Synopsis
A mysterious sphere threatens the U.S.S. Discovery even as May, in her original form, implements a plan that puts Tilly’s life in danger. Saru and Burnham’s bond grows when Saru is forced to acknowledge a deeply unsettling Kelpien truth. Pike receives new intel on Spock from a loyal friend.
Review
“An Obol for Charon” is for sure an interesting episode. Reading the synopsis would have you think the episode revolves – for want of a better phrase – around the mysterious sphere. But actually in hindsight all my recollections are around Tilly and Saru. The sphere becomes a slight non-entity in an overstuffed episode.
I criticised the last episode (here) for taking the show a step backwards. It may have been a little harsh but the episode did undo some of the hard work to get the show moving forwards.
This episode does another about turn and hurtles back in a forwards direction. Problem is it does so at an all too alarming rate. Make no mistake this is still an, overall, intriguing episode with some great character developments. But it all happens at a speed which means we very rarely get time to take it in.
It’s breathless. What I enjoy about Star Trek’s of yester year is their ability to let characters breathe. If you think back to the death of Tasha Yar in The Next Generation we had the scene with her hologram saying goodbye to the rest of the crew. In that moment the characters and the audience had chance to exhale and digest the loss.
With Star Trek: Discovery season 2 the preoccupation with providing a spectacle has overtaken the need to drive the story using its characters.
That being said the scenes between Saru and Burnham in this episode are a highlight. The empassioned acting by Sonequa Martin-Green and Doug Jones really pulls the scene out from the rest of the episode. It pulled me along a path whereby the longer the scene went on the more I was convinced the character would die.
The instead revelation about the Kelpien lifestyle was a little head scratcher of a moment. It felt a little disingenuous to the five minutes of build-up but I love the character of Saru so much that I hope it does start a personal arc for him which will be explored in future episodes.
These scenes do at least prove there is still some emotional connection between the show and its characters. But this needs to be brought back to the fore in future to give Star Trek: Discovery some more resonance.
As for that sphere mentioned in the synopsis? All I can remember is the ship had to do space donuts to escape it…
Verdict
This episode was a mixed bag. Whilst the action was high quality and the pace relentless it lost sight of the series characters more than I would have liked.
5/10
In the next episode…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3in6ZYk5yKoStar 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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