User Reviews

Firstly can I say I suspect some are hating on this show because they're homophobic. But rather than say, "Gay men kissing freaks me out". They're determined to rip the show to pieces without acknowledging it. Now as much as I'm not a fan of kissing men. I'm prepared to overlook it and try to see this series overall for what it is.

We had a few brilliant shows previously. So the pay off was always going to have to be big for the finale. Was it as big as it needed to be? I don't think so. That's not to say it was rubbish, far from it. This is easily the best Science Fiction on TV at the moment. Although due to the mirror universe episodes it's as much Science Fantasy really, but anyway. We all knew Giorgio was going to have something up her sleeve and of course she did. A bomb to destroy the entire Klingon Home world Kronos. Things were going really well until the inevitable happened, and as an effort not to mess up the canon to much, said explosion never happened. After messing up the look of the Klingons (please sort that out for season 2) I think destroying Kronos would probably have been a step too far for the hardcore fans, anyway, again I digress. Then all of a sudden they explain this plot to the Klingon they have in custody who decides that because they chose not to blow up Kronos the Klingons will make peace with the Federation... Now come on, for a warrior race they would likely think, "how stupid could you get" and invade Earth regardless.... Are these new big softie Klingons we never knew about before?

Other than that rather large gripe a good ending to a great first season.

Ok, speaking as an old guy who remembers the original show when it was new, it's always hard to watch a new creation, especially when they set it in the same time frame as the original. That being said, I'm trying to watch it on it's own merits and overall, find it entertaining.

I'm going to start with a couple lows: The whole "mycelial network" theme is kinda lame. I'm a "fun guy" and love water bears, but...really? And how are they going to weave this into canon as they go into season 2 and the presence of the Enterprise? And what's with killing/sending off your main characters at such a rate? Seems like they're trying to keep us thrilled and off balance, but at what cost?

Highs: Despite the whole "mirror universe" theme (which I thought came too soon in this version) and all the carnage, STD keeps the Star Trek universe and Starfleet's ideals largely intact. And even better--f'ing Clint Howard! I was almost expecting him to make a Balok reference.

I watched an episode of ST:TNG before giving up on it for a couple years, so I'm going to give these guys a chance and will be watching to see how they connect with the Enterprise and Spock starting next season.

After a very interesting build-up, I found the resolution entirely unconvincing. The ruthless Empress inexplicably fails to carry through. The Klignons are improbably mild. And then the ending with the original Enterprise under Captain Pike is decidedly silly.

Still a good season, but this marred it for me.

Empress Georgiou pretending to be Captain does not seemed to have fooled the crew. The Terran has not grasped the principles of how the Federation operates. However the Federation has agreed a mission with Georgiou that they have not shared with others on the ship. This means the destruction of Qonos.

The scenes on Qonos owes more to a grimy, sleaze inspired by Blade Runner. The first half of the the story is more interesting than the latter part where it is Burnham that implores the Federation superiors that destroying all Klingons cannot be part of the plan. The latter part that concluded the various story arcs was just too glib. However to see Michelle Yeoh seriously kick Klingon ass was fun.

The first series was uneven, it could be very good and yet at times rather dull. I still cannot get over the look of the Klingons.

We had to suspect Mirror Georgiou of treachery, and we were not disappointed. Remember I had said she was malleable, and Michael knew what strings to pull.

I quoted Mr. Spock from "Mirror Mirror" about the difficulties an uncivilized man has when trying to act Civilized. Lorca was able to fool us by making us think he was "eccentric". But Georgiou, is too much "The Emperor", and keeps bringing up the same distasteful Kelpian joke.

So we get to see the surface of Qonos for the first time in this show, and it is not like the Matte Paintings made by Dan Curry in Next Generation or Deep Space 9. The geology of Qonos is explained, and shown, in more detail here than in any other Trek. And Tyler/Voq knows some helpful details that Georgiou failed to mention.

Georgiou knows how to deal with Klingons, but what works in a Mirror Verse does not work for The Federation, and where in the beginning of this show, Michael was willing to toss federation standards out of the nearest Airlock, even now she sees the importance to keeping to what the main tenets are. It all comes down to who we are. Who do we want to be as people?

That, and quick thinking, turns the Georgiou solution on its ear. And in doing so, finds a place in this universe for even L'Rell and Tyler/Voq.

And Discovery, on its way to Vulcan, runs into a very familiar Silhouette from our Past.

As I reflect on this first season as a whole, there were things I did not like (re-designing Klingons for one), and things I did like. But this is not the first facelift that Citizens of Qonos have gotten, I flipped my lid when I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the theatre on the night it came out and saw the new Klingons.

So I've seen a few design changes in Trek over the years, I didn't like the facelift, but I'm used to it now. I hated when they blew up the 1701-D, and I hate the 1701-E. And I preferred the Trek shows where they used real, physical models, that they filmed photographically.

But I dare you to find film for a Kodak Brownie camera these days. We live in a digital era, and everything is CGI now, because that's how it is done. And one of the universal messages of Star Trek has been about change. And a lot of things have changed since "The Cage" was filmed in 1965.

Yet I can still watch that original Pilot, and compare it to Forbidden Planet, and enjoy both. And I can enjoy the films of the 80's, even Star Trek V. And I hated Enterprise when it came out, but I realized, it's just me. It's better to roll with the changes, or better yet, make changes of your own.

And we look to the past as a sort of measuring stick to see if we have progressed, or not. If we have no progress, our civilization dies.

The mystery of people who claim to despise this show yet go out of their way to make an account here and continuously announce their dissatisfaction still astounds me. One thing we can surmise from this activity: They hated it, yet they apparently watched every episode. Yah, we get it, you don't like it. Walk away already, you already told us, in continuous identical dupe reviews.

As a SUPER TREKKIE for LIFE, this last episode was perfect. Seeing the USS Enterprise in the final scene gave me goosebumps and Burnham's speech to the Federation Council was Amazing! 10/10

Overall this season 1 of Discovery has been excellent IMO. Especially the modern take on the Terran alt universe was very well done. The Lorca plot twist was mind blowing and so well set up over the course of the season. Any supposed Trek fan saying the season wasn't good up to this point is likely just trying to make a political or gender politics statement.

This episode which ends the war with the Klingons was disappointing to me. Endings can be difficult but the writers clearly didn't have answers that were earned. Massive plot holes and nonsensical behavior to wit:

1. The Federation/Starfleet puts the evil emperor from the Terran universe literally in charge of Discovery as it's Captain?? I suppose you can say they were desperate but how about just making her an advisor to the situation in return for her freedom. That's what she was already doing and it had been effective. Then they trust her with blowing up Qu'onos but they don't trust any of the actual Starfleet/Discovery crew with knowledge of the plan?? Sorry, no.

2. The Ash Tyler story totally jumped the rails. He kills Doctor Hugh (yes under some Klingon mind control, whatever), tries to kill Burnham, betrays everyone but a week later they are all gathering around him in the lunchroom like a beloved returning hero, trusting completely that this will never happen again and what's one murder of a fellow crew member anyway, no biggie. This is not how human behavior works and made me sick to watch these simps.

3. The 'solution' of giving L'Rell control of a bomb that would blow up the planet and telling her to go seize power was beyond ridiculous. Totally dishonorable to start, she's blackmailing everyone with destruction of their home world, how does that inspire any loyalty whatsoever? Like the other Klingons wouldn't immediately be trying to figure out how to remove/disable the bomb and once that happened, L'Rell is dead or at minimum removed from power and the war is back on. Instead she becomes Chancellor just based on this move alone? Tough to believe.

It just seemed like there had to be a better plot line (and a less rushed one) to get back to peace with the Klingons if that's what the writers wanted to do. The Voq/Tyler meld never made much sense to me anyway. Why not keep Voq alive and curry favor with L'Rell by finding/saving him and bringing him back to her. Then the Discovery crew works with them as frenemies with mutual interests. Help them get back into power and on track to unite the Klingon houses in return for a cease fire. Do it with the threat that Discovery can blow up Qu'onos, but make Voq/L'Rell the ones that stop that from happening, not the ones making the threat. Then they are the heroes that saved Qu'onos, not the blackmailers threatening to blow it up.

Anyway, we are obviously moving on to a new storyline in Season 2 so I'll hope for a continuation of what I saw for 14 episodes of season 1, and a much better ending.

Well that wasn't very good! Yes I am a Trekker and I'm happy to watch and forgive STD's overall short comings. But, the problem is when the shortcomings grow bigger and bigger you're just left with annoyance, boredom and lots of sighing throughout.

Before I rant the good points were:

• The Enterprise looks cool
• The Orions embassy and those scenes were good
• The monologue Michael made about her parents was good. However, this should have been included in earlier episodes. We as an audience would have identified with her relationship with Ash with more clarity.

Within this season's story arc this episode was OK. but, once again the ending was poorly constructed, written, executed. I'm sure there are countless alternative story lines that could have been written and that would have offered the viewer actual jeopardy and tension. Here are two alternative endings!!!!

Scenario 1: Discovery actually disobeys Star Fleet orders and start a mutiny. Star Fleet then send another ship to stop them on the Klingon home world...obviously The Discovery wins but to have Star Fleet officers fighting each other is actually interesting and creates tension. Especially given Burham's history of mutiny.

Scenario 2: Similar to the first but the female Klingon L'Rell actually blows up parts of Qo'noS and The Discovery crew help her. We've been told repeatedly how The Klingons are a warrior race and only respond to force, Klingons who yield power have several houses following them. L'Rell only has a bomb - Why would House Heads suddenly believe and follow her, I know i wouldn't? Surely that can't be enough!

The speech Michael makes at the end was really self indulgent and poorly written. It's as bad as the Riker speech in TNG Angel One episode which is routinely mocked.

Finally, I sigh because I want STD to be so much than it is. We are in the golden age of TV with fantastic actors and CGI and yet STD seems content on producing lacklustre scripting, un-inventive story-lines, ABC story arcs. I'm sure it will improve and I have to remember that the first two seasons of TNG were terrible so, fingers crossed for a bigger and better season next time.

An enjoyable episode, that ends one arc of the story, while introducing a new more trekkie twist.

We see how Georgiou act as out of sync captain, how Michael and Tyler/voq evolve, what Qonos looks like (a darker star wars place). The earth is threatened by extinction. Will Discovery and the desperate Starfleet save the day?

There are twists to the plot, not in a bad way, but perhaps the story would have benefitted from a more extended explanation to the L'Rell twist.

The ending is both an end to the season and ta more trekkie twist, where we meet old friends. A promising end and a beginning of season 2, perhaps.

An enjoyable episode, my only complaint is the slightly one-dimensional acting of Michael/Sonequa Martin-Green and the lack of focus on the Klingons.

I rated this episode 8/10

The first season of the show wraps in a pretty average way. Not the big battle with the Klingons we are hoping for and too much of a return to normalcy in the final moments. The Enterprise being waved over is not exactly the kind of thing that will leave us counting the days until Season 2 premieres.

I like the show, but the problem is there are so many better options out there.

In one episode...Just one. Okay 3... They took every single plot device for the season and killed them all in less than 5 minutes. I really can not agree with wrapping everything up like this just so that the season can end without a cliff hanger. We wanted a cliffhanger. The past 3 episodes have rushed everything so quickly. And really it made no sense. We spent so long building up so many interesting perspectives and then suddenly we were back in our own universe and we went from utter annihilation to the Klingons basically giving up for no good reason. It was a very un-Klingon like thing to do...So rushed....So rushed!,

If you think about it for more than the second it took the writers to come up with the plot, this episode doesn't make much sense. Why would the Klingons leave their homeworld so vulnerable by having giant craters that expose its core and are possible to drop a bomb into? Why would these vents not be heavily guarded? Why couldn't Phillipa simply kill Michael when she comes from a universe where emotion is weakness? And why would a loyal Klingon suddenly switch sides to the Federation's side and threaten mass destruction of the Klingons? It's so easy to pick holes in the plot that it's incredible that they weren't spotted in the making of such a prestigious series. Or, more likely, they were spotted, but neither the writers nor CBS cared.

Oh, another thing. The moral dilemma (Do we blow up the Klingon homeworld, killing millions in the process, or do we find a peaceful solution? Peaceful of course, because we are Starfleet) is predictable in the way it turns out, and laughable. Yes, you could say that it's a good way to resolve the war as it shows how the Federation became the peaceful entity it is in the original Star Trek series. Except that doesn't make sense, as Enterprise comes before Discovery chronologically anyway. Oops.

Much of the dialogue is cringey, especially anything involving Ash. The moment where he chooses to leave with the Emperor is random and thoughtless, like much of this episode. But at least he leaves Michael some rope, because that's a reference to earlier in the episode where we saw him playing with rope and that MEANS SOMETHING (it means he likes rope).

Okay, there were a few things I liked. The visuals were excellent. Spending time on the Klingon homeworld was pretty good and the glimpse of the new Earth is nice. Michael and Sylvia got some good moments and it was interesting working out Phillipa's true motivation in what she was doing. That's enough to save this mediocre episode though.

Sure was great to see the Enterprise again. She looks great. Can't wait for season 2. Hope it has more episodes.

The Klingon war ended by sending L'Rell to Kronos with a bomb saying "Unite or I blow up the planet".

This doesn't seem like a very honorable thing to do. I really doubt many Klingon's would follow her let alone all the houses.

I am pretty sure the Klingon's could have figured out how to disarm that bomb in the time it took them to transporter beam her to the meeting. Hey ever heard of a transporter accident?

Oh and all you people that threatened to mutiny you all get medals. I guess putting a Klingon who tortures and rapes people in charge of Kronos is a good thing?

Everything about this episode that works, and a lot does (mostly in the first two-thirds), comes at the cost of making the Federation the bad guy (and thus Admiral Cornwell another Evil Admiral, not to mention Sarek's involvement in the plan), which is a massive caveat. The biggest issue is that the episode has in no way earned the moral Trekkian ending that plays out on-screen, because the hydrobomb worked - the only reason the Federation won the war is because they played the "call off your forces or we'll annihilate your homeworld" card (via Mirror Georgiou and L'Rell). The fact that that's what it took to end the war, that's how this season-long arc is resolved, unfortunately vindicates the genocide plan, which is reprehensible. I can't believe that the episode plays this as a moral, enlightened happy ending when it's a straight-up WMD blackmail situation. And then they let Mirror Georgiou go. Unbelievable.

Latif was good as usual, and Martin-Green was really good this week, better than in any previous episode. The fact that Burnham, Tyler, Tilly and Saru showed solidarity and worked together to take on Mirror Georgiou in the early part of the episode was good, and the characterization worked - but they should never have been forced into that situation. Mirror Georgiou came round unrealistically quickly when confronted by Burnham, and the Klingon retreat was too swift and simplistic also. It plays as a Michael Is Magic insta-solve.

The ending is a lot of fan service, and less earned and genuinely resonant than the ending of Terra Prime. In part, it plays like a cliche Star Wars "everyone gets a medal" victory parade scene.

We're left with a season-long arc in which the Federation becomes genocidal and Only One Person, former mutineer Michael, can show them the error of their ways. So the Michael character is redeemed at the cost of making Starfleet completely amoral; her record is wiped clean and she's given a new commission as Commander because she stopped Starfleet from committing genocide. Wow. Redeeming your troubled protagonist ready for season 2 at the cost of the Star Trek universe's worldbuilding and value system is a big price. The ending is a reset button, even if no time shenanigans are involved - and the use of Cornwell, who until now has been well-played and consistently written, as the episode's de-facto antagonist who has to be shown the error of her ways and talked out of mass murder, does significant damage to her character (ditto Sarek).

I liked the depiction of the Orion outpost on Kronos, which was gritty without being gratuitous and (unlike almost every previous Orion scene in Star Trek) didn't pander to any particular demographic. Tilly had some good moments but Wiseman still plays her as too sitcommy for my taste, or like a character out of a Joss Whedon show.

See y'all in 2019?

Supercrap episide with virtually nothing happening. The only two interesting things were seeing Balok ( not the character but the actor ) from the original series and of course the beloved Entetprisrise with Pike aboard. I'd much rather see that crew than the misbegotten one on this blah series. They killed off the best character and with the Emperor leaving ( for now ). We are only left with Saru as the only good character left. They should have ended the season 2 episodes ago. That was a season finale; not the exercise in tediousness witnessed on this lousy episode. Let them also do away with the stupid turtle Klingons. The only thing worth looking forward to is that next season can't be any worse. But then again most of the Trek series had terrible first seasons ( except of course the unsurpassed original series ) so there is a glimmer of hope.

I have but one nitpick, when Michael and Phillipa walk in the corridors before the intro music, there's this really weird cinematic shot. other than that, twas great ending. The Enterprise looks perfect, I wonder who's gonna play Spock? I'm very excited for season 2.

With the story-telling and rounding-off "Will You Take My Hand?" we certainly have (but also have not) come a long way from the very unsure-of-itself and quite distinct "Vulcan Hello" episode at the outset. The alternative universe vein has been exploited to (beyond?) its limits, and alternative Captain Lorca is dead (sadly - and guess what? It's YET ANOTHER American series bad-guy played by a Brit ... now who would have thought it?).

Meanwhile, alternative Georgiou lives on (perhaps a source of satisfaction), while a series that moved heaven and earth (almost literally) to say it was different from all other Trek ends with Captain Pike and Alexander Courage's TOS theme tune!

Who on Earth thought that could happen either?

And is the fact that it did natural evolution, don't-know-what-we-want, crowd pleasing or bowing to the inevitable?

Who can say?

Tyler seems to have left us, and that's a pity, as we in audience-land invested much in that character - for no very good reason, it would seem. Sarek remains dull, Admiral Cornwell ends up undiminished despite having backed unethical methods - even as the rest of our guys commit themselves ever more faithfully to the old-style decency of Federation and Starfleet values.

Burnham is at the head of that, as on episode 1, and while Sonequa Martin-Green has taken the character through love and beyond, and into far more rounded and interesting circumstances, one can't avoid the sneaking feeling that that character may actually have peaked already. Just what more held in reserve can we really expect from Burnham?

Crew interactions have normalised greatly from what they were at the outset, as this "Will You Take My Hand?" episode makes clear. And yet, with the Doctor bumped off, the only character other than Burnham that has really passed into "our likeable old friend" status is Stamets. Anthony Rapp has done well in the role, and his character is a fun one that - unlike Burnham (IMHO) - seems to have a lot of growing still to do. Saru is just beginning on that journey, but I think we can honestly say that this is the most touchingly sweet and likeable and noble character Discovery has to offer. We really need further development on Saru, but Doug Jones is certainly the man to be able to give us that, if only the makers show willing, as they really, really should.

Mary Wiseman as Cadet Tilly is of course pretty good, though the artificiality of the circumstance in which a cadet has been propelled to centre stage can only be gasped at. And that gasp is not necessarily one of awe!

Theoretically far senior to Tilly is Lt. Keyla Detmer, as played by Emily Coutts. For some deep reasons of my own not quite clear, I'm really intrigued by - possibly even a bit smitten with - this character, so find it even more scandalous and ridiculous than I otherwise might that we've come through 15 epsiodes without knowing a darned thing about her! Come on, people, give me what I want, as it's unfathomable why an attractively enigmatic character should be put in there and then left utterly untouched and unused.

Even more might that be said of the robot-like Airiam. Just what is that all about? As it happens I don't fancy her (the character, I mean), so I'm less up in arms about such a being being sleighted in this way, but I do hope (the real-life-gorgeous) Sara Mitich is getting good pay and conditions for being involved for a grand total of 45 seconds out of some 750 minutes or so of "Discovery" storytelling!

And that in some way sums up this first series. It does have potential, about 94% unexploited. Yet it was not by chance that Voyager, Enterprise, DS9, TOS and so on built stories around separate-story episodes, with away teams trapped on strange planets and social interactions going on (as opposed to merely grand arcs and monsters of the week) - because that is where the wonderful added value lies. We witnessed the joyous step-by-step development (and ever-more lively and intriguing interactions) of characters like Quark, Odo, Spock, T'Pol, Archer, the Doctor, Phlox, Picard, Trip, Data, Chief O'Brien, McCoy, Julian Bashir, Seven, Neelix, Dax, even holographic singer Vic Fontaine! We grew to care, and to long for more...

For its part, "Discovery" has chosen to show us a Burnham-centred show in which the development of Burnham is what matters, as set against a tiresome war with a bit of mirror universe thrown in. And - more by luck than judgment on the part of the makers - we've finished all that with some appetite to know more about nearly all of the people we've been watching, in episodes structured better to give us the chance to do that.

That's crazy news, but also in some way good news, as "Discovery" HAS then passed some kind of preliminary test, even with a diehard fan of old-school Trek such as myself.

But Season 2 is going to have to do a WHOLE LOT MORE than 1, and show some REAL MATURITY, if it is going to keep me on side for the longer haul...