Star Trek: Discovery 4x1 "Kobayashi Maru" Review

 rating: ****

the story: The crew sets out on its new mission of reconnecting the galaxy with the Federation.

review: Now that Discovery officially has its own timeframe and mission, its fourth season can...obviously kick off with the same kind of awesome tease the Abrams movies favored.  That means ten minutes of a wild contact mission that goes horribly wrong, until Discovery does its patented "we're Starfleet officers capable of doing really smart things" maneuver (it's honestly my favorite quirk of the series), solves the problem (all of it looking great, like the whole of the third season premiere, "That Hope Is You, Part 1"), and moves on.

Which means Burnham and her crew integrating into being a regular feature of a renewed Starfleet.  We get a nod to Enterprise (complete with the end credits theme some fans would still prefer as the series theme itself), and then Burnham once again butting heads with an authority figure, in this instance the new president of the Federation, who's half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran (which is itself a nod to Deep Space Nine, and kind of Voyager, which had Seska, who originally presented as Bajoran, but ended up revealed as Cardassian).

Now, you might argue that this is beyond repetitive, but then you have to consider that many fans still can't get over Burnham's introduction as a mutineer, which means any examination of her thought process is a constant reminder that the series itself knows her reputation (which itself is a commentary on the kind of heroics Kirk used to pull; Burnham is a Kirk in a post-Kirk world).

And all of this is posited on one of the most familiar elements of franchise lore, from which the title of the episode is derived, the no-win scenario all Starfleet cadets must face.  Introduced in The Wrath of Khan and then revisited in Star Trek, the Kobayashi Maru test is an attempt to drive home that all officers must face the reality of failure, not just the possibility.  Does someone like Burnham run on luck in forever apparently avoiding the worst effects of her decisions, or is she inevitably setting herself for a terrible fall?  

The episode also visits with Saru and Book as they pursue individual goals, one of which unexpectedly propels the episode into the season's arc, to be explored later.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - A statement that resonates throughout Star Trek lore.
• series - And that emphasizes how Discovery itself has been making it all along.
• character - Specifically in Michael Burnham.
• character - Many fans have continued to question why they should care about Burnham.  This seems like as clear an explanation, in terms long-term fans can understand, as the series has made.

notable guest-stars:

Oded Fehr (Vance)