Desperate for a way to circumvent the Klingon cloaking tech, Starfleet sends Discovery to a planet called Pahvo, which they think can be harnessed like a giant sonar to reveal cloaked ships. Instead, the landing party encounters the planet's sentient occupants and Saru is affected deeply by his contact with them
This was the first episode where I felt like I was actually watching Star Trek. There was exploration, first contact, moral dilemmas, and Prime Directive invocations aplenty. But more importantly, there was a Roddenberry-eque sense of wonder and optimism that has thus far been absent from DSC.
Unfortunately, the story itself is kind of weak. The writing continues to be inadequate for delivering on the show's large scope. The Pahvans are difficult to get a handle on, and Saru going crazy and then back to normal again is not adequately explained. It just sort of happens and you're expected to go along with it. A below average ep overall.
THE GOOD
-The Pahvans are interesting in concept at least. In execution not so much.
-Finally we get to go to a new planet and see some new stuff. Considering the show's name, it's ironic that everything so far has just been rehashing old ideas/places/characters rather than any discovery whatsoever.
-Saru is kind of awesome. His exuberance at first contact reminds me of Daniel Jackson from SG-1. And his super sprint ability is pretty cool, if a little goofy looking.
THE BAD
-The plots here are a mess. The actions of the Pahvans and Saru are not really explained. And the entire B plot with the Klingons and the admiral made absolutely zero sense to me and seemed completely pointless.
THE UGLY
-As I reflect more on the show I realized that there isn't a single human who isn't American. The show managed to check all its political correctness-mandated quota boxes. They have their "ethnic woman" lead (the showrunners' words, not mine), they have an asian character, they have a special needs character, and they have not one but two gay characters (who are of course hooking up with each other), but not a single non-American? TOS had a Russian and a Scot, TNG had a Frenchman with a British accent, DS9 had an Irishman and a Brit (according to Memory Beta, Bashir was born in London). Why no non-Americans on DSC? Shazad Latif and Jason Isaacs are both British; why make them do American accents on the show? Do the showrunners really think so little of their audience to believe we would have an issue with a non-American human on the show? It makes no sense.
This was the first episode where I felt like I was actually watching Star Trek. There was exploration, first contact, moral dilemmas, and Prime Directive invocations aplenty. But more importantly, there was a Roddenberry-eque sense of wonder and optimism that has thus far been absent from DSC.
Unfortunately, the story itself is kind of weak. The writing continues to be inadequate for delivering on the show's large scope. The Pahvans are difficult to get a handle on, and Saru going crazy and then back to normal again is not adequately explained. It just sort of happens and you're expected to go along with it. A below average ep overall.
THE GOOD
-The Pahvans are interesting in concept at least. In execution not so much.
-Finally we get to go to a new planet and see some new stuff. Considering the show's name, it's ironic that everything so far has just been rehashing old ideas/places/characters rather than any discovery whatsoever.
-Saru is kind of awesome. His exuberance at first contact reminds me of Daniel Jackson from SG-1. And his super sprint ability is pretty cool, if a little goofy looking.
THE BAD
-The plots here are a mess. The actions of the Pahvans and Saru are not really explained. And the entire B plot with the Klingons and the admiral made absolutely zero sense to me and seemed completely pointless.
THE UGLY
-As I reflect more on the show I realized that there isn't a single human who isn't American. The show managed to check all its political correctness-mandated quota boxes. They have their "ethnic woman" lead (the showrunners' words, not mine), they have an asian character, they have a special needs character, and they have not one but two gay characters (who are of course hooking up with each other), but not a single non-American? TOS had a Russian and a Scot, TNG had a Frenchman with a British accent, DS9 had an Irishman and a Brit (according to Memory Beta, Bashir was born in London). Why no non-Americans on DSC? Shazad Latif and Jason Isaacs are both British; why make them do American accents on the show? Do the showrunners really think so little of their audience to believe we would have an issue with a non-American human on the show? It makes no sense.