TREK REVIEW: DIS 5-9 & 5-10

5-9: LAGRANGE POINT 

5-10: LIFE, ITSELF

Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?

Star Trek: Discovery's final two episodes bite off a bit more than they can chew thanks to the late-in-the-day cancellation of the series, but still give us a more satisfying than we normally get with Discovery. In spite of running to only ten episodes, this last season has been tighter and better paced than the show normally manages, with a more coherent structure. 

"Lagrange Point" sets things up nicely, but is very much a first part rather than a satisfactory episode in its own right. It's a taut little thriller, with Michael and co. infiltrating the Breen dreadnought which is, somehow, effectively under the command of Moll after she insighted the rebellion against Ruhn. There's some good stuff here, with Adira stepping up to the plate on a risky away mission against the objection of her space dad Stamets, and some cool-as-a-cucumber stealth work from Rhys, who's finally developed a character this year. Frankly, I was expecting them to kill him off, since he's never been more than a handsome background character till the last few episodes.

Taking the lead in the Breen mission are Burnham and Book, once again showing that they have all the best chemistry even when they're having to communicate through cod-Iron Man helmet cam effects. I love how Book, thrown in the deep end and having to keep one of the various Breen troops occupided, instantly resorts to flirting, and gets away with it. There's a very clunky scene where, in true Discovery style, everything stops so Michael can have an emotional moment with her ex, but at least it's lampshaded. 

The weakness in this episode is that the Breen aren't really living up to their promise as the new Big Bad. The main draw of the Breen was always their mystery, and inevitably, once we started to learn about them they become less interesting. That's pretty much unavoidable. Sadly, while we do get some intriguing snippets about them, they've turned out to be such a generic warrior race that they just fail to hold interest. Once they start speaking English so Moll can understand them, they just come across as a bunch of ranty soldier boys. The fascinating idea of their having two forms isn't explored at all. We learn both too much and not enough about their culture for them to be interesting, and it's a real shame.

This is exacerbated in the final episode, when Primarch Tahal coming to take Ruhn's dreadnought how he's out of the game. She's exactly the same as he was, but with a crackly female voice instead of a male one, only she really is all mouth and no trousers. It's great to finally have Saru back, with Doug Jones giving a great performance as the steely predator-mode Kelpian who'll stare down the aspiring Breen Queen, but Tahal just isn't threatening enough to warrant turning up as an eleventh hour villain. Plus, every time they refer to the Primarch I just thing of a bargain clothes shop.

Where these episodes really sing is in the mindbending science and beautiful visuals. Having the Progenitor's tech sitting in a capsule hanging in the Lagrange point of two black holes is awe inspiring, especially when we learn that the Progenitors may well have created this whole system themselves, just to hammer home how incredibly advanced they were. And, of course, the capsule's bigger on the inside, being merely the entry point to another dimension (where have I heard that one before?) There's a bit of confusion about all this though, as it's also said that the 24th century scientists were responsible for putting it there, which doesn't really mesh with everything else we learn.

It's inevitable that both Moll and Michael will throw themselves across the threshold into the other dimension as the penultimate cliffhanger, but the world they find is nothing short of spectacular. It's reminiscent of the timeless realm of Interstellar, but with some logic to its construction even if we have trouble following it. The idea of the Progenitors having access to a limitless space containing hundreds of worlds is fantastic, and suitably epic for the final discovery. 

However, it all falls down a bit with the final test, which falls into the perennially annoying, ludicrously simple maths puzzle variety. I realise there were other tests of character beforehand, but this simple brainteaser is what convinces the Progenitors that Burnham has what it takes to take control of god-like technology? It's also disappointing that the terrifying threat it poses is apparently little more than growing a clone army. Surely they could have come up with something more imaginative?

We've known for the whole season that eventually Burnham would find the supreme technology, just as we've known that she would inevitably decide it was too advanced and dangerous and that there were just some things mankind was not meant to know, etc. There's only one way stories like this can go, and this duly went there. All fine, all so predictable. Overall, though, it still worked for me, largely thanks to some genuinely nice moments between Burnham and the last Progenitor. (It is frustrating, though, how Michael is constantly fretting about getting out and saving Book, when the alien keeps reminding her that they are outside of time and therefore can take as long as they like.) 

One thing I absolutely adored was the revelation that the Progenitors didn't create this technology at all, just found it along with all the worlds it contains. It's continuous creation, all the way back to the dawn of time and maybe beyond. This brings to mind Pratchett's undersung classic, Strata, although that wasn't the first to use this idea (and subverts it anyway). In any case, love it.

There's a lot going on in this episode, good and, if not bad, then frustrating. Culber's miraculous spiritual experience post-joining is just remembering a few numbers that the Trill scientist handily left in his head. I enjoyed the final defeat of the Breen, using the spore drive to just dump them out by the edge of the Galaxy, even if the science was a bit ludicrous, even for this series. Still, I hope they don't show up again one day, brimming with godlike mind powers thanks to the Galactic Barrier...

After all the excitement, we get what is basically a series of epilogues as they try to wrap up everything. I'll admit, I punched the air when Kovich revealed he's actually Agent Daniels from Enterprise. Very silly, yet absolutely perfect. David Cronenberg doesn't much look, sound or act like Matt Winston, but he did say he's "lived many lives." Perhaps he regenerated? Saru and T'Rina's wedding was suitbaly lovely, even if we didn't see as many Vulcans or Kelpien as we might expect, but is was good to see some old faces again. Then, at the very end, we get a beautifully acted moment where Burnham and Book finally make up for good. Lovely.

Except that's not the end, because one last, very long epilogue was recorded after they learned of the cancellation. This jsut about works. It's too long, for sure, but this little peak at the 33rd century and the much older Admiral Burnham's life is pretty satisfying, even if she does have the same neo-Luddite retirement dream as every other Starfleet captain. Bringing them back to Sanctuary Four, with Book's alien conservation projects, is a nice touch.

What doesn't quite work is the final fate of the USS Discovery itself. Short Treks' "Calypso" was the highlight of that brief series and left us with all sorts of mysteries to ponder, and notably didn't quite line up with the direction that Discovery eventually went. While a nod in its direction would have been nice, trying to explain it all away ultimately leaves us with more questions than answers. Why does the ship need to be returned to its original state, with the "A" scraped off an everything? Why does Zora, a sentient being we might recall, have to be dumped alone for untold decades as part of this mission? How the hell does anyone know about someone or something named Craft turning up at some point in the future, to do something or other? It just doesn't quite work.

Overall, though, both the epilogue and the final episode as a whole manage to tie up this season, and the whole series, quite satisfyingly. This has probably been the best season in Discovery's run, and it's a shame that it had to get canned just as it got the formula right, but better to go out on a high.

Other bits and pieces:

• Book and Burnham's son is called Leto and is a captain in his own right. He's at least in his thirties, so this section can't be set any earlier than the 3220s.
• As for when "Calypso" is set... it still isn't clear whether Discovery really was hanging around for a thousand years, or just made to look like that by being reverted to its old design. The latter seems more likely, but it could still be a good while before Craft turns up. If she does sit there for a thousand years, it's set no earlier than the 43rd century.
• Culber gets a Bones-ism: "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!"
• Kovich/Daniels has Geordi's VISOR, Sisko's baseball and a bottle of Chateu Picard in his collection, making him look like the galaxy's biggest fanboy and tealeaf.
• Tilly basically outright says she's sticking around for the Starfleet Academy spin-off, and no surprises there.
• The planetary landscape filled with fields of flowers is beautiful... and I reckon it's Lurglestrop from The Smeds and the Smoos (the finest science fiction story of our time).
• The Breen apparently practise polyamory and enjoy oil baths. So now you know.