Star Trek: Discovery (TV Series) Choose to Live (2021) User Reviews

Fine.

[pauli_gomez · 7/10 · 19 December 2021]

Yes, there were interesting things in this episode, but there were too many conversations. Some of them were really boring.

I am glad we saw a new race, the scientists in action and the resolution of the Grey problem. And, of course, quasi-jedi are cool. But I thought it was stupid that Michael and Tilly accepted not to use phasers, and instead using swords. It was silly and lead to the death of a character. Besides, the whole reason for stealing (and killing the starfleet officer) was fuzzy. She could have asked for the dilithium, as Michael suggested. Yes, I heard what Tilly said about Starfleet not giving it to individuals, but I am sure they would have done an exception if the individual was a monk of a sect of people who always speak the truth. If she said there were a lot of lives in risk and she could not tell more details, I am sure she would have got the dilithium, especially seeing how the president of the Federation wanted to keep them as allies.

Another silly thing is Book memory. If he was looking at his brother at the moment of the anomaly, he had no memory of the child face at the same moment. No mind-meld would reveal what was not in his mind in the first place.

Huh, didn't see that coming(NOTE: Lots of sarcasm there)

[reloaddcr · 5/10 · 4 December 2021]

So yeah, another "character did something real bad BUT for real good reasons" story...because that hasn't been done before, right? Right?! At least the male Starfleet officer wasn't a drooling, misogynistic idiot and only a bit of stubborn a moron. She disarmed you of your phaser with a sword my dude. What did you think would happen if you went for her with a handy, dandy pipe thing in the handy, dandy pipe rack that was for erm...plumbing department maybe? Did the writers not think "mmm, if he already takes one of them down maybe he grab their sword?" Just a thought...

Imo this is another episode carried by the SFX team, set designers/builders(at least we didn't have rando flame throwers this week), some of the actors, the Director and Editors. Seriously, good job stitching the mess that was the script together into something that actually had a heart without it being forced to much. Could we maybe send the writers back to school though? Or even better, someone PLEASE show them Babylon 5 to get some lessons on how to not only write some amazing stories but also amazing characters(male and female) that don't involve dumbing everyone in the room down or making them incompetent morons just to make your focus character look good? B5 btw was over 20yrs ago and quite frankly they nailed it when it comes to strong female characters right at the centre of everything.

The character development with Booker and his journey dealing with his trauma for instance. I really appreciated the reminder that Vulcan's aren't emotionless automatons and probably understand emotion better than anyone. And credit where it's due, they did write a plausible reason for the mind meld beyond "yeah sure, why not just for fun". The friendship developing between him and Stamets too has actually been well done. Booker, Stamets and Hugh are by far my favourite characters but then all 3 are played by amazing actors so shouldn't be a surprise they bring the most natural performances to the show.

The 3rd storyline on the go, well here's the problem writers. You didn't really give us much time to get to know them so really shouldn't be a surprise that we don't really feel anything for them beyond maybe pity? I'm sorry but you could literally write them off next episode and I'd just be "ok bye now. Have a nice day". Also when did Trill's become empathic? A holographic Trill at that. Hell of a party trick. Not even Deanna Troi's Mother could do that.

Lastly, I mentioned show the writers B5. Please still do that but maybe start with showing them Seasons 1-3 of ST:Discovery first? The "she's finding her place and confidence" with Tilly was done... and then done again but now she's back to square one? Does she have memory issues we don't know about? You's shot your bolt on that one I'm afraid and now it's just annoying to go back over it all over again. Just let Tilly be Tilly already.

Glad I'm not alone

[cimorellisteve · 5/10 · 2 December 2021]

A 5 is a generous score. Each season is getting more PC than the next. "Woke Trek" is becoming more difficult to watch which each episode. We understand, it's the future and we have evolved. Most of us watch these shows to escape this rhetoric and constant lesson on diversity. Can't wait for the next exercise on the Star Trek-Inclusion.

Finally an episode that FEELS like classic Trek!

[zoeyzoco-51741 · 7/10 · 2 December 2021]

Hmm.. I really don't understand all the 1 star ratings. I'm a hardcore "old" Trek fan and I enjoyed this episode. Discovery isn't my favorite and it has its many flaws but I thought this episode was a step in the RIGHT direction! It "felt" like a classic Star Trek episode to me!

The politics, the action and the plot in general were enjoyable to watch! There was only some minor awkward dialogue scenes that DISCO can't seem to get rid of... but I hope Discovery continues down this path because I think they will start to please "old" hardcore fans like myself!

Who Brings Swords To A Gun Fight?

[gbarrett-39941 · 2/10 · 5 December 2021]

At this point I am just riding this series out to see how it ends. Tilly has never used a sword before, but doesn't immediately get killed, while a seasoned fight does...WTH?! I doubt the writers understand how much training it takes to use a handheld weapon. Each new episode has me shaking my head. Hopefully the season improves. This one was a solid 2-star.

Turns Our Gender Norms Upside Down!

[goodwalk-63676 · 6/10 · 3 December 2021]

This show is thought provoking, not just in that we have a female captain, but that gender norms are turned upside down across the board.

So not only does an all female team go on a mission to track down a highly dangerous killer, but who is left "back home" overwhelmed by emotional issues? The cis gendered male!

And the "men of science" searching for a break through are probably not the traditional male role models.

So perhaps it's easy to see why some find this serious disturbing or disappointing.

Writers do not understand the spirit of the Star Trek

[ithexus · 4/10 · 3 December 2021]

I finally put my finger on what I don't like about this season (and maybe the whole series): unlike old Star Treks, this one is somewhat egocentric. It's not about exploration, not about what's beyond, but about what the characters feel about it. Their psychological problems, their perceptions, their feelings. Space, aliens, new species, unusual new cultures become just cheesy props. They are irrelevant. What important, what the story is focused on is simple, egocentric: "Me, me, me!"

To those whining about wokeness...

[tscruton1028 · 8/10 · 5 December 2021]

In the words of another Trek Captain: get a life! Trek was "woke" before that was even a thing for hateful people to complain about and if you can't see that then you don't really know what Trek is about. I feel like these same people would be whining about Kirk kissing Uhura too.

At any rate this was a decent episode that continues a decent season. Sorry if it doesn't fit your narrow, small minded view of what Trek should be.

The anomaly of the Bridge Crew

[paultapner · 6/10 · 28 July 2023]

From late season two on, I thought this show just needs to be more episodic and more of an ensemble, and it would work.

It still hasn't done that.

The first two episodes did get a good season story going. Which is sidelined this week in favour of an actual plot of the week. Space nuns are stealing dilithium Murdering people in the process. Michael and Tilly, who is given character stuff to do at least, sort it all out. Killer is left off with a slap on the wrist. Probably. I was struggling to keep my eyes open by then.

Saru is being wise. Adira and Grey get some things sorted. Stamets and Booker try to deal with the anomaly.

The interplay between the latter two is pretty good. At least. But nothing else grabs here. Too much talking. Not enough action. And it's still not ensemble! The bridge crew who have been woefully underused since season two and really need some character aren't even seen! What a waste. You could go through this one on fast forward. In fact I would recommend it.

Choose to Live

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 4 December 2021]

Did anybody make sense of the Adira/Gray story?

Gray is dead but his consciousness managed to be picked up by Adira.

Now Discovery's holographic technology has somehow managed to place his consciousness into a newly created synthetic body.

It is outlandish technobabble for even Star Trek. If the show wanted to talk about Trans rights, they could had done it much more elegantly.

This was a very old school Trek episode. Only that the time for old school trek has moved on.

If you are going for a shorter series with a main arc. It needs to be more exciting and action packed.

I had little time for Book's continuing sense of loss, Tilly wanting to do something challenging and the Adira/Gray story.

The Ninja Space Nuns should had been the main story and be tied up with the anomaly somehow.

Even that landed with a thud as it was all to help an alien species in danger. Although it did deftly deal with the diplomatic machinations between the Federation and the Vulcans.

It's a classic Trek episode

[thanassisspanias · 10/10 · 3 December 2021]

I can't really understand the hate.

If you don't like it, don't watch it.

If you people try to watch older seasons and the original, maybe you understand the evolution of Star Trek in Discovery.

Time changes and we change with it.

But it's still StarTrek!

This was like a standard TNG episode

[heymrjeff · 7/10 · 10 December 2021]

Not amazing or anything, but it shows the writers at least trying to cater to the haters, even if they should totally ignore them and tell tue story they want to tell. So naturally everyone that hate watches this show hoping it will be more like TNG think it's boring. The old Trek fans are broken.

Bottom of the barrel Star Trek

[praxus-32057 · 2/10 · 4 December 2021]

On a positive note it was better than the previous episode, which was likely the worst episode from any Star Trek series.

I like the premise of being 1000 years in the future but the cringe worthy characters and writing ruin it. I'm having trouble thinking of one character that I like. The empress was cool but she's long gone. Now wondering if people in her universe may be better off.

It's not that bad

[ivankatic1 · 7/10 · 7 December 2021]

Just wanted to say do not believe all these Trekie haters, because it's pretty much obvious they are just hating at this point, dishing out 1s is just childish.

This episode was pretty much decent except for couple of cringe stuff, like Michael calling Gabrielle (her mom) "mom" in top serious meeting with presidents of Federation, Ni'Var and Starfleet.

Space nuns yes, Adira and Gray - snooze

[christopher-m-collins · 6/10 · 20 January 2022]

I thought this was the best of what so far is a terrible season. The most cringe I feel is about Adira and Gray. We hardly got to know them so I can't muster the feelings to care about what happens. I'm also confused how a trill is transferred to an android, and why they would want to be when the whole culture has been build on symbiosis and the privilege of joining.

The story between Michael and her mother, and the fight scenes were good. Nice to learn a bit more about Tilly. Overall, meh. They are trying to develop uninteresting characters too much. The Adira / Gray storyline is strained by poor acting and terrible writing. I wish it were better as it's refreshing to see Trek pushing social boundaries again.

WAITING FOR SIGNS OF LIFE

[douglasjordane · 8/10 · 23 January 2022]

LAST EPISODE WAS SO BAD, THAT I BELIEVED THAT THIS WHOLE SEASON SHOULD BE CANCELED. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS GRAVE PATH OF DESTRUCTION TO WHICH THE WRITERS ENGAGED, I HOPED THAT SIGNS OF LIFE WOULD RE-EMERGE IF I KEPT WATCHING. I RELUCTANTLY SAT DOWN TO WATCH "CHOOSE TO LIVE."

TILLY WAS MY UNLIKELY HERO IN THIS ENDEAVOR, FILLED WITH TREPIDATION. WHO KNOWS WHAT RATING THIS EPISODE COULD HAVE ACHIEVED. HOWEVER THERE IS THE BUSINESS OF CRIMES AGAINST THE FEDERATION AND NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED. THEREFORE, IT IS THE ORDER OF THIS TRIBUNAL THAT THIS EPISODE-ALBEIT SUPERB- SHALL ONLY REGISTER AN 8 RATING. SO SAY ONE, SO SAY WE ALL!

Ups and Downs

[ctdan · 6/10 · 2 January 2022]

The Ups:

The Qowat Milat is a great add for Romulans and is advanced further in this episode. Sure the plot hole that the Qowat Milat member clearly could have avoided killing the officer is bad- but also this sect of Romulans have a hard time reading social situations and politics, so it isn't totally inconsistent just not explained in this episode. They also have trust issues.

Book reliving the explosion is consistent with PTSD therapy and the Navar leader's reaction and conversation with Book is really strong and well placed in the episode. This series is defined by its Soap Opera feel. Most of the time the soapiness gets in the way of action or feels forced. Often it is inconsistent with past character development. This scene bucked all those trends and made me care, both about Book and the Navar leader. Others point to the plot hole that Book wasn't looking at his Nephew when the nephew turned around- this is true, but Book could have seen the nephew turn through his peripherial vision, or his memory could have created the image as memories often do to fill in the blanks based on what makes sense. Our grieving brains often need to create stories consistent with what we know to process the whole trauma.

The Down: Adira and Gray. Why does the non binary character need to have a boy friend who is at once dead and alive inside them? Having a non binary Wesley Crusher in the series is an awesome add, making them a trill with hundreds of years of life experiences that they essentially ignore or at least never acknowledge and instead focus on a lost teen love trying to get into a new synth body??? Having complex characters is good- but why is the most troubled and one of the least stable also the first non-binary since Riker fell in love with the member of the non-binary race who identified as female? Having Gray isn't bad, just don't make Gray all consuming. Also, he should be more believable as a trill host. People used to complain Ezri wasn't up to the task, this kid can't live with a mole on his hand.

Jesus....

[garabedian123 · 1/10 · 6 December 2021]

If you thought nothing happened on the last episode. All that happens here is they talk about the last episode. Book gets counseled by 3 different crew members yet they all have the same conversation. We have the same conversation in there 3 times with no variations/.

Saru is talking like a robot. Im not sure if its really Saru. Or the writers purposefully wrote him like this. At one point near the beginning he talks such pure nonsense that I thought that he was having a stroke.

Book might be the only compelling character

[Pimilli · 4/10 · 5 December 2021]

How is it the character or Book is so well written. He's not over the top. He's vulnerable at times without making a feast of it. He's heroic without being superman. He shows love and quiet pain, again, without making a feast of it. Man I would watch a show just about that Book dude and his adventures with his cat with strange life forms/planets and his ship. I felt genuine emotion when he saw his nephew turn around. It's the first time I've felt anything that felt like genuine emotion in the show. There are people BATHING in emotion. SHOWING emotion. But the audience doesn't feel it. You can do all the dramatics. All the crying in the world. All the soft whispers. And if it's not real. If the audience doesn't feel it or believe it, then it doesn't work. Book (sorry I forget his name), somehow, knows how to do his best with the somewhat weak lines. Book, Pike, Tig Notaro.

I figured it out!

[stjhagens · 1/10 · 2 December 2021]

S1 was a mystery show full of plot twists and a lot of action. People complained it wasn't Star Trek so S2 went back to legacy characters like Spock, Pike and Number 1. It also gave us more character depth.

People complained there was still too much action and that the characters were under developed so S3 went in a different route. Suddenly we got more and more of these big emotional heart-to-heart scenes, taking up the majority of the episodes. This became prominent with the S3 episode Scavengers and that is exactly when the ratings started to drop and when I started losing interest.

This episode was 85% heart-to-heart talks and while I can certainly appreciate those scenes once in a while, this is becoming too much. This is Star Trek and not The Bold and the Beautiful. Legendary episodes of old Star Trek certainly had character moments but those were well earned and were a culmination of previous developments. Take 'In a pale moonlight' for example. It prominently showed Sisko struggling with his guilt but it didn't hurt the tension of the action in the episode. It was a perfect blend of story and characters struggling with their feelings.

I liked the away mission on the moon but was disappointed we never got to see that species in the flesh. I enjoyed the scenes with Tilly, there weren't as dragged out as some scenes in the previous episode. I like the connections with Picard but it somehow feels the writers are trying too hard to connect these 2 shows.

Those scenes with Adira and Gray are too much. We hardly know them so how are we supposed to care as much as the writers want us to?

This week also gave us a lot of bridge crew, oh wait... they all had a day off from the set.

My hopes for the coming episodes: more story progress, less heart-to-heart scenes, more bridge crew, less Michael, more exploration and more connections with ST of old. How cool would it be if we finally saw how the Klingons and Andorians are fading now? How awesome would it be if the anomaly was connected to V'ger, the Nexus or the Spherebuilders from Enterprise?

Not Excited for New Discovery Anymore

[sbulgacs · 3/10 · 3 December 2021]

Now when I see there's a new episode to watch, I'm like shall I bother? As much as I appreciate attempts by showrunners to acknowledge fans criticisms, the claims they just don't understand Star Trek keep being proven right. This episode was just generic filler, I mean what was the aim of it? Books entire planet and people were destroyed... He's never going to get over it, none of us would. And yet at the end of the episode we're supposed to believe he's accepted the situation and is able to move on? Life just doesn't work like that, extremely badly handled subject. Picard's crippling remorse over Data's passing was handled in a much more realistic way. Tilly lacks confidence? We already know! The Vulcans, sorry Ni'var, are allies but can be complete A*Holes? Again we know! Don't even get me started on Burnhams relationship with her mother, they should remain as far away from each other as possible, until they've had some serious counselling. On the other hand I quite enjoyed the Trill person Grays rebirth as an android. But that alone wasn't enough to pull the episode above poor in my humble subjective opinion. If the show carries on as it is, I foresee a potentially successful attempt to write it out of canon and ignore it. Is that really what the showrunners want?

Sheldon would be proud....

[davidh-96324 · 4/10 · 24 December 2021]

Most redeeming moment in this episode is when the nice future Vulcan scientist lady offers Booker a hot beverage because he appears to be in distress....

Return of the space nuns - another boring episode !

[martinsmarkss · 1/10 · 2 December 2021]

Another boring, pointless, and very stupid episode!

The only plus side I am starting to like is the federation president lady, she seems to have that captain Lorca character quality to her, I loved how she played Micheal Bhurnum! Otherwise, the episode was just boring and pointless, badly written dialogs etc and so many other flaws !

Spiting in the face of potential

[nathanaelclayton · 3/10 · 4 December 2021]

This show bears the title of Star Trek, but the characters are nothing like those I've loved from other trek series. They're all either emotional wrecks, or painfully one dimensional. That alone makes watching this series painful enough, but the story doesn't help at all either. So far in the future and with a wealth of new technologies and species, we spend most of the story hunting down some new mystery that yet again threatens the whole galaxy. There's hardly any attention given to the impacts of a new dilithium supply in the galaxy, and the reemergence of the federation acts as little more than a back drop to growingly repetitive cathartic moments.