25th March, 2022.
Right … my dinner is almost ready to be eaten: or, at least, be shoved on a plate.
Then eaten.
After that … ?
I’ll be washing up: then doing what I’ve been saying I should do for a couple of weeks, now.
Catching up with season four of Star Trek Discovery.
This reviews up, tomorrow: hopefully, I’ll see you then.
~≈🚀≈~
26th March, 2022.
Episode 1 — Kobayashi Maru — opens with a reminder of what happened in Season Three: and how the USS Discovery found itself in a very different galaxy.
The episode moves on.
To show us Captain Michael Burnham, and Cleveland ‘Book’ Booker (Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala) on a minor diplomatic mission: trying to persuade the people of Alshain 4 to join the Federation, and accept some free dilithium*.
A mission that they succeed in … with a few butterflies on route.
After the title sequence?
We find that Micheal and Book have to go their separate ways, for a while.
Book is taking part in his nephew’s† coming of age ceremony: Michael is giving the commencement address to a new generation of Starfleet Academy cadets.
It’s in the middle of the post-address buffet that Michael and her crew, start having problems.
Deep Space Repair Beta Six is in trouble: the station has been knocked out of orbit by something, and the Discovery is the only ship that can get there in time.
Federation President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal‡) insists on coming along for the potentially dangerous ride.
And Book’s homeward of Kwejian has been destroyed … …
~≈🚀≈~
So …
Was Kobayashi Maru an entertaining episode?
What did I make of it?
Does it make season four look good?
Yes, Kobayashi Maru is an entertaining story, well told.
There’s danger: both for Captain Burnham, her lover, and for her crew.
There’s short lived danger from the Alshain, long term danger from the mysterious anomaly that’s damaged Deep Space Repair Beta Six, and potential political danger to Captain Burnham: in the shape of President Rillak.
Political turmoil is something Star Trek hasn’t examined since the heady days of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
There’s also the apparent destruction of Book’s home-world.
Those threads — the planet-destroying abilities of the Anomaly, and the political machinations of the President — look promising.
Combine that with a cast that looks like they’ve become ever more comfortable with each other, writing that seems well done, effects that look good, a setting that’s given writers a clean slate unhampered by previous series.
Talking of the cast? There’s a very restrained confrontation between Burnham and Rillak towards the end or the episode that both actors underplay beautifully^.
I suspect director, Olatunde Osunsanmi, helped there: he’s shown himself capable of a good job.
Given that? What we have in Kobayashi Maru is an entertaining story … one that’s set up an intriguing fourth season.
Personally? I’m thinking I should catch the next episode, Anomaly, on Tuesday, 29th March.
But, more than probably, will watch it on April Fool’s Day: and have the reviews up on 2nd April, 2022.
I hope you’ll come back for those: I’d love to share my thoughts with you.
See you then!
Kobayashi Maru.★★★★
* What I didn’t know until I looked up dilithium on Wikipedia? Is that’s there’s a real-world dilithium: that has nothing too do with its fictional counterpart. Li₂ is a strongly electrophilic, diatomic molecule comprising two lithium atoms covalently bonded together. Apparently …
† Book’s nephew’s called Leto. Where DO they get these names … ?
‡ I last saw Chelah as Helen Smith in The Man in The High Castle. Which was a great series, badly let down by a happy ending. A bland, happy ending, instead of the destruction of San Francisco the show had been threatening for four series.
^ About my only problem with that scene? Is that Rillak confesses she’s putting shortlist together: of potential captains of some new experimental Starfleet ships, together. As far as I know from the real world? Politicians don’t name ship captains. And heads of state or government don’t usually do anything other that declare war, And hand out medals.
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