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Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Discovery | 5x04 "Face the Strange"

Logline

On the way to the next clue, the U.S.S. Discovery is sabotaged by a mysterious weapon, leaving Captain Burnham, Rayner, and Stamets as the only crew members who can possibly save the ship in time.

Written by: Sean Cochran

Directed by: Lee Rose

23 comments

I think I haven't enjoyed Disco this much since season 2. This was a great episode in the tradition of whacky time travel episodes. And I really liked seeing the old uniforms, set designs, and Discovery exterior. Mainly because I like those designs much more than the 32nd century upgrades. The sort-of tie-in to the "Calypso" Short Trek also worked really well. And Linus was great as usual.
- I was not a big fan until season 4 which I loved for it's slower pacing and overall themes, but I'm enjoying this one a lot for totally different reasons, like the ones you mentioned. Disco's cast really lends itself to "fun", on the rare times it attempts it.
That episode was certainly a marvel of set decoration.

Had they known this was going to be the final season, I wonder if they would have considered more guest stars. Seeing Hannah Cheesman as Airiam again was neat, but a Lorca and/or an Ash Tyler would have been pretty special.

I wonder if the sequence set in a possible future is the closest we're going to get to a "Calypso" tie-in...
- I was hoping that we would get a Calypso reference when that music started playing. Oh well. I still felt the episode was a super fun ride.
  
  It's an interesting sequence - it's similar enough to "Calypso" that I have to assume it's intentional, but also different enough that it doesn't quite line up with what we saw in that episode?
- Ash Tyler would have been pretty special.
  
  Funny way of spelling Voq!
- Would have been funny to bring fellow Cylon Landry back and have Rayner say "wait do I know you?"
Alright, so Stamets is outside the flow of time. Presumably he doesn't experience any of the future timelines because Stamets is dead, so do you think he just wakes up in the next time frame like it's immediate, or does he sense the gap?

Also, if it's affecting his DNA, is that a property of his body? He still has his personality in memories from before he spliced tardigrade DNA so it's not tied to the specific body itself but I thought it would have been hilarious if they went back in time and Stamets is just past Stamets.

I would have loved to see a quick shot of him waking up in a bar in San Francisco or something while Discovery was under construction just going like "wait what"
- Also, if it’s affecting his DNA, is that a property of his body? He still has his personality in memories from before he spliced tardigrade DNA so it’s not tied to the specific body itself but I thought it would have been hilarious if they went back in time and Stamets is just past Stamets.
  
  I no longer remember why, but I had the impression that the Lorca-era jump was pre-gene splice. But I could be wrong.
  
  Edit: I just remembered - Landry was still alive.
  
  I would have loved to see a quick shot of him waking up in a bar in San Francisco or something while Discovery was under construction just going like “wait what”
  
  The deleted scene we deserve.
- Also, what is dragging him along with Burnham and Rayner, while the consciousnesses of everyone else are presumably unaware of the jumps? Come to think of it what's the point of the Time Bug if nobody involved is usually aware of it? Is the jumping just a side effect of the ship being "frozen" in time?
I kept expecting Stamets to use the "You've never been in love" cheat phrase from the last groundhog day episode with Michael as proof.
- I rewatched "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" last night, and had the same thought.
  
  It probably wouldn't work, because that "secret" was so strongly tied to Burnham's emotional state on the night of that party, but...honestly, that makes me want to see the scene play out even more.
  
  Same here. I felt that saying that and having it not work before Rayner has his big speech would have been more fulfilling, and it would have tied in with the awkward scene about pretending to still be in a relationship with Booker.
- Especially because of the Book scene!
Well I did not expect time travel shenanigans in a story about the progenitors but I am not complaining. Really enjoying this season so far.
Annotations for 5x04 up at: https://startrek.website/post/9332413
Why was there so much dust on Future Discovery?
- I'd guess Zora didn't want to run the DOTs to clean things up anymore
- I didn't think it was excessive, but I suppose I've never abandoned a place for thirty years.

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