A suggestion: the collated meta post

[mekare]

Sooo, just before we all get pushed into abyss (or not?) by the finale, here’s something that came to me while going through the hundreds of comments in the episode discussion posts. There’s been some excellent meta linked and written by you awesome guys and I think it would help during the hiatus to make it all more accessible for ourselves and people coming to this comm later. Someone mentioned this was the norm in LJ days (which I never experienced) so please put your linked meta posts in the comments!

Season 1 themes

untitled post by michaelburnhamfanclub This was posted before the finale aired.

Excerpt: “it’s been established that the war on its own couldn’t make explorers turn into soldiers—this was lorca’s most significant failure and most fundamental misunderstanding of our humanity. it’s also been established that living in the most brutal universe and pretending to be the most brutal versions of ourselves does not compromise our principles and our senses of self.

when combining the war with leadership directly from the mirror universe, the remains of starfleet command say that yes, we can become soldiers. we can put aside our humanity.

the crew of the discovery, all of whom have withstood this ideology for the duration of the season, say that no, we cannot put aside our principles for the sake of winning this war.

although discovery has been incredibly dark, at many times disturbing, and brutally intense—sometimes crossing the line from enjoyable to painful—this is the theme of humanity’s virtues that has defined star trek for decades.”

Thematically, the s1arc of DSC kicks ass by Mswyrr

Excerpt:OFC the season is a great critique of a great many things, many of which are problems with “the other side.” But it also says: the moment you forget that moral struggle is something you too have to engage in is the moment you begin to fail and weaken morally. It’s not possible to sit back and say “well, I’m not Klingon so I’m a great person!” Because the next step is “I’m a great person so anything I choose to do, even awful things, is okay.”
For a season that started out with me thinking the Klingons would be a cheap moral pantomime where the Federation folks got to feel very superior, I was shocked, delighted, and moved by a story where the writers were willing to dig deeper and make a very true point about the heart of what it means to try to be a moral person. How it’s an ongoing struggle, with lots of failures and frustrations.

Season 1 episodes:

Episode discussion posts in Spacefungus by rivendellrose

episode posts on Liz Barr’s blog

Antagonists & captains in Discovery

Thread in the episode post 1x07 comparing Lorca and Georgiou storylines as captains (also explaining the origin of Merkin as the name for Lorca’s tribble)

Quick thought on St: Discovery 1x13 (and season to date) by nenya_kanadka

Excerpt: Who gets which treatment isn't random. Given a white male douchey "antihero" character and a woman of colour in a campy gold cape and an evil leadership role, he is going to get "So interesting!" and she is going to get "That was OTT fun; let's get back to the real story now."

But that's not what Discovery did.

Ash Tyler meta

Ash 1.0 to Ash 3.0 by mswyrr

Excerpt: "He uses “I” to talk about Voq’s life before catching himself. And then he draws on Voq’s experiences and personality and has *fun* for the first time in a long time by doing that. That is a thing he can do now; it is a thing that Ash 2.0 would have never done. There was nothing about drawing on Voq that Ash 2.0 found anything but totally traumatizing. There was nothing about Klingon culture he found enjoyable. He had really understandably angry, violent, even sadistic feelings about Klingons…

Analysis of *that* scene between Michael and Ash by data-is-my-favourite-android

A very thoughtful unpacking of that whole argument.

Excerpt: I’ve seen some argue that what Tyler is saying here is abusive. I think it could be if it was a pattern of behavior. At present, I’m viewing it as a messy, frustrated emotional reaction that is understandable (though could have been handled way better). He’s been through a lot as well, and he’s not being his best self. He’s desperate to have the support of the woman he loves and, while it’s justifiable that she’s withholding it, it’s also easy to see why he, an emotional human being who is emotionally strained, would feel hurt. Under normal circumstances we know that Ash is a patient and kind person. But these are far from normal circumstances. Things were bound to get messy. It sucks that he chose these tactics, but it’s not unforgivable (so long as it’s a fluke and not a pattern)."


Katrina Cornwell meta

Give Katrina a Hug, Give Jayne an Award by pixiedane This is meta for 1x14 from Kat’s perspective.

excerpt:Kat is over it. She wants to take all these secrets and and all these criminals to the Starbase, to Command. She has a headache, she needs a break. She’s so tired, she’s been tired for a year, and she can’t let it show. She’s lost so much and everything she gets back is twisted. She wants to cry and she can’t cry and it is all unfair and she is over it. Put Fake Philippa in Not Prison and let someone else be in charge.

Comments

[nenya_kanadka]

I completely agree that Disco is part of the long line of Star Trek that's about choosing to be the best of humanity. It's why I keep telling everyone that (despite Captain Philippa's death early on, and the war, and the Ash torture stuff, and Lorca Mirror-Lorca-ing), it's very Star Trek.

Also love the idea of a meta roundup post! Could we just post links here in comments?

Here's something I wrote on the way Disco treats Emperor Georgiou vs how it treats Lorca, and why that makes me love it:
https://nenya-kanadka.dreamwidth.org/181462.html

(Short version: You expect the white male captain to have the ~interesting~ connection to the hero & long drawn out plot, and the narrative not to care about the woman of colour in an evil power role. GUESS WHAT.)

[mekare]

Thanks for posting the link and then we can do an organised post later, sorted by character or theme or whathaveyou. :-)

[nenya_kanadka]

No thank you for giving us a starting place!

[rivendellrose]

I still think that meta about Georgiou vs. Lorca is one of the most clever and important things that's come up in terms of Disco meta.

Just because for months there were the asshats going "hur, she's dead, get over it, stop whining."

Well, guess what, dumbfucks. The show guessed right that we would still be caring about her and her death months later. They knew, and they were counting on that.

[nenya_kanadka]

❤❤❤ Thank you! I was trying to put words to why my heart screamed for joy when Michael saved Emperor Pippa, because I knew it was more than just how hot and riveting she was, and it was also an objectively terrifying choice, and it still felt and feels SO RIGHT. In my goddamn soul.

And ohhhh yeah. They played us like a fiddle. And I don't even hate them for it??! Just, they knew what it would do to us and they used it for maximum payoff. I'm kind of in awe.

(don't fuck it up finale don't fuck it uppp)

[rivendellrose]

And ohhhh yeah. They played us like a fiddle. And I don't even hate them for it??! Just, they knew what it would do to us and they used it for maximum payoff. I'm kind of in awe.

They've really done a great job making this whole season into a story, like they said they would. I didn't really buy that would work out, just because I... honestly thought they'd give up/lose the thread a few episodes in. And I do think there've been a few things that they finished too quickly (*coughs* Ash's storyline, Landry's... lack of storyline). But otherwise, they've done it.

(don't fuck it up finale don't fuck it uppp)

I... kind of feel like whether or not they keep Emperor Georgiou around after this, they've made their point. I could see arguments for keeping her, absolutely, or I could see the wisdom of letting her go again now. I think it all really depends on where they're going with the character, and on Michelle Yeoh's continued availability.

[nenya_kanadka]

Yeah, it's had its moments that didn't land for me, but on the whole it's a pretty impressive job of TV. Someone was telling me that from osmosis it sounded more like a miniseries, and I pretty much had to agree.

I actually agree with you about Georgiou in the finale, even though my heart says "let her exit screen left to an undetermined but nonlethal fate." I guess we'll see.

[mekare]

HA, very good call on Georgiou’s fate!

[nenya_kanadka]

I was SO PLEASED to have been proven right there! :D :D She needs to just show up a couple times a season and be a thorn in their sides (while accidentally learning to be a better person?) (and lighting up our screens/hearts/loins <333)

[kore]

I know Emperor Pippa is probably gonna die, but....NOOOOOO

[monanotlisa]

Well, guess what, dumbfucks. The show guessed right that we would still be caring about her and her death months later. They knew, and they were counting on that.

Indeed! I am pleased as pie to this day, and can't wait for the finale.

[kore]

YES

The real spirit of Starfleet/Trek is....Georgiou, and also Burham! Quite a change from the white male captain who knows best.

[nenya_kanadka]

There's also this fantastic meta on Tumblr about Kat Cornwell, (by magnetgirl, who might go here but I'm not sure):

Give Katrina A Hug, Give Jayne An Award

Along similar lines to lizbee's awesome comments about Kat on the last episode reaction post here. ❤

[monanotlisa]

Very true; I have no doubt about the finale having our heroes proven as heroes not through war but in spite of it.

[kore]

Now that was prescient! Michael's the one who convinces Kat et al not to drop the bomb, and then convinces L'Rell to take the opportunity to save her people. I was super pleased with both those solutions.

[mekare]

Yep the solutions are good, I just would have preferred a litle more build up.

[nenya_kanadka]

It should totally have been at least a two-parter, if not three! I don't understand this choice, man. I love that all/most of the facts line up with what I wanted, but somebody needs to rewrite that episode and refilm it and give us the finale this arc deserved! So yeah a bit of a letdown especially in comparison to the couple of episodes immediately preceding it.

Ah, well.