STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, S5 (2024)

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(*** / *****): Greatest feat this season managed to pull off was to give me reason to miss the characters (whom I've loved for the entirety of the run – up until this season) like I had hoped to when I learned that this was to be the final season. The first six episodes, with a few exceptions (anytime Callum Keith Rennie's Commander Rayner was onscreen – can't think of a late series addition that added so much) were rough, to say the least – and it was clear that no one knew this was the end (which they didn't, apparently, until after filming was complete). While the Breen were great – when they finally popped up as antagonists – Mol and Lock weren't the most fear-inspiring antagonists, though Eve Harlow was as excellent here as she was in a similar role in THE NIGHT AGENT (just cast her as Harley Quinn, Gunn): for the power to create life, the antagonistic stakes were far too low for 2/3 of the season. Fortunately, the last few episodes did remind me why I liked this crew so much, upped the stakes to appropriate levels and gave each (save the inexplicably vanished Kayla) a moment to shine, especially Adira, the inimitable Tilly, and Action Saru.

Also: anytime Cronenberg or Tig Notaro are onscreen is a win.

As for the post-filming "oh shit this is over, really?" coda: unnecessary but not unenjoyable. Could've ended the show at Saru's wedding, at Michael and Book walking off together, talking about the future. Not quite sure as to why Discovery (the ship, though maybe the show too) had to meet the fate it met though I suppose there are reasons that my exhaustion-addled mind couldn't compute last night. Maybe it'll come to me.

Intrigued to see where the STARFLEET ACADEMY show takes this future Trek-verse. More Cronenberg. More Notaro. More Rennie.

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (André Øvredal, 2023)

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Went into this one more skeptical than it deserved - no doubt because of how much I loved the second episode of the Moffat / Gattis DRACULA that covered the same chapter of the novel - and came out satisfied. Nothing spectacular, but not a bad film by any means: solid performances throughout, some great shippy-atmosphere, and an Orlock-infused Dracula. That being said, all of the above deserved a less pedestrian direction; can only imagine what a more visceral, artistic director would have made of it. Can’t stop thinking that DEMETER would have been a perfect fit for John Carpenter or Ridley Scott (especially given its ALIEN inspiration). (*** / *****)

three quick ((+/-) spoiler-free) notes on PICARD, 3-10

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  • While I still hate that it took the show this long to get this good, I'm glad it got there eventually – though it was so very, very close to losing me at multiple points in the first two seasons. Seven and Raffi saved it both times for me.

  • Which means I'm all there for the next next generation – be it a series or a standalone film.

  • I'll miss the TNG'ers, but what a sendoff. Glad they finally got the farewell they deserved; as they said once before, “All good things…”

five quick notes on PICARD 3.6

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  • Best episode of the season and of the series. I repeat: why did it wait this long to get this good?

  • Felt, appropriately, like the start of a goodbye to an era – but also a hello towards a new one.

  • (Reiterating my desire for a series featuring the crew of the Titan and Jack Crusher.)

  • Are you going to make it out of this one alive, Will?

  • Way to call back to the start of the series; that's a hell of a McGuffin.