ST: DISCO - The War Within, The War Without

[tree_and_leaf]

This week's episodes felt like a lot of brilliant character moments that were not so much hanging together in a coherent story as setting up the finale, but I am not really complaining.

"Brilliant character moments" is not the same as a lot of our characters making brilliant decisions, because wow, about the only person not making choices which you might raise an eyebrow at is Michael, and she brought the Emperor back from the Mirror universe in a way which is in the process of blowing up interestingly in her face. Saru and Tilly are doing OK, though I'd have thought there was a middle ground between imprisoning Ash and leaving him free to wander the ship and bump into people - like Stamets - who have good reason not to want to see him. I liked the way that conversation was written, though, and I am glad that they've allowed Stamets to be angry.

Sarek managed to be a decent father, for once - although it as following directly on from making a really terrible military-political decision.

I agree with lizbee that Cornwall seems to be being given a PTSD plot - quite apart from the horrible decisions she's just come to, her phasering-Lorca's-cookies moment, while fun to watch, strikes me as a strong indication that she's not making entirely rational decisions....

There is no way putting the Emperor on the bridge can go well, but it's going to be fun to watch.

There is some superb acting in this. It almost feels invidious to pick individuals out - though obviously Michelle Yeoh is magnetic every time she's on the screen - but Sonequa Martin-Green continues to really sell Michael to me, Doug Jones is just unbelievably good under all that latex (Mary Chieffo is pretty good as L'Rell, too), Shazad Latif suffers beautifully, and Kevin Rapp was great in the brief scene he had. And Jayne Brook (Cornwell) and Mary Wiseman are thoroughly believable, too.

... I have basically mentioned everyone, now. I am not all that impressed by James Frain, although I suppose he's not bad, but he's suffering from the very considerable handicap of not being Mark Lenard, and I will admit he can't do anything about that. (Mind you, it's amazing how much more willing I am to consider the dubiousness of a lot of Sarek's choices when he's not played by Mark Lenard, so in a way that's a plus?)