This week's rough thoughts on Disco 209

[lizbee]

1. Because I don't have enough writing projects on the go already, I'm seriously thinking of pitching an essay somewhere on the unapologetic pragmatism of Kat Cornwell. It's a phrase I keep using, because ... well. Even when she's called out for it -- and rightfully so -- she turns it around on Pike, basically manipulating him, but with the truth? And she is still treated as a reasonable person -- which I think she is -- and an ally of the heroes.
2. To quote from my own Tumblr, "A lot of the conflicts between major characters in Discovery this season are between characters who are both right, or who at the very least have good reasons for their positions and perceptions, and neither party is demonised, and it’s just a really interesting way of portraying personal, political and family conflicts."
3. ("Major characters" here means the Discovery crew and their allies, and maybe even the Klingons; Section 31 is the exception that proves the rule.)
4. That awkward moment when you realise Starfleet Siri has been evil all along.
5. I love this plotline for the worldbuilding -- we're finding out why the Federation's AI and holographic technology has basically stagnated for a century. It's a neat retcon, given that humanity right now is on the verge of the AI singularity, and holograms are probably not that far off.
6. Like, I'm glad that Airiam got some character development before she was killed off, but they couldn't have seeded that through the season a bit more organically? The advantage of plotting and writing the whole season in advance is meant to be that you don't have to squeeze things into an episode at the last minute!
7. I have so much more to say, but it's midday on Saturday and I need to call my mum and do some housework and gardening and stuff.

Comments

[nonelvis]

Re: #6 -- YES, THIS. I mean, it's a testament to how well the characterization they shoved in worked that I actually cared and was upset when Airiam died, but could they not have put in even tiny bits of that throughout the season?

... OTOH, now I can speculate that Airiam's robot body survives airlocking or is rescued and revived in some way that allows her to become the Red Angel, because the plot is so heavily hinting it's going to be Michael that I really want there to be a fakeout. ("Find Project Daedalus," really? You mean, the guy who built a winged machine for a human to fly? Subtle, show, subtle.)

[lizbee]

("Find Project Daedalus," really? You mean, the guy who built a winged machine for a human to fly? Subtle, show, subtle.)

OH I KNOW. (In his defence, like, those wings would have worked just fine if Icarus had followed the instructions.)

...because the plot is so heavily hinting it's going to be Michael that I really want there to be a fakeout.

Yeah, if Michael is the Red Angel, at this point it's going to be even less shocking than that time Ash turned out to be a Klingon.

[kore]

STARFLEET SIRI, LOL

Yeah, there was some other sf show I watched recently where in one episode, a character got a lot of development and was interesting -- and they died at the end. It seems to be a genre problem.