[Guest]

EPISODE DISCUSSION:
The Red Angel

This thread is for pre and post episode discussion of the 9th episode from season 2, The Red Angel. If you do not wish for spoilers, then you have missed all the warnings in the title and activity stream, shocking! So if you are reading this post, then you should turn away now.

The episode first airs on the 21st of March for American viewers and the 22nd of March for international viewers.

[WelshAvenger]

Aaaaaaand once again, Burnham proves to be completely unfit to hold her rank. Personally, if she'd have punched me twice, I'd have shot her in the face for assaulting a senior officer. No matter what he's done, he's still a Captain in Starfeet but, oh no, Burnham's plot armour is laid on super thick this week. Besides, with the reveal at the end, he owes her a punch in the face.

Nice touch with Hugh and the Admiral taking a couple of minutes to do character stuff. When the new science officer walked onto the bridge, I was thinking, who the hell is this? By the way everyone was giving her nods, should I already know this woman? Then Pike welcomed her by way of an introduction and all was well.

I don't know whether it's just me but shouldn't the DNA profile that they matched to Burnham only be a 50% match. I mean that's the way human reproduction works, even in the 22nd century. Unless her father wasn't involved at all and she's some sort of clone it shouldn't have matched her perfectly.

My $0.02

[Rellimie]

Aaaaaaand once again, Burnham proves to be completely unfit to hold her rank. Personally, if she'd have punched me twice, I'd have shot her in the face for assaulting a senior officer. No matter what he's done, he's still a Captain in Starfeet but, oh no, Burnham's plot armour is laid on super thick this week. Besides, with the reveal at the end, he owes her a punch in the face.

Nice touch with Hugh and the Admiral taking a couple of minutes to do character stuff. When the new science officer walked onto the bridge, I was thinking, who the hell is this? By the way everyone was giving her nods, should I already know this woman? Then Pike welcomed her by way of an introduction and all was well.

I don't know whether it's just me but shouldn't the DNA profile that they matched to Burnham only be a 50% match. I mean that's the way human reproduction works, even in the 22nd century. Unless her father wasn't involved at all and she's some sort of clone it shouldn't have matched her perfectly.

My $0.02

She was seen a couple of times throughout the season, she just wasn’t a bridge officer.

Also, the actor is who played Airiam in season 1.

[Morris]

Spoiler-free review...

Well...I think that I kinda like this Spock...Pike is a boy scout, but I still kinda like him too...Georgiou's banter in engineering with TIlly, Stamets, and Culber was entertaining...

The rest of this episode was, well, how can I put this nicely? It wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. Actually, it was very bad...very, very bad!!!

I don't even think that I want to do a spoiler review. I'd be embarrassed to put this plot into print...as the writers should have been when they were writing this script!!!

[Shadowmeph]

I ALMOST STOPPED WATCHING THE EP but I forced myself to continue becasue of what they determined and then they were going t otry something that to me made no sense becasue if theye did that the person who is from the future woudl already have known but I pushed through it and well it made a little sense but still the writing this has to be franks I newer liked him or his writing to me it is like an ego trip or something he thinks hes the crap when he isnt in my eyes.
burnam is such a baby this is also something else that almost made me stop watching the ep I mean really she pulls that off and isnt disciplined for it .

[Bridger]

Easily the worst episode of Star Trek, making the Voyager Warp 10 Episode less crazy but the Time Crystal oh boy for sure a WTF moment.

Do you remember when Star Trek had Science advisors, oh right they are working on the Orville now.

[aceman67]

For those laughing at 'time crystals', they're an actual thing theorized in science, of course lacking the time-travel shenanigans.

Also, Mudd used time crystals in Discovery during his time-loop episode...

As mentioned in the thread for that episode, Tholians could have something to do with that, but they'd have to address that the only reference to time travel directly related to the Tholians is in STO, a non-canon source.

[Bridger]

Also, Mudd used time crystals in Discovery during his time-loop episode...

It was stupid back than, seriously Discovery has ♥♥♥♥♥♥ actors, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ writing and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ technological explanations, and the best part is Section 31 has developed a Time Traveling Suit, a SUIT.

[JByb04]

Did I like the episode?

Yes

Did I like it as much as the previous episode?

No

I also had a bit of an issue with the Grandfather Theory. Since if Burnham died the timeline would've been altered and she wouldn't have been able to save herself. Which would've made her attempt illogical. However I guess there was a bit of foreshadowing that the Angel wasn't actually going to be Burnham. You could also argue that the Data recovered from Lt. Commander Airiam's memory was in some way corrupted. Which is why the genetic signature from her mother wasn't detected. There is also the possibility that her mother altered the record or masked her portion of that signature via the suit. There is little we know about its capabilities.

Although now we know why the Red Angel was so interested in Burnham and reached out to Spock. She was protecting her daughter.

I did find the memorial service for Airiam to be lovely. We haven't seen many on screen. But I felt this was the best one since WoK.

[Rellimie]

Easily the worst episode of Star Trek, making the Voyager Warp 10 Episode less crazy but the Time Crystal oh boy for sure a WTF moment.

Do you remember when Star Trek had Science advisors, oh right they are working on the Orville now.

They did have time crystals in season 1, the episode where Harry Mudd kept resetting time.

But the term "time crystal" is kind of stupid

Edit - I see this was already mentioned so disregard my comment

[Petrarch]

I hear time crystal and I just think of the Crystal Maze.

You've got 6 crystals, that's 30 seconds of time to grab as many plot points as you can...

[Rellimie]

I hear time crystal and I just think of the Crystal Maze.

You've got 6 crystals, that's 30 seconds of time to grab as many plot points as you can...

Time Crystal....new currency in STO incoming

[JByb04]

Time Crystal....new currency in STO incoming

Please, Prophets, NO!!!!! lol

[Shestagon]

I can see the flaws in each episode of discovery and "The Red Angel" is certainly no exception. What can I say, I'm enjoying every episode and DSC has very quickly become my favourite Trek.

[Stormy]

Well, this was painful for me. For some reason the episode got about halfway through and then looped to the begining... not once.... but TWICE. Since there is no fast forward option, this meant I had to endure Burnham's crying and self-righteousness twice. Now, that's the mark of a true Star Trek fan.

I do not rank this as one of the worst episodes as Bridger, but it would not be in my top 550 hours of Star Trek thus far.

There were a couple of bright spots, however.

Although very brief, I did like the introduction of Lt. Nilsson. The awkward moment by the crew and then Pike welcoming her to the bridge was a nice touch.

I liked the confrontation between Capt. Leland and Saru as well.

Although full of holes, I didn't mind the plot as much as some.... but didn't love it either. The holes were glaring.

Also, watching Burnham suffer and melt did bring a slight sense of satisfaction... but not enough to be sadistic.