Star Trek Discovery Ep.10 " Despite Yourself" Review (Spoilers)

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. And today we want to talk about Star Trek Discovery. This is episode 10 entitled Despite Yourself, and this episode is one I've been waiting for because in the opening credits right away we get to see directed by Mr. Jonathan Frakes. And we know, of course, Jonathan Frakes played Commander William T. Riker aboard the Starship Enterprise. Jonathan Frakes is also a very gifted director. He did First Contact, you know, one of the best Star Trek films, in my opinion, that came out. And I think that he definitely should do a lot more directing. And he did this episode, and I liked, uh, I did like this episode. I wasn't disappointed. And we got to touch on, um, you know, several things, uh, um, that had been circulating about what was going on specifically with, uh, Lieutenant Ash and the Klingon, uh, Voq. And although in this episode we didn't received direct confirmation. I think it's, you know, become quite clear to everyone now that not only is, uh, Voq some type of, uh, or rather has some type of sleeper agent, but there is this relationship between him and the Klingon woman captive. And, uh, we can tell that there is a lot of, uh You know, there's an emotional bond with her to him, and there's a reason for that. Of course, the rumor that has been speculating is that Ash was Voq, you know, Voq the albino Klingon. And I think at this point it's pretty clear that, you know, Voq is probably Ash, you know, as we have been speculating. Many rumors were going around. So they do come into this universe, as we got to see, that is a parallel universe, and where it is handled and controlled by the Terran Empire. And of course, this is a throwback to the original series, The Next Generation, when they enter into these parallel universes. And, uh, they're under a different type of Federation, uh, where it's not the Federation but it's the Terran Empire. And this is a very, uh, cutthroat type, uh, you know, political system they have. It's run by who's the strongest. And we got to see this play out. Now, even though I found this very entertaining, this episode, and, uh, I thought it was well done. I kind of would have liked to have seen maybe a different take on the mirror, this parallel universe, because every time they do these episodes like this, it's pretty much the same idea where you're in this reverse type world where it's the worst version of yourself. And that kind of makes sense. It kind of works with some of the parallel universe type themes. Theories that it could be, uh, a version of you, very close to you, identical, but that maybe instead of being a good guy, is a bad guy. So that kind of works with that theme. But I think I would have kind of liked to see something different with them crossover into a parallel universe, like maybe see them crossover into like, uh, the, uh, J.J. Abrams universe or the, uh, Prime, the Prime Line. And I, I— this is the Prime Line as we understand it. But, you know, for a lot of us, this has looked like a retelling of Star Trek as we know it. And, and what was also a very— a treat was that we got to see up on the screen, they talked about a ship from the future, and they actually show the, uh, the Enterprise, the original series Enterprise, and, uh, up on the screen. And so My thoughts were, why not just go along with a storyline like that where you actually cross over into the Star Trek universe that's very similar to the ones we've seen in the past, where maybe they dress like the original series and things like that? I would have really found that quite interesting to see that, and I would have liked that. But this is You know, but going back to, uh, Ash and Vok, because I found those the most interesting part of the, of the, uh, of the episode, uh, you know, Ash is still dealing with his post-traumatic stress disorder, and, uh, he's going back and forth with this, with the Klingon woman to try to figure out, uh, you know, what was done to him. And so all the clues are there, you know, we can see that Ash has been, uh Uh, it's speaking Klingon, and you can see these, uh, very, uh, intense surgeries where, um, you know, he's been being cut upon. And that, to me, the fact there was a surgery going on shows that there had to be this transplant that went into Ash. And so I don't know if they just took another human being and overlaid Ash's neural patterns on him. It was, it was something suggested by the, by the Klingon captive. But, uh, you know, I, I'm definitely pretty sure it's Voq now, and Voq is in a mission to try to infiltrate, take over the Discovery, take it back as a prize to the Klingons, and where they can, you know, pretty much he can have his honor restored and, and have the Klingon Empire. But also what I found very interesting was that Ash was saying no matter what happens, that, uh, Commander— he will protect Commander Burnham. So I kind of see some foreshadowing there of, um, uh, him being in conflict with, you know, being a Klingon and now possibly finding himself in love with Commander Burnham. So that's, that's going to make for some interesting storytelling. And, uh, Commander Tilly here— Commander Tilly, uh, this is, uh, quite interesting because Commander, uh, or I'm sorry, That Tilly, uh, a lot of people have found her character a bit annoying, and I'm, I'm one of them. Uh, I'm glad that she's not on screen a lot because I don't really like how she's written. She is supposed to be the, the, the quirky, uh, kind of a comic relief type person to, to give a little light to, uh, what seems to be a more serious, dark type Star Trek. And that's okay if it's done right and it's put in the right way so it's not annoying to viewers. And they've attempted that, but I think it just hasn't come over well. So now she gets to kind of, in this episode of her, you know, playing this different version of herself in parallel universe, she gets to kind of you know, show a different range. But it's— you can tell that she's still Cadet Tilly and she's acting this as this person, as it should be. But what I would have found a little bit more interesting, and maybe they will do this, and, you know, I think they should have first showed the version of Cadet Tilly inside this parallel universe and had her act out, you know, uh, basically being a badass. But what they do is they show her just trying to pretend to be this person And so I'm still kind of getting this Cadet Tilly annoying bug feel, whereas I would have liked to have first seen her in character as this person come full circle and be this commanding character. And I think that would have been interesting to pull us away from how she's portraying a character of Cadet Tilly, which has kind of annoyed a lot of viewers. But Yeah guys, I like the episode. I enjoyed it. Uh, I think Jonathan Frakes always hits home runs. I'm not sure if he's directing the next one or not, but, uh, hopefully he'll come back and he'll do some more because, uh, I don't know, he just has something that makes these shows entertaining. And that's been one of my problems with Star Trek Discovery is that although they've done some things right and I've liked some of the episodes, uh, I've also seen where there have been a lot of things within episodes that I just thought were unnecessary, that I thought dragged on, that I didn't find entertaining and kind of found a struggle to watch. And Jonathan Frakes doesn't have trouble in that area. I was entertained, you know, pretty much the entire episode. And, uh, you know, even with the actors, even though, uh, I don't think every actor is great in this, uh, with Jonathan Frakes directing, I think he knows how to you know, put everybody, uh, in the right place. And he knows how to— he knows how to do these, uh, these episodes. So really enjoyed that, guys. Guys, I hope you all enjoyed it too. Uh, took me a while to get back. I know I may be behind on an episode or two after the mid-season break. Uh, kind of got me out of— out of a gear a little bit, but I'm— I'm back here and I'm back to catch up. Uh, guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe, And until next time, take care.