Looking Back: Star Trek Discovery S5 E04 Review

Star Trek Discovery season 5 continues with episode 4, Face the Strange. A temporal sabotage bug sends Discovery on a trip through its own timeline with only Burnham, Stamets and Rayner immune to the effects. While tackling this trap, they get a glimpse of Starfleet's future as well as numerous points of the past.
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Star Trek Picard/Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks/Enterprise/Voyager/Deep Space Nine/Discovery and The Next Generation are all owned by Paramount Pictures/CBS and distributed by CBS.
This Video is for critical purposes with commentary.

[@tylerbrown9797]

I normally find time travel episodes really tedious, but what I really liked about this episode is that the internal logic of the way this time bug was set up, and how it would lock a ship into a temporal snare actually made a lot of sense within the logic of the universe. I just don't find time travel paradoxes and stuff that interesting, but this episode was a great example of how it really isn't important that scifi adhere to "hard science" in order to be pro-science, what matters is that the characters exemplify scientific/analytical thinking in their problem solving within the fantastical rules of the universe the story is set in. I think this episode knocks it out of the park in that respect.

[@dupersuper1938]

Actually, the weapon made zero sense. If you're just sending the ship zipping through time, why wouldn't it end up exactly where it started once the bug ran out of power? Why did they lose any time at all? If you can send the ship through time, why not just exclude or modify the space travel aspect so you end up sending them into an asteroid or something? It seems like an extremely complex and powerful method of inconveniencing people that could be killed with far less effort. I didn't care though as it made for a fun episode, so let's say maybe the Krenim were on the good guys' side in the temporal wars and were trying not to kill if they could avoid it.

[@tylerbrown9797]

@@dupersuper1938 " It seems like an extremely complex and powerful method of inconveniencing people that could be killed with far less effort." I agree with that as a criticism, but I also feel like the villains have been established as extremely capable mercenaries who are specifically not supposed to be two dimensional villains. I can see morally grey area characters like this relying on weapons that are so rare and confusing to be on the receiving end of that it usually catches more powerful criminals trying to set them in a snare, off-guard enough for them to make a quick exit and move on to the next job somewhere far away. The villains didn't expect the crew of Discovery to actually be on top of their sh*& enough to notice in time or that they have a weird mushroom scientist who kind of exists outside of time a little bit. Yeah it is definitely silly, but I think at a basic level the motivation for using a weapon like this and expecting it to work much better than it did was a reasonable assumption for the villains in this episode.

[@HomoSolari]

Reminded me of my favorite episode of Season 1, Magic to Make the Sanest Man to Go Mad. Time shenanigans done well is always great, as much as I hate temporal mechanics.

[@DanielSolis]

Thank you for noting the episode title reference. I keep seeing this being missed and it made me feel old. 😅

[@wonderswiss4803]

Great Episode, I always do other stuff while watching SNW or the older shows, but Discovery always holds my attention. I prefer how it's shot and it's pacing over the other shows, this episode strengthened that belief.

[@Aragorn7884]

needed a cameo by Jason Isaacs...

[@afoolandhismoneychannel]

This. Lorca was excellent.

[@NitpickingNerd]

He will appear in the last episode as the leader of the Breen hegemony

[@LePedant]

Why do people watch this video, just to complain about Disco in the comments? If you don't like Disco, you don't have to watch it.

[@SteveMrW]

Sorry, I thought it was called ‘Free speech’?

[@jakepetterson1050]

Isn't the comment section for people with opinions? Perhaps other than your own?

[@jakepetterson1050]

Comment section is a place for opinions.. Perhaps those that differ from your own

[@trevorwhite915]

Because they think they are being clever knocking the show and can’t get the fact the show has actually improved vastly over the last couple of episodes. I didn’t particularly like the first season. Best way to handle the haters is to simply ignore them.

[@JohnG44]

​@SteveMrW you can have free speech. Just like I can say, nobody cares what you think.

[@robotechsto1984]

When it comes to time travel, I agree with the legend that is chief of operations on Deep Space Nine Miles O'Brien's opinion 'I hate Temporal Mechanics'

[@kineuhansen8629]

i do as well

[@robotechsto1984]

Koopyspappy nope just love that episode of DS9

[@lovipoekimo176]

I love this episode as much as I love Shattered from Voyager and Cause and Effect from TNG. It felt like a tiny celebration of the growth of everyone in the show, particularly Michael between her emo season 1 phase to her present-day Captain phase.

[@cmoser22]

I like that we got a science puzzle of the week. Still in the middle.of the main mission. Believe it or not, we want more of this. I don't want 10 episode seasons. Maybe not 24, that unrealistic nowadays, but more than 10 for sure. Gotta get to know these people and have some filler stories.

[@Marconius6]

Regarding your last comment, I personally have been calling for a return to more episodic content in Trek... in streaming series in general, actually. I really hated how early seasons of Discovery just felt like an 8 hour long movie, so the individual episodes had no satisfying arc of their own. And the episode was good too! I definitely felt like the writers were doing some cheeky lampshading of the dark, edgy, pretty bad writing of the early seasons; but I thought it was well executed. The fact the crew members probably got more development in the last 10 minutes of this episodes than in all of season 1 was actually hilarious though.

[@dupersuper1938]

Strange New Worlds is the go to for episodic Trek. Lower Decks and Prodigy are pretty episodic as well, but for classic Trek feels it's hard to beat the hour long live action format.

[@CalGarian-qn9pw]

@@dupersuper1938 Strange New Worlds is absolute garbage.

[@dupersuper1938]

@@CalGarian-qn9pw Agree to fundamentally disagree...

[@AniMithril]

Loved it, and thx for the review, I liked how you pointed out the way the episodes and the characters in it reflect both discovery itself and even parts of the fanbase.

[@kristofbe1]

"The whole crew was a lot more standoffish in season 1." Serving under a fascist captain will do that.

[@TheVeritas1]

Yep.

[@athyscollection]

This is one of the top 5 discovery episodes for sure.

[@TheVeritas1]

Face the Strange was a really fun and clever episode with real character growth from Burnham and Rayner.

[@marvelboy74]

This episode was an A+ for me. I feel like the Voyager references are two-fold here as this episode is reminiscent of the Voy S7 Episode Shattered even bringing back a long dead character. The confrontation with Airiam served two purposes: to bring back a character who really should have had a lot more development, but it also helps Michael deal with Airiam's death as Nhan was the one who ejected her into space because Michael couldn't. Linus had a great scene in this one and he is another character I could do with a lot more from. Even though Michael is familiar with her crew, it's important to note that while on the bridge, she never calls them anything other than by their rank and name. She is very formal when on duty. I hope this episode getters Rayner settled down some but not completely neutered as first officer.

[@Bondoz007]

Actually - one reason the writers use this method of story telling is to advance "romance" story lines. The "sanest man" ep in season 1 was excellent, and at the same time had Burnham & Tyler become an item and skip ahead in their relationship. In this ep, it reintroduced Burnham and Book as a thing, which might have dragged a few eps. Very clever writing.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

I really liked this episode as well, and it is making me sad for the first time that Discovery is going to be cancelled

[@Mister_Mag00]

I loved when Rayner ran into Reno, means that Reno probably remembered him and like just has never said anything, hope they touch on that laster

[@joseaguilar3323]

Bowie references are always welcome

[@robstein1313]

I really enjoyed this episode and I appreciate your insight and thoughts. (I was curious if you were going to talk about it.)

[@jaredcolon4535]

I think having them reference not only the temporal War but the krenim was clever and also interesting it and say another Dynamic to the temporal Cold War and suggest that there were pockets of hot conflict in the Cold War

[@dupersuper1938]

Well, we know the temporal cold war eventually ignited. Time travel was outlawed after full on temporal wars.

[@jaredcolon4535]

@@dupersuper1938 true but was ignition in the future, the past or the present and if so who's present is the one that counts

[@90lancaster]

With a bit of advanced planning they could have got some of the Strange New Worlds Cast in there too.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

This episode reminded of the Voyager episode "Shattered".

[@johannschmidt3389]

Can we see a video on the Laser pistols we see in Episode 1 of TOS but we never see again?

[@Iron_10]

Loved past Tilly’s interaction with Burnham

[@jakepetterson1050]

Somebody must have already gone back and fed tilly. She was bigger

[@nsr-ints]

The Breen did *what* again? How many time do I need to teach you this lesson, old man?

[@thomasstrudwick94]

I enjoyed this episode, it reminded me how much I disliked all the characters in the early seasons. It's only through something like this that you notice how far they've actually developed. Some might even say that their character development was a long road getting form there to here.

[@TheVeritas1]

Love the Enterprise reference.

[@jongregory3427]

probably a bad place for this but I'm looking for fleet to get the odyssey star cruiser any help would be greatly appreciated!

[@DeaconBlues117]

Hang out in orbit of ESD for more than five minutes, and I guarantee you'll get at least two or three fleet invites.

[@KayleighBourquin]

It was already headed that way, but this episode rather cements Disco as one of my favourite Trek series. Not necessarily because it's just that good, it's not (it's not bad though), but because of its heart. I have really enjoyed its journey from where it began to where it is now, and this episode really crystallised that.

[@AshValentine.]

2:20 I cant understand why more ships aren't like that. These people are your friends and family, why wouldn't you be like the Discovery crew? Certainly, its the atmosphere I'd want to breed if i were a Starfleet captain

[@ThisIsMeAndNotYou]

136

[@ChrisParlett]

It's not that the crew is touchy feely, it's that we have no idea who is being touched and/or feeling. For a show that was always ensemble, it's taken until the third episode of the fifth season to get twenty seconds with the bridge crew. Imagine if we got an episode with each of them like we did with robot lady or this Cylon man. The writers being meta and addressing critique through an analogue does not make them good writers. Cheers 🍻

[@DeaconBlues117]

So, you weren't paying attention in seasons 2 and 3. Good to know, I guess.

[@dupersuper1938]

@@DeaconBlues117 I was, and they're right. I don't hate Discovery, but not fleshing out the bridge crew is definitely one of its' weak points.

[@DeaconBlues117]

@@dupersuper1938 So learning that Lt. Joanne Owosekun was raised in a Luddite colony and learned to fight from her four older brothers didn't flesh anything out? Or Lt. Keyla Detmer, who got her pilot's license at the age of 12? Or LCDR Ronald Bryce, the kitesurfing aficionado whose fondest memory was surfing the giant waves on Mandark IV? Lt. Linus, the piano-playing Saurian? Cdr. Jett Reno, who lost her wife during the war with the Klingons? Why did I know all these if they never "fleshed out" the crew? There was little filling out of characters during season 1, because that one focused on Lorca, who declined to learn most of their names (because he was focused on getting back to the Mirror Universe, and didn't want to be distracted by memories of what their Imperial counterparts were like). That's why I specified seasons 2 and 3.

[@dramonmaster222]

As another review pointed out, this eps. is VERY similar to the S1 eps. "Magic to Make The Sanest Man Go Mad".

[@dupersuper1938]

That was season 1.

[@dramonmaster222]

@@dupersuper1938 Fixed it

[@McNuggetsOrElse]

I...didn't even realize Season 5 is out

[@notabannedaccount8362]

Discovery knocks it out of the park again!

[@CapELarry]

When did it ever do that?

[@notabannedaccount8362]

@@CapELarry Um, always? Watch the show.

[@McNuggetsOrElse]

@@notabannedaccount8362 lol

[@Aerojet01]

@@notabannedaccount8362 Sorry, it was a terrible show by the wider audience.

[@michaelcarney6280]

​@@notabannedaccount8362yeah it's fucking awful.

[@rmeddy]

Yeah I had fun with this,it's basically Discovery's "Shattered" I really thought they were going to pay off Calypso My only gripe is I felt Airiam could've told younger Rhys and Michael to stand down.

[@afoolandhismoneychannel]

This was probably the best episode of Discovery since the beginning of the series. I think it was the lack of the usual flood of cringey tears and emotions that made it so.

[@notabannedaccount8362]

Lack of drama was its weaker point. Also it was a bit too white. Kinda problematic.

[@afoolandhismoneychannel]

Thanks, I needed that laugh. 🥲

[@pillepolle3122]

The whole story made no sense. The Krenim have stopped working on time technology after the double Voyager episode.

[@dupersuper1938]

So...because one guy stopped working on developing a time ship 800 years ago, you're assuming the entire species gave up studying temporal mechanics in perpetuity...?

[@TheVeritas1]

@@dupersuper1938 Well said.

[@crippletime]

Algorithm comment

[@SteveMrW]

This series is truly awful, the first programme was more like Star Wars and it’s not got any better.

[@stevegiles9080]

I know it saw 10 minutes of it one time and I saw how the doctor I think said his bf was frisky last night. That mot star trek.

[@stevegiles9080]

Better yet can that ship be erased on seris finale. It so ugly it was a design that was rejected long time ago so they use it for this show

[@Aerojet01]

I agree. Like with most modern shows these days, there's a big emphasis on ideology and CGI, leading to a decline in acting and story writing. Also, some actors/actresses aren't cut out for sci fi and leading roles.

[@sugarfrosted2005]

You're boring. You haven't watched in years and it still lives rent free in your head.

[@kendrakirai]

​@Aerojet01 Trek has always been about ideology, you just agreed with the ideology of the horny 1960s liberal middle aged white guy and don't agree with the the ideology of people almost sixty years later.

[@stevegiles9080]

Is the show over yet please

[@kineuhansen8629]

i havent beel following the series to much seen 1 episode hear or there was not a fan of a crew member that started a mutiny on a ship and then become captain on a advance ship sure she help stop a war she more or less started if i am not mistaken ohh and then there is the sporedrive wich in my mind kinda make transwarp uselsss dont like the idea off it and the way it look when the ship spin just look silly asume the starfleet though transwarp was safer to use since i dont know what happend too sporedrive

[@Cylume.]

No

[@ThePoliticalBulldog]

This show is such crap.

[@michaelcarney6280]

This Garbage show still on it the most un star trek show ever.