Star Trek Discovery: 2x11 (Perpetual Infinity)
In which time is the fire in which we burn.
I think Discovery's strength is its character moments. Its weakness is its ongoing plots. Both this week and last week's episodes were all about Red Angel nonsense, but last week focused more on character interactions, whereas this week was much more plot-focused... and so, this week was a much weaker instalment. There was too much that was either poorly explained or poorly plotted, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing to be left with more questions than answers, at this point in the season, the main plot shouldn't feel like such a thread-bare collection of ideas poorly woven together.
My main question is - what is the significance of the sphere data supposed to be? In “Project: Daedalus”, it seemed fairly understandable. The Control of the future had used the probe to hijack Ariam so she'd send present-day Control the data it needed to become fully self-aware. Now, though, it seems Control is fully autonomous, fully self-aware... and it still wants the data? Why? What more does it need? It seems like the damage has already been done, so Discovery's half-assed attempts to keep the data safe feels pointless.
(I do appreciate that Pike is presented as fairly upset and frustrated about having to destroy the sphere database.)
I did like Michael's mother as the world-weary time traveller, beaten down by the enormity of her task and the seeming futility of her efforts to remake time, and unable or unwilling to risk caring about anyone anymore because she knows it can easily be undone.
I am wondering of the significance of her unfamiliarity with the red signals. The episode does go out of its way to bring up mitochondrial DNA and to mention that the Angel suit is DNA locked, so my guess is that at some point, Michael will end up in the suit and set into motion the signals. This would answer one of my ongoing annoyances about this whole storyline - why has everyone assumed there's only one Angel?
The other possibility, of course, is that the signals are Control's doing. It does seem significant to me that one of the signals led Discovery to Kaminar... where they encountered the temporal rift that allowed Control's future self to take control of Ariam. I think this would be more interesting; if Michael or her mother create the signals, then it means a lot of the events of this season were the result of a predestination paradox and thus occurred simply because that was what happened the first time around, rather than to advance any real goals or motivations.
I am amused that New Eden's 'miraculous' deliverance was, it seems, purely a test of the suit's powers - an experiment, nothing more. The Red Angel might not be as malevolent as I'd initially assumed, but it's not really something you should put your faith in either.
We also finally get confirmation that the Red Angel and the devastated galaxy are tied to a date centuries in the future, which makes it seem more and more likely that the “Calypso” short is going to play a role somehow. In that short, Discovery's computer had, over the centuries, developed into a true artificial intelligence, one with a fondness for human culture and no apparent genocidal tenancies. It would be nice if it ends up playing a role in taking down Control - a Starfleet AI, born of humanity's better qualities, to counter an AI born of Section 31's paranoia and fear.
Or, you know, maybe someone will finally realize that even if you can't 'delete' a database, you can just take an axe to the hardware and destroy it physically. Next week, it looks like we're getting Klingons, so maybe one of them will come up with the obvious solution of 'just smash the damn thing'...
I think Discovery's strength is its character moments. Its weakness is its ongoing plots. Both this week and last week's episodes were all about Red Angel nonsense, but last week focused more on character interactions, whereas this week was much more plot-focused... and so, this week was a much weaker instalment. There was too much that was either poorly explained or poorly plotted, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing to be left with more questions than answers, at this point in the season, the main plot shouldn't feel like such a thread-bare collection of ideas poorly woven together.
My main question is - what is the significance of the sphere data supposed to be? In “Project: Daedalus”, it seemed fairly understandable. The Control of the future had used the probe to hijack Ariam so she'd send present-day Control the data it needed to become fully self-aware. Now, though, it seems Control is fully autonomous, fully self-aware... and it still wants the data? Why? What more does it need? It seems like the damage has already been done, so Discovery's half-assed attempts to keep the data safe feels pointless.
(I do appreciate that Pike is presented as fairly upset and frustrated about having to destroy the sphere database.)
I did like Michael's mother as the world-weary time traveller, beaten down by the enormity of her task and the seeming futility of her efforts to remake time, and unable or unwilling to risk caring about anyone anymore because she knows it can easily be undone.
I am wondering of the significance of her unfamiliarity with the red signals. The episode does go out of its way to bring up mitochondrial DNA and to mention that the Angel suit is DNA locked, so my guess is that at some point, Michael will end up in the suit and set into motion the signals. This would answer one of my ongoing annoyances about this whole storyline - why has everyone assumed there's only one Angel?
The other possibility, of course, is that the signals are Control's doing. It does seem significant to me that one of the signals led Discovery to Kaminar... where they encountered the temporal rift that allowed Control's future self to take control of Ariam. I think this would be more interesting; if Michael or her mother create the signals, then it means a lot of the events of this season were the result of a predestination paradox and thus occurred simply because that was what happened the first time around, rather than to advance any real goals or motivations.
I am amused that New Eden's 'miraculous' deliverance was, it seems, purely a test of the suit's powers - an experiment, nothing more. The Red Angel might not be as malevolent as I'd initially assumed, but it's not really something you should put your faith in either.
We also finally get confirmation that the Red Angel and the devastated galaxy are tied to a date centuries in the future, which makes it seem more and more likely that the “Calypso” short is going to play a role somehow. In that short, Discovery's computer had, over the centuries, developed into a true artificial intelligence, one with a fondness for human culture and no apparent genocidal tenancies. It would be nice if it ends up playing a role in taking down Control - a Starfleet AI, born of humanity's better qualities, to counter an AI born of Section 31's paranoia and fear.
Or, you know, maybe someone will finally realize that even if you can't 'delete' a database, you can just take an axe to the hardware and destroy it physically. Next week, it looks like we're getting Klingons, so maybe one of them will come up with the obvious solution of 'just smash the damn thing'...