Discovery begins its search for Progenitor technology at a burial ground on a now-uninhabited planet, and the away team must overcome the security measures installed there. It will also be Saru's last mission as Burnham's first officer, as he has decided to accept an ambassadorial appointment. Tilly is also there on temporary assignment from Starfleet Academy, making this one "last ride" together for much of the Discovery crew. Meanwhile, Booker helps in the hunt for Moll and L'ak, and uncovers a personal connection.
In many ways, I felt similarly about episode two of this final season as I did about episode one, both in what I found good and not-so-good. But I also felt like this was a generally more polished episode that I enjoyed quite a bit more.
We got another big action set piece that might well have been what the episode was crafted around... but the running and hiding from mechanical sentries on the planet surface felt well integrated -- not "action for action's sake." (Not to mention, when you plant the idea of "Action Saru," you have to pay it off.)
The structure of this season-long story was more fully revealed, and I'm entertained. The fact that Discovery will seemingly have to collect five pieces of some mystical device feels straight out of some RPG, and maybe that's a little cheesy, but I'm here for it all the same. I think it sets up for "chapters" that will feel slightly less serialized than normal for Discovery, allowing them to bring us different adventures in different settings.
And wow, is the show amazing at that. When past Star Trek would visit a jungle planet, it always looked like the production cleaned out the garden center at the local hardware superstore and awkwardly clustered things together on a sound stage. The planet of "Under the Twin Moons" was an absolutely realistic environment with fantastic-looking stone ruins, convincing wide landscape shots, dangerous drones, and enough airborne pollen(?) to choke you. Very cool. A season format that allows Discovery to do this kind of thing several more times sounds great to me.
Another thing I appreciate about the story structure here is bringing in Rayner as the new first officer. It makes perfect sense for Michael Burnham's story to come full circle, for her to give someone else the second chance she herself was given. And I actually don't have confidence that Rayner will embrace that chance wholeheartedly, which I think is also good for the show. The characters on Discovery sometimes feel too open with their feelings, sometimes too supportive of one another and too easily able to learn and grow. Rayner feels like a welcome bitter taste to balance all the sweet. Plus, I loved Callum Keith Rennie on Battlestar Galactica, and am excited to see him take on a different role here.
But still, the episode had its weaker elements too. Bringing Tilly back for this mission felt like a weird stretch with a half-hearted justification at best. And timing that with Saru's "last mission" felt especially ill-considered. If Tilly can leave and then just come back this easily, does Saru's departure actually mean anything?
If Moll and L'ak reached this planet before Discovery, how did they get by all the sentry drones, and why was there no apparent evidence of any fireworks from their recent presence? For that matter, how did the Romulan scientist get in there centuries ago to actually leave the piece of the Macguffin? Does the tenuous connection revealed between Moll and Booker (that she's the daughter of his mentor) actually mean anything important? (Despite having taken the man's name, Booker never really talks about the guy.)
Still, call this episode a step in the right direction after a season premiere I felt much more mixed about. I give "Under the Twin Moons" a B.
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