Star Trek: Discovery 3x1 “That Hope Is You, Part 1” Review

rating: ****

the story: Michael Burnham lands in the 31st century, where she learns the Federation has collapsed.

review: At this point, even though I liked them, I’m quite willing to view Discovery’s first two seasons as mere prelude. That’s exactly how sensational this season premiere is. It’s the birth of a whole new era. It’s a classic. Period.

It’s also Michael Burnham carrying the entire episode, alongside new costar Book (David Ajala) (yet to be determined if and how he relates to Craft in the similarly excellent Short Trek “Calypso,” produced prior to Discovery’s second season, and itself a prelude, to this season). Both are black, marking the first time in franchise history a whole story is led exclusively by black actors, building on Uhura’s legacy, and Deep Space Nine.

Book is a complex character, but as the episode progresses we learn he’s squarely in the Star Trek tradition. Much of  “That Hope Is You” looks like Star Wars (which fans have been claiming newer Star Trek increasingly looks like since the Kelvin films began, and which has been just as consistently nonsense), but Star Trek is still Star Trek, no matter what it looks like, as true in 2020 as it was all the way back in 1966, when NBC wanted Gene Roddenberry to compromise his vision, and he stubbornly clung to his demonic Mr. Spock and his big ideas anyway.

The Andorians have their biggest spotlight since Enterprise as Burnham and Book navigate this introduction, and that’s nice to see. We meet an Indian character who has been upholding the legacy of Starfleet almost singlehandedly in his sector, which is a thing that has happened since dilithium became scarce a few centuries earlier, making it difficult to maintain regular direct contact (perhaps a criticism of virtual relationships such as we have with the internet). He’s actually the best part of the episode, the first character we see, the embodiment of the hope Burnham believes in because she had it just this morning as a tangible thing, and what Book keeps so guarded because he doesn’t find it easily elsewhere.

(Hey! This is mere geeking out, but there’s an alien from Morn’s species in the episode. Morn was Quark’s most famous patron in Deep Space Nine. He doesn’t get any lines, either!)

This is an excellent spotlight for Burnham, still considered by disgruntled, grumpy fans as “that mutineer,” as well as for Sonequa Martin-Green, who gets to play well past Burnham’s usual Vulcan reserve thanks to a healthy dose of a special truth serum. It’s worth celebrating that sequence alone!

But the whole thing is executed perfectly. It really is Discovery’s crowning achievement to date.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Star Trek going boldly into its future (complete with a nod to why time travel isn’t expected anymore, either, with a nod to the Temporal Cold War).

>series - Discovery goes boldly ahead as well, finding and seizing a sensational new opportunity.

>character - Very possibly destined to be the single best Michael Burnham spotlight the series produces.

>essential - All that and it keeps the moral heart of the franchise alive and well. Literally could not ask for more.