Star Trek: Discovery: Season 1, Episode 8 "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"

 Star Trek: Discovery: Season 1, Episode 8 "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum"

November 5, 2017

After last episode’s reprieve, “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” jolts us back to the war with the Klingons. I am not enamored 100% of the time with focused on the Klingons, but there is potential. L’Rell is an interesting character. The writers make the right choice in not overusing her character. I believe she is going to be an important factor in the outcome of this war. This particular episode has the Discovery front-and-center in the battle to start with. As someone looking in from the outside, I see what a lethal force Lorca’s ship is in battle. I also see what a forceful weapon the Klingon’s “invisible cloak” can be. The main mission of the episode is for Burnham, Tyler, and Saru to stop this invisibility so they can track the Klingons and figure out when they will attack. Saru has the best lines and the best moments. He eventually becomes crazed in his desire for peace. He is a strong fighter too, apparently. The scene where he shows off his speed as he chases after Michael is a good, ol’ classic “omg” moment.

As I articulated, Burnham, Tyler, and Saru are on a mission. This high priority mission takes them to the planet Pahvo where they need to learn the science behind the Klingon’s advanced cloaking technology that keeps them invisible during warfare. It turns out the locals, these small, glowing, sparking cloud-like creatures are the drivers behind the technology as they create frequencies beneficial to the cloaking technology. These creatures, ironically enough, are all about living in a peaceful existence. They seduce Saru whose Kelpian race always live in constant fear. One cannot blame Saru for taking the opportunity to find peace…and keep it. Even if that means disposing of Burnham and Tyler.

Like the series that came before Star Trek: Discovery, I am happy that the series remains interested in science, biology, and stuff of that sort. It is always a good experience to discover new, unique creatures even if they were to betray the crew. Yup, they sent a signal to the Klingons. That means next episode will be a fun adventure. We did not spend too much time with the Klingons, but I am interested in what is going on with the Admiral. She is presumed dead because she is in the corpse room. I think we will be in for a surprise. Compared to the last episode, this episode was more inconsistent. But it is still an important, high-stakes episode.

My Grade: B+


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Image
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.” Ah, wise words from our new young friend, Ferris Bueller. In John Hughes’s 1986 film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , all Ferris wants to do is take a day and have fun. That is the most simplistic theme the movie has. You can go deeper, but the main takeaway is that it is okay to have fun. That is a motto I have taken to heart. I really loved the film. People consider The Breakfast Club to be Hughes’s best and most important movie. That’s a fine statement to make, but I would personally rank the film number two behind this particular one. The teen characters are instantly relatable, it has a memorable antagonist for the children, and this is basically a thirty-year-old travel guide for Chicago. Just how Woody Allen creates his movies as love letters for New York, this is applicable for John Hughes. A Chicago love letter!   Like all of his films, Hughes wrote
Read more

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Image
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) The James Bond franchise is one of those franchises that will never die. It has been going strong since the first movie rolled out in the early 1960’s, and new James Bond movies are still produced today. What makes this series unique is they use multiple actors to play the titular character over the years. They all bring their own gravitas to the role, and each Bond is a different man when compared to each other (although the martini, shaken not stirred and the beautiful women among other things remain a constant.) So my first James Bond review for this blog is 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. This wasn’t my first look at the series, but it was my first look at the older movies. I really liked what I saw. This is an old-fashioned story that combines a spy drama and an action-packed war movie into one package. Like many of the older Bond movies, the story can get borderline preposterous. The cheesiness of the plot did come to grow on me after awhile, even
Read more

Broadcast News (1987)

Image
  Broadcast News (1987) If you watched the trailer for James L. Brooks’s Broadcast News , you would be forgiven if you thought this film is about a romantic love triangle set in a news station. Yes, there are aspects of romance, but it is way more than that. Brooks is a very smart, adept director who makes a living in creating deep, meaningful characterizations. In my eyes, Brooks had ideas about how work can overtake personal lives and any romance for these workaholics is essentially just a front because quite frankly, these people love to work…as we see detailed with our main characters. In addition, this film is quite informative. Even in 1987, news stations were more about entertainment and the looks, rather than delivering the actual news itself. It was a newer trend that eventually took over networks. With all the insanity within the newsroom, this film manages to find humanity within its characters. This is a detailed human portrait that is engaging, emotional, and comedic. Ja
Read more