TREK REVIEW: DIS 5-3 - "Jinaal"

After a cracking start to the season, the third episode of Discovery is a middling affair that suffers from trying to do too much at once. There are four main plotlines running through this, which is perfectly fine for a serialised story, but as Discovery is trying to manage that middle ground between serial and episodic adventures, none of it really gets the time it needs to thrive. 

The core story, the quest for the galactic puzzle pieces, brings us to Trill, a planet we were bound to go back to if only to resolve Adira and Gray's story. There's some deep Trill lore on offer here, with the zhian'tara ritual performed again - Jadzia Dax manifested all her past hosts using this on DS9, with Ezri using it to manifest her murderous past host Joran in the final season. Those weren't portrayed in the same way, and what we have here is closer to the original, with Jinaal, the first host of the Bix symbiont, taking control of Culber's body, while the rickety old lady its currently inhabiting just waits for permission to die.

Thanks to Wilson Cruz, this is by far the most successful part of the episode. He gives a great performance as Jinaal, tweaking everything about his persona: his vocal delivery, his walk, his overall demeanour all change, without ever being over the top. Jinaal is a lot of fun to be around, thoroughly enjoying the chance to go for a walk in the wilds after centuries of being a quiet voice in a succession of heads. This section of the quest really is contrived: those old scientists expected someone to find the previous clue, decipher it, find the right Trill who by rights was expected to be dead by now, seek out their new host, and then go on a perlious journey, survive a monster encounter and still be around for when said Trill reveals the next piece still, luckily, hiding under a rock. 

Still, it's fun, with Michael and Book making a good team as usual, always more enjoyable to be with when they're out causing trouble and getting into scrapes. It's always strangely reassuring to be back in a quarry standing in for an alien planet, and while the big, bug-like monsters are a little generic, watching the adventurers work out how to deal with them while trying to not get killed is entertaining.

Meanwhile, Adira and Gray have an awkward but mature conversation about their relationship, which basically means they break up. This is the least interesting part of the episode, in spite of Blu del Barrio's attempt to keep things engaging. Even the chemistry they shared with Ian Alexander isn't present anymore. Frankly, now that Gray's got his body back and isn't haunting his ex, he's not a very interesting character. Gray and Adira were once two parts of the same being, which was fascinating and gave the actors something to work. Now they're in a long-distance relationship and it's not working for them or the story.

Back on the ship, some more engaging relationship antics are going on with Saru and T'Rina, who have their first, very mild-mannered argument, when the Kelpien does the man thing and tries to protect his fiance's interests in the political arena. This rather overshadows his first assignment as ambassador, but Doug Jones and Tara Rosling keep the scenes working. T'Rina is proving to be a quietly awesome character; she should end up president of the whole Federation. I suspect we'll see something of the Vulcan purist threat in future (a 32nd century follow-up to the "logic extremists" of the 23rd, I suppose).

Finally, a fun but throwaway run of difficult introductions for the backbenchers and job-doers as new Number One, demoted Commander Rayner does the worst breaking-the-ice in workplace history. There are some entertaining titbits in the crew's 20-word party pieces, but mostly this is here to expand upon the friction between Rayner and Tilly. It works, but feels unnecessary to the story, using up time that might be more valuably spent elsewhere.

That kind of sums up the episode. It all works, just about, but the balance is off, and while it's a perfectly watchable instalment, it's a bit of a disappointment after two such strong opening episodes.

Nods, winks, promises and revelations:

• It turns out that Trill spots form a pattern that is unique to the individual, like human fingerprints or Saurian ridge scales.
• On the subject of Saurians, they are revealed to reproduce parthenogenically, with Linus having already laid several clutches. Perhaps he'll look up his descendants.
• It's said that it's unusual for a Trill symbiont to live 800 years, but not unheard of, with Bix having made it this far but being on its last legs (metaphorically speaking). That almost seems included just to rule out a new version of Dax, who would be 1273 by now (the Dax symbiont was born in 2018, fact fans). We can hope though.
• Starship watch: we glimpse the USS Locherer, named for the late cameraman JP Locherer who got a nod in the credits of "Red Directive." 
• The diplomatic conference includes a Selay, who previously appeared in the first season TNG episode "Lonely Among Us," as well as in a couple of cameos since. This one is quite redesigned since then, and is reddish instead of green.
• There's a second mention of the Breen Republic, so I'd not be at all surprised that those icy bastards turn up this season.
• Next, we're off to Tzenkethi space - could we finally, after all these years, find out what they actually look like?