10 best Star Trek: Discovery episodes, ranked

Of all the finished Star Trek collection, Discovery stands out as the most tough from which to pick the ten greatest episodes. That’s not as a result of it’s the weakest series in the franchise like Enterprise is — by our reckoning, it’s truly within the low center — however as a result of its serialized format makes it difficult to isolate particular chapters to have a good time.

Every season of Discovery adopted Michael Burnham and the crew of the present’s eponymous starship on a prolonged journey with cosmic stakes, however not each hour packed a memorable punch. Nonetheless, whereas most of the chapters are inclined to blur collectively, there are some particular standouts unfold evenly all through the present’s total five-season run.

Prepared? Let’s fly.

10. “Coming Dwelling” (season 4, episode 13)

The finale of Discovery’s fourth season is an instance of all the pieces that’s nice concerning the collection, but in addition all the pieces that’s lame about it. The Federation’s climactic confrontation with the extragalactic Species 10-C is visually splendid, emotionally intense, and finally a narrative about communication and empathy, the cornerstone of Star Trek’s ethos. Sonequa Martin-Inexperienced delivers top-of-the-line performances in the complete franchise, as her character swallows her shock and grief at her accomplice’s obvious loss of life and steadies herself for responsibility.

However, by the top of the episode, all the pieces has labored out swimmingly, there are hugs and smiles and no lasting penalties. Fashionable progressive lawmaker Stacey Abrams makes a cameo because the President of Earth to congratulate the present’s producers Captain Burnham on her inspirational work. That’s Discovery for you — typically superb, typically cringe, usually on the similar time.

9. “Terra Firma, elements 1 and a pair of” (season 3, episodes 9 and 10)

It’s wild to do not forget that, within the years earlier than her Oscar-winning, career-redefining function in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh was taking part in a sassy depraved stepmother from a hell dimension on Star Trek: Discovery. Because the Mirror Universe’s dethroned Emperor Philippa Georgiou, Yeoh concurrently menaced and nurtured her daughter Michael’s goody-goody Starfleet counterpart for the higher a part of two seasons. Georgiou is among the present’s most attention-grabbing characters, an apex predator faraway from a predatory surroundings and positioned in one which rewards cooperation and belief.

Her two-part send-off episode, during which she is returned to her residence solely to find how a lot she’s modified, is twisty and campy and genuinely affecting. The remainder of the common solid will get to go wild taking part in their evil counterparts, and Yeoh will get to discover depths of her character that Georgiou herself would deny even exist. Discovery undoubtedly suffers from her absence, however at the least we get the spinoff film Part 31 out of the deal.

8. “Unification III” (season 3, episode 7)

The center of season 3 is arguably essentially the most attention-grabbing section in Michael Burnham’s improvement. After saving the complete galaxy and stranding herself within the distant future, the as soon as stiff Michael adapts to a brand new life as a freewheeling adventurer simply in time for Starfleet to return calling once more. However on this scattered and chaotic new period, does she even nonetheless consider within the Federation? What’s her function?

Appropriately, Michael finds her solutions the place her journey started — her former residence planet of Vulcan, now referred to as Ni’Var — and by seeing the outcomes of her brother Spock’s tireless efforts to reunite the Vulcan and Romulan peoples. Unification III is basically Burnham’s thesis protection for the Federation, and the particular person she most must persuade is herself.

7. “Face the Unusual” (season 5, episode 4)

No lead Star Trek character has undergone extra change than Michael Burnham. From a stoic scientist raised by Vulcans to a traumatized fugitive to a rogue area journey to a maverick Starfleet captain, Michael’s been via lots. Season 5’s Face the Unusual sends Captain Burnham bouncing uncontrollably via time, ultimately pitting her nose to nose in opposition to her worst self.

The confrontation between season 1 Michael and season 5 Michael is each a enjoyable little nostalgia pop and likewise an unbelievable whiplash second that reminds the viewers of simply how completely different a present Discovery was once. The producers might not have recognized that season 5 was going to be the present’s finish, however they couldn’t have picked a greater time to replicate on its starting.

6. “Brother” (season 2, episode 1)

After its grim and divisive first season, Discovery took a tough flip towards the intense and colourful. With the arrival of Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery discovered a brand new optimism and a brand new function, as they started their pursuit of the mysterious “Pink Angel.”

Although Discovery was all the time aiming to seize the joy and enjoyable of the Abrams-era Star Trek feature films, Brother is the place it comes closest to the mark. If the complete collection had lived as much as the promise of this re-pilot, Discovery may need gone down as top-of-the-line collection within the Trek canon.

5. “…However To Join” (season 4, episode 7)

Due to its serialized format, Discovery didn’t do many old-school Star Trek “message episodes,” and when it did, the writers have been usually sneaky about it. One of many two essential storylines in …However To Join is basically a Human Sources mediation between Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and the USS Discovery’s sentient AI, Zora (voice of Annabelle Wallis). Stamets is nervous about permitting an AI to function autonomously aboard the ship and thinks one thing needs to be executed to restrict her energy.

However the debate being had isn’t actually about synthetic intelligence, it’s about whether or not an individual with entrenched social authority (on this case, Stamets) needs to be permitted to restrict the rights or potential of somebody who they discover unsettling or unfamiliar (Zora) purely based mostly on their very own discomfort. Ought to a trans particular person conceal or rein of their gender identification as a result of it makes a cis coworker uncomfortable, or ought to the cis particular person be the one to regulate? If the reply isn’t apparent to you already, this episode will assist.

4. “Whistlespeak” (season 5, episode 6)

Of Discovery’s uncommon makes an attempt at traditional Trek ethical dilemmas, Whistlespeak is by far essentially the most resonant and essentially the most enjoyable. To start with, Burnham and Tilly (Mary Wiseman) get to take pleasure in a goofy away mission during which they infiltrate a pre-warp civilization and take part in an uphill marathon whereas basically dying of thirst.

The dynamic between the outdated associates isn’t extra energetic and comedic than it’s right here. However, simply as importantly, Whistlespeak affords two storylines that discover the distinction between faith and religion. Faith relies on inflexible guidelines and beliefs, however religion is about what you don’t know however select to consider. Is it actually essential to impose absolutes on one thing that’s inherently ephemeral?

3. “Far From Dwelling” (season 3, episode 2)

A typical grievance about Discovery is its slender give attention to a single character, one thing that’s widespread sufficient on tv however uncommon for Star Trek. Discovery is about Michael Burnham at the beginning, and the remainder of the crew are secondary characters. However what if you happen to did an episode with out Michael?

In Far From Dwelling, the USS Discovery has simply adopted Michael into the long run solely to reach with out her. Beached on a wierd, hostile world, Commander Saru (Doug Jones) and the remainder of the crew should work out what to make of this unusual new frontier, not realizing whether or not they’ll ever be reunited with their buddy. It’s a terrific introduction to the Wild West of the thirty second century, and a chance for the remainder of the solid to shine.

2. “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” (season 1, episode 6)

As a standalone episode of tv, Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad is squarely the most effective single hour in all of Discovery. It’s one of many first episodes within the collection to loosen up a bit, as Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson) traps the ship in a time loop and murders Captain Lorca (Jason Issacs) again and again and over in quite a lot of imaginative methods. There are cute character moments for each Burnham and Stamets, and there’s a Wyclef Jean needledrop — what else may you ask for?

The difficulty is, it doesn’t actually really feel like some other episode of Discovery, and as evidenced by our Buffy the Vampire Slayer countdown, that counts for one thing. Discovery may have undoubtedly used extra goofy hour-long adventures like this one, however because it stands, it’d be extra at residence on Unusual New Worlds than it’s right here.

1. “Such Candy Sorrow, elements 1 and a pair of” (season 2, episodes 13 and 14)

The 2-part finale of Discovery’s second season is an exhausting and exhilarating journey, as all the present’s ongoing threads converge for a high-stakes area battle. The USS Discovery and Pike’s Enterprise lastly reunite, Part 31’s evil AI makes its play for galactic conquest, and everybody from Emperor Georgiou to Klingon Chancellor L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) to that alien queen who solely truly appeared on an episode of Brief Treks you in all probability haven’t seen exhibits as much as the get together.

Most significantly, we get the reconciliation between Michael Burnham and her foster brother Spock (Ethan Peck), who put aside a long time of remorse and resentment to save lots of all natural life and say their last goodbyes. Michael units off on her new life within the distant future, Spock steps proper onto a terrific new spinoff, and it’s a cheerful ending for everybody.

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