Forgive me for only reading this far before I had to comment, and believe me, I want to like this show and see it do well but this line got me.

Right, because for all their avowed Trek-loving, in the end, instead of going for deep cuts or a deeper understanding of themes explored in the Trek universe, they instead just go for cheap fan service.

All of the “continuity” they’re throwing out (which is actually just terrible fan service) felt really cheap. They throw in all these references, but don’t quite get the tone right, like they watched Trek but didn’t really understand it

Of course, maybe if people weren’t constantly bitching about how this show isn’t “their” Star Trek (entitled much?), maybe the showrunners wouldn’t have felt the need to have the ship in there or wrap the storyline up in a neat little kumbaya package.

I agree the back half seemed rushed/sloppy, and that the other characters didn’t get enough attention since the show was All About Burnham. I really hope next season we get to see more from the other bridge officers, even if they keep the same basic “this show isn’t about the captain” thing going.

They were pretty definitely always going to do this.

it slams the reset button with both fists and never stops winding back the clock.

But there’s no one species called “The Borg.” It’s more like a biotech contagion that infects many species. The Borg have already genocided several species by absorbing them into the collective.

It’s a real testament to the confidence of the TNG writers just how little they relied on fan service. They had good characters, they had good stories to tell, they had good actors, they didn’t need fanboy BS.

The speech was terrible. As I said above, it should have been a narrating personal log on top of the awards ceremony. It made no sense. Sloppy writing to give Burnham a chance to give a speech to Star Fleet.

That speech was extraordinarily clunky. It would have made a lot more sense as a personal log narrating the events of the award ceremony. But the writers have this slavish devotion to Burnam for some reason, and had to give a speech in front of an audience at the end. Sloppy, sloppy writing.

“Acting Captain,” as in he’s continuing to command the ship on their way from Earth to Vulcan, where they’re going to pick up their new captain.

I would totally agree that Saru is the SINGLE character on the show that has show

That confused me, too. Even the blocking of it was odd, with her standing center floor ground level with her back to a room full of Starfleet, towards the crew of the Discovery who are standing on a riser with their backs to the Council. Like, I get this either being a speech to the Council, or her turning around and…

I think the Borg are more of an edge case...debatably sentient, at the very least.

Michael Burnham IS the Mary Sue.

Yeah, they reinstated Burnham as a Commander, but they couldn’t give Saru the command? Lame. He earned it.

That last speech was presented super weirdly.

Honestly, I (along with many others, I guess) called the Enterprise popping up as a season ender as soon as the pilot aired. It’s just basic cheap fanservice 101, and judging by some reactions here and elsewhere, it’s enough to make this finale the greatest thing in the universe for some people.

That’s a generous grade. Plot-wise, this episode was terrible, rushed and lazy. And anticlimactic? Good lord!