Star Trek Discovery - S01E03 - Context is for Kings (Spoilers for the Episode)

Mustrum_Ridcully · Oct 2, 2017

Context is for Kings said:
Burnham finds herself aboard the U.S.S. Discovery, where she quickly realizes things are not as they seem, including the mysterious Captain Gabriel Lorca.

I watched Episode 3 on Netflix today.

Very interesting episode. It is kinda the "real" pilot of the show, since we finally get to meet the main cast (most of them at leastß) and the main ship.

Their "new way of travel" is really something new. We kinda know it doesn't quite work out, since Starfleet is still relying on warp drive in the 24th century.
Some of it reminds me of the Iconian Gateway technology, with the instant transportation, and the shifting through different places in quick succession.
The side effect of their "spore drive" are pretty nasty, particularly in not being pretty at all. Thankfully, I am a cold-blooded and hardened TV and movie veteran and have seen... Well, not worse. Similar.

The whole lead-up to the reveal about the spores and Burnham's speculation made me wonder if this bioweapon is what alters the face of the Klingons again, but since it's not a bioweapon, probably not. (At least not in any straightforward manner)

The story about Lorca's eye injury is a really nice excuse for all the dim lighting. A bit too convenient, of course.
Jason Isaacs is really great as Lorca. And I absolutely don't trust Lorca. He has every chance to be more bad ass than Sisko, but he might also be more dangerous and corrupted than Admiral Leyton or Luther Sloan.
I am not a fan of Section 31, but I could definitely see the possibility of the Discovery mission being sanctioned by it.
His Security Chief ... well, she's a Cylon, so no one should trust her. I wonder however is she likes Lorca a bit too much perhaps?

The awkward redhead is really awkward, but much else can be said about her, I think.
Saru is still the most likeable character, I think.

There is clearly no Roddenberry rule in place, the crew has internal conflicts, but they appear competent and work together successfully. One can see a reason why they are aboard the Discovery.

The war doesn't seem to be that hot yet, with "only" a bit over 8,000 people dead.

Definitely a great CGI budget they have there.

CapnZapp · Oct 2, 2017

You might consider reposting in the existing thread

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MarkB · Oct 2, 2017

Aaand we interrupt your regularly scheduled Star Trek for a horror movie.

Well, not quite - but pretty close. They really ramped up the creepy tension on this one. If anyone else has played the PC game Prey, this gave me strong vibes of that game - very dedicated people, conducting very important research, with very little consideration of the ethical ramifications.

And I don't for one moment believe that all Lorca is interested in is transportation technology.

The episode puts a different context upon the concerns people had about the look of the ship. I'm getting a strong vibe from this episode that this vessel isn't intended to be 'heroic' - it's deliberately not designed to make us feel comfortable with it. It's designed to be the rabbit hole, the capsule in which the mysteries and conflict unfold. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes next.

EDIT: I'm sure there's going to be some rage about it, but I was amused that they finally got Burnham into something resembling a classic officer's uniform - and it's prison wear.

CapnZapp said:
You might consider reposting in the existing thread

And I'm glad he didn't. It's good to have a dedicated, spoilers-expected venue for each episode.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Oct 2, 2017

Yes, the spoilers thing is really the primary reason for me to think a single thread per episode is best. Especially for shows that are available via streaming, since people will watch them on their own time and will want to discuss what they have seen without stumbling into stuff that they have not seen yet.