Such Sweet Sorrow

DVD, Discovery S2 (Such Sweet Sorrow)

Sweet, no, sorrow, yes. It's got to that point again where I can no longer overlook the flaws in this series. Apparently to a lot of people they aren't flaws, they're positives as I don't get the sense that it's unsuccessful. I'm not surprised because it is very modern, but I'll say it again, it's not Trek. And I'll correct myself again, it's not good Trek. Throughout these last several episodes I've taken the one good point that Spock was a reasonable version of the character, especially compared with what I was expecting, and because of that minor success I was really hoping the Enterprise would come close to matching. Knowing we were going to be getting the classic ship in these last two episodes of the season I was holding out hope that this at least I would like and feel as if it were part of the universe I grew up with - you know, the one that paid tribute to its past and didn't needlessly update everything to appeal to the magpie generation who are only drawn to shiny, pretty things. As usual whenever I try to take this series seriously as a part of Trek canon, I couldn't muster strong feelings, but instead an inevitable lethargic pall of disappointment chilled me and once again my only hope for this era of Trek is that they one day decide that, yes, it's all different because this is yet another alternate universe, not the original, the 'Prime' timeline. I didn't used to think that way, but I care so little for what they've done with, no, done to, Trek, that it seems the only way out.

It's laughable the way they throw out that line confirming holo-communications will never now be possible on the Enterprise, as if that papers over all the cracks in the universe by their insistence on changing the iconic, classic interiors of the ship that started it all. Less standing on the shoulders of giants, and more spraying gloss paint into the giant's face as it sinks to its knees in anguish! I can't say I was horrified by the 'updating' of the Bridge, corridors and meeting room, just completely disappointed, frustrated and alienated. You can spot many elements of the original ship: Sulu's navigation viewer, the same Captain's Chair and Bridge chairs. Even some of the same monitors displaying coloured blocks on black. But these things stand out as a collection of classic decals stuck on top of a souped-up sports car that neither fit, nor disguise, the underlying ugliness of The New. In keeping with this bizarre desire to pump everything up in size, as if that's important (forgetting that smaller sets make for more drama), the Bridge is simply huge. It has the same shiny floors, glistening surfaces, ridiculous lights shining out of everywhere, and stupid great window in place of a viewscreen that Discovery pioneered. No, wait… Discovery didn't pioneer that, nor even the Shenzhou - it was the Kelvin Timeline version of the Enterprise and other ships in those films that so abused the basic format of established Trek.

Those films ruined Trek forever, it seems, because although we're supposedly in the true universe with these CBS productions, it's all academic since they take all their inspiration from those films, and deliberately so. I don't know if Alex Kurtzman hadn't been hired, that we would have had an aesthetic closer to the Roddenberry/Berman eras, but it can't have helped to have the guy spearheading the new TV wave be the same one so heavily involved with all the things people like me couldn't stand about those films. I've heard the term 'Second Golden Age' bandied around in regard to Trek's current state of health, and I can only assume that I'm a minority, that people like me who value so many aspects of Trek, not just its content, but its presentation, too, are such a small section of the audience as to be negligible. Because for me, 'Discovery' has heralded a Trek Dark Age! I'm not condemning every production this CBS team is making (I haven't seen them yet), nor can I put all the blame on their shoulders - again, a lot of the terrible things about it go back to the modern films, but I'm back to complete ambivalence as to what they'll do next with the property. I was hoping Season 2 was going to be an improvement on the first, and in some ways it was, but it turns out those ways were minor. I hear cries going up for a Captain Pike series, and at first I was okay with that, but now seeing the Enterprise it's dashed any meagre hopes it would be truer to the classic era.

I had thought my final realisation of the feminine skew of this series (which I came to see during the previous episode), would actually make it easier to understand and accept, but in fact it's just made it easier to spot the deliberate mechanics that have made it so female friendly: so I cringe at it being Sarek who feels he must apologise to his wife and adopted daughter for not being a better husband and wife, and I cringe at the girly-girly friendships constantly being at the forefront. The montage where some of the characters (again, almost exclusively women), record personal messages home as if they're sitting on their beds holding up a mobile phone, is so uncomfortably 'women's TV' that I struggle to comprehend who they're marketing this series at? Traditionally sci-fi has been a male-dominated genre, and I suspect that even now the balance would be heavily in that direction, so I'd love to know why they think men are going to enjoy the kinds of things they've done! It's so female-centric as to be unappealing, and these core values which I took so long to recognise play a huge part in ruining the series for me. Added to the modern aesthetic, rewriting the look and style of everything and not paying tribute or significant attention to the history and canon, and the shameful stupidity in the writing, it is by far the worst Trek series and I see no indication of its improvement since they don't see any of these things as brokenness!

I wouldn't even put the series in contention as good sci-fi (which would make it only one level down from Trek, which is great sci-fi: the average episode of Trek has been good, where the average episode of other sci-fi is merely average!), it hasn't managed to do anything surprising or worthwhile, and if it had created well-rounded, well-written characters and plots, it wouldn't matter if there were cringe-inducing scenes every episode. There just isn't anything to draw me in, despite it having the words 'Star' and 'Trek' on the bonnet. I guess the engine is coughing and spluttering underneath and the series isn't going anywhere. Correction: it's going to the future. I knew this was coming, it's practically impossible not to get some kind of spoiler, just as I knew the Enterprise was going to show up at the end of Season 1. It seems they don't even have enough of a plan to know what to do in the era they've chosen to exist in. Have we learned anything about the politics of this time? Have we developed the races or met compelling new ones? There's been a half-hearted attempt to drill into Kelpiens, and surprise, surprise, that episode was the standout of the season, because that is what appeals about Trek. Not rogue AI co-opting a fleet of Section 31 ships! Not a murderous Mirror Universe Emperor finding her place! Not even time travelling signals from the future, although that had the biggest (and only), potential in the season. I feel like I'm summing up the whole season in this penultimate review, but I don't expect any changes that are going to save it in the finale, having experienced Season 1's poor example. This one wasn't quite as bad, it had mildly less bad moments such as Pike officially taking his leave of those he'd captained, but it's in the same area.

Even there, it makes a nonsense of Starfleet, procedure, protocol and a sense of reality! What, he just promotes Saru to Captain of Discovery? It's not even as clear-cut as that, it's like a woman's view of military matters, which is probably what it is, since there is a heavy female bias in the writing staff. So there isn't even a definite promotion, it's just sort of hinted that Saru is the one to take over and he says he'll just leave that for now! A ship needs a Captain, you can't do anything without it! Saru needed to step up, but it's as if we need to not have too much power over Burnham because we know she's really the one in charge! It's just embarrassing, and I can't imagine what Roddenberry himself would have made of this utterly abused version of his future world. When a 1960s TV series makes more sense and has a better impression of reality than something made with all the bells and whistles of today, you have to wonder what's going on. I guess it proves beyond doubt that writers' brains are the most important thing in creating great TV, not production value or computer effects, but that was never really in doubt for me in the first place! That's why all the previous Treks hold up (even 'Enterprise,' by far the weakest until now, looks intelligent, serious and sensible in comparison), because they had a rulebook which they ran by, they had people with a personal understanding of the military, and of dramatic structure. They had big budgets for the time and they used them to the full, and guess what: the production side isn't the part that went down in history, it was the storytelling and the ability to play with characters in a created world.

There's no point ranting on about current Trek, but it does remind me why I was so unexcited to get back to 'DSC' in the first place, and though there have been occasional things along the way that almost distracted me from the failings, that hasn't changed. And so to this episode, now that I've talked generally about the series: in its defence it isn't an action-packed entry, and in fact has a lot of character stuff going on, which is exactly what you want. Or it would be if I cared about the characters and their fates. As I said before, it's all so female in its execution and its focus, so you get the scene with the ex-boyfriend, or the scene with the girly best mate, or the one where Dad says he wishes he'd been better. You get roomfuls of women discussing problems while Spock quietly stands at the wayside. And you get the slowest and most pointless starship evacuation ever! I ask you, if there was one scene where they could have legitimately injected tension and drama, it was in leaving this starship that has become their home to hitch a ride on the Enterprise. But again, because of the feminine approach, we've never even got to a point where we bond with the ship itself, so who cares? How often do we actually get to revel in its lines and gracefulness? No, we have to cut inside and space is mainly seen from the Bridge window! And then of course, after all that slow evacuation, and a rather useless remote auto-destruct that fails because the Sphere data won't let the ship be destroyed, they trudge back aboard!

In the past, auto-destruct sequences were great sources of drama as a clock counted down and the Captain and First Officer had to go through a short procedure of voice confirmation, etc, but here Pike and Saru do a handprint on touch-screens and then they have to activate it from the Enterprise! It's a miserably poor evocation of such an important moment in a starship's life, in keeping with the usual tragic lack of interest in the staples of Trek! They even have these silly evacuation corridors that unfold to the opposite ship, with only a forcefield between the evacuees and space! I thought Burnham was going to stay behind and decide to take the ship off on her own, but in actual fact it seemed like the only reason for the evacuation was to show off their newly-minted Enterprise sets, although you could tell the corridors were just redressed Discovery ones, and perhaps the Bridge was, too? It was certainly big enough and ugly enough. Burnham gets to be unprofessional again, perhaps her female intuition allowed to work, since as soon as Pike's left the room (was that a lab just off the Bridge?), she touches the crystal to see a vision of her future, but that's encouraged because she was able to see the destruction of the Enterprise (I think), and so prevented it by warning them not to do something… I think. It's a bit hazy, as the series so often is (apparently Yeoman Colt was in there somewhere, but I only know that from her name coming up in the end credits - talk about keeping cards close to the chest when they should be celebrating the Enterprise and its past!).

It was nice to see the handrail control in the Turbolifts, something that should have been standard in Discovery if they'd cared a jot about history, so putting them in now is a bit late, though it's one of the few things I liked about the episode. But was it really sensible to discuss things like there being no holo-comms now in the middle of an evacuation? They need to get their priorities straight. After getting past the gut-wrenchingly, woefully sad ruination of the beloved Enterprise (actually, I still haven't, and it cast a shadow of misery across the episode), they go back to Discovery having failed to destroy it, while Leland and his mighty fleet of ships is still on the way. In the meantime, somehow Sarek (using his katric connection to Burnham), and Amanda find them to say goodbye to Burnham. Again, so incredibly stupid: how can they get to wherever the Discovery was in that short a time, and yet Leland is on the way and is still some time off? Nothing about it makes sense, and the writers don't care. All they care about is how they can get Burnham to shed a tear so the female audience can clap their hands with emotion at all this display of emotion, emotional, emote, emotive emotion. It's emotional, you see? They perform a spore jump yet again, as if it's nothing, the only reference to the fact that it's supposed to be dangerous for Stamets is that Culber comes to check if he's alright after doing it. They have no idea about drama, do they? To be honest, they've done so many jumps that I can't even remember what the issue was supposed to be with using it, that's how clear and consistent the writing is on everything. You're supposed to forget whatever rules were laid out because, like 'Dr. Who,' they don't matter, only there to provide 'drama' for a specific scene or episode, not something to be kept track of as if Trek was supposed to be an internally consistent entity. Hah!

They stop off at Xahea for some reason I can't remember, and Tilly's friend from the awful 'Short Treks' episode 'Runaway' makes her debut on the series proper as this Wesley Crusher-esque engineering genius that can do anything the writers need her to do. I'm reminded why I thought Naarn was of the same race because they do look similar, even down to the hairstyle. As usual we eschew any protocol for a laugh at the taken aback Pike, dignity lost, but it's okay because it's funny and Tilly gets to see her girly fwend again. Ooh, isn't this charming. Ugh. They need this child prodigy to be able to make the time crystal work because they haven't got a time suit so they're going to make Discovery be the suit, I think. Again, wasn't following what was going on very clearly, but then you don't have to, it's not important and doesn't have much reality to it. I was guessing that Georgiou would knock Spock out and take his place with the others who volunteer to go permanently into the future with Burnham (maybe she still will?), so the Control AI will never be able to get its hands on the all-important Sphere data which will somehow give it some kind of power, or something, I don't know, it's all ridiculous and childish. We know Spock isn't going to be lost in the future, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't go, so something's going to prevent him next episode, even though he had a heart-to-heart with his 'sister' and wants to be with her, even affectionately patting her hand (Vulcans don't touch because they're touch telepaths! Grraaargghhh!).

Why did Dr. Burnham record all those YouTube videos on how to operate the time suit? I guess she just had nothing better to do. I was thinking, if Pike had any sense he'd be going with them into the future to avoid his grisly fate, but of course he's not going to do that because that would go against the canon of what we know will happen. But it doesn't make sense! And why choose some bits of canon to keep to while ignoring the majority? They have no idea what they're doing. At least if he did go we'd know this was an alternate universe, unless they are set to come back from the future at some point, which I suspect they are, because as much as I think they're going to ruin the future as effectively as they've ruined the past, at least it would make a semblance of sense that Discovery isn't around later during 'TOS,' but it's all silly anyway so it doesn't matter either way, I don't see this team or era ever doing anything good with the series, or even, sadly, the franchise. Then we get swarms of shuttles, more than could be carried by a fleet of ships, and apparently they all came from Enterprise and Discovery - just like that scene from the opening to 'Star Trek XI' where there are hundreds of shuttlecraft floating away from the USS Kelvin! It's that same level of idiocy that ties the films and TV together in a destructive dance of horror, trampling Trek's entire world and its credentials to be proper sci-fi, collapsing any reality the series ever had.

Oh, but then Leland's fleet warps in and Burnham says they're surrounded and we see a graphic with the ships all around them ON A 2D PLANE! It's like Khan's two-dimensional thinking in 'The Wrath of Khan,' they could still escape up or down, they're not really surrounded! After all that spatial orientation business (and we even see it in this very episode when Discovery orients itself to Enterprise to connect the stoopid evac corridors!), they've gone back to ships being on the same plane. They contradict themselves in the same episodes (same thing happened in the previous one)! I despair, I really do. I don't know where things went wrong, but they've been wrong from Day 1 on this series. I genuinely wish Trek had never come back so that I could say without reservation that I loved it. Now if I said that it would be like a validation of the last ten years of idiotic films and the awfulness of 'DSC,' and possibly 'Picard,' 'Lower Decks' and 'Section 31.' It's like they've made it for the brains of children, fire and forget, nothing matters. And I still have one episode to slog through. And then I'm going to have to watch through the season again in quick succession to understand things better without needing to write a review. Not looking forward to that. I suspect I'll be giving up Trek eventually because although it's 'alive' again, when it had 'died,' it's been reborn as something I… not detest, I don't feel that strongly about such a mush of misery, but it disgusts me: in other words there was something exciting about it still being produced so that you never knew if a character, ship, or race would reappear, new information uncovered, new perspectives on the history and more history would add to the lore, but instead it now just overwrites what came before and kills it deader than ever. Should have called it 'Star Trek: Mort.'

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