T’Lyn’s story in Season 5 involves her and another character in an interesting way, and you see T’lyn embrace science and Starfleet more than I think people anticipate.
Until proven otherwise I'll remain on the Sokel-is-T'Lyn's-father boat and will assume this to be about him.
It's pretty impressive since pure capsaicin tops out at 16 million, guess they started putting crazier spice moulecules in. Also makes Boimler's pain in that episode less of a gag and more of a "how are you legally allowed to have this on your table?"
Oh, very clever Worf. Eat any good books lately?
As far as I'm aware they never explain the rules of Stratagema. I feel pretty comfortable saying it seems like a terrible esport to spectate. You've got
Basically, take a minimalist strategy game like Go and an RTS game and stick them together in a way that uses the strengths of neither. That's Stratagema. Don't play this game, it's dumb.
(Minor edit, after thinking this over a little it's possible the red pieces are neutral objectives. I don't think that correlates as well with the finger movements, but whatever. That'd just make Stratagema 3d Liquid War with mario kart powerups tacked on)
Star Trek does this thing where formal rank isn't actually as important as being in the captain's in-group. Can you name anything important that provisional Lt. JG Ayala did on the USS Voyager? I sure as hell can't, but it was less important than Harry "eternal ensign" Kim.
As much as the Lower Decks gang would like to think of themselves as unimportant, they're very much confidants of the Cerritos' senior staff so it's illogical, but consistent for Boimler to be at the top of the list for acting captain when stuff's going down.
Out of universe it's obviously a narrative/screen time thing, I'd say you've just got to accept it and move on.
The shitposters of c/risa : "we're doing our part!"
Man, the years were far kinder to Tom Paris than Locarno. Guess being a Starfleet burnout is a pretty stressful existence.
Rutherford hanging out with Freeman is presumably setup for the finale, giving us three perspectives without compromising the focus on the main gang. He did feel a little tacked on though.
"Should we put Captain Lorca's warp phrase on the image?"
"Nah, fuck that mirror universe asshole. Just add another Pike and call it a day."
Dunno why they didn't bother promoting this episode, it was great. I was initially skeptical that it was just going to be a "Mariner is angsty" episode without much of a payoff, but they finally revealed everything. And they gave Ma'ah screen time doing it!
The confirmation of how the Dominion War scarred Mariner wasn't much of a surprise, but the tie back to the Lower Decks of old was. What an absolutely crushing reason to lose the optimism in what Starfleet can be. Props to Tawny Newsome for some good voice acting for an emotionally vulnerable moment.
Minor complaint/discontinuity: in this episode Mariner seemed surprised that T'Lyn was present at the fight against the Pakleds and the Klingon BoP in Wej Duj, although I seem to recall T'Lyn explicitly referencing that incident to her in Empathological Fallacies.
Speculation about next week: I'd hazard a guess that Locarno is a thematic version of what Mariner could become if she isn't careful. He's a Starfleet ace gone bad, and also Sito's former friend, so he's presumably got a lot to sell her on the troublemaker's life.
God, I typed a lot and didn't even get to Freeman's misdirection this episode. It was good, watch it!
I mean if you look at Burnham and Sarek's relationship in Discovery he did a pretty dang good job beating the human emotion out of her.
Sure, this kinda fucked her up emotionally in a way the series tragically didn't look into nearly enough after season 1, but you can't say that his methods never worked.
Tendi's bit was wholesome, but this was a weaker episode overall IMO. I get what they were going for, the jokes just didn't really land for me.
A bit worried it'll have a heavy tonal overlap with Lower Decks and thematic overlap with LD/Prodigy.
That said, I really want Star Trek to move to literally anything other than the TOS/TNG eras, so let's see where this goes.
A bit of a weird episode in that the protagonists didn't solve much, the two problems just sort of fizzled out for their own reasons.
Kind of surprised that Peanut Hamper was up for parole-- Memory Alpha doesn't list a specific stardate for A Mathematically Perfect Redemption but judging by the adjacent years and the stardate AGIMUS listed she's been in Daystrom for less than two years.
IMO this episode confirms that what we saw last week wasn't an anomaly, Rutherford's got it bad for Tendi. It's kind of weird to have him focusing on her encouragement to the exclusion of Mariner (who was in his immediate vicinity!) otherwise.
No T'Lyn in these shots, here's hoping we still see her through the rest of the season.
Absolutely looking forward to the triumphant return of AGIMUS!
Disco S3: Admiral Charles Vance had the option to sign a peace treaty with the Emerald Chain which would essentially merge it with the Federation, putting the Chain's hegemony over the alpha quadrant with the Federation's political legitimacy. Vance looked over the terms and (with a gun metaphorically to his head) conceded they were actually pretty good, he asked for only one concession: that Minister Osryaa be prosecuted for her many (and well documented) crimes. She wasn't keen on this, so Vance rejected the treaty because he considered the UFP's ideals worth dying for. Basically, Osyraa put on the face of a reformer but Vance correctly noted she just wanted the Federation brand.
Disco S2: Captain Christopher Pike needs a time crystal for Story Reasons™️. He meets with a Klingon monk named Tenavik on Boreth and, while inspecting a crystal destined for him, sees his tragic future. Tenavik says that Pike can get out of it if he leaves the time crystal. Because Pike is a moral pillar/absolute chad of a captain he steels himself and takes it. IMO Pike's finest moment, and obviously the catalyst for his SNW characterization.
Totally was the Sense-Ores admiral from Moist Vessel. Memory Alpha lists him as Admiral Vassery.
Aight let's put some from some of the unmentioned series here:
I'd be remiss if i didn't point out we have an actual, canon phrase ("Arnock, on the night of his joining") that we know is appropriate for such an occasion though.
Dunno what you're on about, that's Captain Sonya Gomez.
Ensign Gomez was indeed not seen again.
(yes, I know this is still inaccurate)