Star Trek: Discovery’s Season 3 finale failed characters and storylines

[Ed. note: This piece contains some spoilers for seasons 2 and 3 of Star Trek: Discovery.]

Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery sends the crew of the eponymous science vessel into the future, freeing the series from the franchise’s established canon. It was a bold move for showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, allowing them to explore issues such as resource scarcity – previously anathema to Trek’s largely utopian tenets – and to show a version of the United Federation of Planets in decline even greater than it is in Star Trek: Picard.

As the episodes aired in a world that felt absolutely unhitched due to the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread social and political unrest, Discovery had the potential to live up to the classic Star Trek mission of providing perspective and commentary on the day’s biggest issues. Yet for every topic the writers attempted to address, the conclusion was confused or superficial rather than genuinely insightful. The main arcs were also rushed, as two of the season’s 13 episodes were all about setting up a spin-off. The result was an extremely weak season that didn’t deliver satisfying arcs for most of the characters on the show. The writers presented complex storylines, then packed them with pleasing simplicity. Here is what season 3 of Discovery tried to explore, and how he failed.

Scarcity of resources

The main conflict in Season 3 is the Burn, a mysterious event that affected the dilithium – the element responsible for faster-than-light travel and much of Trek’s other wonderful technology – and left the quadrant shrinking. and fragmented. Dilithium was in short supply in the period immediately before and especially after The Burn, leaving the Federation and various other factions able to apply force solely on the basis of their dwindling reserves.

Star Trek has always existed in a post-scarcity future, so this twist allowed for a major rethink of how various species and planets would evolve and change to face the challenge. The fact that the Federation has been hit so hard has provided a particularly grim metaphor for the current decline of the United States as a world power. The near future realism of The extent made it a much better place for stories about humanity’s endless struggle for resources, and the people who are inevitably exploited and neglected as a result, but there was certainly potential to approach the subject from the angle. from Star Trek.

One conspiracy provided criticism of colonialism, with the mercantile union Emerald Chain providing a powerful argument for the main directive – Starfleet’s ban on significantly interfering with extraterrestrial civilizations. The Emerald Chain presents itself to offer wonderful solutions to problems like environmental crises, which depend on their ability to harness the resources of the planets they help.

The idea shows Star Trek fans just how fortunate Earth has been to come into contact with the Gentile Vulcans before meeting other alien species, and it fits in well with questions raised in 2020 about the degree to which the Earth could truly unite if alien life arrived here. But while season 2 of The Mandalorian provides an in-depth analysis of how the great powers trample indigenous peoples, Star Trek: DiscoveryThe writers resolved their exploration of the subject with a solution that has all the nuances of a Captain planet episode with some empaths using their connection to nature to resolve the issue with which the Emerald Chain was ostensibly helping them.

The discovery that emerges in the future shakes up future politics, with the ship and her spore engineer Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) becoming the ultimate merchandise by providing a dilithium-free method for faster-than-light journeys. The show is at its best when the crew provides light in a dark world, such as when protagonist and occasional co-pilot Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) inspires a man who keeps a vigil for Starfleet leftovers although he doesn’t has never been officially inducted as a member. But his utopianism reached ridiculous levels thanks to Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr of The Mummy and Resident, bad, extinction), whose ignorance of realpolitik by demanding a ridiculous number of concessions from a potential powerful ally – including her standing on trial for war crimes – makes it baffling that he has reached such a high rank. His intransigence pays off anyway, in a way that feels like an entirely undeserved plot.

Dealing with the trauma and burdens of leadership

At the end of Season 2, the Discovery crew heroically agree to travel to the distant future in a desperate attempt to save all life in the galaxy, and the start of Season 3 sees them struggle to bear the consequences. Saru, Kelpian crew member (Doug Jones of The shape of water and Hellboy) finally finds the courage to embrace his role as captain, but he also finds himself in the particularly difficult position of having to make a crew of perpetual overperformers recognize that they have been pushed to the breaking point.

This storyline left plenty of room for commentary on mental health issues in high-stress jobs, as well as some mature personal storylines about coping with change. 2020 has certainly been a year that could use more thinking and storytelling around these ideas. But these were largely oversimplified, mismanaged, or used for clunky comedy. Lieutenant Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) has been at the helm for Discoverythe first episode of, but received virtually no character development, so the arc exploring his instability after the leap into the future could have remedied that oversight. Instead, it is considered resolved as soon as she is ready to seek help.

Saru should also have had time to shine in the captain’s chair. Instead, he left making meta jokes about which tagline he should use when ordering. When Michael is stripped of his role as first officer due to insubordination, he promotes Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to her post, in a move that clearly had more to do with writers not knowing what to do with Tilly. global logic. Michael may be the only character whose arc has a satisfying conclusion this season, but it comes once again at Saru’s expense. It looks like Jones was struck off the show at the end of this season, which is probably for the best as the actor deserves better.

Gender identity

Paramount garnered a lot of attention in 2020 with the announcement of Season 3 of Discovery would feature the show’s first major trans and non-binary characters, Gray (Ian Alexander) and Adira (Blu del Barrio). Their introduction should have been a powerful acceptance of portrayal in a once-pioneering franchise that lagged behind the strides made by other big shows. But the idea fell apart because the writers couldn’t decide which approach to take for the characters.

The ideal way to present them could have been to not even comment on their gender. This happened with Gray, who was just introduced as Adira’s boyfriend. But rather than clearly state their pronouns when they arrive on Discovery, Adira is called out by female pronouns for most of the season before raising the issue with Stamets. He’s apparently the first person Adira has spoken about their gender identity, other than Gray, so their identity seems like an inherently shameful secret.

If they weren’t fulfilling the same role of portraying a more inclusive world than the original multiracial cast of Star Trek, Gray and Adira could have been used as metaphors for discovering and embracing gender identity. This seemed to be the direction the writers were going in early on, with the implantation of Gray’s Trill’s symbiote looking like a replacement for sex confirmation surgery. After the procedure, Gray assures Adira: “I am still me. I’m just more of me. And Adira’s pronoun change could have been part of them to come to terms with how being a Trill host changes their perception of themselves. Considering that the character is only 16 years old, this plot could easily replace the way some teens struggle to figure out their gender.

But the bigger problem is that the two characters are only used as props for Stamets’ relationship with her boyfriend, ship medic Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), who had a rough time following Hugh’s return from between the dead in Season 2. The writers sought to rectify these issues with the classic romance cliché that the two do indeed have a child in Adira’s form, though neither has actually asked. Adira to consent to the role. A plot revealed in the finale surrounding Gray hints at a more meaningful arc for the characters to come. But this season, they were just another example of writers setting bold goals and under-delivering.

CBS All Access has already renewed Star Trek: Discovery for a fourth and fifth season, which will be shot consecutively. Showrunner Michelle Paradise says the Discovery team will stay in the 32nd century, and Season 4 will have the same focus as Season 3: “trying to make our characters grow, explore new relationships, explore how people are can change, find new layers for each of our characters. But writers must also grow and change. It is not enough to have good ideas or to want to engage in difficult topics. The series needs to be more effective at interacting with these ideas and the larger themes of the series if it is going well for the characters, the franchise, and the fans.