What's Past Is Prologue

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.

What does it mean when an episode is so good it feels like a finale but there are still 2 episodes left?? This episode, similar to the last 1-2 episodes, has done a great job of explaining some of the "canon" complaints of Trek purists. Even though they didn't have a leg to stand on to begin with, some loose ends getting handled are welcome.

DSC is having the best 1st season of any Trek series ever. The story telling is superb, the characters are well written and supremely well acted. Doug Jones is mind boggling with how he can emote wearing his Saru makeup. The man can ACT!

It's nice to see people who initially, and blindly, jumped on the hate bandwagon finally realizing how incredibly wrong they were and admitting they are enjoying DSC. And the remaining purists are now far outnumbered and keeping to the shadows hugging their "great bird of the galaxy" dolls. DSC is here for the long haul!

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.

From the first episode of the original series, through all the others, I've always marveled at the explanations as to why things work or don't. Because this is major episode, I hung in there and I know now that the good guys pretty much ended up on top. But exactly why, I don't know. The whole plot with the spores functioning as weaponry is beyond my simple mind. But it was thrilling and sets up a fact at the end that will have to be addressed

A good episode, but nothing special. Some minor decision making made little sense, so does "the science". I also frequently feel like they'd recycle too many elements from previous shows and movies. "Riding on top of an explosion" is getting old, for example.

And about the show in general: I'm a bit disappointed by "the hounding" from setting to setting, within few episodes. So far Discovery's priority certainly isn't to deepen the plot, rather than jumping to the next climax.