Disco 2.04: "An Obol for Charon"

[lizbee]

Just throwing some half-formed thoughts at the wall before I shower...



In terms of Disco Does TNG, I liked this a lot better than "New Eden" -- yes, it's basically "Tin Man" plus "The Inner Light" in concept, but in execution, the sphere is just the catalyst for a whole lot of character stuff.

On the other hand, the move to more episodic storytelling isn't working for me -- there's no sense of urgency to the overarching plot anymore, and Michael keeps having the same conversation about Spock, week after week. She, like the season arc, is in a holding pattern, and it shows.

(Likewise, Tilly's predicament here could have been avoided by just asking May what she wanted last week. It's a bit artificial.)

I wonder, though, if this might all work better if we were binging -- it seems like only a week has passed since Pike took command, going by Linus's "I had a cold last week".

I realise I've just typed four paragraphs of negativity, but I actually had a lot of fun watching "An Obol for Charon"! I just listened to The Greatest Generation's "Tin Man" episode the other day, so the parallel was quite obvious, and I enjoyed watching the crew collaborate. Like the Vulture recapper said, this is a crew of the BIGGEST DORKS IN STARFLEET, which by definition is an organisation MADE OF DORKS.

(I think the proof is in the fact that, now Lorca's gone, the security chief position is a bit of an afterthought. It seems like Nahn has the role? Which is good, I like her, and she's so very much the opposite of every other security chief in the history of the series that she does the job wearing a skirted variation of the uniform. And she's not a Klingon, which is probably good.)

I'm still figuring out everything that went down with Saru, but mostly, I want an official webseries where he talks about houseplants.

SHAMEFUL CONFESSION: as much as I enjoyed Tig Notaro's scenes with Anthony Rapp, part of me was going, "Enough of Jett interacting with a man, tell us about her love life!" But then, I was speculating yesterday as to whether she has ever dated Kat (I think not -- they seem incompatible?) so maybe that's just me.

Sonequa Martin-Green deserves all the acting awards for her work here.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I think you've put your finger on exactly why this season isn't grabbing me quite as hard as last season -- it's that lack of urgency that's translating into a lack of single throughline. I was wondering whether it was just that there was no Jason Isaacs on my screen anymore, and sure, yes, I miss that evil bastard Lorca, but it's more that the mystery of his character, combined with Michael's redemption arc, made for a more compelling character-driven narrative (at least to me) than the Red Angel storyline.

But like you, I enjoyed this episode despite my complaints. Give me Jett Reno. ALL THE JETT RENO.

[lizbee]

I was wondering whether it was just that there was no Jason Isaacs on my screen anymore, and sure, yes, I miss that evil bastard Lorca, but it's more that the mystery of his character, combined with Michael's redemption arc, made for a more compelling character-driven narrative (at least to me) than the Red Angel storyline.

ALL OF THIS. But also, much as I like Pike as a foil for everyone else, I don't find him particularly interesting in his own right.

Having said that, we're only four episodes in -- in season one, Landry had just died, and Michael was on the verge of figuring out that using the Tardigrade as a navigator was harming it. And it was around episodes 5 and 6 that the series clicked and I went from "Yes, I'm rather enjoying this" to "THIS IS MY FAVOURITE SERIES AND I WILL NOT THINK ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE EVER."

(I mean, those are also the episodes where Kat played significant roles. But that's only part of it -- it's not just that she was there, but her interactions with Lorca made him more interesting.)

Jayne Brook said on Twitter that she's back for episode five (and also she is still very bad at keeping secrets), so I'm optimistic that season 2 is going to repeat the pattern of last year. I have faith in Kat's ability to make Pike more interesting, even though we're probably not going to learn that he and Lorca used to date.

[sabotabby]

I don't love the episodic stuff, especially when there's the kind of character development intensity that is going on here with Michael, Saru, and Tilly. I was half-convinced that Doug Jones had gotten another role or that the makeup was proving too difficult, except that usually when good shows kill a major character, there's some kind of arc or buildup. And I don't like how they resolved that bit or that the "we should talk to it" resolution with Tilly was supposed to be such a revelation (though at least it wasn't easy/miraculous!) but everything else about the episode was at least enjoyable to watch.

[lizbee]

I was half-convinced that Doug Jones had gotten another role...

He is appearing in the What We Do In The Shadows TV series, but I don't think he's a regular. Given his body type and ... every other role he's ever done, I'm assuming he'll do a couple of episodes as Petyr.

...or that the makeup was proving too difficult...

Jones is The Make-Up Guy. And Saru was written for him -- I don't think he's leaving until he absolutely wants to.

...or that the "we should talk to it" resolution with Tilly was supposed to be such a revelation...

Maybe they heard the ENTIRE AUDIENCE SHOUTING AT THEM last week.

[sabotabby]

Maybe they heard the ENTIRE AUDIENCE SHOUTING AT THEM last week.

AHAHAHA.

[garpu]

Saru's extraction of a promise from Michael to repair things with Spock didn't sit right with me, but I've been the target of extortions to reconnect with my estranged and toxic mother. Granted, I could be reading into it, but it felt manipulative to me.

ETA: I was a lot harsher than I meant it to be. There was an awful lot I liked about the episode, although I wish they'd hurry up and find Spock, already. It feels like they're setting up a much larger episode arc than they have episodes left this season.