Synopsis
A surprise visitor to the U.S.S. Discovery brings shocking news about Spock and dredges up past regrets for Burnham. Following the asteroid incident, Tilly struggles to keep a grip on her reality. L’Rell’s authority on Qo’noS is threatened.
Review
Star Trek: Discovery has hit its first speed bump of the second season. After two significantly large steps towards something unique it takes a step back in this episode.
Caveat: this is still an enjoyable episode. I’m not jumping on the anti-Discovery bandwagon any time soon. Call it “woke”, call it crap, call it the worst thing on TV for all I care. Just make sure your criticisms are valid and not prejudiced.
Let’s get some context. Season 1 of Discovery very much revolved around the Klingon war. It was at the centre of everything from the pilot right through to the finale.
It was written in a way which upped the action and also commented on the state of modern politics plus gender and race equality. Much of the audience appreciated that but many did not.
So far in season 2 Discovery has shied away from those elements even separating itself from the spore drive story to some degree.
But with “Point of Light” we’re thrust back to that season 1 sensibility. What the writers have tried to do here is move the Klingons on. Their previous baldness has now given way to a more classic look explained away by this no longer being war time. But the inherent flaws in their character still exist.
I do think that their makeup is a little rubbery. There are certain scenes in this episode I struggled to connect with because I felt like I was watching for creases to appear or looking for join marks. But I do respect the effort that has been made to give them a more alien appearance.
One only has to look at Saru to know what the makeup team is capable of.
If we’re being entirely honest withourselves and viewers then we all know that Discovery found itself in a catch 22 with this episode. The series couldn’t ignore its first season, to do so would be offensive to the fans it had made so far.
It also doesn’t have the luxury of being set in a time period where the Klingons could be left far behind. This is no Delta Quadrant.
“Point of Light” faces up to ther series demons and it does it head on. If you’ll pardon the pun it tries to make a course correction under new leadership. I would argue it does so fairly successfully thanks to a brilliant entrance from alt-universe Georgiou.
The real problem is that is reminds us all about the uneven steps of the past. Looking at this as a singular episode then actually the story is fairly strong.
If we’re going to continue dealing with the Klingons then the idea of post-war political turmoil amongst their people certainly makes for more compelling viewing than simply engineering an issue of the week for them.
Verdict
“Point of Light” feels like a small step back for a show which was heading in the right direction. Unavoidable plot devises from season 1 hamper the development of season 2 but by the end of these 45mins I feel like we’re heading back towards where we need to be going forwards.
5/10
In the next episode…
Star Trek: Discovery is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Alex Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout, Bryan Fuller’s Living Dead Guy Productions and Roddenberry Entertainment. Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller, Heather Kadin, Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts, Akiva Goldsman, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth serve as executive producers.
The series airs on CBS All Access in North America and Netflix internationally.
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