of Section 31. Yes, Captain 'Morality' would be the head of an organization the idiots of STD have shown to have all the ethics of a Psychotic house cat. Basically about two weeks ago (as of writing) the licensees told CBS that they wouldn't support ANY merchandise from the series as the style and the tone of the series needed to be in keeping with the original Trek series or it just wouldn't sell. CBS seems to have understood this need, but didn't want to make major changes as this would delay production and cost them millions. (Especially changing the tone as that would take about six months of re-writes). Bad Robot (who own the production company making the series) didn't want to change anything because that would effectively negate their license. Thus after a week of 'emergency talks' CBS/BR went to the licensees with 'new' designs which...the licensees took one look at and basically said 'This is what you showed us last week. Good Bye'
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Post by WhutScreenName on Apr 10, 2019 16:40:43 GMT
I never really heard much about the Patrick Stewart series... what seems to be the problem with it? I would think that having him be a part of it, would mean it's going to follow established cannon, am I wrong? Yeap. First off it is being produced under the Bad Robot licence, so has to be 25% different, and the visual style chosen was similar to that used for STD. Second is that the Picard series was/is being produced by Kurtzman. The same person who gave us the nasty unwanted STD we are currently suffering from. The person who treats establish Trek Cannon with the same tender care as an axe treats a tree. Last of all, if the first two didn't clue you in, the series would involve Picard acting as the head of Section 31. Yes, Captain 'Morality' would be the head of an organization the idiots of STD have shown to have all the ethics of a Psychotic house cat. Basically about two weeks ago (as of writing) the licensees told CBS that they wouldn't support ANY merchandise from the series as the style and the tone of the series needed to be in keeping with the original Trek series or it just wouldn't sell. CBS seems to have understood this need, but didn't want to make major changes as this would delay production and cost them millions. (Especially changing the tone as that would take about six months of re-writes). Bad Robot (who own the production company making the series) didn't want to change anything because that would effectively negate their license. Thus after a week of 'emergency talks' CBS/BR went to the licensees with 'new' designs which...the licensees took one look at and basically said 'This is what you showed us last week. Good Bye' That all makes sense, and is a shame. What doesn't make sense then, is why Stewart would agree to be a part of it? As you said, with the morality alone, he would NEVER lead section 31.... unless it was somehow about him turning it around. I'm sad to read all of this. I think fans are more than ready for a GOOD (or even something that is just NOT bad) Trek series again. EDIT: I do get my Trek fix with Orville.
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Post by the light works on Apr 10, 2019 16:48:30 GMT
Yeap. First off it is being produced under the Bad Robot licence, so has to be 25% different, and the visual style chosen was similar to that used for STD. Second is that the Picard series was/is being produced by Kurtzman. The same person who gave us the nasty unwanted STD we are currently suffering from. The person who treats establish Trek Cannon with the same tender care as an axe treats a tree. Last of all, if the first two didn't clue you in, the series would involve Picard acting as the head of Section 31. Yes, Captain 'Morality' would be the head of an organization the idiots of STD have shown to have all the ethics of a Psychotic house cat. Basically about two weeks ago (as of writing) the licensees told CBS that they wouldn't support ANY merchandise from the series as the style and the tone of the series needed to be in keeping with the original Trek series or it just wouldn't sell. CBS seems to have understood this need, but didn't want to make major changes as this would delay production and cost them millions. (Especially changing the tone as that would take about six months of re-writes). Bad Robot (who own the production company making the series) didn't want to change anything because that would effectively negate their license. Thus after a week of 'emergency talks' CBS/BR went to the licensees with 'new' designs which...the licensees took one look at and basically said 'This is what you showed us last week. Good Bye' That all makes sense, and is a shame. What doesn't make sense then, is why Stewart would agree to be a part of it? As you said, with the morality alone, he would NEVER lead section 31.... unless it was somehow about him turning it around. I'm sad to read all of this. I think fans are more than ready for a GOOD (or even something that is just NOT bad) Trek series again. EDIT: I do get my Trek fix with Orville. as we say, the Orville IS the new trek series.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 10, 2019 19:35:44 GMT
EDIT: I do get my Trek fix with Orville. I likewise. And I agree with TLW, Orville IS the new Star Trek. I just wish it was on a little more often.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 13, 2019 18:22:31 GMT
Episode 12: Vaulting Ambition
The Terrian Empire's Emperor showed up at the end of the last episode. It is Philippa Georgiou, MB's former captain. MB and Lorca get taken to the Imperial palace ship where MB and Georgiou meet face to face. Turns out that in this universe, when MB's parents were killed, Georgiou adopted her instead of Sarek. Lots of back and forth, eventually MB reveals that she is not from that universe. The MB from that one is dead. No one really cares. It is also revealed that while Discovery were able to decode the info on the Defiant, it is still heaivly redacted. So now they need to get the origination from the Palace. Useful ploting...
Stamet's consciousness is trapped in the spore network. Que the trippy dream sequence as he tries to find his way out. Turns out that the Stamets from this universe infected the spores with a disease that is killing the network. They imply that this will somehow end all live in both universes, but it is glossed over and has no weight. There is more focus on Stments meeting he dead lover.
Ash is still suffering from the Klingon personality taking over his body. Saru eventually convinces L'Rell to help him and they are able to cure his mental imbalance.
MB talks with Georgiou and eventually realizes that Lorca was from this universe all along. Lorca escapes prison. Show ends.
On one hand, this episode finally feels like they are doing something. The story finally starts moving again. However, it is still completely predictable. So at least it is better than the last few.
They also introduce the idea that mirror humans have one physical difference. Mirror humans are sensitive to light. This helps MB to deduce Lorca's betrayal, but also introduces new issues to continuity. In all the times they travel back in forth between prime and mirror universes, this has never been mentioned.
This is better, but not doing much to overcome audience apathy. It is also short, only 38 minutes. The shortest episode of the season, not counting the pilot "2 parter" bull.
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 13, 2019 18:43:54 GMT
Episode 12: Vaulting Ambition Love your reviews. Keeps me from wasting my time watching.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 19, 2019 18:04:55 GMT
Episode 13: What’s Past is Prologue
Lorca’s Coup is underway. He releases his followers and gets some sort of bio-weapon that the release on the palace ship, killing most of the people on board.
The Discovery figures out that the palace is powered by a massive spore reactor that is destroying the spore network and when it collapse it will kill all life in all universes. This still has surprisingly little weight in the narrative. Discovery figures out that they can torpedo the palace ships reactor with a spore warhead creating a chain reaction that will destroy the very large ship, but MB needs to drop the shields. Enter a lot of SW parallels.
Lots of fighting back and forth between Lorca & Georgiou. Local Stamits is brought in and killed quickly. So a lot of time spent on introducing evil Stamits to write him out. There is a really annoying overuse of the sound effect when they power their hand weapons. Plus a lot more shaky cam.
MB talks Georgiou into sabotaging the ship’s shield so they can get Lorca. Real Stamits figures they can surf on the shockwave of the reactor blowing up and use that as a way to return home. Que an annoyingly large amount of technobabble.
Final showdown between Georgiou and Lorca, not bad, but still done better elsewhere. See the Moon Door fight in Game of Thrones.
So the containment shield gets dropped, the Discovery destroy the reactor and they surf their way home with MB beaming out with Georgiou at the last moment. They are able to get back to their home universe, but have jumped forward in time by 9 months. The Klingons have advanced so far that the Federation is on the verge of collapse. Roll Credits.
I will say that this is one of the better episode, but it is a low bar to climb at this point. The mirror universe story line should be closed out, finally. Not overly creative in how it was done, but it moved quickly.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 19, 2019 19:17:32 GMT
Episode 14: The War Without, the War Within
Discovery shows up in their home universe. While repairing damage from their shock wave surfing, of course the first thing they do is repaint the hull again, of course. A ship Starfleet ship happens to be in the area and Admiral Cornwell and Sarek. Why were they there? Eh.
Star Fleet command gets updated on what happened. They head to the nearest base. Since the previous Klingon leadership has been killed, the empire had broken down into the component houses. Each house trying to out conquer each other, vying for power. Attacks are not coordinated and have gotten savage. The whole idea of Klingon honor never existed in this series, but is lacking even more here.
Georgiou is considered Classified, and taken into custody/asylum. Ash is trying to get his life back together. He tries to make up with MB, but she dumps him.
The ship's spore garden is dead, so they have to regrow a supply. When they visit one of the prime star bases and find it conquered, he go to some random moon to terraform it into a moon size spore field and in a matter of a few minutes they are able to grow up a moon full of spore fungus.
Using info from L’rell and Mirror Georgiou, they get info on Kronos, the Klingon homeworld. If they can attack and pacify the planet, it will destroy Klingon desire to fight. Again, it doesn’t work with Klingon honor. Prior to SF being able to attack, they need to map Kronos, so they way to do that is to jump the Discovery into a very large dormant volcanic cavern under the planet’s surface.
So to do the mission, SF command bring Mirror Georgiou in, posing as her old self to take command of this mission. What could possible go wrong?
Yet another episode where not much happens because they are setting up the next episode. Rather slow and talky.
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Post by wvengineer on Feb 3, 2020 13:19:28 GMT
I picked up season 2 of STD over the weekend. SO I do intend to continue my play by play of the series. One of these days I should finish season 1. It got half way though the season finale and haven't gotten back to it.
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Post by wvengineer on May 24, 2020 18:29:30 GMT
Groan... I has taken me over a year to force myself to watch this one. But I pushed through finally...
Episode 15: Will You Take My Hand?
The episode starts with everyone getting used to the Discovery under mirror Georgiou. Everyone has their doubts. Klingon are on the eve of their attack of Earth, so Discovery planning an attack on Kronus. Kronus has a huge interconnected network of dormant volcano on the planet, including very large caves.
They need detailed info on is cave network. They try interrogating L'Rell, but have no luck. So MB suggest talking to Mr. Tyler who still have his memories of Voq. That turns out to be useful. They need to get a drone into a dormant volcano and he is able to tell them where to go, but they still need info on how to get to it since it was turned into a monetary, not abandoned.
So they jump the Discovery into a cave on Kronus... They jump a starship into a cave... in a planet... yeah, super silly.
MB, Tyler, Georgeu, and Tilly visit an Orion embassy/outpost on Kronus to see if the can find the info they need. Enter various hyjinks. Georgou gets a couple prostitutes, Tyler does some Klingon gambling, and Tilly gets propositioned by a green skinned Clint Howard. Yeah, it's every bit as creepy as it sounds, and not in a good way. MB gets mopey recalling that her parents were killed by Klingons. MB has PTSD triggered by Klingon laughter and a crisis of conscious about their mission.
A stoned Tilly figures out that the drone is not a drone, but a bomb that can cause a massive planetary scale volcano that would destory the planet. MB talked the admiralty and gives them an alternative. The bomb is planted on Kronos, but the detonator to tied to L'Rell's DNA and She is given the change to reunite Klingons. Georgeu is granted her freedom, but told never to come near the federation. Tyler elects to stay with L'Rell to help with the peace. L'Rell talks the rest of Klingons into uniting under her with her finger on the trigger to destroy Kronos. L'Rell's speech really does not make much sense, but they turn back, on the brink of assaulting earth. I can't see how, but the war is over.
Star Fleet offers a pardon to MB and her commission is re-instated. The episode had a long monologue which rings rather hallow.
The episode ends with Discovery en route to Vulcan to pickup their new captain. Along the way, they get a distress call from the Enterprise. Roll credits.
Gripe: You state that you have cleared the Sol system, but are obviously passing Neptune...you are a long way from clearing the system.
Okay I finally did it. If anything this episode was a letdown after the way the series built up. It was rather boring and anti-climatic. It had the same issues that have plagued the whole series. Nonsensical writing and unlikable characters.
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Post by wvengineer on May 24, 2020 19:26:07 GMT
Season 2
CONTINUED WARNING: EXTENSIVE SPOILERS!
Episode 1: Brothers.
Starts immediately after the end of the previous episode. Enterprise was off in deep space and too far out to help in the war. However they are back since star fleet has observed 7 simultaneous "Red Bursts" throughout the galaxy. Enterprise was sent to investigate via top priority command from SF, but a burst caused a massive systems failure on Enterprise. Damage is extensive and the ship will need months of repairs. So SF command is transferring Captain Pike to the Discovery to take over the mission from there.
MB is initially nervous about Pike coming over because she did not have a good childhood growing up with Spock. Turns out that Spock is not the science officer from Enterprise. He took a voluntary mental hospitalization.
Discovery is ordered to take over for the Enterprise and investigate the single remaining Red Burst. They each disappear when someone tries to scan it and one is left. They jump to it to find it is is gone but a massive asteroid field is left in it's wake. Wreck in the debris is a starfleet medical transport. They go in and rescue the survivors. While there, the find the rock is behaving oddly on sensors. Tilly asks MB to grab a sample while helping on the rescue. MB gets caught in on the collapsing asteroid and things she sees an angel. She tried to grab a sample for Tilly, but the transporter cannot lock on to it and it falls out of her hand when she is beamed up.
That gets everyone interested. That makes it some very abnormal metal. Like solid dark mater, or something. They fly a large asteroid of this metal into the ship's shuttle bay.
Stamets had been grieving over the loss of his husband, but he gets over it quickly.
Pike takes command of Discovery pending repairs to Enterprise. MB is looking for Info on what happened to her brother and found a message hidden in his personal log. He had visions of the Red Bursts before they happened.
What happened here? This is a completely different show than Season 1. It is actually interesting, almost intelligent in how it is written, and dare I say it... kinda fun? This are getting into some back ground with the childhood of MB and Spock. Apparently Spock was a total brat of a child to MB when she was adopted. No mention of Sybok yet though.
I wish they do more with the character of the engineer from the wrecked medical transport. The character hearkens back to Scotty in a lot of ways. The season is actually off to a good start and thing are looking up. I am very surprised by this.
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Post by wvengineer on May 24, 2020 19:52:11 GMT
Episode 2: New Eden
MB talks about Spock's info on the Red Bursts with Pike. During this, the ship discovers another Red Burst. They triangulate it to being 51,000 light years away, something that would take over a hundred years at warp to reach, so they spore drive it over there. Once there, they find a settlement of pre-warp humans.
The find that the group were taken from earth during the middle of World War III, before mankind achieved warp drive. Due to limited resources, they devolved to about 19th century technology but were able to survive and thrive, if not advance.
The Con officer grew up in a luddite* community and is used to help fit in as they investigate the planet. They do get inso a fair amount of discussion on the PRime directive. Since they are pre-warp technically the PD applies, even if some people have at least some idea that the come from a more advanced people. During this, Pike accidentally gets shot in the ribs with a phaser.
Meanwhile, the ship discovers that the red burst has caused a shift in the gravity of the planet's rings and a massive amount of radioactive materiel is knocked out of orbit and will irradiate the planet killing everyone in a few hours.
Tilly who was trying to get a sample from the magic, super dense rock in the shuttle bay gets injured. When she comes to, an old friend helps her come up with a plan to fly the rock into the planets rings to use it's gravity to collect the radio active particles. This works and saves the planet.
In the end, they are unable to help the planet everyone is safe, but have to be allow to develop on their own. Pike is able to barter for an old soldier's helmet cam that still has an intact memory module. They are able to take that memory and get video of when the town was taken. The video shows the same red angel that MB say on the previous episode.
Tilly finds out that the old friend that is cheering her along died several years ago. She is being helped by a ghost.
Again, I liked this one. People are acting reasonably. There is some discussion about the PD, but it is reasonable. A bit of humor, but not enough to make it silly. Good job of handling the mystery of the Red Bursts.
*Luddite community? This open a whole range of questions that are not addressed. What are 23rd century Amish like? I kinda wish they get into this more. How does one go from Amish-like to Star Trek?
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Post by wvengineer on May 24, 2020 21:23:50 GMT
Episode 3: Point of Light
Quick back story. There is a deleted scene from S1, Ep 15 where after the war, Georgeu is recruited to work for Section 31.
So to this episode. There are basically 3 stories that we go back and forth between. I'll go through them separately for clarity.
Tilly is part of the command training program and is struggling with her ghost. During a job shadow exercise, with Captain Pike she breaks down due to the harassment from her Ghost. Eventually she talks to MB. They figure out it is not a ghost or mental breakdown, but some sort of spore fungus. They get Stamet's help to examine Tilly and the extract the alien organism from Tilly and trap it.
A diplomatic shuttle approaches Discovery. It contains Amanda, MB's adopted mom. She is very concerns with Spock. She stole his medical file, but it's encrypted. They talk with Pike. Spike knew about the Red Bursts 2 months before they happened. Pike agrees to help. They contact the hospital where Spock was staying, but he had supposedly killed a doctor and escaped. While decrypting Spock's medical records, they discover drawing of the Red Angel. They put together that Spock knew about the Red Angle since he was a kid and that it helped him locate MB after MB ran away from town after a Logic Extremest bombing when they were kids.
Voq and L'Rell are trying to get the Klingon empire to come together. Things are not going well. L'Rell still loves Voq, but Voq/Tyler is still confused. At one point he contacts MB to pass on a message that the Klingon High Council may fall apart and return to war. He finds out that Voq and L'Rell had a child before he underwent the procedure to become human. The head of a rival house finds out and kidnaps the baby. He threatens to kill them all of L'Rell does not abdicate the Chancellorship to him. A batleth* battle brakes out, they win with the help of a stealth suit wearing Georgeu. They come up with a plan to fake the death of Voq and blame him as a federation spy and responsible for the death of L'Rell's child. The (dead) head of the rival house is credited as helping catch the "traitor". This helps to bring the houses together to support L'Rell as the new "Mother" of the Klingons. Tyler puts the child in a Klingon monastery to be raised as a monk and he joins Section 31.
Not bad. Bot the best for the season, but much better than the average Season 1 episode. This episode is doing a lot of retcon-ing of some of the various cannon issues with season 1. They attempts to bring the look of the Klingons closer to the traditional (ST3 and onward) look and the use of holograms to communicate. There are still tons on cannon issues, but at least they are trying.
This episode does have a feel as being more about setup for future episodes than anything else, but it isn't boring. It keeping up the momentum, even if it doesn't have a big payoff.
* Bonus point for getting the blood color right.
On a separate note, this season is a lot easier to binge on. The last one was just painful to watch, whereas I am actually getting into it this time around.
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Post by wvengineer on Jun 21, 2020 13:17:39 GMT
Episode 4: An Obol for Charon
Episode starts with Number One from the Enterprise visiting to give a status report. Looks like the holographic communication system took a massive power surge from the original red burst and has caused damage throughout the ship. Pike orders the system ripped out entirely. Number One also did some hacking of classified information regarding Spock's escape and managed to get the course his shuttle was following.
So Discovery is following Spock when it gets ripped out of warp speed by a massive sphere that is some sort of bio mechanical organism that is hundreds of thousands of years old. This sphere has the shipped locked in a stasis field that shuts down systems all over the ship. It gives the computer a virus which starts my making the universal translator go haywire. Every one starts speakings a different language and displays are all different as well.
Saru is suffering from a cold, but is brought in because he speaks 94 different languages. He is able to straighten out the UT on the bridge, but the rest of the ship is still affected. Saru and MB work to fix the ship, but Saru is getting sicker. We get a lot into his back story. Turns out that he is a refugee from a planet that SF has not contacted due to the Prime Directive. His race is basically cattle for another race, and they reach a point in life where they must either be killed or go insane. Saru is growing weaker. As Saru and MB work on trying to fix the ship and Saru's deteriorating condition, The figure out that Saru's condition was caused by his ability to sense upcoming death. The sphere is dying and is looking to give its vast knowledge before it dies. The figure out how the sphere was trying to communicate. They download it's knowledge just before it dies.
Afterwards, Saru asked MB to help him perform a ritual suicide before he looses his sanity. He wants MB to take his logs and make a case to the federation for eventually bringing his world into the Federation. Right before MB goes to harikari Saru, the organ in his brain that causes the need for culling suddenly shrivels up and dies. Not only is Saru cured, the constant state of fear that he has always lived in is now gone.
Meanwhile, the Organism that the extracted from Tilly escapes and is loose in the spore drive lab. with Tilly, Stamits and Jett Reno, the engineer from a crashed medical ship that they rescued in episode 1. She is a brilliant engineer, like Scotty, but with a sarcastic streak a mile wide. The creature reattaches to Tilly. Stamets and Reno figure out how to communicate with it through Tilly. It says that use of teh spre drive is causing massive ecological damage in the spore universe, but it has something sinister in mind for Stamits. In the ind it get's loose and envelops Tilly, they try to save her but she has disappeared.
Discovery is back on track to intersect Spock and MB is feeling better about trying to reach her adopted brother, despite their past.
End result: kinda heavy on the dues ex machina. So a bit lazy on the writing there. It does call back to some classic Trek themes, but also has some classic tropes as well. While the script with MB and Saru is kinda weak, they are still able to give it some believable emotional weight. Enjoyable. Not great, but it does leave you wondering where they will go with the various story lines.
It's nice to see engineer Reno again. An engineer whos favorite tool is duct tape and is not afraid to put someone in their place.
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