Since it’s launch as Star Trek’s new flagship show in 2017, Star Trek Discovery has made an effort to reinvent itself year by year to tell new stories with new styles and themes. Each season being it’s own new mission, the crew began as distrustful strangers under the command of a cold tactician to living in the far future trying to restore the Federation into the utopia of it’s prime.
It’s not been smooth sailing for the show. Behind the scene’s the first season saw it’s creator depart, leaving his closest collaborators to take the helm and critical commentary online has saw fan arguments from large narrative complaints to nitpicking about the sets being too ‘advanced’ for starting off ten years before Kirk’s 1960’s designed Enterprise.
Still the show has had it’s successes, both creatively thanks to some bold choices including focusing on a character who wasn’t Captain for the first time, to real world successes. Primarily being heralded for being the most diverse Star Trek show to date as well as making the launch of CBS All Access (Now Paramount+) such a large success that Star Trek exploded to the point where we had five separate seasons in productions at once.
It’s not a show for everyone and it’s approach has changed massively from it’s chaotic first season. But it’s brought a lot to the Star Trek Universe from new technologies, new lore and now a whole new exploration of the Federation further ahead in time than anything we’d seen before. It’s also been a huge journey where the cast have grown and changed from their first appearance, Burnham at the core as she’s gone from disgraced mutineer to Captain while her once rival Saru grew with her to become her closest friend and advisor.
Looking ahead to the fifth and final season launching this month, we’ve been having a rewatch and picked out the five standouts for the show so far.
Magic To Make The Sanest Man Go Mad
Season 1, Episode 7
To kick off, why not focus on a one off story in the middle of a serialised arc? Rainn Wilson’s Harry Mudd was introduced earlier in the season as a dodgy fella selling out Lorca and Ash Tyler to the Klingons. Here he returns for some comedy value as a bit of a cool-down in the middle of a tense story. Afrter being outmanoeuvred by Lorca during their time sharing a cell on a Klingon ship, Mudd finds Discovery and plays Groundhog Day to fiond a way to take the ship and sell it to the enemy.
Of course he fails. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any more episodes after that. But in a season that brings in some very dark plots, and even an episode that tries to solidify Michael Burnham breaking out of her shell and trying to find a human connection with Ash Tyler, it’s a wonderfully ridiculous story breaking up a lot of dark and troubling threads that still managed to act as one of Discovery’s few self isolated arcs.
Unification Part III
Season 3, Episode 7
Flinging Discovery into the far future let us have a glimpse of what Starfleet would (or wouldn’t) be 900 years in the future. It wasn’t all good, and not everyone was still part of the big Federation family. Narratively Season 3 has some issues. For a show built on surprise, it seemed to avoid any tension and burst the bubble of a mystery before we could even acknowledge it. On the other hand, the big controversial event it investigated annoyed people despite some wonderful performances and a classic sci fi trope coming to the forefront.
Unification Part III didn’t take the massive risks it could have, nor the risks the rest of the season had. But it brought together two eras of Star Trek very nicely. Burnham and Spock last saw each before he’d even met Kirk nor crafted his legacy. In this episode, she saw her adoptive brother in his elder years as a passionate advocate of peace. Seeing the results of that Next Gen two parter alongside Discovery’s own past was perfect unification of creative ideas and plans.
]Brother
Season 2, Episode 1
If Discovery is good at one thing, it’s reinventing itself. It’s debut season was filled with tension, twists and keeping the audience on it’s toes. Part of that came with the secret Terran Captain Lorca and the sense of distrust his crew had in him. Season two started with an instant shift in tone by introducing the barely seen legendary Captain Pike, predecessor to fellow legend Jim Kirk, taking command of Discovery with a firm hand and friendly attitude.
As a change of course, Brother works wonderfully. It’s not quite Way of Rthe Warrior in re-inventing the show, but it builds on Burnham’s background with Sarek and Spock – teasing the latter appearance as a missing science officer not on the Enterprise – replaces the suspect Lorca with a paternal Pike making a point of bringing ease to a troubled crew and brings a whole new mystery all at once. We even get a resdhirt death. Sure, he’s a science officer, but we knew it was coming! By the end of season one the crew were beginning to come together.
In Brother, we finally get a glimpse of what they can be under a leader who’s not a complete and utter psychopath; and makes the show all the better for it.
Such Sweet Sorrow
Season 2, Episodes 13 & 14
Mirroring Brother, Season 2 ended just as well as it started. Sure, there were moments that seemed mental. Battle raging on, race against time and yet Spock and Burnham still have time for a few heart to hearts? Priorities people! But overall there was a real sense of excitement and urgency that always see’s Discovery at it’s finest and hadn’t been seen since, well… thats for later.
Theres a finality to the episode. The season had it’s ups and downs. From callbacks to Pike’s original unaired story from 1964 to Saru maturing beyond what he was told he could be, to bringing in Burnhams dear old not dead mum as the mysterious Red Angel. And it all ends with some classic sci fi evil AI, Control, taking over Secion 31 ships and going into a fight to the death with Discovery and Enterprise side by side.
There’s a lot going on in this episode. Some parts remind me of classic Trek. Some remind me of the films. Some reminds me of Battlestar Galactica considering we have a dogfight in space. But overall it gives a shot of adrenaline not many Star Trek finale’s have had. We have science as we go through a plan to lead Discovery into the far future. We have action in a tense – and wonderfully done – fight against Control. We have L’Rell racing to support peace in a complete 180 from her original mission in season one. And we have emotional beats from Spock and Burnham saying their final goodbyes to Admiral Cornwell getting a heroes death.
The Season 2 finale was a packed ending that not only delivered a neatly wrapped conclusion to the story, but to the 23rd century for the show. Better still, while we learn nothing about what happened to Discovery after the crew take a leap to the future, but the epilogue showing Pike, Spock and Number One on the Enterprise would eventually lead to Discovery’s first spin off, Strange New Worlds.
Into the Forest I Go
Season 1, Episode 9
Season 1’s arc goes in many multiple directions and a story told in two halves with an underlying theme of the first half being… who exactly is Gabriel Lorca? Unlike any captain who’s came before him in Star Trek, Lorca is a far colder and more militaristic mind than the likes of Kirk or even Sisko. From his first introduction Stamets’ calls him a war monger and despite being in charge of a highly specialised science ship, his motivations had always been questionable. While a few did come round to his ways, particularly Burnham as she came to understand his way of thinking, Stamets was always the hard sell. This was the episode Lorca won the astromicologist over and lived to regret it….
For the most part, until this point, Star Trek hadn’t done a lot of serialised story telling. This was the first episode in Discovery that showed how well things could work when everything comes together. Lorca and Stamets’ meeting of the minds over using the Spore Drive against the Klingons is just one piece of the puzzle, and a moment that would pay off for the rest of the season. We also saw another character with a question mark over his head, Ash Tyler, have a PSTD related breakdown while on a mission with Burnham to plant sensors on Kol’s stolen ship; a moment that would make Ash realise he wasn’t who he believed he was; reaching right back to the opening episode before he’#d even arrived on Discovery.
Burnham herself got some progression. She was never able to save Captain Georgiou, but by defeating Kol and his ship, which had become an icon in itself for the Klingon’s new unity, she was able to put right at least one of her wrongs and take back Georgiou’s Starfleet pin, worn as a mark of Pride by the Klingon General.
Outwith the larger story arcs being closed off and moved forward for the second half, a singular episode the threads flow seamlessly together to bring out one of the best written episodes of the first season. Plus there’s some fantastic action that helps keep the flow of the episode as Discovery makes over a hundred jumps around the Sarcophagus while the ground team infiltrates the ship to find a way around the cloaking technology.
By the end everyones happy and united which between the first batch of episodes and the work done here, feels very much earned as we close out with Lorca and Stamets standing side by side with the Captain asking for one last spore jump home. A jump that teases this isn’t the happy ending we think it is as Discovery finds itself lost, alone and about to enter a whole new world of trouble…
Whether the criticism of Discovery is fair or unfair, episodes like this one made the first season something really special. With Discovery following a more balanced and toned down nature since it’s third season, Into The Forest I Go is a wonderful example of the energy and excitement the show had in it’s chaotic first year.
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