Star Trek: Discovery "Life, Itself" Series Finale Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Star Trek: Discovery "Life, Itself"

On the one hand, the years later Epilogue is beautiful and satisfying in a way few Star Trek finales are. And the Red Directive to keep Short Treks canon is also clever. And Kovich being an elderly Daniels from Enterprise feels right too (I also would have accepted Wesley Crusher). The entire surviving crew at the end (including those who left like Detmer) celebrating an unknown event was wonderful. Appearances in Kovich's office from a bottle from Picard's chateau, Sisko's baseball, and Geordi's visor, it's all satisfying wrap-up.

I will say one negative thing about Kovich as Daniels. One of the defining Kovich moments for me was the end of the third season where he gives Burnham her due, and tells her most people of that era of Starfleet disliked the Discovery crew because they believed they acted like they were better than the 32nd Century Starfleet members, and Kovich finally came around to the idea that their optimism and idealism about Starfleet was NOT a put-on, they genuinely believed in it. Kovich being that supposedly long-lived makes me question him ever saying something like that. It doesn't fit perfectly because of Kovich's best and most honest moment.

Here's the thing: The season was actually ABOUT the Progenitor's tech and the conflict with the Breen. And neither thing was handled satisfactorily. It feels unsatisfying that Michael let the technology go. I'm also wondering if part of that was selfishness on her end because she didn't want to give up her life and future to be the sole Steward. As for the Breen, not knowing the outcome of their political war is unsatisfying as well, and Moll not being able to save L'ak is disappointing (and anticlimactic).

As far as the puzzle went, I knew it involved negative spaces. I always crushed those tests when I was a kid and shocked the testers involved by getting ALL of those puzzles right. Even most adults cannot do that. I think the thing that bothers me is the familiarity of the test. It doesn't strike me remotely as something that would prove someone worthy of the Progenitors. Especially as the last test. Me having solved it as a kid means I find it entirely suspect for the Grand Finale.

Hugh's arc felt similarly shallow. It was nice he got closure, but we had been led to believe a huge spiritual journey was ahead. To be blunt, I found the idea of the series actually doing that for such a secondary character (with such a small episode count left) was unlikely, so I wasn't surprised, but it also says again how ill-advised it was to tease that. It's not like Wilson Cruz doesn't always bring the goods. I just wish the show had done an arc worthy of his talents.

The special effects in the Progenitors' space, as well as the fight scenes between Burnham and the Breen and Burnham and Moll were all feature film quality. Modern TV audiences are very lucky that we routinely get to see things like this on the shows we watch. We are very fortunate.

It's probably a better finale than I would have predicted after seeing the first four seasons. And yet, despite being a good overall wrap-up for the series, it didn't feel that way for the arc we spent the entire season on. Which is both not surprising for this specific show, and disappointing anyways. I hope the next Starfleet Academy show, supposedly set in this same timeframe, makes better use of the 32nd Century premise. Season Five DID make better use of it than Seasons 3 and 4, but still, not good enough. What happened to the Klingons? I want Starfleet Academy to do better.

But I'll take a satisfying ending for the characters, even without a satisfying ending for the arc. It was nice, and a good ending nonetheless. ****.