Watching SNW S2E2, I couldn’t help but contrast it with Discovery … my thoughts.
Reposting this from the SNW S2E2 thread as it was removed by a mod for being “off topic”.
Am I being too harsh on Discovery?
A little bit, I think. To pick an obvious example, "Unification III" is a variation of a courtroom drama that I feel was executed quite well. It put Burnham and Saru's personalities front and centre, and shed light on the personalities of Presidents Rillak and T'rina - two fairly new characters - as well.
Yep ... I was thinking of that episode when I wrote the post. Unfortunately I don't have a clear enough memory of it to get into details, and I might find you to be right on a re-watch.
Nonetheless, my memory of the episode is that it wasn't really about anything "ethically meaty". It might have been enjoyable or interesting, but it seemed primarily character driven, inline with your summary of it (Burnham's character especially and the dynamic of her immaturity, stubbornness and determination/ambition), which would mean it isn't really relevant to my thoughts or as a contrast with SNW S2E2 ... ?
If we're talking about ethics, Discovery's first season is entirely about reactionaries, and the importance of upholding values even in the face of annihilation. Vance's negotiations with Osyraa in season three touched on similar themes. Season four had extensive discussions about the ways to approach the DMA crisis. All ethical dilemmas.
I think this is well laid out and largely accurate, mirroring a lot of what I have felt about the contrast between SNW and DISCO (in my opinion, heavily in favor of SNW).
I will note that Discovery has got this right before in a slightly different format with the Tardigrade in The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry and especially Choose Your Pain. I think they did a wonderful job walking the audience, via Burnham's perspective, through a pretty dramatic shift in how "Ripper" is perceived: first a horrific monster, then a weird, interesting alien and a technical puzzle, and finally a suffering creature deserving of sympathy and protection. They balance that out with competing perspectives around the intimately connected ethical questions around potentially killing that creature to save their lives (and potentially the Federation), culminating in Stamets making an extremely forceful endorsement of the creature's right to life.
Nothing else in Discovery's catalogue (save perhaps S4), or any other pre-SNW nuTrek show, did nearly as good a job tackling a classically Trek ethical dilemma. Plus, they took full advantage of the continuity between episodes to do so, drawing a benefit from the format which seemed to have far less beneficial effects on the later seasons.
Thanks! I don’t have clear memories of that episode, but what you describe rings true. I literally just rewatched Disco S1E3 … and was I like “I forgot about the tardigrade!!” when it showed up.
Relatedly, Disco, and IMO Picard, have oddly underrated first seasons which may actually be the shows’ best, with deeper problems, for some fans, coming in as the show goes.
Relatedly, Disco, and IMO Picard, have oddly underrated first seasons which may actually be the shows’ best, with deeper problems, for some fans, coming in as the show goes.
I fully agree with this take. Or at least the DISCO parts of it.
I didn't particularly loved Ad Astra Per Aspera but I agree that this episode demonstrates the tone difference between Discovery and SNW very well, but honestly all of SNW feels like it was a 180 degrees shift from Discovery (and that's good).