Kobayashi Marie continues its adventure into the third season of Star Trek Discovery with Episode 6 – Scavengers
I’d rather regret something I did than something I didn’t.
The very first thing I noticed this week is that Discovery’s complete upgrade with detached nacelles, programmable matter, and other fun things has resulted in the ship’s designation receiving an extra letter to show it is a new generation – we are now aboard USS Discovery 1031-A.
The second thing I noticed was that the crew gets to keep its blue uniforms, and doesn’t seem to be required to upgrade to Starfleet/Federation grey ones. Curious.
Commander Burnham’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) unsanctioned mission with Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gets them potential evidence to help uncover what is behind The Burn, and it brings Book (David Ajala) back into Discovery’s and Michael’s life. On the other hand, though, it puts Captain Saru (Doug Jones) into a very difficult position and destroys the trust he had built in Burnham over the past few years. How is he supposed to keep Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) onside if Michael keeps undermining him?
I love the combination of Burnham and Georgiou together on missions like this. Their dynamic is perfect, whether they are hoodwinking the Emerald Chain or covering each other during a fistfight. And Burnham is the only person to whom Georgiou can even hint at a weakness – even though she doesn’t want to. Philippa’s flashbacks are getting more intense, but neither she nor we are sure why, or what exactly she is seeing. It seems to be a flashback to Terran times before she came into contact with our Discovery, and it is not pleasant. It’s strange that we are only aware of these incidents following her encounter with Kovich (David Cronenberg) last week. Has he done something to her mind? Or is that just coincidence?
In addition to Book making a reappearance, we’re also reunited with Gray (Ian Alexander) who is in a couple of scenes. I’m not convinced that the imaginary friend scenario is bringing anything different to the storyline at the moment, however. The scene between Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Adira (Blu del Barrio) and an invisible Gray in the mess hall was touching and hints at things to come but felt like little more than a space filler.
I think I feel most sorry for Saru right now. It doesn’t feel like he had any proper friends on Discovery, his planet seems lost among the troubles of the 32nd century, and his Number One has let him down badly. It’s a good job he has Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to turn to, who once again says just the right thing.
The fallout from Burnham’s betrayal, of course, is that – with her demotion to Chief Science Officer as punishment – Saru is now in need of a new Number One. Who is he going to appoint? Might it be Lt Nilsson (Sara Mitich) who got to say the “On-screen” command in Saru’s absence this week? Might it be Tilly? Or even Georgiou? Or will it be someone new we haven’t seen yet? Please not another new character. We’ve already had enough of those this season, let’s get to know them a little more now. Including Ryn (Noah Averbach-Katz), the Andorian who helped Book to escape and who is now aboard Discovery with them.
So we seem to be gathering more information which will tell us about The Burn. Maybe next week will offer even more? Or an explanation of Georgiou’s behaviour?
Next week’s episode is called Unification III. You may ask what about Unification I and II? Well, you need to go back to Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, where these two episodes are located. Whether there is genuinely a link between them and Discovery is something we can come back to next week, after watching all three episodes of course.
Kobayashi Marie continues its adventure into the third season of Star Trek Discovery with Episode 6 – Scavengers
I’d rather regret something I did than something I didn’t.
The very first thing I noticed this week is that Discovery’s complete upgrade with detached nacelles, programmable matter, and other fun things has resulted in the ship’s designation receiving an extra letter to show it is a new generation – we are now aboard USS Discovery 1031-A.
The second thing I noticed was that the crew gets to keep its blue uniforms, and doesn’t seem to be required to upgrade to Starfleet/Federation grey ones. Curious.
Commander Burnham’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) unsanctioned mission with Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it gets them potential evidence to help uncover what is behind The Burn, and it brings Book (David Ajala) back into Discovery’s and Michael’s life. On the other hand, though, it puts Captain Saru (Doug Jones) into a very difficult position and destroys the trust he had built in Burnham over the past few years. How is he supposed to keep Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) onside if Michael keeps undermining him?
I love the combination of Burnham and Georgiou together on missions like this. Their dynamic is perfect, whether they are hoodwinking the Emerald Chain or covering each other during a fistfight. And Burnham is the only person to whom Georgiou can even hint at a weakness – even though she doesn’t want to. Philippa’s flashbacks are getting more intense, but neither she nor we are sure why, or what exactly she is seeing. It seems to be a flashback to Terran times before she came into contact with our Discovery, and it is not pleasant. It’s strange that we are only aware of these incidents following her encounter with Kovich (David Cronenberg) last week. Has he done something to her mind? Or is that just coincidence?
In addition to Book making a reappearance, we’re also reunited with Gray (Ian Alexander) who is in a couple of scenes. I’m not convinced that the imaginary friend scenario is bringing anything different to the storyline at the moment, however. The scene between Stamets (Anthony Rapp), Adira (Blu del Barrio) and an invisible Gray in the mess hall was touching and hints at things to come but felt like little more than a space filler.
I think I feel most sorry for Saru right now. It doesn’t feel like he had any proper friends on Discovery, his planet seems lost among the troubles of the 32nd century, and his Number One has let him down badly. It’s a good job he has Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to turn to, who once again says just the right thing.
The fallout from Burnham’s betrayal, of course, is that – with her demotion to Chief Science Officer as punishment – Saru is now in need of a new Number One. Who is he going to appoint? Might it be Lt Nilsson (Sara Mitich) who got to say the “On-screen” command in Saru’s absence this week? Might it be Tilly? Or even Georgiou? Or will it be someone new we haven’t seen yet? Please not another new character. We’ve already had enough of those this season, let’s get to know them a little more now. Including Ryn (Noah Averbach-Katz), the Andorian who helped Book to escape and who is now aboard Discovery with them.
Comic relief is provided by Linus (David Benjamin Thomlinson) beaming in everywhere he is not intending to as he tries to get used to his new badge. This is not the first time he has found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time in a turbolift.
So we seem to be gathering more information which will tell us about The Burn. Maybe next week will offer even more? Or an explanation of Georgiou’s behaviour?
Next week’s episode is called Unification III. You may ask what about Unification I and II? Well, you need to go back to Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, where these two episodes are located. Whether there is genuinely a link between them and Discovery is something we can come back to next week, after watching all three episodes of course.
You can catch up on the prior Kobayashi Marie columns here!
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