Welcome back, treasure hunters! We are around the turn and into the home stretch of Discovery‘s final season. Including this one, we are down to our last four episodes.
After Discovery found a new clue on the desert planet, Moll and an injured L’ak were captured by a Federation ship that heard their distress call. They get beamed aboard the Discovery for medical care, but just then Admiral Vance beams aboard to tell them that the Breen also heard that distress call and are on their way to take Moll and L’ak for their own. Burnham has to engage in some high stakes diplomacy to keep a war with the hostile Breen from breaking out and also to give her crew time to crack the next clue.
Mary: So for a change, I got to watch this week’s episode before you did, and when I saw how heavily Moll was featured I was like, “Oh, dear, Victor ain’t gonna like this…”
Victor: And you were right! This is why we’re friends. I’m not a violent person, but when Moll made her inevitable escape attempt, I was dearly hoping her guard would lay her out.
Mary: Hah! Yeah a big problem with this whole season is that so much hinges on Moll, and she just isn’t a very compelling character. Her tragic backstory is pretty blah, her mannerisms remind me of a rich girl trying too hard to play rebel, and her motivations are completely, ridiculously selfish. It’s hard to feel sympathy for a character who would let civilization fall for her own happiness. And also, she was introduced as such a weaksauce villain that we have no attachment to her.
Victor: I just find her so irritating. They’re working so hard to make her seem like a bad ass, but she’s just a pouty pain in the ass. I see her defeating guards and eluding Burnham and I just think, “She can’t keep getting away with this!”
Mary: I feel like the writers fell in love with their Moll and L’ak tragic romance and featured it heavily — at the expense of the Discovery crew.
Victor: You know, I don’t mind the romance. It’s maybe the only quality of Moll I like.
Mary: Yeah, I don’t mind the romance as a plot angle. I mind that it is so, SO heavily featured, with two characters we were only just introduced to this season. I think Moll gets more screen time than any of the Discovery crew members other than Michael. Which is irritating.
Victor: More than Saru! His President girlfriend showed up and he wasn’t there! Why not have him lead the diplomatic mission? Isn’t that his job now?
Mary: Makes me wonder if Doug Jones is just over that Kelpian make-up.
So the big twist of this episode was that *gasp* L’ak died! Which made me roll my eyes so hard. I couldn’t even feel one iota of pity. It’d have been one thing if the death had been an interesting one. But it feels like the show was going out of its way to off L’ak without it being anyone’s fault (except his own, I guess). I mean, he accidentally impales himself on his own weapon, and then he accidentally overdoses as part of a boneheaded escape plan?! Give this dude a Darwin Award.
Victor: You know, I was 1000% sure that his death was a fake out. Like he was in some kind of Breen coma so the Federation would let their guard down. But that would’ve been interesting.
Mary: Maybe it’s just because I’m starved for a good baddie, but I was pretty excited by the Breen this week. That giant ship is pretty bad ass, and they were as ruthless as you would expect the Breen to be.
Victor: Yeah, they seem menacing! Scary! And I did like how this week the Discovery crew used diplomacy in the classic Trek style.
Mary: Yes, that was very Trek! And I liked that they brought in Rayner’s home planet. I was kind of wondering whether we’d get any back story on him.
Victor: They didn’t rely on Michael getting all touchy-feely; they got good info and leveraged it.
Mary: Yes, this week was mercifully light on the feelings-heavy monologues full of softly lit close-ups. Also, I kind of love that the Breen DO NOT GIVE A DAMN about the Federation. They’re dealing with their internal power struggle, and the Federation is just this pesky thing that’s getting in the way of someone getting the true-blooded emperor descendent or whatever the hell L’ak’s supposed to be.
Victor: The term is Scion. You know, like that boxy car Toyota used to make.
It was great to see Michael (who, remember, was raised on Vulcan) use logic. “Hmm, I doubt that they would come this far into Federation space merely for the blood feud. What is the bigger issue?” And quickly deduces that L’ak is key to the war of succession on Breen
Mary: True! I keep forgetting that Michael is supposed to be Spock’s sister.
Victor: And to your point about Rayner, I was so glad they finally addressed his past rather than just let his crew mates think he’s a xenophobic racist.
Mary: I feel like this season is really suffering from being a shortened one. If we’d had a full 22-26 episodes, maybe they could have made me care more about L’ak. He just doesn’t seem to have any personality at all, so finding out that he’s SPECIAL means nothing, and his death totally fell flat, no matter how many misty close-ups the camera crew shot. Maybe with more time, they might have figured out a way to make him interesting.
I will say though, I had one brief moment where I was absolutely terrified for this season… when Moll revealed her and L’ak’s matching tattoos and was like to the Breen, “I have something you want,” I was like “oh god oh god don’t say you’re pregnant… don’t say you have the next heir to the empire in your tummy…”
Victor: Yeah, considering how the Primarch said “abomination” about their marriage, I don’t think that would have thrilled him.
Mary: Anyway, at least this means your alien baby prediction won’t pan out! How’s your Book prediction going?
Victor: I was so sure this would be the week he tried to get Moll out before the Breen showed up. Or that Michael would order him to “kidnap” her to get her and L’ak away. I texted you 8 minutes in to confidently predict that. Ah, well. Now we’re setting him up to rescue her. He was extremely upset that they let the Breen take her, so maybe this is the reason he peace outs again?
Mary: I was really glad he didn’t do anything drastic to save Moll. I don’t think I could’ve forgiven him for that, which would have been annoying because I feel like they’re setting up a Michael/Book romance rekindling. He’s actually been reasonable about the whole Moll thing!
Victor: Of course they’re getting back together! Why else have Michael jump into a sexxxy time scene with him in the time bug episode?
“I know we have to be professional, but damn! You got abs!”
Mary: “So you kind of effed over the Federation last season. You’re hawttttttt”
Victor: This week on Sexy Trek…
Mary: I liked that they brought back his empath abilities. Nice reminder that he has that.
Victor: I did like how they deciphered the clue, and also how it led to a giant space library. Talk about pandering to your nerd audience!
Mary: Very creatively titled the Archive. Which is what I titled the magic library in Edge of Evil because I was too lazy to come up with anything else.
Victor: Calling it an Archive of Our Own would’ve been too on the nose.
Mary: I gotta say, after all that Amazing Space Race stuff from the earlier episodes, Moll and L’ak getting caught because he’s wounded and she sent out an SOS was pretty anticlimactic.
Victor: Yeah, extremely. And they caught them off camera! Didn’t even get to see them get boarded.
Mary: *Sigh…* Oh, Discovery. I wish they’d just gotten caught at the end of the space anomaly episode and spent the last one in the brig or something, rather than having them get away only to get caught off camera.
Victor: Yes, have them scheming in the brig to come up with a plan. But no. Now we’re going to use the Progenitor tech to resurrect L’ak. *Deep sigh*
Mary: I really hope that doesn’t pan out. But this is Disco, so… Disco really is like your darling problem child, isn’t it? At this point when they pull annoying or illogical plot things it’s just like, “Well, that’s Disco!”
Victor: It sure is. It’s like the troubled child who shows so much potential but then biffs the SATs.
Mary: Hah! The smart kid who never studies and therefore gets straight Cs.
Victor: I know they can write good stories! I’ve seen some on here! It’s just so frustrating. And now there are only 3 episodes left to resolve this.
Mary: Well at least we got to see Reno this episode!
Victor: Yes, looking forward to some of her Seven of Limes drinks at the next con.
Mary: Seriously, though, I was trying to think about what we haven’t touched on yet this episode, and was running through the other crew members… only to realize none of them did much. Moll and L’ak took up so much air that only Michael, Book, and Rayner got to do anything. Everyone else was just functional.
Victor: Like you said, that’s fine a 22 episode season. Not so great in 10. Oh, we had more of Tilly wavering about the Academy. Yay.
Victor: I don’t know either. At least we didn’t have Culber’s spiritual awakening continue. Rating for this episode?
Mary: 3
Victor: I was thinking 3 as well. The actual diplomacy made up for all the Moll and L’ak nonsense.
Mary: Halfway through the episode I thought it might get up to 4, but then… yeah. Moll and L’ak.
Victor: They’re such a damn anchor on the season. Can you imagine how much better this would be if someone like Khan was the antagonist?
Victor: Heck, I’d settle for Christopher Plummer’s Klingon from Undiscovered Country.
Mary: I’d settle for the busted-up Borg Queen from Picard Season Mistake… I mean, Season Two.
Victor: Maybe the Breen will help pick it up. I guess we’ll see next week.
Mary: Here’s hoping. Breen! Breen! Breen!
Rating: 3 out of 5
