Star Trek Discovery: Finale disappoints – why the emotional moments don’t ignite

• Here it is, the big series finale of “Star Trek: Discovery”. Lots of emotion, but not much emotion.
• Unfortunately, all the emotionally charged moments fizzle out in the last hour and a half of the series.
• Since season 1, the problem of forced depth has been reflected in the audience’s lack of connection with the characters in the series.

After 65 episodes in almost 7 years, the sci-fi series “Star Trek: Discovery”, which started in 2017, is coming to an end. Originally not planned as the final season, the cancellation of the series last spring came as a big surprise, so a few adjustments were made to the final episode so that it really feels like a series finale.

Instead, the episode now simply feels like what it is: an attempt to give the series some kind of emotional ending. This time jump at the end of the episode, in which we see Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) living a peaceful life together and even becoming parents, seems too deliberate and forced.

Dripping with kitsch, but simply lacking in depth

The problem with this cheesy finale is that we, as viewers, never felt like we were really interested in what happened next. There was too little sense of community on Discovery’s voyages, so any emotionality basically fizzles out as soon as the series dares to try and pull on the tears. And the series does that a lot!

“Star Trek: Discovery” just doesn’t seem to deserve to use this emotionality in a justifiable way. But why is that? “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 5 is a pretty outstanding example of what hasn’t worked with the series from the start, but where there is always hope that things will improve.

We’re talking about a familial feeling where you immerse yourself in a strange world and experience adventures with characters who are more like friends than fictional characters. While “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” managed to achieve this after just a few episodes, “Star Trek: Discovery” still doesn’t achieve it even after 5 seasons.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what makes it so difficult to take the emotional moments seriously. There’s a lack of connection when characters like Detmer (Emily Coutts), Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) or Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) are just empty spaces on the bridge.

Again and again they come along on outside missions or have brief moments in which they are allowed to shine. Detmer also has a really cool character design with her sidecut and robotic eye, for example, but the scriptwriters simply do not place enough emphasis on these characters.

Supporting characters are not “ballast”

It’s always about the same characters: Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala), Adira (Blu del Barrio), Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and sometimes, if we’re lucky, Stamets (Anthony Rapp). Even Saru (Doug Jones), one of the most popular characters, eventually degenerates into a source of cues for Burnham.

Season 5 is a symbol of how the good aspects like “ballast” are thrown overboard in order to tell a more or less fast-paced story. Saru only appears in 5 episodes, half of the season. Detmer and Owosekun, who somehow belong to the crew and who you always want to know more about but are given nothing, are no longer there from episode 5 onwards.

They are given the mission to bring the Mirror Enterprise to the Federation headquarters and are not seen again for the rest of the season. But supporting characters are not just ballast that can be used for a good Story, they are the core of a good story!

How will the final season work without the characters that have been there since episode 1?

The fact that the bridge crew is restructured halfway through season 5 is almost unforgivable given that this is the final season. It shows even more how pointless it is to put your energy into this series and try to root for the characters when they are apparently so interchangeable.

What made the other “Star Trek” series so good was the dynamic between the characters. And even the characters who were not part of the main cast had moments where fans got to know them. In “Star Trek,” for example, there were only three main characters: Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Bones (DeForest Kelley).

Sulu (George Takei), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Scotty (James Doohan) were all minor characters. Nevertheless, as fans we felt like they were one big family. We enjoyed following the adventures of the Enterprise.

In “Star Trek: Discovery”, if you believe the opening credits, there are numerous main characters: Michael, Saru, Tilly, Stamets, Culber, Adira, Book, Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and, since season 5, Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie). And then there are the bridge crew and those who are politically important like Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), President Rillak (Chelah Horsdal), Kovach (David Cronenberg) and President T’Rina (Tara Rosling).

There are more characters that the audience should have a chance to identify with, but instead this selection of half-baked characters is simply overwhelming. The writers cannot take enough time to characterize one character because the next scene will focus on another one.

As a fan, it’s no fun to get involved with the crew and their adventures. There’s no emotional weight for us because the characters are like sketches that only fill in the gaps in the story. Only Michael Burnham has become a wonderfully well-rounded character, which is also thanks to Sonequa Martin-Green’s strong performance.

Even though “Star Trek: Discovery” has come to an end, that doesn’t mean that there are no new adventures from the “Star Trek” universe. We have an overview of all the new “Star Trek” releases!