Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK DISCOVERY" Season One

[LJones41]

Here is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season One of "STAR TREK DISCOVERY":

1. (1.09) "Into the Forest I Go" - While ignoring Starfleet's orders, U.S.S. Discovery's commander, Captain Gabriel Lorca decides to use the ship's new core drive in an effort to help end the Federation's war against the Klingons.


2. (1.13) "What's Past Is Prologue" - With the U.S.S. Discovery still stuck in the mirror universe, Captain Lorca plots a coup against the Terran Empire's ruthless leader, the Emperor Philippa Georgiou. Meanwhile former Starfleet officer Michael Burnham struggles to find a way for the Discovery's return to their universe.


3. (1.11) "The Wolf Inside" - As the crew continue its deception as being a part of the Terran Empire, Burnham undergoes a merciless mission in hopes of helping the ship return home.


4. (1.02) "Battle at the Binary Stars" - Incarcerated in one of the U.S.S. Shenzhou's brig for disobeying an order, First Officer Burham struggles to escape, while the ship is under attack by the Klingon Empire. Later, she joins her commanding officer, Captain Georgiou, in an audacious plan to prevent war.


5. (1.07) "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" - While the Discovery crew enjoy a party, an unwelcome visitor boards the ship to seek vengeance and bring about a twisted sequence of events that involves a time loop. This episode has been recently nominated for a Hugh Award for writing.


What are yours?

 

[Lord Garth]

"Context Is for Kings" --> Great introduction to Lorca! And Burnham has to prove herself to everyone else.

"Lethe" --> We get a glimpse into Burnham's backstory and the first hint of Lorca's. And we have the trap laid for Cornwell. Along with Lorca's #1 Dick Move, to not rescue her. Now is when he's going to start caring about rules and regulations? Right.

"Despite Yourself" --> Great introduction to the Mirror Universe, Tilly trying to be Killy, and Burnham's entrance onto the ISS Shenzhou.

"Vaulting Ambition" --> Anything that gets me so pissed off at Lorca (pissed off at the character not the writing) deserves to be in my Top 5.

"Will You Take My Hand?" --> Not the way I was expecting the end of the season to be handled. They thought outside the box, I live for "think outside the box", and I enjoyed it.

 

[Sophie74656]

My favorite was the one with Mudd and the time jumping. I feel like it was the most "trek" episode and it was also just fun. I love whenever trek does time travel

 

[Noname Given]

I'm going to list mine in aired order:
1 - "The Vulcan Hello" (Season 1, Episode 1)

2 - "Battle at the Binary Stars" (Season 1, Episode 2)

3- "Context Is For Kings" (Season 1, Episode 3)

4 - "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" (Season 1, Episode 7)<--- My favorite, period.

5 - "Despite Yourself" (Season 1, Episode 10)

 

[Q2UnME]

I'm going to list mine in aired order:
1 - "The Vulcan Hello" (Season 1, Episode 1)

2 - "Battle at the Binary Stars" (Season 1, Episode 2)

3- "Context Is For Kings" (Season 1, Episode 3)

4 - "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" (Season 1, Episode 7)<--- My favorite, period.

5 - "Despite Yourself" (Season 1, Episode 10)

I concur. It's like you read my mind (and saved me a bunch of typing, which I suck at).

Cheers!

 

[EnderAKH]

The Vulcan Hello - Beautiful intro to a new Star Trek world.

Context Is for Kings - Love Lorca's intro here, Burnham's transition from being a prisoner where she at least knows what to expect to being completely off her game, plus the mission to the Glenn.

Lethe - I love the layering of Sarek's story here. To me, it adds complexity to his and Spock's relationship by giving more emphasis on why Sarek was so disappointed in Spock's decision to go Starfleet.

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad - Just fun. Especially the Lorca killing sequence.

Into the Forest I Go/Despite Yourself - I cheated here, but I really couldn't decide and they are close enough to being a 2-parter. I genuinely worried for Stamets during the 133 jumps, loved Killy, loved the Mirrorverse, and Frakes did an admirable job directing, Michael and Kol FIGHT WITH MEK’LETHS ON THE BRIDGE OF THE KLINGON SHIP.

 

[DigificWriter]

In no real order:
* The Vulcan Hello/Battle at the Binary Stars (perfect "outside-the-box" introduction to Discovery's new approach to the " Star Trek formula")

* Context is for Kings (no other Star Trek series has waited until episode 3 to introduce its titular ship and most of its regular characters, but it works here, especially with Burnham not being a Commanding Officer, since we're seeing things directly from her POV)

* Vaulting Ambition (The episode that puts all of Lorca's actions into their proper context while letting Michelle Yeoh, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Jason Isaacs really show off their acting skills, this is, for me, one of the best Mirror Universe episodes in the franchise, leaning into the things that differentiate the MU and the Prime Universe without going over-the-top)

* The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry (The episode where everything new and different that Discovery is bringing to Star Trek is crystallized and we get our first glimpse at Discovery's crew as a "family", all layered on top of the kind of moral dilemma that has always defined the Star Trek franchise's best storytelling)

* Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (Discovery's first real foray into the classic "alien possession" trope that all other Trek series have used at least once, but with a subversive twist that undercuts the trope as much as it embraces it, and a great "character study" for three of the show's best characters: Saru, Burnham, and Ash Tyler)

Honorable Mention:
* Despite Yourself (My experience with the Mirror Universe has come exclusively from Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, and our "reintroduction" to it here felt very similar to what we'd seen of it in those series, plus we got Lorca lying his ass off, which is just great and honestly made me love him more than I already did)

 

[Vger23]

Into the Forrest I Go
Lethe
Context Is For Kings
Butcher's Knife
Despite Yourself

HM:
Vaulting Ambition

 

[Mudd]

1. Magic To Make....whatever
2. Context Is For Kings
3. No award...
4. No award...
5. No award...

 

[tomalak301]

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad - Before the season started, I was dreading them bringing back Harry Mudd, but this episode made all that go away, and Wilson's acting was great as well.

Into the Forest I Go - This should have been the real season finale. Full of action and intrigue, and it actually could have ended the Klingon War the right way.

Context is For Kings - We finally saw Discovery and this was the best Lorca episode of the season

Despite Yourself - Captain Killy!!!

The Wolf Inside - I really liked how introspective this episode was, from Burnham to Voq/Ash.

 

[XCV330]

Context is for Kings
Magic to .. Sane .. etc
Vaunting Ambition
Lethe
Despite Yourself

 

[Gepard]

I don't think I could come up with five that I even liked.