Yeah, I'm rating that an 8 out of 10. It was good, bordering on great. So many of the complaints I had with Season 1 were absent. Anson Mount was great as Pike. I felt like the initial intoduction to Tig Notaro's character felt a bit off, but she worked better as time went on. VFX were light years better than last season. The script didn't include any clunkers really, with even Burnham's monologues being better than last season. And despite some critical comments from early reviews, I didn't think the episode had "too much Burnham" as was the case in a lot of Season 1, or that there was any effusive praise which drew me out of the story. The shift away from TEH PLOT! to character was also very much appreciated.
That asteroid field was absolutely ridiculous - asteroids don't look like that - but at least they had the excuse that it was just beginning to break up.
There were, at first blush, three things which made me not give it a perfect 10/10 score.
1. Tilly just seems wrong this season. She was a breath of fresh air last season, when everything was dark and dour. But with the lighter mood she stands out more in a bad way - as if she's a character who mistakenly wandered in from another show. I found this strange, because I feel like Stamets and Saru were picture-perfect and treated as well rounded characters. But Tilly just seems like...a joke character.
2. I don't think the flashbacks to Micheal's youth with Spock worked entirely. They were beautifully visualized and well directed, but they really didn't make me feel much of anything. They seem to be relying upon our fannish interest in Spock to keep us engaged, which is a big mistake. The show should engage us on its own merits.
3. The show was a nice action-adventure, but action-adventure Trek isn't my favorite flavor. I only rate as 10/10 character drama type Treks like Duet, The Visitor, The Inner Light, etc. So as long as Discovery hews to this format I don't think I'll rate any single episode as perfect.
