Hah! I bet you didn't think I would be back, but you were wrong internet reader! After a five year break (and the first almost five years with my amazing twin daughters!) I am returning to the world of Star Trek online reviews. To say this has been a crazy five years doesn't even begin to cover all that has happened. I spent a long time trying to decide when was the right time to start this up again with the debut of Discovery, but having just watched the debut of Strange New Worlds it just felt right. So, without further ado, The Vulcan Hello.
We open with a Klingon giving a monolog about saving Klingon culture by destroying the federation and then cut to a very Vulcan sounding Michael Burnham and her captain out saving a planet of toad people by unclogging the wells. I don't think that is how droughts actually work, but whatever. I had forgotten how great Michelle Yeoh is as captain Georgiou! Just a ton of charisma and confidence. Also having recently watched season five of Disco it is crazy how much more culturally Vulcan Michael is portrayed in this episode. After a kinda cheesy drawing of a giant delta in the sand to credit we start the main story.
There is a lot of jumping back and forth between the Klingons plotting to light some sort of beacon and the Shenzhou they have been sent to investigate a federation relay. Saru, in full nervous season one mode, is sure it is dangerous and they should leave immediately. They can't seem to figure out what did the damage, but the find an object the is somehow concealing its appearance a few kilometers below in what looks like an accretion disc (meaning the object probably should have been destroyed by now, but it is very pretty). Michael takes a Spock style thruster suit to investigate and finds the object to be ancient. But instead of following orders she goes with her curiosity (I can't really fault her here) and accidentally turns the thing on. She gets attacked by a Klingon in a badass spacesuit who she kills by ramming him with her thruster suit. She is injured though and tumbles through space being irradiated the whole time. (I would spend a while complaining that this isn't how radiation works, but it is canon Trek that radiation works this way so I will give it a pass)
We return to find Michael dreaming in a medical bay of some sort and we learn that she was raised by Sarek after her family was killed in a rare Klingon raid. She breaks out of the med bay to rush to the bridge covered in sores to tell the captain about the Klingons, which honestly again pretty much makes sense. Georgiou believes her and when the target the object suddenly a huge Klingon ship uncloaks in front of them. After getting treated Michael returns to the bridge where the Klingon beacon lights itself (I forget somewhere in there we learn Voq is the new torchbearer after he burns the hell out of his hand) and after consulting Sarek, Michael tells her captain there is no choice but to attack because it worked for the Vulcans. Georgiou is like, WTF number one, ready room, now! But instead Michael nerve pinches her and tries to shoot first anyway. But Georgiou somehow gets up to point a phaser and Michael and stop her.
Lots of drama in this episode, especially for an opener. I watched this episode like 5 times with different people when it first came out to the point that I was tired of it, but upon reflection it is actually pretty good. It is crazy how fast Michelle Yeoh got into the part because especially Saru still has some work to do. I was going to give this episode and extra point for Michelle Yeoh, but there is just something about only seeing this small a piece of the story that drags it back down. A solid start and a solid:
7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment