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DJAlexWhalen
Reviews
Star Trek: Discovery: Coming Home (2022)
The dedication of the haters tells you everything
We're now 4 seasons and 40+ shows in to this series, and the haters keep hate-watching and hats-posting all the way through. That this show has somehow produced that level of commitment among its critics tells you that it has accomplishing something of significance, and yep, it's really worth taking the time to find out what.
The original Star Trek was goofy and overly optimistic, and so too is this one. I for one found it endearing, and by the end of this arc I was once again totally hooked. Sure, it's optimism feels somewhat out of time, but then so too was the optimism of the OG. The early 70s were rough y'all, and then as now we needed a reminder we could be better.
So haters keep on hating, and optimists keep on watching. 10/10 from me. Job well done!
Star Trek: Discovery: ...But to Connect (2021)
It feels marvelous...being seen
First off, Cronenberg absolutely nails his role this episode. Second, I chose that quote for the title of the review because it was with that line in this episode that I finally understood the driving force of this season. Prior to this episode this season had felt hit or miss to me, but here it finally feels like it's all coming together.
Star Trek: Discovery: All Is Possible (2021)
Huge fan of this show but not this episode.
Too much interpersonal drama, not enough exploration and adventure, which is very much not what I've been saying about STD so far. I genuinely like this show and it's cast of characters, but this episode needs to be binned. All that to find out they agreed to form a committee? And what group of cadets would ever respond to a lieutenant like that? It genuinely made no sense, so much so that neatly all of the character development was lost on me.
Star Trek: Discovery: Anomaly (2021)
Neither the best nor the worst of the series
I love this show, but I'm not yet sure what to make of this season. There's yet another existential threat to the galaxy, and I've no issue with that. And I'm absolutely down with explorations of the meanings of family and grief and love and loss as part of the typical ST-style galactic exploration. So this is very much not a complaint about that either. It's more that in this one case, I wish there'd been a bit more meta-plot and a bit less meta-personal.
Either way, enjoyable enough and on to the next!
Star Trek: Discovery: Kobayashi Maru (2021)
Do we honor our interconnection or do we curl inward.
Another season, another round of battling trolls who live to watch a thing they insist they hate despite the dozens of hours they devote to it. Just think: when this season ends, they will have devoted anymore than two day's worth of hours to watching this show!
Which makes sense, because it's great! I'm not yet sure where this season is going, but that's been true every season so far, and the ride has always been a great one. Let's gooooo!
Star Trek: Discovery: That Hope Is You, Part 2 (2021)
"Beautiful and Diverse and Filled with Wonder"
And that's always been the point of every incarnation of Star Trek!
Is this one perfect? No, but none of them have ever been perfect.
Is this one entertaining? Hell yeah, and not all of them have been!
Is some of it overacted? Of course, because what would ST be without that?!?
Can't wait for next season. It's been one heck of a ride.
Star Trek: Discovery: There Is a Tide... (2020)
Honoring the sociopolitical legacy of the OG ST
Robots! Robots! Robots! Awwwww yeah ROBOTS!
Also? The negotiation process was a bit silly, but they stuck the landing in a way that was super entertaining, so it would be quite silly to complain.
Star Trek: Discovery: Su'Kal (2020)
Worst of the season, yet still great
This one is just a personal thing: I hate the parts of stories in which the villain chews the scenery during momentary triumphs that the structure of the show/book/film/story dictates will ultimately become defeats. It's the only time I ever want to fast forward but frustratingly cannot lest I lose the context that will later drive the plot.
Nevertheless, a seven, as this is well done.
Star Trek: Discovery: Terra Firma, Part 2 (2020)
The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference
Props once again to the writers of this show and to the haters they've inspired to demonstrate the show's power by regularly showing up here to trash something they're either pretending to watch or actually watching. In either case, they care deeply, and that's one hell of an accomplishment.
Star Trek: Discovery: Terra Firma, Part 1 (2020)
You're antagonizing us because you're pissed at them.
Hard to review a Part I without having watched part two, but that's the ask so here goes: it's an entertaining mystery box that has me heading straight into Part II even though it's late and I've got an important meeting first thing in the am. So watch it. Enjoy it. Imagine the better world it represents. And then make it so.
Star Trek: Discovery: The Sanctuary (2020)
Welcome to the Sanctuary
This series goes from strength to strength. If you've made it this far and aren't the sort of bizarre human who loves to hate-watch things while insisting you don't love hate-watching, then you're gonna like this one too.
So watch it. Enjoy it. Imagine the better world it represents. And then make it so.
Star Trek: Discovery: Unification III (2020)
Be Honest, Especially to Yourself
Unless you completely misunderstood everything Star Trek has always been about, there's no way you won't be entertained by this episode. Yeah, there's some fan service, but fan service is nothing but good fun when done properly, and this is very much done properly.
As to the rest of what people are saying here...It will always be bizarre to me that people choose to dedicate parts of their short lives on this rock to tearing down things other people love, but the coordinated posts here trashing emotion and diversity in a Star Trek show are yet more evidence that some people will always prefer to destroy rather than create. And yet ironically we should thank them for this, as their actions demonstrate quite clearly why shows like this are so badly needed in this world.
So watch the show. Enjoy the show. And imagine the better world it represents. And then make it so.
Star Trek: Discovery: Forget Me Not (2020)
A meditation on grief and love and acceptance
It's so rare to see something that gets the yin-yang of grief and love right, but WOW does this episode do so. I feel so so very sorry for anyone who cannot see the beauty in this story, and I pray that each of you out there eventually find your way to a place where you can.
Star Trek: Discovery: People of Earth (2020)
Sincerely and genuinely hopeful
Sincere, genuine hopefulness for a better, more united humanity has always been at the heart of the entire Star Trek universe, and this series and episode is no different, up to and including when it is cheesy. Because maybe the adolescent or teenage you didn't realize when you watched whichever series was your formative one, but ST has always been at its best when it was a bit cheesy and goofily hopeful.
So yeah, this is fun and it's cheesy and it's goofy and it's a hell of a hopeful ride, as Star Trek always has and should be.
Star Trek: Discovery: Far from Home (2020)
From strength to strength
I don't know what's wrong with so many people on this site-this was part two of a super entertaining start to a new season, one that is absolutely in keeping with the ethos of both the previous seasons of Discovery and the Star Trek universe as a whole. Star Trek has always been about hope for a better future, a hope that has always been explicitly and necessarily socio-political. This series, this season, and this episode is entirely in keeping with that tradition, and anyone who says otherwise is being ridiculous.
If I wanted to be pedantic, I could point out minor inconsistencies in the plot or complain about this that or the other character, but I watch TV to be entertained, not to be a childish critic who insists that every show must be perfectly constructed to appeal to me in each and every moment of its existence.
Lighten up y'all. This show is crazy fun, and we all need more things like this in our lives.
Star Trek: Discovery: That Hope Is You, Part 1 (2020)
LOL to the haters
I don't know what's wrong with so many people on this site-this was a super entertaining start to a new season, one that is absolutely in keeping with the ethos of both the previous seasons of Discovery and the Star Trek universe as a whole. Star Trek has always been about hope for a better future, a hope that has always been explicitly and necessarily socio-political. This series, this season, and this episode is entirely in keeping with that tradition, and anyone who says otherwise is being ridiculous.
Now, does this season and episode in any way mark a significant a departure from the "typical" Star Trek universe? Well yeah because DUH the end of last season had them jumping forward in spacetime to a part of the timeline no show or film has ever covered. But if that bothers you, I'm not sure how you made it through season one or why it would bother you now and not then?
Either way: ignore all the ridiculous waaaah waaah noises here, watch, and enjoy. This season is one heck of a ride!
Her (2013)
Extraordinary Look at the Meaning of Life
The thing with Spike Jonze films is that every time I watch one, I end up wishing there a dozen more by him that I've never seen. They're all so absurdly brilliant and unique and fearless, and they leave me...speechless...and in awe of what he has created...and overwhelmed with thankfulness for being alive.
But even with all that said, this one is next level. It's a meditation on life and love and loneliness and what it means to be alive and to be human and...If you haven't watched this yet, just do.
Reservation Dogs (2021)
"Were you in a shootout? Drivers test."
One of the best things I've seen on TV in a long long time. Reminds me of Atlanta in all the best possible ways. Surreal, yet entirely recognizable as real people living real lives in very real places.
Atlanta: Teddy Perkins (2018)
One of the best episodes in the history of television
I don't even know what to say about this episode beyond what I wrote in the title: this is one of the all time great episodes in the long history of episodic television. Just incredible writing, acting, and directing. Incredible.