Pete Messum Reviews...

It's the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery , and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed. Somewhere along the line, it was decided that the first season finale for Discovery should be very much a character piece, throwing away a good chunk of plot in favour of reaffirming to the fans that this very much is Star Trek, and the overriding themes of peace and civility are reflected in how Michael Burnham ends the Klingon-Federation War that started with the Battle at the Binary Stars, despite a clear error of judgement. The final two episodes end up being very much Michael's finale, concluding her journey across the season, her arc to becoming a true Starfleet commander, which is both theoretically and in practice a really nice idea, but the end result is so tightly focused on her journey that the supporting cast and the plot itself feel left to the sidelines, resulting less in a hugely climactic finale and more in a quiet, understated ending. Stammets' dynamic w...

As we come to a close on Star Trek: Discovery 's first season, the crew's adventure into the mirror universe comes to a close in a final showdown with Gabriel Lorca. While Michael must get the help of Emperor Georgiou, the crew of the USS Discovery hatch a plan to escape their alternate reality once and for all, before Lorca and the Terran Empire destroy the entire multiverse. While Jason Isaacs has probably been the show's MVP over these first thirteen episodes, I was always uncertain as to where they'd go with him once the storyline reached its natural climax. Lorca really is the villain here, gets to enact his sinister plan, and is murdered. Unless the writers opt for a The Flash -style cop-out, in which our universe's Lorca shows up (a possibility given its been teased previously), this could well be the end of Gabriel Lorca. It's a bit of a shame really, given that we have another two episodes to go. Lorca leaves large shoes to fill-in both as a main ch...

So I finally caught up with Star Trek: Discovery , and while I had initially considered episode-by-episode reviews, the second chapter in the series has so far been so tightly interconnected that separating the episodes would seem odd from an analytical perspective. The revelation that the USS Discovery crew had arrived in what has been officially titled "The Mirror Universe" (which, according to the internet, was the basis for an episode or story-line in Star Trek: The Original Series), was an intriguing way of re-directing the series' narrative. Initially, the decision made little sense. Surely pushing these characters in such a way would be better suited for a second or third season, and not the second half of the show's first? Surprisingly though, the writers had clearly thought this through, beyond the not-so-subtle foreshadowing in 'Into the Forest I Go'. If there is one problem with this set-up though, its how the revelation is handled. Despite a ...

Here we are at the mid-season finale of Star Trek: Discovery , and the ending to the show's "Chapter One". The USS Discovery must protect the planet Pahvo from the incoming Klingon Ship of the Dead. It's human vs Klingon. Lorca vs Kol. And it makes for a very high-stakes ninth installment in the series. After my disappointment with the last episode, I think it's safe to say that I was 100% on board with future installments of the show. When it could sink to below-average and loose all of my interest and investment in one episode, could the series pick-up again? Well, sort of. I think it's fair to say that ' Into the Forest I Go ' isn't a perfect episode, despite all the ingredients being there. For one, the show's darker tone means that the episode is devoid of any particularly strong humour. If there's one thing Discovery really lacks, its a sense of humour. Sometimes a mildly humorous moment will occur, but the show can take itself to...

' Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum ' marks my return to Star Trek: Discovery after nearly two months. The show is already mid-way through the second half of its first season, and I realise that I've fallen so far behind that the smart thing would've been to binge through all the episodes I'd missed. Sadly though, I haven't quite had that opportunity yet, and thus for today I shall only be reviewing Episode 8...and it's a bit of a dud, to be honest. This episode didn't have anything particularly wrong with it, it has to be said, but the ultimate problem with ' Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum ' is that it has absolutely nothing to offer of any real substance. The drama aboard Discovery takes a back-seat for most of the episode - presumably to be continued properly in Episode 9 - leaving us with the main action on the Pahvo. On Pahvo, Michael, Tyler and Saru are investigating this bizarre natural beacon which has formed on the planet's surface. As they ...

After a slightly muddled sixth episode, this latest instalment of Star Trek: Discovery was a big, bold time-travel story, and the sort of episode that really shouldn't work, but somehow does. Stammets being immune to the time loop is a bit convenient, but because it's a revelation built on throughout the episode, caused by a factor the audience is aware of, and because he's the only character who could possibly fill that role, it works. Harry Mudd doesn't spring to mind as the sort of character one would imagine having time travel capabilities, but his eccentric personality and previously-established hatred towards Captain Lorca and Tyler saves exposition time. In fact, this episode whipped along at a very fast pace, establishing all of its main themes at the very beginning, and then playing around with them throughout the episode. It's very clever writing, despite not necessarily being subtle. Stammets' comment at the beginning about convenience and acciden...

' 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,...

I was surprised to find that after having left Star Trek: Discovery for a little while that I only had two episodes to catch-up on, given how long I'd felt that I'd not watched this series for. Perhaps I was missing it, or perhaps I've just been too caught up with life - and the new seasons of the DC shows (which all bar Arrow have been off to a mediocre start). Sitting down to watch 'Choose Your Pain' though, I found myself not quite as gripped by the episode as I had been previously. Perhaps the bright sunshine outside didn't help with the atmosphere of it all, but otherwise I just couldn't place my finger on why I wasn't quite as invested. Perhaps its because the series has been consistently good so far. I've enjoyed the previous episodes, I expect good things from the next, and thus the episode delivers on that. There's no real disappointment, but there's no overwhelming sense of excellence to the episode. It's as-expected, and pe...

So alas, here we are again for the fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery, and the pattern of building on the pros and rectifying the cons of each episode is maintained in an episode that continues all of our main story-threads in a satisfying mid-point episode. With the creature now in Discovery's care, Burnham manages to work out what it is - and its relation to the spores the Captain wants to use for interplanetary travel. Quite what these spores have to do with the broader Star Trek mythology I'm not entirely sure. I vaguely remember the trail of the Enterprise looking quite similar to these spores in the JJ Abrams movies, so maybe this is where its all going, but for now I'm finding this arc surprisingly interesting. The way the creature is being used as a navigator is quite interesting, and I sense an animal rights-themed episode at some point along the line given how it appears to be weakened by the ordeal. Michael's empathy with the stranded creature is also ...

Here we are already at episode 3 of Star Trek: Discovery and this Netflix Original Series is wowing me every minute. It's a spectacularly well-made and well-written series, and I'm just blown away by the whole production. Speaking as a non-Trekkie, this is the Star Trek for me. Not the JJ Abrams flicks, or arguably the original shows, but Discovery. So, following on from last week, Michael Burnham is now a prisoner of Starfleet, infamous for her insubordination aboard the Shenzhou, when she is picked-up by the USS Discovery and its captain, played by none other than Jason Isaacs. Thus, we have what appears to be our actual set-up for the rest of the series: Burnham working for Isaacs' Captain aboard the Discovery, trying to make up for her past mistakes. Along the way of course, not all is at it seems and ideas surrounding special particles and strange monsters appear to be building some kind of mystery arc for the rest of this season. This episode in particular - '...

Star Trek as a science fiction franchise is in this really weird place right now in popular culture. While the whole thing seemed to be making a big comeback with JJ Abrams' first Star Trek movie in 2009, and continued so in 2013's Into Darkness , the series in its original format as a long-form television series didn't seem to be on the horizon. Star Trek Beyond was promised as big event film for the franchise's 50th Anniversary last year and sunk at the box office - despite seemingly doing okay in terms of numbers. Then Star Trek: Discovery was announced for a late 2016 release, then an early 2017 release, and finally a late 2017 and into early 2018 release...not quite the 50th Anniversary promotion the franchise was clearly aiming for. As for my thoughts on the whole thing, I personally find Star Trek such a dense franchise to get into that I'm really not sure it's worth my while. There's several different series' and a total of thirteen featu...