The first episode of the fourth season of 'Star Trek: Discovery' is the only thing contained in the following.
Star Trek: Discovery has been a divisive show since its debut. The series is too dark, everyone is mean, everyone cries too much, the designs of the Klingons are terrible, and the main character is an 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- The elevation of Michael Burnham to the captain's chair for season four has made it clear that Discovery is still largely going to do its own thing, regardless of what the fans think.
The fourth season of Star Trek has always been a turning point for the show, when it finally decides what it wants to be. The Best of Both Worlds was the first episode of the fourth season of The Next Generation. In its fourth year, Deep Space Nine added a new member to its crew. The final season is considered the best. Fans were curious to see if the pattern would continue in the new era of Trek.
At the end of last season, things looked promising. The crew of Discovery had traveled to a future where there was a shortage of dilithium fuel for space travel and the Federation was in tatters. The doors to a show dedicated to rebuilding the Federation and its ideals were opened when the Discovery crew solved the problem of the disaster. After three seasons of war, it looked like the Discovery could finally get down to the basics of science and exploration.
The Federation is in high gear and ready to start season four five months after the previous episode. We join the Discovery as they attempt to give a shipment of dilithium to a new Star Trek audience. The mission quickly goes awry, like the opening of Star Trek Into Darkness.
Both Into Darkness and this week's season premiere were co-penned by Star Trek head Alex Kurtzman. There is less lens flare this time around and they exhibit some of the excesses of modern Trek like an emphasis on frantic action and quippy dialogue. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, a contrast to when everyone was worn down by years of war and secret experiments.
The season opener is dedicated to showing off a new optimistic status quo, with Booker traveling to attend his nephew's coming-of-age ritual and a new Federation president getting sworn in. Star Trek has always had its share of pomp and circumstance so it was a nice change of pace for the program. When the Discovery is tasked with saving a station crew and have to make a few hard choices, the title of the episode is "Kobayashi Maru."
The test that all command-track cadets must take at the academy is the Kobayashi Maru. In the simulation, the cadets are faced with the choice of saving a ship or not. To cross the border to save the craft is to risk war, but to preserve peace means to kill that crew. The Academy is interested in how a cadet reacts to the scenario rather than the outcome. Kirk is the only person to have actually beaten it, because he reprogrammed the scenario.
Michael Burnham doesn't believe in the no-win scenario. Her crew has always been loyal to her because she always does what she feels is best. It earned her detractors off-screen because she ignores good advice and disobeys orders. She is the cop who plays by their own rules. This is not a Star Trek movie. Michael's actions undermine her superiors and even her own crewmates.
She should have been in the captain's chair since she is the one who has to listen to. The Federation president was brought along to question Michael's judgement in front of her crew, even though the show felt it needed some sort of conflict. The producers and writers bragged about breaking one of Gene Roddenberry's key rules for the series: No inter-crew conflict. In this episode, it was mildly uncomfortable to watch that in action.
The end of the adventure is not always a good one, but it is still a better outcome than we have seen before. The new status quo is thrown out the door by an event at the end of the show. The anomalies will be a constant concern for the Discovery and the Federation, not just as a threat to life, but as a threat to the Federation's efforts to pull itself back together.
Discovery won't be doing a lot of discovering in its fourth season. Fans of the show who were hoping for it to embrace the format of the show will be disappointed. There are some vaguely one-shot adventures in episodes three and four that are designed to further character development.
The environment around Discovery has changed, even though Discovery doesn't seem interested in changing how it does things. It is no longer the only Star Trek show on TV, thanks to the new shows of Picard and Lower Decks in 2020 and the debut of Strange New Worlds next year. All of these shows tackle the Star Trek universe in their own way, and are not required viewing to understand what is happening in other shows. Discovery can be even easier to do its own thing if viewers choose the Trek that suits them best.
