Star Trek: Discovery: Episode 3, "Context Is For Kings"
Aaahhh!! I know! I'm so behind. I'm the worst. I'm going to make lots of excuses. Life, etc, blah, blah, blah. I am not going to make any false promises, like this will never happen again, because we all know that it will. I will try to be better. Without further adieu, let's dive right in.
Now, this is what I am talking about. This iteration of the Star Trek franchise feels a little more dark. A little more lived in. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's gritty, but it does feel like it exists in the darker corners of the Trek universe. A place where things aren't so bright and shiny and I think exploring this part of the mythology is where "Discovery" is really going to excel and distinguish itself.
This third episode definitely feels like a pilot episode. Burnham begins the episode on a prison transport before ending up on the titular starship. It's six months into her sentence and you can tell this time has changed her. The episode introduces us to the real crew that Burnahm will be interacting with. Saru is onboard the Discovery as Lieutenant Commander. Their reunion is interesting. Out of everyone on the ship, Saru has the most reason to be hostile towards Burnham, but instead he vouches for her. He may not understand why she did what she did, but he still respects her and that is a nice change of pace for how these things usually work.
She meets science office Paul Stamets, the first openly gay Star Trek character. Her roommate, Starfleet cadet, Sylvia Tilly and Captain Gabriel Lorca are all introduced as well. When Lorca is informed of an emergency on the USS Glenn, the Discovery's sister ship, he dispatches a crew including Tilly, Stamets and Burnham to investigate. There they find the bodies of the mutilated crew and Klingons and the creature that did it to them.
There's a lot to love in this episode. Burnham could only be resolved and upset, but Tilly brings out the warm, friendly, humorous person we caught glimpses of in the first two episodes. It's great to see flickers of humor flit across Burnham's face as she gently ribs Tilly and you get a sense that she really enjoys her. I'm excited and hopeful that this relationship will grow as the show progresses.
I was initially on the fence about Stamets. I'm psyched to see some LGBT representation on a Trek series, but his attitude towards Burnham came off as cliche and kind of ridiculous. As the episode progressed though, it was nice to see Stamets get shaded in a little more and see that his stand offish demeanor is due to the fact that he feels like Starfleet's mission statement is being ignored due to the war with the Klingons, a war he holds Burnham partially responsible for. He's also at odds with Lorca about being split from his partner and their research being used for war. His disdain for Lorca is strengthened once he learns about the Glenn and the death of his research partner. It's interesting to see an officer being openly antagonistic to the captain.
Finally, there is Lorca. They are setting him up to be a shady character. He manufactured the accident that brought Burnham's ship to the Discovery in the first place and at the end of the episode, it's revealed that he brought the creature that killed everyone on the Glenn onto the Discovery. There are two ways this can go: They are setting him up to be the bad guy or this is all just a bunch of misdirection and he's really a stand up dude and everything he's doing will be easily explained. My guess is that it's going to be the latter and it's the one part of the episode that feels a little stale and falls a little bit flat.
I have to give a shout out to the effects on the show. They are top notch. The distorted bodies found on the Glenn are pretty horrifying and the creature is effectively scary. The spore experiment that Burnham finds is also rendered really well.
Now that Burnham has officially joined the Discovery, I'm excited for the series to really kick into high gear and if this episode is any indication, it's going to be quite the ride.
I'd love to hear from some long time Trek fans. Are you enjoying the show so far? Anything you'd change? Let me know in the comments.
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