When it comes to Burnham as a character, she is a very strong character. Right from the pilot episode, she's been depicted as a person with a lot of levels, and I would argue one of the most, if not the most developed lead character in Trek. It took the movies to go deeper into Kirk's interiority, and Picard got a few standout episodes in TNG, but I think his eponymous series is where they really attempt to explore him (for good or ill). I didn't look at enough of Voyager to really judge it, but with it being the Berman era, I'm guessing Janeway was perhaps about as developed as TNG Picard or Archer. In that she got her moments, but the development would be more surface level because the lead characters had to be more stolid (for lack of a better word).
People might not like the character, the writing, or the actress, but I do think the creators have put Burnham through trials that none of the other Trek leads have gone through. To begin as a mutineer who loses everything and to claw your way back to the captaincy a thousand years into the future. We've seen her win, we've seen her fail, we've seen her in love, we've seen her broken hearted, we've seen her grow close to Saru and Tilly, and now we are seeing her taking on an almost Prime Georgiou approach when it comes to her crew. This character has grown. Outside of Sisko, Burnham grew the most in the captain's chair than any of the Trek live-action series (on television, not factoring in the movies).
I don't like all the writing and some of the creative directions (including artistic) that Discovery has taken. I also have wanted them to develop the other characters more than they have, but for me that's nothing against Burnham. I'm a Berman era Trekkie that likes ensembles more and thought it would make the series even stronger and give the writers more to play with by developing the other characters more.
