Star Trek: Discovery
Our Review
The show that launched the modern Trek era and never quite settled what it wanted to be. Its first season — a war drama with a mirror-universe twist — was strikingly dark for Star Trek, and Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham is a genuinely great lead: a mutineer trying to earn back her soul. The serialized storytelling, lens flares, and constant crying were a big tonal swing away from Trek’s episodic comfort food, and fandom has been arguing about it ever since.
Season 2 brings back the Enterprise and Ethan Peck’s Spock with a time-travel Red Angel plot that’s messy but fun. Seasons 3-5 jump 900+ years into the future and get kinder and more episodic, but the plots (the Burn, the DMA) rarely match the ambition of the setting. The cast deserved better material, though Doug Jones’ Saru is a wonderful new Trek character and the season 3 Su’Kal episode is a quiet standout.
Verdict: Watch it if you want modern-Trek serials; skip to season 3 if the war stuff turns you off. Strange New Worlds does this era better.