Star Trek: Discovery 3.12 Review: Ups And Downs From There Is A Tide
Star Trek does Die Hard, but does it work?
Star Trek Discovery comes out swinging in the twelfth episode, There Is A Tide. The opening scene is bombastic and tense, with Osyrra piloting the Discovery toward Federation HQ. She is intent on getting through those shields, with the Viridiian following at close quarters, putting on fine light show of weapons fire. Aboard HQ, Vance and Willis watch this with anticipation, preparing to let Discovery in to safety, but something holds Vance back...
Meanwhile, Burnham and Book travel through a transwarp corridor, one strewn with debris, to warn Starfleet, leaving Saru, Culber, Adira and the entire Burn plot behind in the nebula.
How did this episode fare overall? Was it one of the strengths of the season, or was it a bit of a damp squib? Read on and let's find out!
Downs...
2. Is Vance The Only High Up Official We're Going To Meet?
While Oded Fehr is a fantastic addition to Star Trek, and Admiral Vance, while sometimes a bit inconsistant, is proving to be one of the more interesting Admirals in Star Trek's history. He may not be up there with Admiral Ross or Admiral Paris just yet, but he's certainly on a par with Admiral Nechayev (we mean that nicely, promise!)
However, he meets Osyrra and immediately says that the Federation President has authorized him to engage in talks with the Emerald Chain. On the one hand, this might make perfect sense - having a military body to stand between the Chain and the Civilian Government, as a filter almost.
But the way that it is presented - it might even have been better to simply say nothing about the Federation President. It rings a little hollow and, we daresay, speaks almost to budget saving than any real sense in the episode. Unfortunately, it stands out like a sore thumb, meaning it is our first DOWN of the week.