WHY WE LIKE IT: Oh good, they didn't keep the gray uniforms.
WHY WE DON'T: Haven't we just gone through this?
REVIEW: With an entire superfuture era to explore, the new seasonal arc is actually a little disappointing. Season 3 was about a mysterious and devastating phenomenon, and the Discovery was the only ship able to collect the clues to its nature and stop it. Season 4 fridges Booker's home world to introduce a mysterious and devastating phenomenon, and the Discovery will be the only ship able to collect all the clues to its nature and stop it. Really? In Season 3, Admiral Vance proved to be an administrative impediment, a plot device I never liked in the old days (the ol' Admiral/Ambassador/Commodore who tries to call the shots), and now he's hopefully still on side because we're introduced to the Federation President, Laira Rillak, who plays the same role (though being half-Cardassian, her intentions aren't always obvious - she's a very ambiguous character). Even the opener, a not very funny comedy misunderstanding with a possible new Federation member reminded everyone of Star Trek Beyond's opener. Has the show already run out of ideas?
I'm also not all that keen on evoking the Kobayashi Maru as a title. President Rillak gets to make a speech about it, admonishing Burnham for refusing the no-win scenario. Booker did much the same on the planet of the Butterfly People ("Not every moment is a victory"), but while there are casualties on the mission to save a base's personnel from the gravitic anomaly, neither it nor that opening mission were really "no-win scenarios". Difficult, but if Burnham had at any point admitted defeat, they WOULD have lost. If there's any no-win thing here, it's Burnham managing to please the President. Because Discovery was instrumental in restoring the Federation, preventing another Burn, and reopening Starfleet Academy, the President is obviously living in Burnham's shadow. How can you say no to living legends? And if you don't, can you hold on to leadership? I would say Burnham's absolutely right that having the President aboard as a mission observer heightens the danger to the ship, the crew, the mission. Whether or not it's a PR move, it doesn't exactly ingratiate her to the audience. That it was to evaluate Burnham for another captaincy and finding her wanting for not being able to accept defeat, when she WASN'T defeated, well, now it's just fabricated conflict. Not like Burnham would have accepted this assignment. The President evidently does her research and reads everyone's files so she can manipulate the (she does it to station commander Nalas), but it also creates a bias, as with her prejudiced opinion of Burnham.
By the end of this, Booker has become the last of his race (well, unless there are others out there), having certainly lost his immediate family. So we know the stakes if the gravitic anomaly isn't stopped, but at the same time, I do feel it's a little manipulative. They make sure to have his little nephew die in the episode, and you just know this is going to cause problems between him and Burnham. Because TV characters can't have a relationship without angst. Speaking of angst, Adira has a big part to play in the mission because she's on the familiar track of the rookie who needs to develop confidence. Wasn't that Tilly's whole thing? Tilly, for her part, has been promoted to Lieutenant junior grade (sorry, Harry Kim!) and shows some great leadership in the field. Saru is a respected Elder on an integrated (Kelpien/Ba'ul) Kaminar, trying to push the planet into Federation membership, but soon to leave so he can be part of the action. The rest get face time, a few lines, but it can't be about everyone.
A lot of this feels overly familiar, so in the end, for me, it's all about the details. The new space dock being named after Archer, with the Enterprise end credits music drops in. A tribble crewmember??? The more colorful uniforms (I hated those gray ones we were promised, though the golds are a little pale and the read the weakest). Burnham's easy humor (Sonequa Martin-Green's so great at expressions, it's what makes Burnham so engaging). And of course it looks great. Not just a matter of effects, but of direction as well. I love the spinning stars while Discovery tries to help the station and how the camera creates real unstable footing in the live scenes. Going to silence when a window blows on Burnham. Absolutely gorgeous stuff.
LESSON: Don't bite the hand that's gonna save ya.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Looks great and certainly starts with a bang, but I'm really missing some diversity on the plotting.
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