Star Trek Discovery: Points of Light & An Obol for Charon

Here are observations about the third and fourth episodes of Star Trek Discovery this season, Points of Light and An Obol for Charon.  There ARE a few spoilers below, but not full episode summaries.

Points of Light

1. A lot of Points of Light has to do with establishing Section 31, Phillipa, and Ash as major players in the story.  Section 31 first appeared in DS9, but also appeared in Enterprise, so it has been around for a while.  But I could live without ever seeing Klingons again, if you must know.  So tired of them.
2. Tilly and May talked for a LONG time, but Tilly caught up with the other running cadets in short order.
3. When Sarek's ship approached Discovery, it was JUST like when Reliant approached Enterprise in TWOK.  Pike knew the rules about activating tactical systems when communication has not been established with an approaching vessel.  Kirk, true to form, ignored the rules. 
4. The transporter room (or at least the one in this episode) is on Deck 4.
5. The Klingon D7 starship, seen here in its design or early construction phase, has been seen throughout Trek. 
6. My wife and I both thought that L'Rell's residence looks a bit like Rivendell.
7. That data storage device looks a LOT like a 3.5 inch floppy disk, complete with write protection hole.  But is also looks a bit like the storage disks they used in TOS, which is presumably their intent.
8. "Post-war the Klingons are growing their hair again." Referencing the short hair on TOS Klingons, which was yet another time of war between the Klingons and the Federation?
9. In the jogging scene, there was Tilly, another woman, and two men.  In the bridge exercise later, there were two men, Tilly, and a couple of Mays.  Did the other woman wash out already? Or was she a training officer (she had a different colored shirt)?
10. May thinks Stamitz is the captain of the ship, and thinks he is terrifying.  But she needs to talk to him, or her plan will fall apart. Somehow Tilly is special to her, and her only chance...for something.
11. The "red angel" told Spock where Michael was when she ran away from home, years ago. Furthermore, Spock followed Michael around like a shadow, until she pushed him away and hurt him irreparably. She believed that the "logic extremists" would target him, if they could not target her.
12. May is some sort of apparition from the Mycellium, but so was Hugh appearing to Stamitz during the jumps, right?  Are they working together or at odds?  In both cases they have been helpful, but there is certainly an agenda at work.  Note that both Tilly and Stamitz have had spores get inside them.
13. House Kor is a reference to the Klingon character or, played by John Colicos in the TOS episode Errand of Mercy.
14. The Section 31 ship is reminiscent of Spock's warp shuttle in TMP, but presumably much bigger.
15. Didn't you love Phillip making googly eyes at eh baby, until ash looked at her?
16. The Klingon monastery at Boreth was mentioned in the TNG episode Rightful Heir, which featured Worf visiting it.
17. The look Phillipa gives the baby at the end the the episode is tender, but she hardens her face when she sees someone is looking at her.  To be the lead on her own spin-off series, she NEEDS some redeeming qualities.

An Obol for Charon

1. May gives us a moderately big reveal in this episode about why she is there, grooming Tilly for something.
2. This episode also makes a major character development for Saru.
3. Number One has been described in some non-canon sources as being a genetically perfect example of her species, making the name both a starship title, and possible a real name. But what's with her eating a cheeseburger and fries? I guess if she IS biologically perfect, she doesn't need to worry about healthy eating.
4. Note that she mentions Enterprise Chief Bouvier, presumably a reference to the chief engineer.  That suggests that Scotty is not yet in that job.  Also, they retconned NOT using the kinds of holographic displays on Enterprise in 10 years that Discovery has now.
5. Also note that her PADD is taller in the back than in the front, a bit like TOS PADDs (but not exactly). However later in the episode, the doctor's PADD and Michael's is just an ordinary flat screen.
6. Oh, great, there's some sort of conspiracy in Starfleet, causing Spock's case to be classified more highly than it should be. Conspiracies in Starfleet have been done to death.
7. Did Commander Nhan show up really abruptly in the briefing?  She she really her, or a mycelium entity, appearing to everybody, not just Tilly? 
8. There is a chief engineer on Discovery who we have not met.
9. There is more than one sickbay on Discovery. There was a reference to "take non-critical to sickbay 2."
10. Doctor Pollard's comm badge is NOT the overlapping circles for "sciences" like on the TOS Enterprise, but rather a little black version of the red cross denoting medical.
11. Saru and Michael seem very close in this episode, even though in last season he was telling her how dangerous she was and how he resented her for keeping him from being first officer.
12. Discovery has EPS systems, even though they were never mentioned in TOS and were allegedly new in TNG. They used antibodies to slow the virus progress, but it wasn't until Voyager that ships had bio-neural gel packs that contain synthetic neural cells for circuitry.
13. So the sphere is 100,000 years old and now we have everything it has seen and experienced.  Kind of like Vyger, huh? And there was a reference to "all library computers" implying more than one.
14. Discovery's jumps harm the residents of the Mycelium network, which is maybe why TOS, TNG, etc, never heard of it. One is reminded of the Voyager episodes Equinox, in which the smaller ship was killing alien lifeforms to get a boost toward home.