#doomsday machine

This was definitely my favourite since Amok Time!

Who is that white lady in the coms chair though. Yes Uhurah does appear to work all shifts at all times she deserves a break but the bridge feels wrong without her there I Don't like it.

I love when they aim for prolonged tension because they're always playing on hard mode. In this case, 'can we keep you captivated for 50 minutes about whether the glow-y space worm will kill the main character dead 1/4th of the way through the season?' When the answer is no you still gotta respect the audacity. And when (as was the case for me this episode) the answer is yes, it feels like they pulled off a magic trick.

How did it take me this long to clock that Spock is such an anxious hoverer. I mean I knew his preferred distance in dangerous scenarios was 3-0 inches, but I figured that was for practical reasons of offering protection. But then last ep when he's stuck on the ship and has lost contact with/track of the away team, he's spending every spare minute looming over the shoulder of bridge members who are just trying to do their job. In any episode where things are awry on the bridge, if he doesn't have a Task he's always drifting over to the Captain's chair (especially if Bones is there too) and placing his hand on it, never quite but always almost touching. Then in this episode Kirk returns and Spock beelines for him then trails along behind him with no clear purpose. I mean they start talking but he's trailing first. There's even a moment when Kirk sort of steps back without a clear direction yet, and Spock glances at him and quickly steps forward to close the distance.

idk, for someone whose personal space is so important to him, I find this development really endearing.

Spock's manner when he's explaining to Bones that they can't do anything about Decker taking over command is so. gentle. It got to me.

Bones had the right idea though, I was down for an immediate mutiny.

Ah well at least Spock got around to the mutiny as soon as he had Kirk's go-ahead. Love that they made it clear Kirk didn't have authority to order Spock to retake command, but the whole crew and those two random redshirts that were called in all silently collectively go right along with the mutiny.

I love the framing of Decker accepting Spock's "Vulcan's do not bluff" line as Decker whiffing it so bad. 'this dude can't command the enterprise. he doesn't even know Spock's the biggest bulshitter on the ship!'

Also this show loooves to start out with a nightmare scenario for Kirk (in this case: get this wrong and your whole crew will die but you'll be left alive to watch it) to hang over his head the whole episode. Gonna be honest I do like when they do that. Also this is one of those rare scenarios where Kirk is entirely predictable. the second Kirk was threatened with outliving his crew he was going to find some narrative justification for a scenario where if anyone is getting blown up it's him and him alone.

Speaking of I was back to feeling prickly towards Kirk the last few episodes, and this was the round where he won me back again. Specifically when he sees the fully functional Enterprise in trouble and decides, nevermind that the ship I'm stuck on is basically floating junk. I'm mounting a rescue mission.

Also love that the bare-bones crew gives Kirk scope to show off his engineering and piloting skills.

I've been reading hero/villain stuff recently, and am obsessed with possesive hero, and flustered villain. This is the result.

Discovery

TW: contemplation/acceptance of imminent death(NOT SUICIDAL)l,

"What the hell is taking them so long?" Villain paced in front of their doomsday weapon, cape flowing dramatically out behind them. "I could have used the machine ten times already in this wait! What could possibly be taking them this long?"

"You're being dramatic." Henchman called from behind the machine, from where they stood with the rest of the crew. "They'll be here soon."

There were crashes, then five familiar faces landed in front of Villain. The hero team. They were finally here.

"Took you long enough." Villain drawled, pulling out their tablet. "Hero Team, I'd like to introduce you to your doom." Villain gestured to their machine. "This is a machine that is designed to seek out everyone you love and care about and obliterate them, and then destroy you." Villain types something into their tablet. "Why don't we start with you, Hero?"

With a press of a button on their gauntlet, Villain triggered the robots to keep the heroes busy while they imputed Hero's name into the tablet. The machine began to hum as it's power-up sequence began. "It's working." Villain gloated as the barrel of the machine began to move. "Hero, say goodbye to all those you love-"

The barrel of the gun swung around and smacked Villain in the face, cutting them off and knocking them to the ground. The tablet skidded out of reach as Villain landed on their ass on the ground. Then the barrel of the weapon swung around to point at them.

Villain couldn't do anything but stare down the barrel of their own machine in shock and confusion. They could see the inner barrel starting to glow as the machine prepared to fire. I'm going to die, they thought.

A hand grabbed the back of their cape and dragged them out of the way just as the machine fired, the bolt of energy missing them by centimeters. Villain screamed, covering their face as fragments of rock plummeted them from the explosion.

"Are you okay?" Hero's voice rang in their ear. Villain turned to stare at the other in confusion.

"You." They pointed at Hero. "Love me." They point to themselves. "Me. Your enemy."

"Shut up." Hero muttered. "Just shut up."

"You know what, no." Villain snapped, growing angry. "I'm not going to shut up. I want to know if you really love me, of if my machine is broken."

"You're machine is broken." Hero picked up the tablet and began pressing random buttons on it. "How exactly does this thing work?"

"My machine is not broken." Villain grabbed for the tablet. "Give me the tablet."

"No, fuck you." Hero slapped their hands away, then pressed a button. The machine powered down.

"Dammit," Villain muttered. "I really should not have made that one so obvious."

"Thank you for doing so." Hero dropped the tablet, then grabbed Villain. "And now, you've been caught."

The rest of the hero team approached warily as Hero locked the cuffs around Villain's wrists. "Hero?" Superhero asked. "Is there anything you want to tell us?"

"Do you need help?" Other Hero reached out to grab Villain. "We could take them, and you-"

"No, it's alright." Hero shifted Villain away from the others. "I've got it."

"Are you sure?" Superhero asked. "Because what just happened would shake anybody up-"

"I said I got it!" Hero snapped as they dragged Villain towards the door to the warehouse. Out to where the press were waiting to pounce, leaving behind a group of concerned heroes.

(Not as long as my first post, but y'know, maybe that's a good thing.