Star Trek Discovery Wasn’t Perfect But It Was Promising
Star Trek Discovery had an interesting first season. The show introduced a lot of fascinating characters, some innovative new technology in the Star Trek universe, and revisited a lot of familar locations from Star Trek’s history. Sure, Discovery didn’t have an episode as outstanding as the best of Trek, but Star Trek series are never at their best in their first seasons. And while there are numerous complaints we could level at the show (the bridge here looks nothing like the bridge of any other ship in any other series, we spent way too much time in the Mirror Universe, Lorca’s history made no sense, etc.), we still found a lot to get excited about. Here are the four things that give me hope about Star Trek: Discovery as it heads towards it’s second season.
Dwight Shroute as Harry Mudd worked really well in this series. If you only watch one episode of Discovery, watch Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad. It’s the highlight of the season, thanks in part to Rainn Wilson.
Sonequa Martin-Green was awesome (and Michael Burnham is a Cool Character)
Star Trek is always a ensemble show but the strength of its lead is essential to its success. Patrick Stewart’s confident portrayal of Captain Picard led The Next Generation through that difficult first season into cult popularity and mainstream success. While Captain Sisko is an amazing character, I always felt that Deep Space Nine was somewhat held back by Avery Brooks reservations about the show (though when he was good, he was really really good). Throughout the first season of Discovery, Sonequa Martin-Green repeatedly finds the heart of every scene, demonstrates that she can act among a variety of special effects, and can deliver sci-fi dialogue with real conviction.
Michael Burnham is smarter, stronger, and more attractive than you. Deal with it.
The Crew Works Well
Star Trek series generally spend the first episode introducing each member of the crew and letting those characters showcase their central traits. Discovery turned the traditional formula on its head by slowly introducing the crew over the course of the season, killing several members off unexpectedly, and largely resisting the convention to use secondary plotlines to highlight supporting characters. So it took a little while to get to know Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets (whose heartbreak turned a cold character particularly sympathetic) and Mary Wiseman’s Sylvia Tilly (whose naivete and sensitivity made her a great counterpoint to Burnham’s pessimistic realism). I think the real secret weapon is Doug Jones as Saru. I’m not sure if he’ll take over as captain in the new season or if we’ll see a new character in that spot, but in the moments he’s been forced to lead he’s come across as a hero in spite of himself. He overcomes his species’ overwhelming fearfulness to make command decisions. He believes in his crew and knows when to delegate (and to do whatever Burnham asks). He’s probably the most interesting character on the show
The Show Seems to Be Resetting the Board
There were a number of troubling issues with Discovery that I didn’t enjoy. I don’t think spores-as-warp-core angle worked very well and seeing Stamets suffer every time that engine was used wasn’t fun to watch. Shazad Latif’s Lt. Ash Tyler also turned out to be living a double life, which made his continued membership in Starfleet somewhat questionable. Captain Lorca, also, was a fascinating presence on the show (and Jason Issacs rules) but he was also pretty compromised by the end of the season. Fortunately, the season ended with Tyler leaving Discovery on his own adventure, Lorca vanquished, and the spores (apparently) exhausted. Next season will hopefully focus on a new captain, new crew and new technology (and perhaps the original Enterprise as well!). One character the show was smart to hold on to though is Michelle Yeoh. Her evil captain Phillipa Georgiou is like a female version of Khan; I hope we get to see her return next season.
Hope we see more of you in season 2!
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s First Season Was Way Worse
I have a deep and abiding love for Deep Space Nine, but The Next Generation was probably the best of the Star Trek series (at least, of the series that first aired during my lifetime). But as good as The Next Generation got, it’s important to remember that it didn’t start there. The first season of The Next Generation is probably one of the most disliked seasons of any Star Trek series, with episodes that are really uncomfortable like “The Naked Now” (how weird is it to see characters act out of character in the second episode?), somewhat troubling like “The Last Outpost” and “Code of Honor” (I’m not saying these episodes are racist, but I think racists would like these episodes), or overly preachy like “Angel One” and “Justice.” The Picard you love wasn’t that guy in the first season, but Michael Burnham is already a great character. Discovery has a ways to go, but it’s not nearly the distance that TNG had to travel.
