The hunt for the Progenitors' technology ends at a binary black hole, and the mysterious device left suspended between them. But the Breen scoop it up before Discovery can secure it, leading to an infiltration mission aboard the Breen ship to steal the device.
I'm glad Jonathan Frakes directed one more before we're done. He's always great with the actors, getting some of their best performances. And I'm always amused by how fully he embraces Discovery's "wacky cinematography," soaring over the top with spinning cameras, fast-paced tracking shots, and bobbing-and-weaving oners. I'm sure that as long as they keep making other Star Trek series, Jonathan Frakes will be back to direct them. But to the extent that this was a "swan song," I enjoyed his work (as usual).
In particular (again, as usual), I enjoyed the Saru/T'Rina subplot of the story. I find myself more invested in these two as a couple than any long-term pairing on Star Trek since Benjamin Sisko and Kasidy Yates on Deep Space Nine. In particular, I love the idea of using a Vulcan (and another character with controlled emotion) to depict a caring relationship that's not all sappy PDA. I think with T'Rina (and actress Tara Rosling) in particular, the show is doing a good job walking the line of Vulcan emotion -- expressing and feeling it within the boundaries of what a Vulcan would do.
In contrast, I'm less caught up in the relationship roller coaster of Michael and Book. The writers tried to hang a lantern on their bad timing this week, having Burnham comment that "mid-mission" was not the best time to have a serious talk. But even acknowledging that did nothing to mitigate the other strangeness of the scene: that these two were having this talk while in Breen disguise. So their heart-to-heart, instead of being face-to-face, involved a series of awkward "Iron Man inside the suit" close-ups. Sure, it highlighted the fact that there are always obstacles for these two characters... but it also prevented the actors from really playing off each other.
I felt somewhere "in between" about Rayner this week. I still love the way the show has used him this season, having him always resist the touchy-feeliness of the rest of the Discovery crew. It was great fun when Tilly tried to get him to open up about why he wouldn't sit in the captain's chair, and for him to just shut her down. Nope, Rayner refuses the whole "Star Trek: Discovery vibe," and it's great. (He wouldn't have stood around talking in the beginning long enough for the Breen to show up and scoop the prize.) Though at the same time, because Rayner is such an emotionally buttoned-up character who doesn't let the audience in, it was a bit unclear in the end what had changed his mind to make him finally sit in the big chair.
I also had a bit of hard time with the geography on the Breen ship. Because both the cargo bay and the bridge are large, open spaces, and because the show established Moll in both spaces early in the episode, things got a little scrambled in my mind -- it wasn't always clear who was where, who was going where, and what was going on. Often, this is the sort of confusion you would hold the director accountable for... but I think Jonathan Frakes simply played the hand he was dealt by the script (and the visual choices made in earlier episodes).
As I said, my opinion on the episode feels a little unsettled, and may shift a bit depending on the finale. But for now, I'll give "Lagrange Point" a B-.
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