mj

First time in years I have rewatched Star Trek episodes multiple times, not in the previous two seasons of Discovery, nor in Picard. I watched the ending of S3 E2 so many times I have lost track. I started this season irked because somehow in the future the Federation was gone, but even in E1 the hope of the Federation persists in such a way that it is inspiring. But while I loved the ending of E1, the ending of E2 felt so much like the Star Trek of old, I have watched it over and over.  I get the same feeling. And in each of the episodes we have seen Discovery embodying the Federation in what they do to help who they encounter, keeping hope alive, even with Michelle Yeoh’s character non-Federation interjections. I loved Saru’s  comment about dialogue being a tool, and how Earth and Titan will work out their problems. I loved Tilly hugging the tree, finding something on Earth that remembered her. I find the first three episodes  of S3 rich enough to consider again and again.
*I went back and checked to see if I really didn’t review episodes, and I did review a few after all, just not with the current enthusiasm. 

I have watched each episode so far, and while there are many aspects I do not care for, I like a lot of it, and it has good issues in the episodes, and more than one point of view. Some of the humor is too risque, but other is side-splitting hilarious.
My favorite humor was when the brother asked the captain about whether they could still have lidded drinks on the bridge, and the captain said sure. And later we saw he taking a sip. (I don't have any of the names in my head).
Haven't you wondered if the crew really did all their eating in the cafeteria?
I really liked the fact that in the latest episode, fighting the Krill, they could not bring themselves to let the children be harmed, yet were told that these children would grow up hating them.
That was a very star trek-like episode in my opinion. They had to act to stop the Krill form murdering 100,000 or so people, yet couldn't slay the Krill children, who remain to hate them for killing everyone else, which was the only way to stop the mass killing. A no win scenario.

Discovery's propulsion system is amazing. The use of living creatures to accomplish it is probably why it remained a secret, and was never part of design of future ships.
The creature is somehow not responding well to its role.
People who seem like main characters keep getting killed. For noe I m interested to see where this all leads.

I was drawn in by this episode. I also watched this episode multiple times, which is one advantage to Star Trek being on all access.
Saru was blunt and to the point. I loved Burnham's speech when she made it plain to Lorca that she lives and dies by Star Fleet Principles.
The magnitude of her loss, and the pain it brings, is apparent but not overacted. I liked the scene where she touched the insignia on
the pillow. I think crediting Burnham with starting the war with the Klingons is not quite accurate, since the Kingons were planning war all along,
despite what everyone says. The Federation does not understand the Klingons well enough to make a better assessment of what started the war,
But she did mutiny. I am glad she is out of jail.
What I liked about this episode was how an apparently resigned to her fate  Burnham popped right back into top form when put into situations that needed her expertise.
I also liked Lorca's comment on how the universe perhaps did not like waste.

I really liked John B.'s Phlox. He had such depth and his responses made him seem so real. Two examples.
His response to the new prejudice against aliens he encountered I think at the start of season four, when he just wouldn't
go back down to the surface, even though he had been craving Chinese food for so long, was so real. The response to prejudice that never makes the evening news is why it is successful and will never go away......people just stay away from mean people. He settled for take out.
Then I loved the time he was playing basketball with the senior staff. He was playing the game by standing in one spot shooting 'three-pointers', enjoying himself and thinking about a Denobulan (spelling?) 'analog', interpreting the game in terms of his own cultural perspectives. Everyone else was sweating, running and jumping and exhausting themselves..... playing basketball! To me this is the kind of understated excellence Star Trek had over most sci-fi....interspecies cultural interaction. Phlox considered himself to be playing the game, but was seeing things from his own perspective. The humans were including him and doing things from their perspective, including using and trading Phlox's special shooting talent to win...it was a brief, excellent vignette of inclusion. And right before the tragic news of the embassy explosion.....

What about this, AE.....you know those emails from foreign countries that ask for money for all kinds of personal catastrophes? Well I received an email from a friend saying something sad had happened. This was an out of state friend
and professional colleague so I emailed her back to say I was praying for her and to let me know if there was anything I could do.  As I left work it occurred to me to just call her....and lo, nothing was wrong! Plus, she had been getting calls all day from friends, and was in the process of investigating how she had been hacked.
The next day I received an email reply to the email I had sent, supposedly replying from my friend. According to the letter my friend was stuck in a foreign country was ill, and needed thousands of dollars, and oh...she was so embarrassed to have to ask for this money.
Now that reply site has been sent out to our IT people as a phishing site. But there is no restraint on these people.
You just got an America version!

Are you sure they are klingons and not some other new race?