Finally watching Disco season 2!
Apr. 6th, 2019 11:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyA few minutes into the first episode and I already have so many questions, questions like: Does Amanda know how to help Michael take care of Michael's hair? (I'm sure Sarek neither knows nor cares, sorry.) Did they tell Spock before plopping a new "friend" on his plate? Doesn't Michael have any other family that could take her in? Who's the social worker who approved this placement? Not only is Sarek the worst, but aren't cultural considerations a factor? Wouldn't it make more sense to place an 8 year old human child in a place with more humans? Like earth? (It's not like this family already knows her and is close to her. Like, if she and Spock were already BFFs it would make sense to place her with her friend's family so long as they were amenable to that. Or if they'd taken her in for a short term placement that somehow stretched out into the long term, it'd make sense for her to stay there.)
I mean, it's not that I think it is necessarily wrong, all else being equal, for a human kid to be raised by a mixed couple on Vulcan, but it's certainly not the obvious choice here. And it's not like she's an infant. She's a traumatized young girl who has been raised in a very different culture. (I'm not feeling too sanguine about Vulcan's ability and/or willingness to provide appropriate mental health care either, when it comes to that.) Who made this decision? Did they do any follow-up visits to check that everything was okay?
Also, their house is enormous. But, ambassadors, right?
1. "Sometimes it's best to keep your expectations low". That seems oddly... poignant. Are he and Spock doing it? Does Spock have a whole fetish for Starfleet captains? One which doesn't lend itself to emotional reciprocity, I see. (Is there fanfic?)
2. When the writers get off their grimdark kick, they're good at the little scenes that make us believe this is a real crew. "I hear it's going around." Now that the war is over, is there more of that?
2a. Sneeze into your elbow, dude!
3. Tilly is adorable, as always.
4. Stamets isn't doing so hot after all. Sigh.
5. Oh, geez, listen. I can see where the show is going to try to take this, but sometimes when your family member isn't talking to you, the thing to do is to let them keep doing it. Forever, if necessary, because either you've wronged them or because you're too wrapped up with bad memories. Spock's estranged from his entire family. He's got his reasons.
6. You're giving Sarek too much credit here. If he'd considered every possible effect of a Vulcan upbringing on a human child, he probably would've at least adopted one who didn't have her particular traumatic backstory.
7. Yup, there it is. Sarek, traumatized children are not an object lesson for other people! It was massively unfair and unkind to do that to all children in your family. If you wanted Spock to get along better with humans, you should have considered a move to earth or a mixed planet.
8. Nah, speak to Tilly instead. She is much better at this sort of thing than Sarek. Or better yet, how about the ship's counselor? You do have one of those, right?
9. Pike's aggressive informality is already starting to grate on me. Is he gonna be like this all season? Still, I'm glad we got the roll call.
10. I like the new/old uniforms, but what the heck is with those collars?
11. Oh, Tilly, you don't have to explain. Michael knows what's up, that's why she asked about Stamets in that way. You just have to make a face and give her the sample gatherer. (You can't fix everybody, sweetie.)
12. Those are very shiny jumpsuits.
13. Gold, red, blue - what's with Michael being silver? Is this some sort of "I got sorted into House Sparklypoo" thing?
14. PINBALLS!
15. Seriously, genre convention is dumb. A captain who doesn't know how to delegate is a bad captain.
16. It is so nice to see a mansplaining blowhard eat his words. RIP, jerkass.
17. This is a really bad plan all around and if they didn't have writers it never would have worked.
18. Well, now, this is suitably weird. Good thing they came to rescue this person. She's clearly an unknown genius.
19. "Are we breathable here?" I'm... not sure if this is a valid output in my idiolect? I'm gonna need to think about this one. Is it valid for anybody reading?
20. Brilliant, but not very nice/stable? Maybe you could warn your rescuers of the death traps BEFORE they nearly trip over them? Just a thought.
21. Interrupted escalating creepy suspense chords. I never know what to think of that decision.
22. *checks clock* You know what would be a really stunning swerve? If the woman they found with her hands in her coworker's brains was actually legit. We've got 20 minutes to establish if this is the case.
23. She's a legit genius, though.
24. Legit or not, she's earned some serious shore leave.
25. She definitely seems happy to have saved her patients! Yay I think she's honest!
26. It's not a mission until somebody has to reroute power.
27. Dramatic irony! She's all "Nobody gets left behind, or forgotten" and now she is the one being left behind. If it had been anybody else saying those lines, she'd be beamed up right now. She might as well have capped it all off with "What could possibly go wrong?"
28. While you're running, don't forget the plainly visible laser tripwire of decapitation that is surely invisible to Klingons!
29. This place is its own death trap. War or no war, the Klingons would have to have been suicidal to try to board.
30. She ought to just be having near-death hallucinations, but I've seen the spoilers. Red angel plot tumors ahoy.
31. Wow, they saved the main character! I was in such suspense not knowing if she'd live or die!
32. SHE LOST THE SAMPLE!? This would never have happened if her jumpsuit had had pockets.
33. Oh, no, it's exciting technobabble stuff. I guess pockets would not have helped. THIS TIME.
34. Tilly gives excellent advice. Please follow it!
35. Guy in a wheelchair! Representation, yes, but my standards have raised: I want speaking parts.
36. Stamets is recovering yay.
37. What the hell did I just see? Yeah, I'm gonna clear, but what even WAS that?
38. What does the fortune cookie slip say? Does it make a good "in bed" joke?
39. "Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal." Is Lorca sending creepy manipulative messages from beyond the mirror!grave? He is so skeevy. It's not meaningful, the dude dropped that slip on purpose when he left.
40. ...why would Spock have told Pike that he doesn't have a relationship with his sister? When would this have even come up? Kirk had to drag his estrangement from his parents out of him, it was like pulling teeth. That's not a normal workplace conversation, is it? "Hey, Spock, good to see you, before you give us your powerpoint on the role of logic in the workplace, let's have a heart-to-heart about your family, shall we?"
41. You'd like to go to Enterprise to see Spock, but you ought to go to therapy to see a therapist. If his estrangement from you really is your fault, Michael, then you really ought to stay away.
42. Pike definitely has a mutual thing for Spock, I'm not misreading this, right?
43. You're listening to your brother's personal log? WOW MICHAEL. GET SOME BOUNDARIES.
I mean, it's not that I think it is necessarily wrong, all else being equal, for a human kid to be raised by a mixed couple on Vulcan, but it's certainly not the obvious choice here. And it's not like she's an infant. She's a traumatized young girl who has been raised in a very different culture. (I'm not feeling too sanguine about Vulcan's ability and/or willingness to provide appropriate mental health care either, when it comes to that.) Who made this decision? Did they do any follow-up visits to check that everything was okay?
Also, their house is enormous. But, ambassadors, right?
1. "Sometimes it's best to keep your expectations low". That seems oddly... poignant. Are he and Spock doing it? Does Spock have a whole fetish for Starfleet captains? One which doesn't lend itself to emotional reciprocity, I see. (Is there fanfic?)
2. When the writers get off their grimdark kick, they're good at the little scenes that make us believe this is a real crew. "I hear it's going around." Now that the war is over, is there more of that?
2a. Sneeze into your elbow, dude!
3. Tilly is adorable, as always.
4. Stamets isn't doing so hot after all. Sigh.
5. Oh, geez, listen. I can see where the show is going to try to take this, but sometimes when your family member isn't talking to you, the thing to do is to let them keep doing it. Forever, if necessary, because either you've wronged them or because you're too wrapped up with bad memories. Spock's estranged from his entire family. He's got his reasons.
6. You're giving Sarek too much credit here. If he'd considered every possible effect of a Vulcan upbringing on a human child, he probably would've at least adopted one who didn't have her particular traumatic backstory.
7. Yup, there it is. Sarek, traumatized children are not an object lesson for other people! It was massively unfair and unkind to do that to all children in your family. If you wanted Spock to get along better with humans, you should have considered a move to earth or a mixed planet.
8. Nah, speak to Tilly instead. She is much better at this sort of thing than Sarek. Or better yet, how about the ship's counselor? You do have one of those, right?
9. Pike's aggressive informality is already starting to grate on me. Is he gonna be like this all season? Still, I'm glad we got the roll call.
10. I like the new/old uniforms, but what the heck is with those collars?
11. Oh, Tilly, you don't have to explain. Michael knows what's up, that's why she asked about Stamets in that way. You just have to make a face and give her the sample gatherer. (You can't fix everybody, sweetie.)
12. Those are very shiny jumpsuits.
13. Gold, red, blue - what's with Michael being silver? Is this some sort of "I got sorted into House Sparklypoo" thing?
14. PINBALLS!
15. Seriously, genre convention is dumb. A captain who doesn't know how to delegate is a bad captain.
16. It is so nice to see a mansplaining blowhard eat his words. RIP, jerkass.
17. This is a really bad plan all around and if they didn't have writers it never would have worked.
18. Well, now, this is suitably weird. Good thing they came to rescue this person. She's clearly an unknown genius.
19. "Are we breathable here?" I'm... not sure if this is a valid output in my idiolect? I'm gonna need to think about this one. Is it valid for anybody reading?
20. Brilliant, but not very nice/stable? Maybe you could warn your rescuers of the death traps BEFORE they nearly trip over them? Just a thought.
21. Interrupted escalating creepy suspense chords. I never know what to think of that decision.
22. *checks clock* You know what would be a really stunning swerve? If the woman they found with her hands in her coworker's brains was actually legit. We've got 20 minutes to establish if this is the case.
23. She's a legit genius, though.
24. Legit or not, she's earned some serious shore leave.
25. She definitely seems happy to have saved her patients! Yay I think she's honest!
26. It's not a mission until somebody has to reroute power.
27. Dramatic irony! She's all "Nobody gets left behind, or forgotten" and now she is the one being left behind. If it had been anybody else saying those lines, she'd be beamed up right now. She might as well have capped it all off with "What could possibly go wrong?"
28. While you're running, don't forget the plainly visible laser tripwire of decapitation that is surely invisible to Klingons!
29. This place is its own death trap. War or no war, the Klingons would have to have been suicidal to try to board.
30. She ought to just be having near-death hallucinations, but I've seen the spoilers. Red angel plot tumors ahoy.
31. Wow, they saved the main character! I was in such suspense not knowing if she'd live or die!
32. SHE LOST THE SAMPLE!? This would never have happened if her jumpsuit had had pockets.
33. Oh, no, it's exciting technobabble stuff. I guess pockets would not have helped. THIS TIME.
34. Tilly gives excellent advice. Please follow it!
35. Guy in a wheelchair! Representation, yes, but my standards have raised: I want speaking parts.
36. Stamets is recovering yay.
37. What the hell did I just see? Yeah, I'm gonna clear, but what even WAS that?
38. What does the fortune cookie slip say? Does it make a good "in bed" joke?
39. "Not every cage is a prison, nor every loss eternal." Is Lorca sending creepy manipulative messages from beyond the mirror!grave? He is so skeevy. It's not meaningful, the dude dropped that slip on purpose when he left.
40. ...why would Spock have told Pike that he doesn't have a relationship with his sister? When would this have even come up? Kirk had to drag his estrangement from his parents out of him, it was like pulling teeth. That's not a normal workplace conversation, is it? "Hey, Spock, good to see you, before you give us your powerpoint on the role of logic in the workplace, let's have a heart-to-heart about your family, shall we?"
41. You'd like to go to Enterprise to see Spock, but you ought to go to therapy to see a therapist. If his estrangement from you really is your fault, Michael, then you really ought to stay away.
42. Pike definitely has a mutual thing for Spock, I'm not misreading this, right?
43. You're listening to your brother's personal log? WOW MICHAEL. GET SOME BOUNDARIES.
Re: Ignore me, I'm geek-babbling
Date: 2019-04-04 03:49 am (UTC)I honestly don't know. I mean, she loves Sarek (and he loves her, any time you can pry it out of his closemouthed "emotions are kind of like what you do in the bathroom" Vulcan mouth...), but I don't know if she would have been able to muster up a lot of "Um, maybe not?" in the face of "a human kid to help" when A: her husband's previous son and B: her own kid are... probably not bonding in ways that humans recognize emotionally.
...
I think about the only way to make it "right" is if one just goes with the concept that the mindlink Sarek established really *was* the only thing keeping Michael from having a complete mental breakdown from what she witnessed, survivor guilt, etc. In which case Amanda would've probably been 100% complicit in keeping Michael close enough for the mindlink to continue supporting her while she found some way to process the trauma.