What's Past Is Prologue

Lorca launches a coup against the Terran emperor.

This is an enjoyable and visually spectacular action adventure that feels closer to Star Wars than Star Trek.

Lorca leads a rebellion against the Terran empire and Burnham, supported by Discovery plays a crucial role in how the events unfold. As an example of thrilling spectacle it is pretty strong, but I get the feeling this might bother Trek purists who prefer the franchise to have emphasis more on characters using their brains to resolve problems (with the odd Vulcan neck pinch or double-handed hammer punch thrown in). Saying that there is some tactical manoeuvring on display, along with the obligatory technobabble, but a lot of what happens comes down to shooting, stabbing, martial arts and explosions.

Visually it is stunning with more wonderfully composed shots, great lighting and colours. This not only creates atmosphere but makes you feel the crew are in a different place, but importantly it conveys the story well. The camera moves a lot more in Discovery than traditional Star Trek, which is a plus point for me.

The only negative aspect is the exposition heavy dialogue that creeps in here and there. It's not as heavy handed as in others, but it still sounds forced and unnatural when it happens.

All performances are good, especially Jason Issacs, Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh and Doug Jones.

Did I said this was the best episode of ST-D? and that it was way more satisfying than TLJ movie - cause it was, hope ST-D gets renewed for 12 seasons.

I certainly don't care for what haters think, there are too many morons in this planet, and putting just one stars is more then obvious how childish all of you are. Go watch the old episodes of ST, you're not obliged to what Discovery become more interesting every new episode and feel bad that others are enjoying.

It's becoming embarrassing have to read your explanation of "why" it's not like the old tv shows - it's simple, people grow up, and the world we live is not a wonderland, and many teenagers prefer to watch more realist stuff then the comedic ones of the old ST. By the way, the franchise is very weak outside US, but ST-D is making it bigger - cause the same fanboys-trekkies didn't went to theaters to watch the ST movies, that is why ST-D got a greenlight for production, and I loved that. The old fanboys are killing the franchise.

Did I said this was the best episode of ST-D? and that it was way more satisfying than TLJ movie - cause it was, hope ST-D gets renewed for 12 seasons.

When Star Trek is good, it can be very good. Unfortunately with all the spin offs after ST: The Next Generation, there was a creative vacuum that was clearly on display in Voyager and Enterprise.

Discovery the series has so far not been consistent but this installment was astonishingly good. It even nearly threw in a tribute to Doctor Who with the 'reversing the polarity' quip!

Lorca reveals his true colours and it is not that different from Jason Isaacs other famous character Lucius Malfoy, a believer in racial purity which Empress Georgiou has diluted. Lorca has no time for the namby-pamby Federation.

Burnham feels compelled to help Georgiou and both need to work together to stop Lorca while the crew of the Discovery have to figure out how best to get back to their own universe.

When you have a martial arts actress such as Michelle Yeoh you might as well use her for some kick ass action and that is exactly what Georgiou does here.

I might be the minority, but I had hard time watching the same kind of shaky camera work that turned me away from series like Black Sails and Vikings. Fortunately, not every episode of ST: Discovery has these annoying camera movements, but they were strong in this one and made my eyes hurt.

The last three episodes have been still an invigorating ride after the tedious Ep4-Ep9. After ST: TNG I don't have any deep thoughts for the newer action oriented one, but it's merely fun to see how they are messing things with mirror universe and evil characterizations even if it doesn't result to logical explanations. I like the fast-paced and a bit rushed storytelling but I wish there were more room for building up the mystery of Captain Lorca who suddenly became the more interesting character in the series.

This episode is more Burnham focused but the rest of the primary cast all get a shout. Probably the least "classic Trek" episode of the series so far. But that's not a bad thing per se. I say least classic Trek because of the amount of action, fighting and violence. The closest previous episodes I can think of are ones where Klingons are invading DS9. However those episodes where pretty straight forward plot wise where as this episode of DSC has lots of twists and turns. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this one. I have to give it to the production team. Not only is this is turning into great Star Trek but also a fantastic Sci Fi series overall. Something that we've been missing as of late. I didn't rate Blade Runner 2047 and the less said about the Last Jedi the better. It kinda appears that the writers have attempted to turn this first season into a 13 hour movie basically. Similar in structure to West World. Which I think a lot of us suspected from the outset. Building up to an explosive final act. If the last couple of episodes of the season are as good as this, I can't wait! I still hope they manage to sort the look of the Klingons out though. Would also like to see a couple more stand alone episodes in the 2nd series. Where individual members of the crew get a chance to shine.