Star Trek Discovery Is the Most Fun Star Trek Has Ever Been
Look, I'm shallow: I really like how much money whoever in charge is spending on Star Trek Discovery. It's a show that looks like a straight-up movie, with great big spaceships rocketing through asteroid fields in crisp HD, charismatic actors who easily make me forget they're wearing goofy prosthetics, and uniforms that skirt the line between embarrassing and downright visionary. The irony here is that Star Trek isn't supposed to dazzle with looks but with ideas, and that should appeal to grown-ass adults like me who are regularly expected to have fully formed opinions about the emoluments clause and, yes, Bird Box. Yet here I am, a so-called higher mammal, marveling at the shiny toys the show about Big Ideas is throwing at me when really I should demand them, because I know who's paying for them. It's me, with the $5.99/month bill I get for CBS All Access, all so I can watch Discovery and pretend to watch The Good Fight. Worth every penny.
Star Trek Discovery is a bit like the 2009 J. J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek in that it affectionally takes the well-starched sci-fi show of old, shakes it loose, and throws a cool jacket over it. Of course, this approach leads to a Star Trek that favors style a touch more than substance, but in Discovery that balance feels like it will eventually right itself in a way that the last trio of Trek movies never really figured out.
The first season of Discovery was a hell of a ride, a stretch of episodes that came out swinging with an unusual story about war (you know, the thing that other sci-fi series is about) and maintaining ideals in a time of compromise. It had a story to tell and a big-hearted approach in telling it, with a tremendously likable cast that gelled in no time at all. If you're an old-school fan who looks to Star Trek for big ideas, you might've been disappointed, but if you're looking for a good way into Trek—or just a very fun, lavishly produced adventure to watch every week—it's one of the most purely fun shows returning this month, this side of The Magicians.
If there's one drawback to the second season premiere, "Brothers," it's that there's no real suggestion that the show will shake its preference for action over connection or bold exploration. It definitely seems to have an adventure planned: There's a handsome new captain, Christopher Pike (a very familiar name to Trek fans), who is played by Anson Mount with enough charm and charisma to warp just about anyone out of the damn galaxy. Tig Notaro has joined the cast as an extremely dry, sharp-witted engineer (so, herself), and most of the character work seems to revolve around Pike assuring a traumatized crew that had just seen its captain turn evil that he is, in fact, a good guy, and they're going to go out into the universe and be good guys who help people who need helping. It's all very nice, but it doesn't give you much to latch onto. Hence my appreciation for how expensive it all looks and how endearing its actors remain. (Doug Jones, notorious fish-man, plays an alien named Saru here and even invented an entire silly walk for him.)
And there's the season's big thread, which hinges on protagonist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her relationship with her foster brother, Spock (Ethan Peck)—a story that could be in danger of veering too far into familiar territory as the cold and logical Spock once again has to connect with an emotional human, swapping out Burnham for Captain Kirk from the original series, or the J. J. Abrams reboot.
For now, though? For now, don't worry about a damn thing, because when someone on Discovery talks about "going where no one has gone before," I believe them. But maybe worry about how expensive the show is. I don't want this All Access subscription getting hiked.
