Star Trek and Dr. Who strike perfect tone in finales
Doctor Who and Star Trek: Discovery redeem themselves with brilliant season finales
The Mandalorian, and indeed all of Star Wars, gets a lot of free love around here, its Season 2 finale so mind-blowingly satisfying I'm still kicking my leg out like a chinscratched dog, humming lightsabre noises.
In this context, it's almost unfair to compare Jon Favreau's wizard alchemy of his Star Wars series to TV'S other Big Three sci-fantasy franchises: BBC'S Doctor Who and CBS'S Star Trek: Discovery. The other live-action series have been quite uneven at best; the point of the shows seems to be how dimly yet so actor-y-dramatically its characters will handle emergencies. Trek's Michael Burnham has been brought to tears at least once per some 10 or so episodes in a row.
But some very happy news is that both Discovery's finale and long-absent Doctor Who's recent special, Revolution of the Daleks, were phenomenal hours of television with important things to say, especially when, on top of all the pandemic, toxic tantrums of well armed “not winner” mobs in our neighbour to the south have turned literally murderous.
It's in the context of real-world emergency that these two recent capstone finales shine and provide meaty food for thought. And, if you think sci-fi should be escapism only, you may have missed some of the underlying messages about, say, imperialism in the original Star Wars films, brilliantly bookended with the “yeah, but it's actually complicated” of The Mandalorian. But, fair enough, explosions and nostalgic spaceships are fun, too.
Still, I love it when TV digs in and says something about our world, especially as it, too, is “complicated.” Even though they were filmed before the attack on democracy at the Capitol in D.C., as we've learned so repeatedly from the pandemic, everything's connected, even when we're apart.
Let's start with Discovery's finale, That Hope Is You, Part 2, which at its heart is indeed about our connection — or lack thereof — which was suffocated, and almost destroyed the United Federation of Planets after the disastrous Burn eliminated long-range space travel in this far future our heroes found themselves fighting within.
Amid all the flashy pop-up screens, unattached nacelles, personal transporters and truth drugs, it wasn't until recently we were properly told olden-days technology of Discovery's time was actually superior. But there's been a growing sense the classic hope of the 23rd century has been in short supply, too. To wit: In Burnham's climatic punch-up with Osyraa, after barfing up some cubes, our hero delivers the zinger, “Yeah, well, unlike you, I never quit.”
(Her boyfriend, Book, also delivers a defence of his cat to a justdead foe — is this a 32nd century thing?)
Janet Kidder's Orion Osyraa was polarizing, but when she barked, “get her the hell off my bridge!” I really figured out why I like her. She's basically a green, action-oriented-but-evil James T. Kirk — smug in every victory, with the same jovial mean streak.
Add to this alluring recipe some calculating but still naive Khan chess moves, best seen as she's suffocating the Discovery B-team while torturing Book with a Spock's Brain-style Neural Lock and says to Burnham, “You can't save any of them. But — you can save him.”
I loved her performance, her frustrated “RRRRRH!” as Burnham escapes. And wasn't it wonderful as the team effort of Tilly's asphyxiating squad culminated in the calm and quiet Joann Owosekun saving the day? I love her, too.
But the heart of the episode was kindness in the form of Saru — with assists from Culber, Adira and Gray — patiently dealing with the childlike Su'kal, unintentional murderer of millions a century back. By moving to common ground — making a traditional Kelpien meal — Saru slowly shows this isolated man-child there's a bigger world out there. “Dangerous!” as Su'kal hisses like Rob Halford, but worth opening up to.
“You have us. You have me,” reassures Saru, saving the galaxy with simple openness. This is, of course, the very ethos of Star Trek, going back to its roots, with Spock's embracing of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
As a bonus, “It's OK to be afraid,” Culver says to Gray, essentially now a ghost, in a direct message: “We'll find a way to help you be seen … by everyone.”
“Let's fly!” indeed!
Over to Doctor Who: Two major themes are at play here, in a tornado of great Chris Chibnall-written dialogue, episode-wide.
The first is all about moving on, when we find out the Doctor has been away from her companions for an indigestible 10 months and the conversations between the Doc and Ryan, who is over her, and Yaz, who is not, are up there with the show's best writing. It's wrenching when Capt. Jack Harkness — a mainstay of the show over a decade back, since abandoned — says, “Being with the Doctor, you don't get to choose when it stops.”
Yaz retorts, “How cruel, to be shown something I couldn't have anymore. I'd rather not have met her.”
But Harkness counters, “We're the lucky ones, Yaz. Enjoy the journey while you're on it. 'Cause the joy is worth the pain.”
Ain't that the truth — and you can feel actor John Barrowman's sincerity.
It's not all serious, however, as the Doctor says, “Forgot you were here,” to one on the memory-erasing Silence in space prison — wahwah.
There's another funny moment between Harkness and the Doctor when she asks if he's had some work done on his face. To the shape-shifting immortal he retorts, “You can talk!”
I complained how cartoonishly evil American business tycoon Jack Robertson was when he first appeared as a Trump proxy a couple years back, but the two have rather met on the edge since then.
Robertson's selling of uncontrollable Dalek tech to new “security” obsessed British Prime Minister Patterson — “Together, we can make this the age of security” — is a perfect warning as we move into the post-jan. 6 world. We need to be very careful about what technology and ideology we unleash to bring this hardly-new threat of domestic terrorism in line.
Robertson's ethos should feel familiar as he reassures his hesitant scientist, Leo. “Everybody's worried, Leo. We live in uncertain times. Do you wanna win? Embrace the uncertainly — live in the worry!”
Yet, as Robertson keeps saying the word “Dalek” has no meaning, the Doctor counters, “Yes it does. To billions of people, Dalek means hate. Daleks are insidious, relentless and clever. And, like hate, they will spread if they're not stopped.”
The purity twist that the summoned old-school Daleks have no sympathy for Robertson's evolved drone Daleks is especially poignant: “There is only one purification: exterminate!” Zap!
But my favourite moments were between the Doctor and Ryan. As he explains why he's essentially breaking up with her and the Tardis crew, he says “Lots of work to be done here on Earth.”
Says the Doctor — sadly, knowingly — “Always.”
Amen — but don't forget, the joy is worth the pain. Otherwise, what's the point?
It's in the context of real-world emergency that these two recent capstone finales shine and provide meaty food for thought.