Star Trek: Discovery: Lagrange Point
May 23, 2024 9:25 PM - Season 5, Episode 9 - Subscribe
Burnham's Eleven Four plan a heist to retrieve what the Breen have taken.
Memory Alpha code is base-duodeca and hacking that is incredibly complex.
Memorable quotes:
"Science later, problem now." - Michael getting Adira to get to their point.
"Everyone always picks on the ensign" - Adira
"Wow. Flirting. Bold move." - Michael commenting on Book's "distraction" technique
"Vulcans are not the only species capable of choosing logic and duty over emotion." - Saru, assuring T'rina that he's just one day away from retiring
"It's a message. She's sending me a message" - Rayner expostulating with the best of them
"Oh, holy sh...noodle" - Tilly realizing what Rayner's plan is
Personal log:
I'd always thought "Lagrange Point" was pronounced in the same way ZZ Top pronounces "La Grange".
Frakes directing a heist-style episode in movie-heist style, down to the filmed walk-through of how it'll go? Count me in.
Duranium's been used in Federation hulls since the days of the NX-01. Duranium *alloys*, such as those used to make up the structure, were used in the construction of Terok Nor and led to parts of the station's conduits being unscannable.
The Michael/Book denouement felt a little tacked-on and rushed, possibly added in after the cancellation was announced.
Memory Alpha code is base-duodeca and hacking that is incredibly complex.
Memorable quotes:
"Science later, problem now." - Michael getting Adira to get to their point.
"Everyone always picks on the ensign" - Adira
"Wow. Flirting. Bold move." - Michael commenting on Book's "distraction" technique
"Vulcans are not the only species capable of choosing logic and duty over emotion." - Saru, assuring T'rina that he's just one day away from retiring
"It's a message. She's sending me a message" - Rayner expostulating with the best of them
"Oh, holy sh...noodle" - Tilly realizing what Rayner's plan is
Personal log:
I'd always thought "Lagrange Point" was pronounced in the same way ZZ Top pronounces "La Grange".
Frakes directing a heist-style episode in movie-heist style, down to the filmed walk-through of how it'll go? Count me in.
Duranium's been used in Federation hulls since the days of the NX-01. Duranium *alloys*, such as those used to make up the structure, were used in the construction of Terok Nor and led to parts of the station's conduits being unscannable.
The Michael/Book denouement felt a little tacked-on and rushed, possibly added in after the cancellation was announced.
the Breencam stuff kind of made me laugh because I couldn't tell whether it reminded me more of Iron Man or Power Rangers
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:22 PM on May 23 [1 favorite]
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:22 PM on May 23 [1 favorite]
Going undercover among faceless footsoldiers always has the potential for comedy gold. I liked the heist.
Rayner sat in the chair! I'm bummed that there's only one episode left of Rayner.
posted by confluency at 4:32 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]
Rayner sat in the chair! I'm bummed that there's only one episode left of Rayner.
posted by confluency at 4:32 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]
yeah I genuinely love the energy he brings to this show as an audience surrogate saying “maybe simply talking at length about your feelings isn’t necessarily going to be the answer” and then always being wrong
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:10 AM on May 24 [5 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:10 AM on May 24 [5 favorites]
I appreciate connecting this to heist movies, complete with ridiculous masks and a squad of wildly varying height. There were some genuinely funny moments. Also well blocked in that there was action in two places and we had protagonists in both places to see what was going on.
I'm a little confused at Moll's authority here. She went from being the unknown widow of a traitor to commanding the giant Breen battleship in a hot minute. I guess everyone's all-in on the goal of using the McGuffin as a resurrection machine, a bit of a leap of faith. Not to mention the literal leaps of faith of jumping into the giant glowing white alien sucking vortex. Let's hope there's atmosphere in there!
Rayner is indeed fun. I like DoctorFedora's framing that Rayner's purpose is to articulate the "maybe we should just be good at our jobs?" thesis while still giving the rest of the crew plenty of opportunities to point out their emotional grounding really done work better. I've long been cynical about the FeelingsTrek writing. All I needed was a guy in the room saying something different, I'm fine if he turns out to be wrong.
I really liked the scene about 29 minutes in where Tilly tells Rayner to sit down to make the crew more comfortable and he sasses back:
Glad Doug Jones could be back on set, I've really enjoyed his romance with T'Rina. I have a feeling he's about to have a Hero's Ending next episode though on the very dangerous mission.
Bonus: Breencam screen grab. Is this specific trope from Power Rangers? The tight-crop-on-helmet with-extra-lights thing is as old as the movie 2001 if not older, but the three faces side by side feels very anime.
posted by Nelson at 9:00 AM on May 24 [5 favorites]
I'm a little confused at Moll's authority here. She went from being the unknown widow of a traitor to commanding the giant Breen battleship in a hot minute. I guess everyone's all-in on the goal of using the McGuffin as a resurrection machine, a bit of a leap of faith. Not to mention the literal leaps of faith of jumping into the giant glowing white alien sucking vortex. Let's hope there's atmosphere in there!
Rayner is indeed fun. I like DoctorFedora's framing that Rayner's purpose is to articulate the "maybe we should just be good at our jobs?" thesis while still giving the rest of the crew plenty of opportunities to point out their emotional grounding really done work better. I've long been cynical about the FeelingsTrek writing. All I needed was a guy in the room saying something different, I'm fine if he turns out to be wrong.
I really liked the scene about 29 minutes in where Tilly tells Rayner to sit down to make the crew more comfortable and he sasses back:
Raynor: You know why I asked you to serve as my Number One today, Lieutenant?The facial acting does a lot of work here. Raynor has this strange wry smile when he says "unless you gave me more..." that suggests maybe he respects Tilly's feedback. And Tilly gives back this big smile that's a little awkward and a lot acknowledging that at least she's been heard and they have an understanding. It just felt really subtle and good acting.
Tilly: No, sir. Actually, I don't.
Raynor: It's because you're smart as hell, you're a good leader, and if we were stuck in a foxhole together, I wouldn't kill you. That is, unless you gave me more of that warm and fuzzy encouragement. That I don't need.
Glad Doug Jones could be back on set, I've really enjoyed his romance with T'Rina. I have a feeling he's about to have a Hero's Ending next episode though on the very dangerous mission.
Bonus: Breencam screen grab. Is this specific trope from Power Rangers? The tight-crop-on-helmet with-extra-lights thing is as old as the movie 2001 if not older, but the three faces side by side feels very anime.
posted by Nelson at 9:00 AM on May 24 [5 favorites]
Love a bit of Two Takes Frakes, but, to be honest, this season has totally lost me. I really enjoyed Discovery for a long time, but I still have no idea why I should care about the teen romance Breen subplot that makes zero sense, or the ridiculously overwritten treasure hunt that somehow hasn't managed to feel either urgent or necessary. It feels like the writers took all the ideas they haven't had a chance to use yet and just sort of threw them in and called it done.
I wish we were getting more of the Starfleet politics and Saru and T'rina. Those scenes have been my personal highlights of the season and feel like it's a bit more of the sci fi epic I've been expecting as opposed to.. whatever else is going on. Feels a bit like a fun and interesting series is going to just end on a whimper rather than a bang, which is a shame.
posted by fight or flight at 10:41 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]
I wish we were getting more of the Starfleet politics and Saru and T'rina. Those scenes have been my personal highlights of the season and feel like it's a bit more of the sci fi epic I've been expecting as opposed to.. whatever else is going on. Feels a bit like a fun and interesting series is going to just end on a whimper rather than a bang, which is a shame.
posted by fight or flight at 10:41 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]
Oh yeah I would personally love to be focused more on literally any of the other storylines they’ve established so far as ways to write characters out of the show, either temporarily or permanently. That seems like maybe kind of an oversight, all things considered.
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:51 PM on May 24 [2 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:51 PM on May 24 [2 favorites]
I believe under the Breen gear they're all wearing the classic Starfleet black ops uniforms.
posted by dumbland at 9:38 PM on May 24
posted by dumbland at 9:38 PM on May 24
Less people are watching Star Trek: Discovery as the season goes on
posted by fairmettle at 7:05 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]
posted by fairmettle at 7:05 AM on May 25 [1 favorite]
Ratings as "millions of minutes" is SO STRANGE to me. We don't know whether people are watching the new episodes or the old ones. I would guess that early in the season, people might be re-watching season 4 to catch up and then later there is less minutes watched because people are only watching the current episode?
But, then again, the week after it was in 9th place with 241 million minutes watched, it was in 8th place with 285 million minutes. So it's not all catch up versus current viewers, except maybe it is? It's impossible to know. The fact it's climbing the chart is significant though. (In both those weeks, Fallout was at the top with 2618 million minutes and then 1532, but that drop off makes sense for a show that drops all at once.)
I really liked this episode. I wish it wasn't the penultimate episode, but as a heist ep, it was fun and it does move the pieces into a good place for the finale-which-they-didn't-know-would-be-the-last-ever ep. Thank god they've shot an epilogue.
posted by crossoverman at 8:48 PM on May 25
But, then again, the week after it was in 9th place with 241 million minutes watched, it was in 8th place with 285 million minutes. So it's not all catch up versus current viewers, except maybe it is? It's impossible to know. The fact it's climbing the chart is significant though. (In both those weeks, Fallout was at the top with 2618 million minutes and then 1532, but that drop off makes sense for a show that drops all at once.)
I really liked this episode. I wish it wasn't the penultimate episode, but as a heist ep, it was fun and it does move the pieces into a good place for the finale-which-they-didn't-know-would-be-the-last-ever ep. Thank god they've shot an epilogue.
posted by crossoverman at 8:48 PM on May 25
Yeah, I have no idea how to make sense of the Nielsen streaming ratings but I suspect no one else does, either.
Like, I think it's probably a reasonable thing to assume that the vast majority of the weekly "minutes watched" is the new episode, but what percentage I have no idea. 80%? 90%?
Still, even if for sake of argument you assume 100% of the minutes watched were on the newest episode, that's still like 4-5 million households watching it. That's Enterprise-level territory.
posted by rhymedirective at 9:22 AM on May 26
Like, I think it's probably a reasonable thing to assume that the vast majority of the weekly "minutes watched" is the new episode, but what percentage I have no idea. 80%? 90%?
Still, even if for sake of argument you assume 100% of the minutes watched were on the newest episode, that's still like 4-5 million households watching it. That's Enterprise-level territory.
posted by rhymedirective at 9:22 AM on May 26
To be honest, this season is really working for us at Chez Sparx. The progenitors mMcGuffin is kind of cool and interesting, feeling-sposition has been significantly reduced, and seems to fit better into the overall episode - plus the secondary science and engineering characters are firing on all cylinders. I have no problem with magic alien tech requiring demonstrable emotional self-awareness in the context of this episode as it's at least a coherent ask considering what's at the end of the rainbow. Mal taking over the Breen because maybe she can ressurect Lok is kind of dumb, but the overreach of her predecessor and they way Lok goaded him into it was a little clever, so I'll forgive it in the interests of narrative simplicity.
Of course, the last landing we saw on discovery was crashing face first into a desert, so we'll see if the next episode's landing is stuck any better.
posted by Sparx at 3:59 PM on May 26
Of course, the last landing we saw on discovery was crashing face first into a desert, so we'll see if the next episode's landing is stuck any better.
posted by Sparx at 3:59 PM on May 26
Not sure about those ratings or how they work....? We always watch a little delayed because of life or plans or whatnot (just watched Lagrange tonight). How often are they updated? We also talked to some diehard trekkies last night who are still two episodes behind for Reasons. The rating system seems sus at best.
posted by danapiper at 5:02 PM on May 26
posted by danapiper at 5:02 PM on May 26
the thing about this season is that I am still kind of dunking on it here and there but it has been HUGELY more watchable than the previous season was, and a lot less padded-feeling overall, and we even got an episode or two worth of Arguably Actual Star Trek here and there
I'm looking forward to this week's finale in a number of ways — sunk cost fallacy being among them — but I do appreciate some of the stuff they've at least tried to do with the show over the years. A lot of it was less "home run" and more "infield pop fly" but, well, you can't hit a home run if you don't swing as hard as you can. At least this way maybe someone else will be able to save the entire universe once in a while, going forward.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:13 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]
I'm looking forward to this week's finale in a number of ways — sunk cost fallacy being among them — but I do appreciate some of the stuff they've at least tried to do with the show over the years. A lot of it was less "home run" and more "infield pop fly" but, well, you can't hit a home run if you don't swing as hard as you can. At least this way maybe someone else will be able to save the entire universe once in a while, going forward.
posted by DoctorFedora at 5:13 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]
I liked it; I LOLed when they made a date for the sarkaress, complete with "oil bath." (Cue the porn-movie funk soundtrack as the sarkmates prepare to get oily.) Also fun to see Burnham get in the Breens' faces, a la Sisko getting into being a Klingon in "Apocalypse Rising." I doubt that we'll be going back to the future after this show is done, but I'll miss Grumpy Grandpa XO and his callback to Apollo 13 with "Failure [is] not an option."
Kind of funny that we're talking about Nielsen ratings; a while back, I got an envelope from them with a crisp $5 bill--yes, actual cash--and the promise of more if I did their thing. (I took the money and tossed the envelope.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:00 AM on May 30 [1 favorite]
Kind of funny that we're talking about Nielsen ratings; a while back, I got an envelope from them with a crisp $5 bill--yes, actual cash--and the promise of more if I did their thing. (I took the money and tossed the envelope.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:00 AM on May 30 [1 favorite]
They're still doing the $5s, huh. Ah, Nielsen: the Your Grandma of market research firms.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:11 AM on May 30
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:11 AM on May 30
I doubt that we'll be going back to the future after this show is done
The Starfleet Academy show is to be set in this timeframe, too.
posted by hanov3r at 12:25 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
The Starfleet Academy show is to be set in this timeframe, too.
posted by hanov3r at 12:25 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
Episode 10 write up will be a little late today, unfortunately.
posted by hanov3r at 7:14 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
posted by hanov3r at 7:14 PM on May 30 [1 favorite]
honestly I will probably gladly watch the Starfleet academy show if Mary Wiseman stars, because she has been an unceasing delight all season with absolutely inspired line reads
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:47 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:47 PM on May 30 [2 favorites]
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posted by Nelson at 9:43 PM on May 23 [1 favorite]