I watched episodes 3-5 of Star Trek: Discovery and I'll be talking about these episodes in tandem as they form a rough story arc. The "flying using fungi" story arc, as I like to call it. Funny names aside, Discovery is going to some intriguing places.
Related: I watched Star Trek: Discovery and here are my thoughts
Related: I watched Star Trek: Discovery and here are my thoughts
Spoilers ahead.
"...hereby sentenced to imprisonment for life"
Continuing on from the pilot with "Context is for Kings", Michael is serving out her life sentence for mutiny. The Federation is now at war with the Klingon Empire, and she and other convicts are being shuttled to where labour is needed for the war effort. Her shuttle is diverted by Captain Lorca of the Discovery, who uses the authority granted in war time to put her to good use.
Six months on from the events of the pilot, Michael's reputation is well known and the crew of the Discovery don't take well to her. It seems that, apart from the mutineering and getting Captain Gerogiou killed (the latter being debatable), many people she her as being the instigator of the war. She isn't happy about the turn her life has taken and it shows.
I previously talked about how off kilter Lorca is, and it seems he's prepared to recruit her to help fight this war. He doesn't have that much screentime in this episode but Jason Isaacs' performance alone exudes a sense of uneasiness. He is not your typical Starfleet captain. Also of note is Landry (played by Rekha Sharma of BSG fame) who is also not very Starfleet. Even for the head of security, Landry comes across as belligerent and kind of unpleasant.
Michael is recruited for an away mission to the USS Glenn, Discovery's sister ship, which is now adrift somewhere in space.
There, they find the crew have all been turned inside out and deformed in all sorts of nasty ways. It turns out Discovery and Glenn were part of a secret project to achieve instantaneous space travel, except Glenn has suffered a terrible fate. It's a nice bit of horror for Star Trek, having the cast come across a ton of mishapen corpses in dark corridors.
It gets worse, because the boarding party gets stalked by an alien creature. In keeping with Star Trek tradition, Mr Redshirt is mauled to death before they manage to escape with the collected research data.
It gets worse, because the boarding party gets stalked by an alien creature. In keeping with Star Trek tradition, Mr Redshirt is mauled to death before they manage to escape with the collected research data.
In an omnious end to the episode, it seems Lorca has secretly captured the monster and kept it under lock and key.
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