Welcome, one and all, to my continuing ‘Quick Thoughts on Star Trek Discovery’ series. Today’s episode, ‘Saints Of Imperfection’, was another strong showing from the season. Much as with last week, the episode felt very Trek, which is no bad thing. The themes were far more optimistic than we had in the first season, but they still fit within that world. So, these are my thoughts on the episode.
- Captain Pike came out of this episode very well. Honestly, the amount of focus given to him was a very good thing, and it helped further highlight some things about him that we’ve touched on before. He’s intensely loyal to his crew, for one. This is clear in not only his desire to find Spock – and his not wanting to believe he’s a murderer – but in his decision regarding the plan to rescue Tilly. His intuition about both Georgiou’s nature and Michael holding something back gives us a glimpse of his intuition too. Throw in him having a tough time reconciling actions with Leland and we have a very well rounded episode for the Captain, all of which is framed by his dedication to Star Fleet.
- Meanwhile, the Spock story was relegated to background noise for the most part. The discovery of his shuttle being abandoned was really just a way to get Georgiou and Tyler on to Discovery, and to bring Leland and Pike together. I don’t doubt that it’ll become focal as we move forward though.
- Tilly and Stamets had a mixed time this week. It was nice to see Tilly get angry while still remaining true to her general good nature. The Network was beautiful to look at, but as soon as May mentioned a monster, I kinda figured that I was wrong last week and it would be Hugh’s spirit. That whole arc was really well played out, and Hugh’s inability to cross dimensions with Stamets was utterly heartbreaking. I am glad that they got him back though, and I hope they do try to deal with the trauma he would have suffered spending so long dead in the Network.
- Michael was playing the mistrustful role this week. Her lack of optimism in rescuing Tilly at the start played in stark contrast to Stamets’ belief, and she really had a tough time in dealing with Georgiou. That’s understandable, certainly, but I do think that Georgiou came across as not being all bad this episode. Tough, yes, but not bad. If Michael had seen her quick actions to give Discovery more time, maybe she would have viewed the action in a less mercenary manner?
- Two things did pop up that were a little off for me. For one, Tyler being on the bridge made sense, because they could keep an eye on him. His presence not being relayed to Stamets prior to the Tilly mission also makes sense as he’d need to be able to concentrate. I do hope that they’ve told him now though. The other was when it was time to return form the Network and Michael pointed out it was ‘now or never’. For something so time critical, they sure took their time about it!
In all, I thought this was another very good outing, but what about yourselves? Are you watching Star Trek Discovery? How are you finding this second season? What did you make of this episode? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Doyle Media 