| Star Trek: Discovery | Director | Hanelle M. Culpepper |
| Season 3 | Episode 4 | 60 minutes | Writers | Alan B. McElroy, Chris Silvestri, Anthony Maranville |
| Forget Me Not | |
| Discovery visits the Trill homeworld to help Adira regain her memories while Saru tries to help the crew over their trauma. |
Due to a rift in the space time continuum we didn’t recap the the first three episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, but fear not because Bahir and Iain now have their antique tricorders at the ready to analyze and report on Star Trek: Discovery, Episode 4: “Forget Me Not.”
*SPOILER ALERT: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR STAR TREK: DISCOVERY FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS!*
Iain McNally: As our resident newcomer to “The Franchise,” Bahir, what did you think of this week’s Trill 101: Biology and Culture?
Bahir Yeusuff: Until last week, I wasn’t sure that I had ever heard the word “Trill” before, and in this episode *some* things have cleared up. So let me get this straight, the Trill aren’t the symbiote, they are the race that, historically at least, CARRIES the symbiote.
IMN: They tend to be both, with the “symbiont” referred to as Trill when it’s put into someone else, like when they first appeared in The Next Generation, where the Trill ambassador Odan was put inside Will Riker for a time, to facilitate some time sensitive negotiations.
They were fleshed out quite a bit on Deep Space Nine, with Terry Farell’s Jadzia Dax, who was a host to the “Dax” symbiont, who also happened to hang out with Sisko back when he was Curzon Dax. Trek did that classic thing they like to do, of introducing an idea then exploring it over subsequent episodes or series, if it fits a story they want to tell.
Like the tale of a person adrift in time, or from their memories, in this very episode! Seeing previous hosts seems to be something new though. If I recall correctly, they only come to prominence usually during Zhian’tara (Trill A Christmas Carol), when the previous hosts get to take over the current host’s friends for a few hours.
BY: The history of the Trill by Dr. Iain McNally folks.
IMN: Hah!
BY: But there really was a lot of Trill stuff here and by the sounds of it, some new Trill stuff too.
Previously… On Deep Space 9
IMN: Yeah I don’t think we’d seen those pools that Thor took a dip in from Avengers: Age of Ultron before. [Editor’s Note: Dr. Iain McNally’s manuscript is currently under review as he completely neglected to mention Trill’s previous appearance in the Deep Space Nine episode “Equilibrium,” which not only visited Trill, but also visited the caves with the Trill Spawning Pools!]
BY: MAYBE THOR IS A TRILL!
IMN: LOL!
BY: But I gotta say, that Trill stuff didn’t quite work for me. It felt draggy and I don’t know if it was because it leaned heavily on Trill lore, or if it was because it was emotional, and I’m a robot with no heart.
I was more interested in the stuff that was happening on board Discovery. Everyone is getting frayed and I’m a little disappointed that it’s been resolved so quickly. Other shows and other writers would tend to drag that out as the season’s core B-plot problem for the crew, but not here. Or at least I’m assuming it to be resolved.
IMN: I hope it remains a thread for the series. As I mentioned on this week’s podcast, I think the idea of an isolated crew, dealing with the loss of a lot of things they could rely on, is very timely for these days of COVID-19, where we’re all a little short of dilithium, and are unable to go hang out with each other. I agree the crew stuff was much more compelling. We’ve had two seasons of new captains, new threats, and “responsibility hoarder” Burnham stealing the spotlight from the crew. It’s time we actually got to know them! Case in point, I love what they are doing with Dr Culber this season. He’s starting to grow into that “conscience of the ship”/Bones McCoy mould.
BY: Yeah! It really feels like the first two seasons have been so focused on Michael that the rest of the crew felt like set dressing. It got a little strange. It’s nice to see the rest of them come into it a bit more. I also agree with what you said about Dr. Culber, and I really appreciate that he isn’t just Stamets’ partner anymore. He is a doctor. And he is a doctor of this ship. A part of me does wish they would drag out the crew’s PTSD thing a bit more, just to give them a bit more bite in future episodes. I guess we’ll see.
IMN: Post Temporal (Displacement) Stress Disorder!
BY: Boom.
“Trilled” to Be Here!
IMN: Another problem with the Trill plot was that it was a bit formulaic. Were you screaming at the screen when the Trill on the view screen said “we will begin preparations” for Adira’s return and no one on the bridge asked WHAT preparations? They could have been ready with a knife to gut them like a fish the moment they beamed down. (Though they weren’t far off!)
BY: Yeah that feels a little too old school Federation. I mean, this many years into the future, who knows what anyone thinks of the Federation anymore. The Trill planet could have been a slave harbor for a slew of Federation jerks and Discovery wouldn’t know about it. This whole “trust in the Federation” thing seems like something they could start to pull away from.
IMN: That’s another slight issue I have with the show, that they at least addressed in episode. The mission to find Federation HQ feels a little … hollow to me. Like, you’ve made a huge change in your life and now are feeling lost, finding some HQ dudes who couldn’t pull the Federation back together in a few hundreds years, seems like a bad bet. I’m hoping that they get a more substantial mission. That Discovery herself starts on a mission of trade, peace, and rebuilding their Federation. Not just some future guy’s hazy recollections of it. I think this episode addressed that with the crew’s own ennui, which culminated in that FANTASTIC dinner scene.
You Love to See It
BY: THAT DINNER SCENE WAS FANTASTICALLY PAINFUL! And Michelle Yeoh was just DELIGHTFULLY bitchy.
IMN: I mean she’s going FULL HAM and I am HERE FOR IT.
BY: FULL ON MEAN CRAZY RICH ASIAN ON THAT TABLE.
IMN: Remember when people (Malaysians mostly), used to bitch about her being on Trek?
BY: Well those people are DEAD WRONG.
IMN: I want more of these awkward dinners. Detmer losing it was the icing on the cake. They distilled all the stress the crew was feeling into her and Stamets, and it really works. We finally get to know what’s been up with her and I’m so happy it’s not that she was being mind controlled by… um… Control?
Of course some people on board would be traumatized and it really worked when she went to Dr. Culber and was like “I’m all macho.” After 2 years of character breadcrumbs, I guess she’s Maverick from Top Gun now? Or maybe Iceman?
BY: To see more of that human reaction is nice. That these guys aren’t just “Aye Captain” robots. For me it changed in the last episode, when Detmer hesitated carrying out Captain Saru’s command. It was nice to see that faith being shaken. That, like us, maybe the crew are starting to question the idea of the Federation a bit.
Doctor, Doctor
BY: Did it feel a little weird to you that Dr. Culber opened the episode with a log voice over?
IMN: I didn’t even think of it until you mentioned it! This is our crew now, has been since Season 2 really, so it makes total sense to see things from different perspectives.
Although I don’t think there’s any perspective that can explain why Saru was so calm about the ship’s computer – you know the one thing that keeps them all alive – developing some “feels!”
BY: When that happened I shouted (and typed into my notes) CONTROL???!!!
IMN: Hah! I’ve been waiting for SOME follow up on the Short Trek, “Calypso,” that I was like “finally!” I still think they’ll lead into that at some point with the crew leaving the ship and time travelling again, though a teeny tiny time portal the ship can’t fit through, and then they’ll join their new kick ass AI driven ship Zora. (Oh crap! Detmer will be out of a job then! How will she deal?). But yeah Saru should have been a *little* bit more alarmed at that.
It also looks like Adira will be sticking around for the long haul. Maybe her story would have carried a bit more weight if this episode had happened later in the season and we’d gotten to know her a little better. But what did you think of her (and her “black alert” cello)?
BY: I was gonna make some stupid childish remark like, “why does the Federation require all these ships to have ALL THINGS ever?” but I guess they just printed that cello out.
IMN: I forget you’ve not seen too much Trek, but they just LOVE archaic forms of entertainment in the distant future (See: that weirdly projected Buster Keaton movie the crew watched at the end.) No one shreds on a Gibson or professes their love for the Twilight series in the far future.
BY: Vintage is cool bro. I’m just waiting for a vinyl player or a gramophone to show up. You’re right though, it’s never a Sony Walkman, or a Fast & Furious movie.
IMN: It’s a Federation of hipsters who only think stuff older than 900 years is cool!
“Trill-Seekers”
BY: A question about the Trill. Is this the first time we’re seeing the planet? Cause that place looks like a beautiful Japanese garden in San Francisco. (See correction above.)
IMN: I’m not sure where they are shooting nowadays. I’s a lot better than the desert outside L.A. that used to plague TNG and DS9. I think they’ve been pretty good with diverse biomes so far, but the Trill didn’t even have an airport? No customs? No immigration? I guess they spent all their budget on 3D printing those pointy transparent sticks and cutting the sleeves off the Trill robes.
BY: So as the resident Trek guy, how did you rate this episode? What did you make of it?
IMN: I said “aye” to the development of the crew and exploring the isolation of time travel. It’s something which Trek, as a whole, should probably address more often, seeing as it’s about crews in deep space, away from family and everything they know. Sometimes the later generations of Trek can be a little too comfy with the concept of space exploration. This brings it back and makes it so much worse. I’m still waiting for some exploration of what it means to be Starfleet. And what being part of the Federation means to this crew. The crew hasn’t examined that yet. Right now, it’s just a uniform, so I hope they do soon, and come up with their own mission to propel them through this future. Wait, am I craving a classic weekly TV show where they try and get someone new to join their fledgling Federation each week, boldly going where someone has gone before 900 years previously, but for the first time for them?
BY: I’ll be honest I’m not sure if that is enough for me.
IMN: Enthusiasm levels dropping, Captain?
BY: Not really. It’s like you keep asking, what is the show’s mission statement? Are they trying to rebuild the Federation? Are they trying to get back home? Are they going to just adventure through this new universe, 900 years later, finding and fixing Federation telephone poles so they can all call and chat? I need something. I need an A-plot that doesn’t get resolved immediately in two episodes.
IMN: You’re right. All of this has been place setting. Even Adira is part of that. Now they have a walking encyclopedia on board. She can explain anything weird they encounter that’s happened since “The Burn” as she has the memories of all her previous hosts to fall back on.
BY: But Adira isn’t just a clean character either. She has “baggage” and I really don’t want to spend time with her and her imaginary boyfriend.
IMN: Yeah, I have no idea what’s going on there.
BY: I think I might prefer it if they, like you said, become a guide to this timeline. They have all these memories that can help them on their mission (when they settle on one). I don’t want this to now be the Michael and Adira show, featuring Saru and the crew of the Discovery.
Who?
IMN: Continue building the crew! Like giving that blond actress (Sara Mitich) who used to play Airam a name and an explanation as to why she is part of the main crew all of a sudden!
BY: It’s so weird how she’s now in every bridge crew scene.
IMN: It feels like Dawn from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where everyone accepts her but only one person is aware of who she is and thinks she might be a monster!
BY: Like I said in the podcast, I liked Season 1’s arc with the spore drive and the tardigrade, and Season 2’s red angel and going to the future. So far, this show feels as lost as Discovery. And I wonder how much longer that is going to be.
IMN: Maybe when the season is done it might hang together more. If I recall correctly, we had no idea what was going on four episodes into those previous seasons either! Remember when a trip to the mirror universe was just wild speculation!
BY: All I can say is that this episode is disappointing because there was no Grudge in it. My Queen. Grudge Report: FAIL.
IMN: To that, all I can say is ….
Kelp dries in the sun,
Emperor Georgiou.
an existential crisis,
is there dessert?
Subspace Report
- After their debut in the Short Trek episode “Ephraim and Dot,” those repair drones seem to be EVERYWHERE this season. They appear in at least one shot every episode, and they graduated to the credits this year.
- We want a therapeutic colouring book from the future.
- We imagine interstellar shopping to be like the shopping you see on airplanes.
- I wonder if, like all good tech support would suggest, Detmer just needs to be turned off and on again.
- Saru doesn’t understand giving his crew a day off? (“In space, no one can see you pull a sickie.)
- When Adira met her previous, mostly Starfleet, Trill hosts, one of them was wearing a Starfleet badge in the same style as the future badges from the TNG finale “All Good Things.” Is this literally the darkest timeline?
- Annabelle Wallis, who provided the voice for the upgraded Discovery AI Zora in the Short Trek episode “Calypso,” also provided the voice of the advanced computer in this episode!
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