Star Trek: Discovery - Episode 6 Review

'Lethe', the sixth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, is possibly my least favourite so far. Not because the story was poor, or the characterisation was poor, but that it simply lacked the genuine emotions I think a story liked this needed.

The whole crux of the episode revolves around a father-daughter relationship, and this is a great thing to explore...unless of course these characters are Vulcan. Michael Burnham and Sarek are very stoic, logical and straight-faced characters, making a heartfelt episode like this...not feel heartfelt. Clearly the episode is somewhat aware of this, but the emotional response can never be achieved because the characters lack the emotional responses.

There's a whole heap of exposition needed to explain the episode's emotional crux that it's very easy to determine where the episode is going right from the off, killing a certain amount of audience investment already, but when the emotional beats don't really strike a chord, the episode's lost its main crux. And when that happens, what are you left with? Honestly, I'm not too sure.

There's a storyline revolving around Lorca and the Admiral, who is kidnapped at the end by the Klingons and...no one goes to save her. The next episode completely ignores this cliffhanger ending, which feels a bit odd. Sarek disappears from the USS Discovery, and the only follow-through appears to be the building relationship between Ash Tyler and Burnham, which is nice, but doesn't fill-up the entire episode.

Amongst all this, there's certainly some lovely visuals here: a bright vivid colour palette complimented by some wonderfully creative and out-there CGI designs. This is a visually appeasing episode, but not an emotionally appeasing one. There's a certain detachment that the episode just never manages to conquer, which is a shame.

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