STD Thoughts: "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"

[caitri]

"If you want peace, prepare for war."

This episode felt a little off because it's such a prologue to the mid-season finale, I guess. I think it will hold-up better when binge-watching though.
Anyways, thoughts:

I was really looking forward to this episode because I thought we were going to finally get some time with Saru, and...only sort of. (Scott's comment: "Most Incompetent First Officer Ever." And...he's not wrong.) I like the idea of Saru's first taste of living without fear driving him a little batty, but at the same time....it just didn't work for me? So it felt kind of like a waste almost, which is just a bummer.

MVP here: L'Rell. For the first time, I'm actually giving a shit about the Klingon arc. I wish they hadn't nerfed Admiral Cornwall so quickly, I feel like the potential of that relationship/friendship was incredibly interesting...but I guess we are supposed to feel robbed at the end there.

I also think it's interesting that L'Rell doesn't seem to know what happened to Voq? Or maybe that's just to throw off the Voq/Tyler theory, not sure. 

~

Bonus: Outlander "First Wife" Thoughts

Having reread the book so recently, I keep getting tripped up in the little tweaks they are making so that it's clear the characters and the audience are all Up To Date On Things. I feel like it slows down the momentum of the plot a lot, but anyway. I did appreciate the tweak they made to explain the Laoghaire/Jamie thing, which was always So Dumb, by here making it all about her adorable kids and Jamie's desire to be a father. Seriously, the Hogmanay dance scene with them was So Cute!

I also appreciated the added scenes with Jenny, but....since they even brought up the fact that they told Murtagh about time travel and have a little dialogue about Not Telling Jenny....it seems EVEN MORE DUMB that they don't tell her. An awful lot of interpersonal issues--that don't even exist in the book--could be solved with one conversation. *frustrated sigh*

Comments

[monanotlisa]

"Saru, and...only sort of. (Scott's comment: "Most Incompetent First Officer Ever." And...he's not wrong."

I don't know. I find Saru incredibly calming; on a ship like the Discovery, full of Lorcas and Burnhams and Space Fungi in Stamets form, having some careful, generally sensible being on the Bridge seems like an A+ countermeasure. That said, the planetventures...did not go so well, obvs.

[caitri]

Well, the thing is, he is underutilized; we almost never see him actually working, so we don't know what he's like as an officer....aside from the recent scene where he totally went nuts, and the episode where he was in command and willing to knowing hurt the Space Critter and so on. He was not on the bridge or really around at all in "Make the Sanest Man Go Mad." So most of his scenes are him being off-duty being angry at Burnham or trying to NOT be angry at her....which is kind of limiting. :(