Monday Media Musings - 5/16/22

[owlmoose]

Star Trek: Discovery, Season 3: And now we get to my true priority for getting back on Paramount+: catching up with Discovery. There's really no good reason for me to have missed the last two seasons -- I wanted to watch it, enjoyed S2, was eager to see what the show would make of its new premise -- and yet here we are. In theory I suppose I don't need to cut for spoilers, It's interesting to note the ways in which New Trek is and is not like the TNG era (my main point of reference for Star Trek content -- as mentioned in another recent entry, my primary familiarity with TOS is through the movies, and I haven't really explored other expanded universe content such as books and comics, with the exception of some DS9-post series books). I definitely feel like Discovery and especially Burnham are quicker to solve problems with violence than previous Star Trek installments, and the violence is a lot more graphic. Not sure how I feel about that as a decision that seems common throughout the New Trek franchise. Also, some of the attempts to build tension fell a bit flat for me -- no way was the show going to kill Hugh a second time, and I had a pretty strong feeling that they weren't going to rip Burnham's love interest away from her again, either. But these are my only real criticisms. I enjoy Saru as captain, I really like that we're starting to get to know the bridge crew a little better, Tilly as first officer was a delight, and there are a lot of moving family moments throughout the season: Michael reuniting with Discovery, the two parter that ends Georgieu's character arc, and especially the unit that seems to be forming among Paul, Hugh, Adira, and Gray. When Paul told the Emerald Chain scientist that he had a child, it really hit me in the heart, and even more when Hugh hugged Gray in the holo simulator. Good stuff.