Su'Kal: Discovery S03 E11

Can an episode simultaneously be your favourite and least liked of the season at the same time?

I think it can and that feat may have been achieved by Su'Kal as season three begins to wind up to the finale.

Determining that they need to find out what's going on in the Verubin Nebula, Discovery jumps in and drops off Saru, Culber and Burnham at the crashed Kelpien ship. While the original crew will have perished, there is a survivor as Saru recognised that the distress signal's bearer was pregnant from the markings on her forehead.

As every good parent would, mother has ensured her child is well looked after, leaving a whole series of holographic childminders to help raise her son. The problem is that over time the programmes have begun to degrade and cracks have started to appear. 

In order not to frighten Su'Kal - for that is not just the episode title, but the child's name - Burnham and co have their appearances altered in case they might be a surprise to the lone Kelpien. Burnham is altered into a Trill, Culber a Bajoran but the biggest shift is making Saru human and allowing Doug Jones to play the role out of makeup.

Su'Kal is something entirely new to the crew. An adult with the learning age of a child being reared by faulty holos. It takes Burnham acting as one of those programmes to eventually break through to the lone survivor. But they are not alone in this make believe world of chaos that wouldn't look out of place at Galorndon Core. Within the realm is a fear that Su'Kal needs to face, manifested as a spectral demon. While you would be wanting it gone, it is key to unravelling the mystery of the Burn.

While Saru is gone that leaves Tilly in charge of Discovery, sitting on the edge of the nebula and waiting for the four hour clock to tick down. This gives the away team the longest possible time to locate the survivor and get out but plans are interrupted by the arrival of Osyrra.

At this point I'm still finding her two-dimensional and a little cliched. She turns up, spouts some trash and shoots a bit. Osyrra wants Discovery for its spore drive which cannot be replicated and issues her ultimatum to hand over the ship. Discovery's capture by the Viridian and Osyrra is another crackers moment of the episode with the vast Orion vessel extending a series of tentacles to ensnare the Starfleet vessel. It's a swift takeover and one that sets up Michael and Book's intention to save the crew next week... of course.

In order to dissect my thoughts on this one I'm going to have to discuss the big spoiler so heads up, it's coming shortly. First though, I love the setting, the feel and the concept that's been built into Su'Kal. The eerie castle, the broken holos and Doug Jones looking super uncomfortable as the human Saru all work for me. It's a haunting episode that's a high concept we didn't see coming at all. Who could have expected the computer to be babysitting the son of one of the long dead crew?

If you did, well done but there's one aspect that utterly ruins what is a fine piece of Star Trek and restored my faith after the rather terminal Terra Firma. The reveal of Su'Kal being the epicentre of the Burn is horrid. To have the season's Big Mystery condensed down to what I would term as a child's temper tantrum is a kick in the teeth for fan loyalty. Yes, it isn't even close to what fans would have been theorising and in that sense, bravo, but...really?

Su'Kal's outburst caused the Burn and now there's the very realistic chance it could happen again if he's not brought under control and Saru is the best candidate for this. Doug Jones' prosthetic-less performance reveals a lot about the Kelpien's insecurities and self-doubt. It's not something his usual look allows and the emotions of finding remnants of his own people, their history and beliefs washes over his face in every scene. 

Unique isn't the word for it but the episode is redeemed by the acting and also by the situation that's building on Discovery. Tilly rises to the occasion but the lack of long term experience looks to be her stumbling block which viewers would have been expecting. Getting your command experience from a textbook is all good but there's nothing that replaces being out in the field. Fans were all over the shop when she was promoted to XO but this does indicate that she still has much to learn about the ways of command. 

Also, who couldn't love the morphing ability of Book's ship as it slides through the nebula on its way to rescue the landing party? 

What are your predictions for the last two episodes of the season?

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Scavengers: Discovery S03 E06

Halfway through and nothing is any clearer - but at least Book is back this week!

Having located a blackbox which we must assume is from a Federation ship, Book has disappeared and without much thought, Burnham conscripts Georgiou and the pair use the trader's own transforming ship to break him out of an Emerald Chain work camp along with his stolen information.

But let's first of all send all our calls to voicemail and take a break here because the opening few minutes of Scavengers is all about change. New funky Starfleet badges with built in transporter tech, head-up display, communicator and tricorder are the rage plus the ship has had its controls flipped over to that programmable matter to become more intuitive. The nacelles are now detached and someone for some absolutely batsarse crackers reason has slapped an "A" on the registry.

Ok, in a convoluted way Discovery from the 22nd Century is classed as destroyed so adding the "A" sort of recommissions it if we stretch the truth a little. Aside from that grumble it's amazing to see the "old" ship adapted to its new environment with the recurring Linus transporter joke running through the episode.

Michael's thinking behind disobeying Saru's orders and gong after Book is fairly sound but there's a severe lack of communication between the chain of command which just highlights how risky it is having Burnham as an officer and let alone, Number One. She's very high maintenance and although her plan and end goal do result in a positive outcome, it's all done the wrong way. You'd have thought by now Michael might've learnt lessons from her past but apparently not - even Georgiou reminds her and Saru comments on it so there's no hiding from the facts.

The return of Book was inevitable given the importance placed on him in episodes one and three but some might be happier to see his cat, Grudge than they are of David Ajala. 

Captured and under virtual slave labour conditions he's scavenging through ship parts from a vast wrecked fleet in orbit of the planet which is a remnant of The Burn that Burnham has encountered all over the shop. The big news this week is that her findings have discovered that the moment it happened was not precisely the same for everyone indicating that there was an epicentre and it wasn't a galactic event. Something caused The Burn but where exactly is still undetermined.

Some of this week does seem a bit cliched - the work camp, the fleeing prisoner (a Bajoran no less) who is there as the example and even Burnham and Book's bit of passion all seem very signposted. There's even a (SPOILER AHEAD) moment of action movie self-sacrifice that made me wince when it's telegraphed. Indeed, after the opening five minutes of "Q Time" where the Discovery's new tech is all displayed it descends into a very average hour.

Ok, not true because the B story surrounding Adira's acclimatization to the ship and crew are well handled and you can see that the writers have already hooked onto the relationship they are building with Stamets. Good too in this arc that Adira's conversations with Gray aren't being handled as some form of mental breakdown but instead being understood and welcomed. It's something different which Stamets acknowledges and he himself is more fascinated with the closeness with their boyfriend following the joining and unfogging of memories in Forget Me Not.

Blu del Barrio's performance is once more incredibly understated and downplayed which plays well against the drier Stamets and I hope that this pairing is continued across the season.

As a sub-plot to the main line as well there is more going on with Georgiou but this feels a little bit like a re-tread of the Ash Tyler plot with some suitably bloody flashbacks to what I assume is the Terran Universe. There isn't any direct correlation to anything but it all seems to have stemmed from the interrogation conducted by David Cronenberg in his unnamed role last week. Bets have to be off that this is to do with Section 31 given what we know of the imminent Georgiou spin-off from Discovery that is planned post-season three. Clearly it's causing her some anguish even leading the former emperor to collapse at a crucial moment.

Scavengers however probably falls at the bottom of my preference order for Discovery this year and I think it makes some horrible, horrible mistakes that changed my feelings towards the show and one person in particular. Burnham's insubordination may be for what she sees as the greater good but there's no communication, she borrows a ship (that no-one notices for some time apparently) and takes a known Terran with her on a foolish(?) rescue mission and for the second time in her career (with a 930 year reoffending gap) once again gets a well-deserved slapdown. 

Is this what Star Trek is coming to? Is this really who we want to see as a lead character? I get that we should be there understanding the complexities of humanity, our fallibility but Michael has learn precisely zip and even after recommitting to Starfleet can't hold her end of the bargain. Thing is we get our weekly show of tears but in this case I don't believe that Michael is sorry. She would have done it whatever and the chain of command can go do one. In previous series we've had an exception where a main character has bent or broken the rules for a greater good but in Discovery I'm starting to expect it on a weekly basis. Maybe it's a way of analgising current events and showing that the Federation (the US?) is no longer that big, solid force with that slightly smug sense of arrogance and self-belief. Instead it's crumbling and can't even control what's going on inside its own ranks.

Vance is coming across as one of the best admirals we've seen in any iteration of the franchise and to get this from Burnham is unacceptable. Perhaps as he himself notes she had actually communicated what's going on then the reaction might have been different but crucially Burnham didn't. He makes a sound explanation of what he expected and didn't receive from Burnham but ultimately places the decision on her punishment to her captain - I've warmed to this guy after last week and on reflection he was doing the right things then too.

In comparison to this, the "A" suffix and those wifi nacelles are a drop in the ocean. Season three was about offering up some optimism and while there are cracks showing through with the Stamets/Adira arc that's building nicely, the Georgiou and Burnham threads seem to be pulling us further into darkness. 

This is in no way me berating Discovery because I like the show and the direction the story has headed and the choice to jump into the distant future. What I am questioning (not hating on) is how these threads are being played out. Is Discovery adhering to Star Trek's principles and motivations because in its formative years and for many after it offered both an optimistic view on humanity plus social commentary within the sci-fi framework. In this show right now it's feeling very much that the social commentary is overwhelming that positive future...but then isn't that the point.......???

What are your thoughts? Has Discovery struck the balance right with Scavengers or is it seriously derailing? Is this the right direction for the 32nd Century?

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