Ups & Downs From Star Trek: Discovery 5.2 - Under The Twin Moons 

Saru's. "Don't touch the kelp when in bloom!", keeps coming up every season. I'm thinking one of the villians will board Discovery and discover what happens when it's touched.

I really like Raynor. He's giving me Captain Shaw vibes. 🙂

Rainer, looks like Daniel Craig with Spock's ears! Guess we'll get a lot of 007 action LOL

As an archaeologist, I am really impressed by Burnham saying that they had to respect the historical site especially as it is a holy place. Also not blowing up the stele to cover up the poem to preserve the site. This is straight out of current practice and really makes me love the federation more as they respect cultures of the past as well as the present

"Action Saru" reminds me of the interview by Terry Farrel talking about finding and solidifying Jadzia's character in season 2 of DS9 and one of the producers described it as "Action Barbie" , living multiple lives, infinite skills and memories but still youthful, fun, playful and looking gorgeous while doing it.

I actually didn't see Rainer becoming number one and when I finally did I thought he was going to be put on the ship by Vance and then they'd be this whole animosity between him and Burnham but I was very happy that this that didn't happen

I was pleasantly surprised by the Rainer appointment. But then I wasn't thinking ahead at that point.

So far Raynor is my favorite thing about S5. He is such a fascinating character to explore, someone who cares about the Federation and Starfleet, but is a warrior from a time when there was not peace, where the enemy was everywhere. He has shades of early Burnham and Lorca. Cannot wait to see how he develops further with the Disco team.

Thank you Trek Culture. Ups and Downs is one of the best fan-additions to my weekly Trek viewing experience! The day after every episode, I know there will be another 30ish minutes of Trek entertainment!

I was surprised in a good way when Burnham was serious about respecting the necropolis of an extinct race. Never expected to see that and i liked it.

The debriefing/tribunal scene really set up Rayner and Burnham's relationship and mutual respect well

I loved how right before you went to Cetacean Observations you showed a picture of Callum Keith Rennie from Due South. As a Canadian I enjoyed that

I want Season 5 to be so awesome, that the executive who made the final decision to kill the show is glared at by the shareholders every time they enter the board room.

They state that Moll is human, and she lacks other markers and features of Book's people. Nothing was said that the previous Booker wasn't human, so I think that's notable. By family, he mean "found family."

I swear the symbol shown in the intro titles and seen in the journal is Iconian! No one else seems to be mentioning that on the various fan review channels. I’m talking about a circular symbol filled with lines and arcs, which was seen on a spherical console on Iconia in TNG: Contagion in their season two.

Massive amount of heavy lifting in a short time frame from you all. Massive appreciation! Completely agree this was a well done episode. IMO, it’s refreshing that the show has (somewhat) taken the focus off of Michael, and focused more on the story at large. Great action, intriguing storyline, and brilliant filming. I love the tie-ins to historical characters and can’t wait to watch the upcoming episodes!

It was only when Burnham and Saru were discussing second chances and that she needed someone strong and stubborn as a first officer that I realised it would be Rayner.

Up up up for your shirt!!! ❤❤❤ Jadzia Dax. OG icon

These first two episodes of this season were easily the best episodes of this whole series. I just hope the rest of the season can keep up this level of acting and storytelling

Just realised that Rainer played a cylon in the new version of BSG, I hope that they have de-networked the main computer or Zora's firewalls are secure.

This is the kind of storytelling I was hoping for when they jumped to the 32nd c.

Disco having a 32nd century officer as XO makes sense, its something they should have done 2 seasons ago!

Every trope that signalled Saru was about to die went off hard. All those obvious last conversations, the heroic run to draw fire, IT WAS EVEN HIS LAST DAY. I was honestly convinced he was going to bite it there.

They're very clearly writing Raynor that way due to the love that Lorca and Shaw get. Not complaining, I love a grumpy mofo in such a sterile and lovey dovey version of the future.

The audience knowing it was Rainer to be first officer was not a down, it was another plus! It was well played and we got to see it unfold beautifully! Sometimes the audience gets to be one step ahead! It was very satisfying!👍🖖

There's that still of Fraser and Vecchio/Kowalsky from Due South, that's an Up from me, good on ya Trekculture 👍

Just wanted to thank you for your last words. And your Tshirt.

Saru saying he'll following Michael's lead is a lovely "quiet" moment showing how much theyve grown since season 1

Mal gives me Chiana (Farscape) vibes. Atleast in looks.

This season is really getting off to an awesome start. I think this show will be extremely well regarded in about 10-15 years. I remember all of the haters of Enterprise back in the day, and you're seeing the same shit again. I'm nostalgic for TNG as well, but TNG part 2 would be the death of Star Trek. This show is much less campy and much more adult/serious... and I like it.

These 2 episodes were, in my humble opinion, were GREAT. The way I watch is being a 100% fan with my bag of popcorn🙂. I can't be a critic, it takes all the fun out of it. I will leave that job for you and your great staff, you all really do such a fine job.

In regards to your down regarding Raynor. I didn't see him being first officer coming at all. Was thinking he might go rogue instead.

Can confirm. Wilson Cruz gives amazing hugs. So does Doug Jones. Go get one, Sean.

24:44 I didn’t twig on to the fact that he was coming to be number one until the scene where they were talking about it.

I’m noticing that there’s a very Old Trek vibe this season. From Raynor’s “people problem” to Michael and Saru’s “you have and always will be my friend” moment in the jungle, there’s more a focus on humanism over science-y whiz-bang situations

Saru's advice about choosing a first officer is very reminiscent of Picard's explanation for choosing Riker in "The Pegasus". Not only does he recount the incident with Captain DeSoto that was first told all the way back in "Encounter at Farpoint" but Picard also says "I wanted someone who would stand up to me." Hell, you can go back even further to the first Trek movie, when Kirk starts to reprimand Decker on the bridge for disagreeing with him and Decker interrupts with "Sir, as your exec, it's my duty to point out alternatives" and Kirk halts in mid-reprimand and says "Yes it is, I stand corrected." So Saru's sentiment has got serious pedigree!

I like how discovery shake up things up by changing the command structure of the show.

Genuinely loving it so far... Really disappointed its the final season. Discovery deserved at least 1 or 2 more seasons

A suggestion if you advise viewers to skip ahead so they avoid certain spoilers, I would suggest putting chapter markers in your video descriptions. People who watch Trek Culture on the RU-vid TV app, don’t have granular control over fast forward or rewind, the app only does 10 second increments, chapter markers would make this easier in my view

Season Five-so far, so good!

I get major Liam Shaw vibes from Rayner, as he’s definitely the sort of grizzled, no-nonsense, sometime asshole/ally officer. I’m glad you picked up on the “Arsenal of Freedom” vibes on the planet in this episode. With both the end of last episode and the start of this episode, I keep thinking Discovery being in the Archer Spacedock for cleaning is like she’s in an outer-space car-wash!😂 In addition to what you said about Saru’s enhanced eyesight making a return, I love that they brought back the fact he can run really fast! We haven’t seen that since that Season 1 episode where he went nuts on the planet Pahvo. Finally, I could be wrong but I do believe I spotted the Discovery’s FINALLY shut the Shuttle/Cargo Bay door in this episode, before spore-jumping away from Federation HQ.😱🤣👏

Love your last comment, this world of ours has gotten very frightening once again

yey im the first! Happy First Contact day everyone. Sean its Great to have you back on the ups & downs. love it

Loved the picture from Due South. Excellent series, and my first experience of Callum Keith Rennie. Also, Cleveland Booker IV was not from Kwejian, he was a courier with a trusted name which was bequeathed to Book.

The scene just before they get shot at and Burnham says “no, nothing weird” then drones appear. Followed by “I changed my mind” was such an up from me

Loving it so far. Has anyone else felt like the commercials are getting out of hand on here? When I watch this one, there were more commercials in a half hour show than on broadcast tv. Love you guys and the work you do.

Thank you so much for the trailer warning at the beginning, good job. I purposely didn't watch it. And you didn't ruin anything thank you so much

Rayner had to of been part of the Starfleet Marine Corps. He bleeds the Core Values Honor Courage Commitment He is the Starfleet Officer that we've been needing

I didn’t think he’d be first officer, but that’s mostly because I’m always thrown off that almost everyone on the bridge is a commander…

When Discovery jumps back to Starfleet headquarters from Q'Mau, you can see some of the dust and sand drift off the ships hull. I laughed ot loud!

I'm sad this is the last season. They are showing how great this show is and I can't get enough.

I appreciated Rayner's comment that "they don't make 'em like that anymore", but as a student of history it inevitably reminded me once again of how bizarre it is for this vessel to jump 931 years into the future, get some feature upgrades, and be right back out there in service... "spore drive" notwithstanding... with a crew that's behind on more than 9 centuries of historical and technological developments, and can still interact and be more or less on the same page culturally as people that far in their future. It would be as if a wooden viking longship, even one with the most advanced square sail and a crew of elite oarsmen, from the year 1093 sailed through a time portal into a present day Norwegian naval shipyard... and they simply polish it up, give it a few upgrades, and send it right back out there as part of the Norwegian navy... with the same crew, who are all unfailingly capable of very quickly advancing their mindset, lifestyle, understanding of technology, and cultural outlook (not to mention language skills) from the 11th century to the 21st century, with little issue. 😂🤣

Quick note on the almost Down surrounding Book knowing Moll: I think you’re forgetting two things from earlier. In the 3rd Season Book mentioned his mentor who taught him to become a courier and how such a clearly human name gets handed down. So it’s not his Quashawni (sp?) mentor but his courier mentor. Also, she definitely cannot be from Quashawn as they identified her as a human in episode 1.

Surprised there was not more about the similarity to the Arsenal of Freedom in the breakdown. Regarding Taynor I can't help but think that it's almost like Patamount is saying, "we recognize a missed potential in continuing the Jellico narrative because TNG was not as serialized as DS9 and on. So, here, take Raynor."

I am perhaps a ittle surprised at Burnham and Saru's instant familiarity with Romulan poetry, given that in the time period they are from, no one has ever even SEEN a Romulan, never mind had a chance to study their culture to any great extent. Also nice that "Jolan Tru" translates as "Welcome, traveller"

Saru and Burnham served together aboard the USS Shenzhou, so they have served together for quite a while before Discovery. I think Saru admired Burnham before the Battle of the Binary Stars a little, but lost whatever respect he had for her when she mutinied, and now their relationship has been repaired beyond whatever relationship they had when they served on the USS Shenzhou.

​​I never enjoyed Discovery as much as I did watching those two episodes 😁

Re: the small universe concerns…I’ve come to not be bothered by these things. As I get older I’ve come to recognize that our lives are a long chain of one-in-a-billion coincidences. Imagine the people we meet-or never meet-only because on one particular day we took a different seat on the bus only because our usual seat was wet only because the last person’s bag of frozen groceries was there only because they had to shop a day early only because the compressor in their freezer went out only because a worker in an assembly line misplaced one o-ring only because their coworker distracted them with a joke only because it was clear they were having a bad day only because their cat was sick only because it ate a venomous spider that only got in the house because a window screen was broken only because a bird tried to fly through it only because it caught a glint reflected off a half-empty glass of water left on the windowsill only because a delivery interrupted its drinking only because the driver was two minutes earlier than they would’ve been because when the stoplight turned yellow they sped up instead of stopping….but only because the driver’s young son recently made a joke about their driving habits, and on and on and on. I ran into my eighth-grade bully while working corrections in a part of the state neither of us grew up in. A friend was in a fender bender IN ANOTHER COUNTRY and the other driver turned out to be a teacher we’d had in high school. The truth is our universe is absurdly big, but in a million ways every day it is very, very small. We’re just so used to these “impossible coincidences” we barely notice when it’s happening to us.

The episode was interesting, with Rayner helping Adira and Tilly. That giant head opening its eyes almost gave me a heart attack. And how can we not mention Action Saru? Reno leaving a mark even without appearing... Please address the issue of Europeans who have SkyShowtime, during the premiere of the fifth season of discovery they have only uploaded one episode to the platform, which will mean that we see the series a week late.

The multi-eyed statues definitely give me Iconian vibes, however in Star Trek Online they were shown to have 6-eyes... perhaps the Promellians worshiped the Iconians but got the number of eyes wrong. I felt Rayner got the wrong end of the stick, after his years of service he gets to be Burnham's No. 1, what a demotion. As for Saru, the Ambassador role is good for him, but him remaining a Captain and being given a ship, possibly the latest design to rollout of Spacedock would've been cool, we could've had him swoop in, in the season finale episode to save the day.

this ep was the first time I've heard of this "action Saru" nickname.

Something that really pulled me out of this episode was the president being on the tribunal for Captain Rayner’s disciplinary hearing. However classified the mission, why would she be there? It’s not like the US President or the UK Prime Minister would be on the tribunal for a special forces colonel or captain.

It's still wild to me that Starfleet away teams don't have personal shields for the inevitable shootouts.

Made no sense to me that the base of the map they made with programmable matter was the exact right size by sheer chance. Reminded me a mountain shaped map in Rise of Skywalker.

That nod to Due South made my heart happy 😊

Love your review and analysis of this episode. I was going to wait until the end of the series before I watch these analysis because I frankly didn’t want to read the hate comments DISCO get. So I am going to enjoy the final season of Discovery by not reading any comments on here. Keep up the great work.

All the trailer speculation and not a mention the fourth and fifth episodes are called Face the Strange and Mirrors?! As soon as the episode titles were released last year I would have put money on a crossover!

Sorry I missed the live stream earlier today. Oh yes, this season is going all out Love this episode as well

As a kid I was interested In next generation because I liked space travel and how the future could look like. But I used only watch a few episodes when they were on sky. So I'm a casual fan iv seen Tng movies and the JJ movies But discovery is the first trek iv watching and really loving the trek world. But if I hadn't trek culture I'd be lost. So as a casual trek man. I love your ups and downs vids and I agree with alot in what your saying. Iv seen strange new worlds and I love it. Because star trek the original was in the 60s iv not seen any of them. So strange new worlds is me finding out who Pike and Spock are and I love it. So if Pike leaves I'd love to see a contentious story with Kirk at the helm. Also Picard was 3 seasons long and I never saw Voyager so I'd love to see 7 of 9 on our screens as she is a cool character. So yeah I'm a 40 year old trek virgin loving 21st century trek. And thanks for helping me understand all of it.

I like their attention to detail. The Clean Up crew detail is superb. The Lower Decks gets in on the fun, off-screen. I wonder how that went on a hostile planet? Then, they make sure the plasma blasts are gone in case the two vultures come back for the 5th stanza, plus those overcharged phasers have to be recovered before they leave the planet. Federation tech and all. I hope this season doesn't turn into a tired old treasure hunt.

Thank you, Chris, for great review and your positive thoughts!!

I need all the Sean Ferrick t-shirts. It’s been years, brother, and you keep impressing me with the wardrobe

I'm loving this season of Discovery, but it also gives me a bitter-sweet feeling because this is its last one. I'm already missing it. 😭-> So, now is the moment to savour all we can of the series! Some subtle points I noticed in this episode: 1) Michael was looking at the Progenitor image, and moments after Saru arrived the photography was great on showing just Michael focused, the other two characters unfocused, making all three much aesthetically similar. This is a UP for me! 2) Perhaps Tilly will discover or reveal having a degree of autism, which would embrace more inclusiveness and diversity. Could be, or I just saw several coincidences in what we saw as jokes or funny scenes. Also, we are in World Autism Awareness Month, and Discovery is beautifully inclusive. Let's see. Please, who are the two guys just before the Cetacean Observations?

Raynor...this is almost a setup for Riker's story again, but a slightly different dynamic. EX: Picard: I wanted someone who'll stand up to me." Picard said to Admiral Pressman in the episode Pegasus. Their story setup kinda speaks to a "Will Riker" first officer type. But also a blending with what Chakotay could have been had Voyager been written better in respect to the conflict between him and Janeway.

I think he missed the importance of the exchange between mull and book. She reacted to book identifying himself . This seemed important.

Great episode! Great video from you all too!

I will miss this show, i know its had ups and downs but its been a fun ride

im super excited for this season of discovery, but im also sad that this will be the last season.

Happy First Contact Day! nice Jadzia Dax Transgender shirt :)

I freakin love that over 1000 years in the future we have dedicated holographic cat toys. 🖖😸

THANK YOU! Thank you for giving us the "due South" image of Callum Keith Rennie. I loved him in "Battlestar Galactica" but first found him in "due South". 😊😉

I loved this episode, I am so excited for where the season goes. It has been so much fun so far, and I love to see the followup of a great TNG episode.

I do have a question about Rainer, since he’s going be the first officer of discovery but whose going the captain of his old ship and will that captain help discovery if and when they come a calling ? Captain Rainer is very much an old sea dog and he said as much when he said they don’t make them( discovery) like that anymore. It kinda reminds me of how Scotty felt when he finds himself in the 24th century.

Given what Discovery has done in previous seasons, I was blindsided by Raynor as first officer because I was fully expecting them to slam him as "Oh look at this arrogant dinosaur man living in the past, let's make an example of him." which they do arguably still do by removing his command (which is bull btw). And I do think Raynor staying around is a lot easier to predict if you had seen the presumably spoiler filled season trailers with him in more scenes than you've already seen (Oh how I hate modern "trailers" should just call them "spoiler reels") Did laugh at them restoring the gravesite at the end - this was 800 year old Romulan "graffiti" on a Promelean gravesite - and you could apparently just send these dots down in the first place so... why didn't you? "sacred site so limit boots on the ground" the dots don't have boots. Yes, plot, obviously. Or the hilarious - vacuuming the dust off - in a vacuum. (Yes, you could probably hand wave "Atmosphere bubble to perform the maintenance" or "future tech" but it's still funny.) All those negatives said, S5 is looking to be a significant step up, maintain/improve on it and you might pull off a redemption season Picard S3 style.

Culver only gives prescription strength hugs.

RE ISS Enterprise, I DON'T think it's either time travel or crossing over to the mirror. My guess would be something like the ship is (deliberately or accidentally) phasing into this universe (the reverse of what happened to Defiant) and in the process got snared in some sort of ...stasis, for lack of a better word ...phenomena and is just there frozen in amber for the centuries since (or potentially displaced in time so that the crossover from their side lands them a thousand years in the future and that the crew all die from the thing that Georgiou was dealing with.

And Raynor 'zipping up' his uniform in the last scene shows a 'let's DO this' vibe that I think will up Discovery and Capt. Burnham's game too! They're an ODD pair - but no odder than Worf and Jadzia or O'Brien and Bashir. Trek's known for odd pairings. Given the open social statements Discovery's producers have chosen to take with this series.. I was sorta surprised by bringing in an 'old white 'straight' (?) man' as a lead character. Discovery has had no straight male caucasian "major" roles in the whole series except the brief stint with the captain from the mirror universe (always forget his character's name - but the actor that played Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacson?) in Harry Potter)

Thank you for the picture of Benton and Stanley from Season 3 of Due South!

You know what would be cool since they are revisiting a TNG story line for this season if they could put a bow on on of voyagers old stories "Living Witness". It would be cool to see the Doctor roll up to Starfleet toward the end of Discovery.

"and I really want one" best quote

Up given just for the skip ahead point - many thanks

I have to watch the Chase Last night after I saw Episode 1 The FACT that they going DEEP intro TNG era makes it a Fan Service Season for the People who LOVES the TNG era and its VARY MUCH WELCOMED in my Book I am loving this season thus far I wish they will pull a Late April fools Joke and give Discovery two more seasons

It’s crazy how he can do these knowing how the season pans out since he’s seen the whole season already.

I liked this one better than the first. Even though I was screaming at the TV to use a shuttle craft the whole time they were on the planet

my first thought was the same, that Book was going to use the power of family to solve the issue.

Michael and Saru at the temple.

Thank you for the Due South graphic!!! Callum!!!

So happy to see Due South getting a little love.

The moment I saw the direction of the Inquiry, I knew that Rayner would replace Saru as Executive Officer of Discovery.

In Tamarian. "Michael and Saru on the planet."