#star trek disco season 4

[fortheloveoflatinum]

I was slightly devastated when I saw this poll. I know it's one of those things where you might very well say to me that I didn't vote and therefore don't get a say but I am very compelled, now, to write up my own small manifesto, if you will, in defense of Ruon Tarka.

Was he the season's villain? Did he go to improbable lengths that would have had causalities in the billions for a still recently-revived Federation of Planets and for the Ten-C, if he hadn't been stopped?

Well, yes. And yes again, slightly more damningly this time.

But everything he did, he did for love.

Everything he did, he did because he was hanging on to his last shred of hope - that final bit of light in a galaxy ravaged by the Burn, operating under the yoke of the Emerald Chain.

I think everyone on this side of the Burn is a little jaded. Everyone's lost hope, lost loved ones. Ruon is not alone in a galaxy full of suffering people, or at least - he's not singular in his loneliness or his hopelessness.

Then, Discovery arrives. Everything changes. Hope starts spreading like wildfire, and Ruon didn't realize how truly alone he was until everyone else began jumping on that bandwagon of better times after finding the source of the Burn. Suddenly, the galaxy is lit up again - connected once more, and Ruon feels left out, maybe even worse - unneeded.

Discovery shows us Ruon at the end of his rope. Both ends. We are shown a Ruon who is very alone, quite desperate, and incredibly done with everyone. We are also shown, through flashbacks, a younger Ruon, who is very similar to the one we see now - but that changes, because of Oros. Oros teaches him to trust again. He teaches him to love someone other than himself.

I'll say it again: Everything Ruon Tarka does, he does for love. Everything he does, he does for that last torn and tattered flag of hope that he's kept up for all these years.

And isn't that why Star Trek exists? To show us hope? To bring us love? In all its myriad forms? Sometimes, one needs to take that hope, that love, to its illogical extreme. Sometimes, in a villain, you can still see the seed of their goodness; their raison d'être is still very much the same as everyone else's in their universe. They still operate off the principles of loving-kindness and hope for the future.

In the even the finest Star Trek characters, sometimes love forces them to do horrible things, make the wrong choices. Sometimes hope proves too enticing; they make a mistake.

Ruon Tarka made a series of mistakes, each one worse than the last. You know he's already gone too far the moment he capitalizes on Books' grief about having just lost his entire homeworld. You know he's gone too far, quite possibly before that moment. Likely, he was making reckless choices even before Discovery showed up, even before this new Federation existed.

But once more: he did it for love. Does that negate what he did? Absolutely not. Does it make him any less of a villain? No, not at all. But he is, in my view at least, a very interesting and lovable villain.

This has been a defense of Ruon Tarka; he's no less guilty, but maybe if you didn't like him before, I've helped you gain a new perspective.

And if you already loved him, well, here are the fics I wrote about him and Oros. Enjoy!

Round One

[lostyesterday]

I think Michael and Book are my favorite canon Star Trek romantic relationship. I mean, a lot of the canon Trek romances are poorly written so it’s not as if there’s much competition, but I really think their relationship is so, so compelling and interesting. For one thing, the actors have great chemistry, and both characters are fascinating on their own. And I love the progression of their relationship from initial antagonism and lack of trust mixed with an undeniable spark of connection to a gradual realization of deep, caring friendship. I love that they are shown to be friends before they become lovers – that it is so clear that these are two people who deeply understand each other and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. Too many Trek romances try to convince me that two characters who don’t even seem to enjoy spending time together are a well-matched couple, but Michael and Book in late season 3 feel like partners who are best friends too.

And then in season 4 when everything is broken for Book irrevocably, their relationship becomes no less compelling. To see your partner go through such a horrible, traumatic experience and be able to both deeply relate to it and yet unable to imagine the pain of it at all – to try desperately to help when you know in your heart that there is nothing you can do that will heal this wound no matter how much you desperately want to – these are such compelling character moments for Michael, a character whose desire to save others has defined her life.

And then Book and Michael find themselves on opposite sides of a moral dilemma with such far reaching consequences that they have no choice but to oppose each other. And they comprehend each other so completely that neither doubts the positive intentions of the other – that each can deeply understand the other’s point of view, and yet neither can change the other’s mind. The conflict is deep and fundamental, and yet it has little to do with their personal relationship and how much they love each other. Because they still love each other so much despite everything. And they still love each other in the aftermath too.

[confessions-of-an-old-cassette]

me waking up every morning to complete my civic duty (defend Micheal Burnham from racists on the internet)

[eastsideofthemoon]

Party at the Disco

Ain't no party like Disco party cause a Disco party don't staaahp!! 🙌🏿

[zinda-his-eyes-red]

Finally finishing Discovery season 4. You sissy that walk Michael Burnham.

[samnotsammy12]

DID T’RINA JUST ASK SARU OUT

Also once again LMAO THE LOOK ON MICHAEL’S FACE

[aforgottenthing-in-space]

Just finished discovery s4 and. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. All I can think about now is a show that takes place like 10-20 years after the whole DMA and Species Ten-C thing, where the spore drive has been properly tested and perfected and become standard starfleet use. And the federation has used this to continue building bridges and alliances and connections further. To the point where they can better justify purely scientific and exploration based missions and then we get the first ship to be sent on an exploration mission outside the galaxy. There’s been an official starbase set up just outside the galactic barrier for years now that’s mainly been a seat for the Federation to maintain an alliance with the Ten-C. And now it becomes sorta the waypoint between this ship and the Federation. Have they solved the issue of communicating through the barrier yet? Idk. But we have this ship. It’s the first of its kind, a brand new exploration class. It’s bigger than most exploration vessels before, designed to be completely self-sufficient because there’s no telling how long they’ll be gone. It’s like Voyager but if they knew they were gonna be stranded without the means to communicate. I don’t think it’d necessarily be a family ship, like the Enterprise-D, maybe because of the uncertainty of what’s to come. The ship would have a huge linguistic department, as the Ten-C incident would prove the necessity of. And then, I know that starfleet captains have the authority in most cases to speak for the federation, but I feel like in this situation, where the ship is going to a place comms can’t reach, things would be a little different. And so then we get the diplomatic core. A small team of Federation diplomats as a permanent feature of the crew. The Captain has ultimate authority of their ship, however, in diplomatic issues the core has the authority to vote and overrule the captains decision. This leads to huge conflict between the captain and the diplomat leader. Neither of them is sure of what to make about the other. Is this ship yet another iteration of the Enterprise? This seems to match its mission statements from the past, but I could also see it being completely new, a start to something else. This was so much longer than I meant but man. I hope they stay in the 32nd century. They’ve created a really interesting world and I wanna see MORE. Do we think s5 will go out of the galaxy again?? Will we find out Ten-C’s actual name??? No clue, but excited to see

[rinshairandthoughts]

Best option for 2 of Captain rank, right?

[bagog]

Star Trek: Discovery Narrative Highlights

So I really like Discovery, but differently than I like other Star Treks. My love for Voyager, for instance, is based off the sense of found-family in the face of sci-fi shenanigans. I could pick out favorite episodes, but my favorite episodes don't necessarily represent the epitome of what I love about the show, y'know?

It's different with Disco. There are concrete moments from through out the show that made me go "Okay, I like this, I want this. More of this." Here's some of them! This is indulgent and all from memory

Season 1 - Klingons Speak Klingon

In a story about Klingons fearing the Federation as an institution which will irrevocably alter their culture, the Klingons actually speak Klingon. Love it. Season 1 - Gabriel Lorca

I loved seeing a Star Fleet captain who seemed to have ascended because of his skill at war: a trait which ordinarily would not elevate one within Starfleet service, per se. It made him interesting. Your mileage may vary on where this went, but. He's still a big appeal on rewatch.

Season 2 - Queer People Helping Queer People

The introduction of Jet Reno is one of my favorite hallmarks in the show. I love Jet, and I love the way she serves as a foil to every other character. But best of all, I loved the scene when she is talking to Hugh Culber about how distant he's been from his husband (since coming back from the dead, so, you know) and helps him by relating her own story about her wife, who is now passed. To say I'm happy to see queer stories on Star Trek is a massive understatement, but this was the moment it locked in for me. In the world of the Federation, there's no difference between being queer or straight and anyone could've talked Hugh out of his funk. But in our world, it's usually queer people helping queer people make sense of their experiences. Recognizing the importance of that distinction and going with the queers-helping-queers take is a really big deal for me.

Season 2 - Amanda

This is hands-down the best representation of Amanda we've ever been given and she is so wonderfully human and warm that it helps you understand Spock and Michael so much better. I don't know what to say other than that, I love her.

Season 3 - The Future

I love that they went not just into the future, but further into the future than any mainline trek lore has gone. Hell yes. I'm bummed it's kinda a post-Utopian mess, but I get storywise why that's the case. I love the future starships, I love the future technology, I like that we just "BZP" to wherever we want to be in the ship now. In a show increasingly steeped in centuries of canon lore, it's smart and challenging to try to do "a millennium in the future."

Season 3 - Queer Family

Queer Family! Queer Family in Star Trek! This is my queers-helping-queers point but dialed up to 11. Love it, would do anything for it.

Season 4 - Artificial Intelligence

The ship is alive and she's named herself. This comes to a head in an episode in Season 4 where Paul Stamets feels very hesitant about this, after the plot of Season 2 was trying to stop AI from destroying the galaxy. There's this whole Measure of a Man but Not Quite Because Its the B Story thing going on, but at the end of it, there's a twist. Paul eventually learns to accept his new crewmate, but then he asks the person in-charge of the inquest "What would you have done if I said I wasn't comfortable serving with an AI?" and the dude goes "I would've assigned you to another ship. This was never about whether she has a soul or whatever, it's about if you can learn to accept that with you 22nd century brain." And that's.... that's great.

Season 4 - Mental Health

Mental Health is a thread running through some of Discovery (Season 2 flirts with Spock's neurodivergence, for instance) but never more than in Season 4. Hugh Culber, the ship's ray of sunshine and de facto counselor, is in bad shape, mentally, and he needs help. But the best moment is when the away-team is beset by chemical memories of panic and basically rendered useless with fear... except for Detmer, who helps them all get through it. When asked why she was unaffected, she says "Oh I totally was affected, but after my grievous injury during the war, I went to therapy for the PTSD and learned some coping strategies" AND THAT'S WHAT SAVES THE GALAXY.

Anyway, this is very indulgent and probably nobody reads this, but thanks if you did.

[vaspider]

Last night, I turned off ep 4 of Discovery out of disgust and went to watch Fallout.

I put up with a lot, but you don't drydock a fucking starship in atmosphere and Utopia Planitia is on Mars, for fuck's sake. It's not sitting in the fucking hills of San Francisco where you can see the Golden Gate Bridge out the window.

[Below there be spoilers.]

For 4 seasons, I have defended the FUCK out of this show. For 4 seasons, I have genuinely loved most of Discovery, and I've loved it enough to make me keep watching it even when we only found out that one character basically had a full-body prosthetic in the episode where they killed her off, and when the Red Angel turned out to be the hokiest answer ever, and when Disco fell prey to the storywriting trope I tend to call Skywalker Syndrome (you know, the one where there are only like 6 people who matter in an entire galaxy and anybody who matters has to be related to them somehow).

But I can't fucking put up with what they're doing to Discovery.

It started with the decision the writers made - for the sake of POINTLESS DRAMA - to have an Admiral look at two captains about to go on an Extremely Crucial Mission, which they told us over and over again was Extremely Crucial, using a term nobody had ever heard before like we were supposed to know or care what that meant, "why don't you two try to get along" when they asked who was in command of the mission.

Okay, look, first of all, absolutely not, and you're a shitty admiral if that's what your response is. SOMEONE is in command of this mission. And second of all, if you're the admiral and that's what you said, then who is the one in trouble when things go to shit bc there is no clear chain of command? YEAH. IT'S YOU. Holding one of your captains responsible for making a decision that you wouldn't have made, and for "not listening to the better decision," and taking his ship away? That's bullshit. You put two captains at odds and then you hold them responsible and not yourself?

Dude, you fucking suck, and this shit ain't Starfleet. It ain't even acceptable under the "oh no we're post-Burn and getting our shit together." This is basic stuff. There's a chain of command for a reason.

Then you have Saru suggesting that Burnham make her Extremely Recently Ex-boyfriend, a convicted criminal who stole crucial technology from the Federation and tried to break the universe, her Number One bc Saru is resigning his commission to become an ambassador. Her never-been-Starfleet ex-boyfriend. Yeah, sure, I'm sure that's the Very Best Idea that a Federation and Starfleet idealist like Saru would suggest. Let's put this guy who has never worn a uniform and has been very loudly Not A Team Player and has no idea how Starfleet works and hasn't done his Time In Grade one heartbeat away from being in command of the Discovery. I'm sure that will be GREAT for crew cohesion, having this dude who has not put in the time just leapfrog his way past everyone who has been busting their ass for years and who literally left their entire lives behind, centuries in the past, to land in the XO spot because "he works well with you" and "he knows [this season's antagonists] and how they work."

Thankfully that didn't fucking happen, but having Saru even suggest it felt like a profound betrayal of Saru *as a character.* File that under He Would Not Fucking Say That.

I can't even enjoy Leoben's actor, and i can't even enjoy him being from an alien species that somebody dug up from one episode of DS9, because he is not just an asshole but he's an asshole who has no respect for anybody or anything. Star Trek's assholes are always the ones that you can at least understand why they are the way they are, and you can excuse it because they are Federation Idealists or they have such great skills or respect for an ideal that you might not understand but you understand that it's important to them.

No. This guy is just there to be a dick and make Burnham look cool and reasonable and nice by comparison, and he's 90% of the time incompetent as fuck. Like, one time his ideas are good, but when his ideas are good, it's only because he's been disrespecting chain of command so hard for so long that he has info he shouldn't have. They made him suck so much that I can't find ANYTHING about him to like, AND I LIKED LEOBEN.

"But at least we've got our gay relationship-- " Nope! They broke up one of the queer relationships pretty much right away, and the other one gets zero screen time and might as well not exist. They don't even really interact at the one party we've had. It's almost painfully obvious that they're avoiding having the two of them together.

"Maybe I can tough it out to see Tig, I love Commander Reno-- " Nope. We've gotten one scene in which she predicted the breakup of the baby gays.

It really feels like they took away all the writers who know and love Trek and understand what makes it good, and filled the writers room with people who are just standing around and peeing on the show Bible while saying "THIS WILL MAKE GOOD DRAMA."

I'm sad. I hate this season, and after suffering my way through s3 of Picard out of hopes they'd answer the goddamned question finally, I'm not putting myself through this again.

I used to love this show.

[stargatelov3r]

4, 5, 6 for the End of the Year Asks please

4. Movie of the year?

phewwwww hmmmm i hope you don't mean movies that came out this year bc i haven't really watched any of those (except Dune pt. 2 but uh. yeah.)

i think i'm gonna go with three movies

Despicable Me - I rewatched it twice i think this year and it's just SO GOOD?????? LIKE HELLOOOOO?????? just everything about it is *chef's kiss*

Sister Act - also rewatched this one twice this year, same sentiments as above. also the music is OBVIOUSLY amazing. just aahhh good

Ammonite. Not because it's a particularly great movie (i found it through an snl skit that made fun of it, and they were right to drag it) but there are just some images of that movie that are now forever etched into my mind in terms of character dynamics and i cherish it for that. Also, Kate Winslet.

5. TV show of the year?

Parks and Recreation. I watched this show 4 times this year and i might just go for the whole 5 rounds, and i watched it from start to finish all those times. Plus some bonus rounds for season 3-5 bc holy shit AAAAAHHHHHHH so good. And I'm loving the last season more and more for some reason! And i love noticing more and more how the show just makes sense in itself, and how it reuses/mentions random stuff <3

also honorary mention to Star Trek Discovery (season 5), our fire burnt bright and was extinguished too soon and I hope I'll return to you soon

6. Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

I think I will have again to go with Parks and Rec, and the episode is 3x14 "Road Trip" and I have about 3 possible fics for it in mind that i hope i will get to eventually (or at least one. come on. i can do one...). Also honorary mention to the episode 4x8 "The Smallest Park" (also fic potential)

and again I want to mention Star Trek Discovery and the episode 5x3 Jinaal, which means a lot to me in terms of how to navigate relationships and communication <3 (same goes for "The Smallest Park" actually, i think i have a type :)))) i could talk about the parallels of parks and rec and st disco and my ships there but you did NOT ask for that so.... anyways.)

thank you SO much for the ask!!!!

end of the year asks

[isagrimorie]

From what I've seen of no spoiler reviews for Star Trek Discovery's season 5 -- my theory about Trek shows that reach seasons 4 and 5 remains true.

Most reviews have mentioned that this season's writing feels more confident. According to the spoiler-free reviews Sonqua Martin Green is again a standout but also a lot of the main cast get their due too! It seems like they finally can write to an ensemble. (Don't quote me on that though, this I need to see in action).

Apparently, Callum Keith Rennie's new character on Disco brought a lot of new energy to the show the way Lorca and Shaw (Picard), or as I call it, the Seven of Nine energy where someone is unimpressed with the main crew. And is not an enemy but the characters are forced to stand up to the scrutiny.

It's such a shame this is the final season of Discovery, just when the show finally hit its groove. It makes sense too that they finally get there because they finally have a consistent writing team.

[autisticburnham]

Burnham, 4, 8, and 19 for the meme

4. How many people I ship them with

Currently? Pretty much just Book, though I have at various times also shipped her with Tyler and Tilly. And briefly last season during the episode where we got Joann "Oh Wow" Owosekun I was like "... what if? 👉👈"

8. Your favorite outfit of them

See, the thing about Disco is. And I don't want to say anything bad about Gersha Phillips, queen that she is, but while the uniforms are amazing and I love them so much, every out of uniform outfit is in my opinion incredibly forgettable. I think they're trying to play it safe to avoid looking silly, but it's Star Trek- they're supposed to look silly. And it means I can't name a single out of uniform look Michael has had other than like, the one we met her in that I'm pretty sure is a uniform variant anyway, and the one she was in this week. But hey, the one she was in this week was cute, so that one I guess.

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them

I don't know that I'd call any of her ships that I've seen random? Even when I've seen people posit like, Seven or Mariner, it's still not partially unusual to ship characters across Trek shows, and both of those parings make sense to me. I will say my most disliked ship with her is definitely Lorca

Send me character asks!

[will-ruadh]

okay, too much unfinished stuff, even for me, this is the "we finish things here" autumn season!!

upd: extending this also to december

Manga:

One Piece 1st Saga (100/100) ✅

Games:

Undertale (0/1) 🟥

Deltarune (0/1) 🟥

Rusty Lake all games replay (0/17) 🟥

Fran Bow replay (0/1) 🟥

Genshin Act 5 maybe??? 🟥

Books:

Dracula (ch. 4/27) 🟥

Percy Jackson at least the first one dear God when will I finish it (done! finished!) ✅

the rest of the pjo series (optional) 🟥

What if Loki was worthy (ch. 3/??) 🟥

The book of Bill 🟥

LOTR (optional) 🟥

Movies:

The Hobbit movies (3/3) ✅

The Whale (2022) ✅

Any horror movie I haven't watched yet 🟥

Shows:

HotD s2 (8/8) ✅

Doctor Who s14 (1/8) 🟥

the x-files s8 (5/21) 🟥

Spatort (1/5) 🟥

literally any star trek i have on hold (TAS, TOS movies, TNG, disco, SNW) 🟥

Gilmore Girls if i like it 🟥

White Collar s1 (9/14) 🟥

Leverage s1 (3/14) 🟥

the A-Team s2 (4/23) 🟥

Hotel Portofino (3/18) 🟥

It's always sunny in Philadelphia s2 (3/10) 🟥

Mob Psycho 100 II (10/13) 🟥

otgw rewatch 🟥

gravity falls rewatch ✅

Musicals:

Beetlejuice 🟥

maybe movie!Cabaret or Chicago idk 🟥

Last priority:

Hilda

MLP

Pushing Daisies

The Boys

Stranger Things

The Magnificent Seven

Hustle

Lupin

okay i think that's all

[samnotsammy12]

OK SO IM ON 4x10 The Galactic Barrier and SARU AND T’RINA ARE SO CUTE

I know this is my third or fourth post about them but OH MY GOD

When he’s talking to Hugh about how she asked him out and he’s overthinking it so Hugh is just like “you’re being an idiot. If you like her, then go out with her” AAAAAA

[moistvonlipwig]

13. Top 5 female characters I wish had better development/writing

For @peachycloudcats. I will do #11 later today or tomorrow. :3

Additionally, I've decided to try my best to avoid repeats of previous female characters I've already used for this ask game, to keep things fresh. Without further ado:

1: Winifred "Fred" Burkle from Angel is one of those characters who I do like but I don't love and the biggest reason for that is that I don't think the writers had any clue what to do with her. It's to Amy Acker's credit that I find her endearing despite falling into some very particular Whedon-y tropes I tend to dislike. But it's telling that when Joss saw Amy Acker play Lady Macbeth and realized she was a much stronger actor than he'd thought, his first thought was not, "Gosh, I better give Fred a meatier storyline!" but rather, "Gosh, I better kill off Fred and give Amy Acker an entirely new character to play!" I think the character was at her best in early S3 and late S4, but a lot of the stuff in between fell kind of flat for me, and she literally does not have an arc in S5 besides Dying Tragically So Men Can Be Sad About It. Unfortunate. :/

2: Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek Discovery, meanwhile, is a character I should like on paper but who in practice often did not work for me. I think the concept of the character was brilliant -- I remember watching the first episode set in Disco's mirror universe and hearing a character refer to 'the Emperor' without mentioning their name and thinking, "Oh, shit, it's gonna be Georgiou, that's gonna be so awesome" -- and I think for the duration of Disco's mirror universe arc she works very well as a character. And I liked the idea of Michael taking her back to the prime universe, I thought there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately I just don't think the writing was up to snuff. Part of the issue was, I think, a tonal mismatch: Georgiou was cartoonishly evil to a frankly absurd degree that seemed completely out of step with the rest of the show. They also kept giving her cheesy dialogue and unfunny jokes and they seemed reluctant to actually develop her until her send-off episode because they wanted their Comic Relief Evil Character. It's really too bad because Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress and she was clearly having a blast playing the character, and again, I think the concept of the character is awesome. But I think maybe Disco was just the wrong show to execute that concept.

3: Melissa McCall from Teen Wolf really shined in the early seasons, but as the show went on she increasingly felt less like a loving mother to Scott who had her own problems going on and more like a mouthpiece for the idea that it was Scott's job to put his life and psychological wellbeing on the line in order to save everyone. Also, the fact that she ended up dating Chris Argent, who shoved a gun in her teenage son's face and never apologized, was so bad and was yet another weakening of her characterization.

4: There are so many Arrowverse women I could put here, but the character in that universe who most needed better development & writing is probably Kelly Olsen from Supergirl, who often feels less like a character and more like a vague sketch of a character you saw in a dream once but can't really remember that well. Azie Tesfai did a very good job making the character lovable despite being given absolute scraps to work with, and there are a lot of theoretically interesting things about Kelly, but too often she was reduced to Alex's supportive girlfriend who never caused any problems and never had any difficult or inconvenient emotions. Supergirl's only black female superhero deserved better than that.

5: Heather Davis from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is yet another character the writers clearly had no idea what to do with after a certain point. I think her arc was fine until she graduated and then, like Heather herself, the writers were like ??? what does she do now??? and never came up with a satisfying answer. Given how much she loved being a student, I would think it would make sense for her to go into academia or something, but instead they had her...become a manager of a sports bar, marry Hector (which, uh, no offense to him but why???), and volunteer to be Darryl's surrogate on a whim. (Which, given how interested Crazy Ex-Girlfriend usually was in engaging in feminist discourses, it is actually so baffling to me that the show never even attempted to interrogate the ethics & implications of surrogacy from a feminist perspective, especially given the racial dynamics involved. Like, hello???) Vella Lovell was so fun in the role and I really wish they'd come up with an actually coherent arc for her after her graduation. Oh well. :|