Okay, so I stopped watching DIS after the season 2 finale, and stopped watching PIC in the middle of season 2. I had returned to PIC to watch the final third season (nope - good, suspenseful first half, good character moments, but again turning to utterly stupid "tv-epic" schlock in the end). Now I have decided to go back to DIS as well, and watch season 3 & 4 for the first time. What has changed? The excellent SNW. I'm a big fan, and it feels good to have a show where I feel right at "home" in Star Trek. With that weight being taken off, my goal is to check out what I missed on DIS, and if people are interested write some thoughts down here. I am now 3 episodes in. My thoughts so far: Burnham is much better, more natural than before. Book seems fine. Saru was my favourite character on DIS. But since taking away his character defining fear, he seems weirdly... empty? Stamets, Tilly, Reno,... are all fine. The characters were never the problem (not for me at least). The plot(s) are not as exciting as the premise (32nd century!) should be though.
That hope is you - part 1 My favourite episode so far. Its not exactly for the plot, that is rather mundane. But if feels like a good sci-fi adventure, with lots of aliens, monsters, action, strange planets, and interesting characters. Side-note: Burnham & Book were the ones sneaking in and then straight up stealing stuff. The Andorians & Orions were just guards. So it felt a bit off when they started to straight up vaporize the guards left and right. Book is a good addition to the cast, and it was an interesting choice to completely separate Burnham from Discovery & crew, that felt pretty exciting.
That void will be filled. I actually agree with you about this. I like that they shifted Discovery to the 32nd Century as the series works better there. BUT what we saw in "Calypso" was so mysterious. That mysteriousness never would've been able to be kept up if that was going to be the permanent new setting, so I understand that, but they couldn't done more with the new setting than they have. I'll hold off on spoilers.