S04.E06: Stormy Weather

[paulvdb]

Quote

Seeking answers, the U.S.S. Discovery ventures into a subspace rift created by the Dark Matter Anomaly. Meanwhile, Book faces a strange visitor from his past.

Premiere date: December 23, 2021

[paigow]

TOS!Doomsday Machine... Book would realize that whoever built it is dead by now

[paigow]

The bridge is on fire again, the hull is falling apart... So how did Discovery make it back to spacedock?

[paigow]

Gray is the new Will Decker... Merges with DMA so it goes home.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, paigow said:

The bridge is on fire again, the hull is falling apart... So how did Discovery make it back to spacedock?

Once Zora can pull the crew out of the pattern buffer and deploy DOTs, immediate emergency repairs can be done, life support restored, and crew can be pulled from the pattern buffer. Then they can spore drive it back to a space dock now that they are clear of an anomaly.

Also, programmable matter is magic, as the show lampshaded.

[thuganomics85]

I actually think this is my favorite episode this season simply because it was kind of fun seeing an almost old-school "ship is trapped in some kind of mysterious anomaly" episode, that features a lot of the classics like characters scrambling around, various parts of the ship suddenly exploding, a looming threat, and a last minute save thanks to some technobabble, an ancient (but current for now) approach (sonar!), and likely questionable science.  Might just be the nostalgia talking, but I enjoyed it.  Probably helped that they got Jonathan Frakes to direct this one, so I imagine he pulled from all of his experience to bring that kind of feeling to it behind the camera (but still keep it somewhat updated to not make it feel dated.)

Big episode for Zora I see, and it looks like they're setting things up for her to continue on as a part of the crew: just one who is actually a sentient A.I. who can actually feel emotions and stuff.  Thinks worked out well this time, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Usually in genre shows, this either ends with the A.I. a) turning evil or b) sacrificing itself and "dying."  But for all I know it could also just end with her actually getting a body and we'll actually get Annabelle Wallis on camera!

So, Booker has some dad issues!  Always a classic!  Seeing his "father" clearly got to him, but it sounds like he won't let his past view his relationship with Michael for now.  But I do wonder if the time will come where his need for revenge will put him at odds.

Look at Stamets working on his interpersonal skills!  You can do it, buddy!

Show knows whats up and made sure we saw that Booker was taking Grudge with him to safety.  Grudge must be protected at all cost!

Liked seeing the familiar faces on Michael's Tree: especially both Georgious! (where's that damn spin-off?!  We need more Michelle Yeoh!!)

[MissLucas]

6 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Liked seeing the familiar faces on Michael's Tree: especially both Georgious! (where's that damn spin-off?!  We need more Michelle Yeoh!!)

Is that still on the table now that Yeoh has moved to the Witcherverse?

I'm surprised how much I liked this episode - I even stayed long enough to notice for the first time the beautiful score over the end credits. The bridge crew were allowed more than just techno babble and there was even some character development. Speaking of techno babble - not that I could follow what exactly they were talking about but since I love submarine movies I enjoyed me a space ping. The writers also made good use of Grey, we saw Zora evolve and all the talks Grey and Burnham had with her hit the right emotional mark. I also loved Grey's subtle reaction to hearing about Burnham's childhood trauma. Speaking of emotional - seeing all the crew members touching hands before going into the buffer pattern made me a bit teary eyed. Or maybe that's just the season.

I wonder if Stamets is starting to hone his people skills after having met Tarka and realizing how he must come across to others?

Book has Daddy issues, oh well. But at least we got some backstory on his childhood. Book sen. sure was a handfull. Burnham's hero walk was not necessary but Zora starting to sing an Etta James song to her was beautiful. This episode makes Calypso even more heartbreaking 😪  

RIP Ensign Cortez. What was up with Linus?

Edited December 24, 2021 by MissLucas

[paigow]

16 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Book has Daddy issues, oh well.

Easily fixed with a few rounds of Anbo Jitsu [dream version]

[Primal Slayer]

This felt like such a Star Trek episode...it was weird. We saw so many of the crew. So many of them spoke. Had actual lines and sentences. Worked together as a team instead of the usual Burnham/Booke taking over everything. We got to see other parts of the ship. 

My favorite episode of the season. 

[paigow]

Burnham: Everyone into the pattern buffer!

Zora: Stack overflow... Retry or Cancel

[sugarbaker design]

4 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I actually think this is my favorite episode this season simply because it was kind of fun seeing an almost old-school "ship is trapped in some kind of mysterious anomaly" episode, that features a lot of the classics like characters scrambling around, various parts of the ship suddenly exploding, a looming threat, and a last minute save thanks to some technobabble, an ancient (but current for now) approach (sonar!), and likely questionable science.  Might just be the nostalgia talking, but I enjoyed it.  Probably helped that they got Jonathan Frakes to direct this one, so I imagine he pulled from all of his experience to bring that kind of feeling to it behind the camera (but still keep it somewhat updated to not make it feel dated.)

Big episode for Zora I see, and it looks like they're setting things up for her to continue on as a part of the crew: just one who is actually a sentient A.I. who can actually feel emotions and stuff.  Thinks worked out well this time, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Usually in genre shows, this either ends with the A.I. a) turning evil or b) sacrificing itself and "dying."  But for all I know it could also just end with her actually getting a body and we'll actually get Annabelle Wallis on camera!

I liked it alot too!  I just don't see an actress of Amnabel Wallis's stature just doing a voiceover role, unless it's planned that Zorah physically manifests herself.

I still FF thru scenes with Gray and Adira, the mullet certainly doesn't help.  I had to rewind tho when Gray's convo with Zorha became germane to the plot.

I still don't like a starship captain having their significant other on board.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, sugarbaker design said:

I still don't like a starship captain having their significant other on board.

Kirk always had to deal with significant Ex-es on board

Picard learned the hard way... twice 

[Stardancer Supreme]

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

So, Booker has some dad issues!  Always a classic!  Seeing his "father" clearly got to him, but it sounds like he won't let his past view his relationship with Michael for now.  But I do wonder if the time will come where his need for revenge will put him at odds.

All I know is they better not pull up a "Starfleet or Me!" type ultimatum from Book's lips.  Michael is Starfleet and she was always Starfleet from the moment they met.  I mean, where would he go? His people and planet is gone!

54 minutes ago, sugarbaker design said:

I still don't like a starship captain having their significant other on board.

Care to explain why? Captains can't really fraternize with their crew and it is nice for Michael to have that outlet.

[paigow]

Picard had a scientist girlfriend crew member. He ordered her to face almost certain death and felt he could never do it again so he reassigned her to a different ship.

[marinw]

Grey can be another ship's counselor.

[MissLucas]

5 minutes ago, marinw said:

Grey can be another ship's counselor.

Sounds like a good idea if the character is destined to become a regular. Some hand-waving required but when has that ever stopped show?

[marinw]

MIchael should know from history that neurotic, ship-wide AIs are always a problem.

[Starchild]

Grey's been saying he wants to be a Guardian, what is that again?

Edited December 24, 2021 by Starchild

[jah1986]

23 minutes ago, Starchild said:

Grey's been saying he wants to be a Guardian, what is that again?

It's a Trill that, I think, doesn't have a symbiot but watches over the symbiots in the mud pool back on Trill.  We saw Guardians during Deep Space Nine when Jadzia faced her previous hosts.  It's a huge responsibility to make sure they are properly cared for. I keep wondering how Grey is training to be a host while staying on Discovery.

Like others have said, I'm just waiting for Zora to get a body only because it's Annabelle Wallis. But I'm not loving the sentient AI with all these emotions. Not because it's a bad storyline, but because I don't see how it's going to end well.

This show needs Jonathan Frakes to direct more episodes. Loved seeing so much more of the crew involved.

[Affogato]

On 12/23/2021 at 7:55 PM, sugarbaker design said:

 

I still don't like a starship captain having their significant other on board.

On the bridge all the time is a bit much.

If he were in her chain of command it might cause problems. but he isn’t starfleet. 
 

Having families onboard isn’t unusual, although the captains have been single. 

[MissLucas]

Given how disastrous Burnham's love life in the first season turned out I'm quite glad about Book's presence. Having her in a stable *knocks-on-wood* relationship frees the writing from all sorts of romantic shenanigans. Also: Grudge.

[paigow]

16 hours ago, Affogato said:

Having families onboard isn’t unusual, although the captains have been single. 

Stamets & Culber have been given a "Wesley"

[ottoDbusdriver]

With Tilley off the ship, is Stamets the only one working in Engineering ?  Because Jett was noticeably absent this episode.  Again.

[paigow]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

With Tilley off the ship, is Stamets the only one working in Engineering ?  Because Jett was noticeably absent this episode.  Again.

Book is going to take over as Mushroom Master while Stamets becomes Geordi 2.0

[Ottis]

When Pike joined Discovery, this show found its way. And it maintained it for a while after he moved on. Even this season, the first episode was well done.

Since then? Discovery has devolved into season one’s crappy form. The moment this ep showed Michael staying aboard to save the ship, walking in slow-mo no less, it hit rock bottom. I hope the other new show returns to the tone Pike brought to Discovery.

And no, Michael, having Zora develop emotions is not “different, but good.” That’s never good. 

[tennisgurl]

It was great having Jonathan Frakes behind the camera, he really gave this episode an old school Star Trek kind of feel. The bridge crew got lots to do, the ship had to deal with some ridiculous anomaly that can only be defeated with technobabble, it could have come off as cliché but they made the episode a lot of fun instead. The last few episodes this season have been really solid, they had some of that retro Trek feel while also being their own thing. 

Turns out Book has daddy issues, because its television and of course he does. At least he isnt letting it undermine his relationship with Michael and his priorities are still in line. Get Grudge to safety stat, she's the most important living creature on the ship! I don't see a problem with Michael being with him, he technically isnt part of the crew (even if he does a lot of work with them) so there isnt a conflict with the captain dating someone under her command. 

Zora evolving to have emotions seems promising, hopefully she can handle them and we wont end up with yet another "AI gains sentience and automatically becomes evil" story. I really loved the whole sequence where she was singing Etta James, and in general the score was really nice this week, it stood out a lot more than usual. Good stuff. 

[Quilt Fairy]

On 12/28/2021 at 3:32 PM, tennisgurl said:

I really loved the whole sequence where she was singing Etta James,

Am I the only one who was expecting "A Bicycle Built For Two"?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Seems to me Grudge isn't quite buying Burnham's steely-eyed optimism wrt the DMA.

I just realized Burnham isn't using a catchphrase command. She just says whatever seems appropriate at the particular moment.

Wonder if it was a good idea to make the DOTs look kind of like legless people? I think many of the crew can't help but feel a sense of loss when they watch of them "die."

Where was Tarka while they were trying to figure out what happened to the DOTs?

Zora's got jokes. Uh oh.

Book's dad was hot (if also a jerk). Guess Book's got it in his genes. 😏

Now Zora has all the feelz. Oh boy. Maybe they need to do a program upgrade to put her on some kind of mood stabilizers. 😉

Quote

an Etta James song

Etta James (and many, many others) did covers of Stormy Weather but I think it is considered Lena Horne's song. She sang it in a notable 1943 film of the same name when Etta was a mere five-years old. Ethel Waters' 1933 version is the one archived in the Library of Congress, however.

Quote

Am I the only one who was expecting "A Bicycle Built For Two"?

Nope. And earlier I did a double-take when Gray suggested playing a game with Zora. Since Zora knows how to be funny now, she should've answered, "How about Global Thermonuclear War?" Gray likely wouldn't have had a clue what that meant though, lol.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Joimiaroxeu

[sugarbaker design]

On 12/23/2021 at 10:21 PM, Stardancer Supreme said:

Care to explain why? Captains can't really fraternize with their crew and it is nice for Michael to have that outlet.

Happily!  I don't like relationship drama in my dramas.  For the most part they're maudlin, melodramatic and sickeningly saccharine.  I just don't care for it.  I didn't mind Sisco dating Kassidy Yates because she had a day job and only made occasional appearances.  I don't like the captain's spouse/partner on the bridge or at Federation delegate meetings, especially if they're a civilian.  I could never see Kirk, Picard, Janeway or Georgiou do this, why should Burnham?  Michael has many outlets one of which is telling everyone, including the Federation President, what the right thing to do is at any given moment.

[millennium]

Saw this as a ripoff of Data's emotion chip fiasco in Star Trek: Generations.   Captain has to talk the newly emotional artificial lifeform off the ledge in the midst of a larger crisis.

But then, everybody else on the ship is in desperate need of therapy, so why not the ship's computer too?  It's amazing this crew accomplishes anything so busy are they picking through their intricate feelings.

More 21st century idiom in the 32nd century, "I got you," "let's do this."  It's sounding more like a Home Depot commercial than Star Trek. 

Evidently, Starfleet records include only the experiences of ships that are featured in Star Trek shows, hence Enterprise's and Voyager's experiences in the subspace rift apparently being the only historical references available to Saru.   Is it realistic to believe that in the roughly 1000 years of the Federation's existence, those two ships were the only ones ever to enter the subspace rift?   Were the writers too lazy to concoct other incidents with ships we may or may not have heard of?   Or was it just another cheap ploy to borrow credibility from Discovery's far superior predecessors?

 

[TheWereCow]

Quote

Etta James (and many, many others) did covers of Stormy Weather but I think it is considered Lena Horne's song. She sang it in a notable 1943 film of the same name when Etta was a mere five-years old. Ethel Waters' 1933 version is the one archived in the Library of Congress, however.

A nice touch, considering one of the producers is Lena Horne's granddaughter (Jenny Lumet).

[GreyBunny]

So, they didn’t have a crew member who’s an android or a species that could better withstand the heat to guide the ship through, or just let Zora do it herself, it had to be special snowflake Michael. 🙄

I don’t mind Booker being around as a boyfriend, Sisko managed being a captain and having an SO. I wish Jaffen had stayed with Janeway so she could have had a life besides her duties and a fake holodeck boyfriend.

[Affogato]

On 1/3/2022 at 1:22 PM, sugarbaker design said:

Happily!  I don't like relationship drama in my dramas.  For the most part they're maudlin, melodramatic and sickeningly saccharine.  I just don't care for it.  I didn't mind Sisco dating Kassidy Yates because she had a day job and only made occasional appearances.  I don't like the captain's spouse/partner on the bridge or at Federation delegate meetings, especially if they're a civilian.  I could never see Kirk, Picard, Janeway or Georgiou do this, why should Burnham?  Michael has many outlets one of which is telling everyone, including the Federation President, what the right thing to do is at any given moment.

In fairness it is established that Book's home planet was demolished by the threat and he is one of the rare people who can operate the spore drives, so he has a stake in what happens. In this story, anyway.

I think they are trying to fix some of the errors of the past star treks, by showing people leave the ship and come back as their ranks and career aspirations change, and maybe by showing relationships allowing to grow and develop more openly over time. I'm thinking of the family drama over in engineering, too. And  for the folks from the past this is their lives, now. They can't go home and see family, and the only people they share past experiences with are on the ship with them.

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by Affogato

[TAG42481]

A sentient computer?  Which can't do its job when it gets NERVOUS (outside sensors not working)?

Sending the spore drive ship on a mission that could get it destroyed if it can't return WHERE THE SPORE DRIVE WON'T BE USED (until it's failure gives them a hint about the invader)??

The dramatic slow motion walk of Michael through the halls by herself after everyone is in the pattern buffer???

The computer SINGING MICHAEL A SONG to keep her calm????

 

From what I can see on this thread, I'm in the minority for hating this episode, but this entire season has been frustrating me.  I waited to start this season until I could watch episodes in consecutive days, but it took me almost a week to get around to watching this one and I'm not sure I'm going to keep watching the show after this.  The writing is just AWFUL.  Once again, Michael the Savior.  Michael is The Greatest Character Ever on the show, and it's so boring.  I know the slow-mo thing was part writing part directing, but Frakes is supposed to be a better director than this.  Just ... ugh.

Can anybody convince me otherwise?

[Mr. R0b0t]

My first time through the series.... am I crazy for feeling that Saru should be Captain?  The in-show explanation of the power dynamic being otherwise feels silly.