Critic Reviews

This is light years removed from being a perfect TV show, but it already shows signs of being a great one.

It’s even more beautiful watching two women of color, black and Asian, navigate a realm that traditionally hasn’t included them. It honors sci-fi’s history while giving it a bold new future to stake claim in, making Star Trek essential television for the first time in decades.

I can absolutely confirm: Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery is poised to be the series’ best yet. ... It takes everything the first two seasons did best—namely, Michael and Saru’s hard-earned friendship; the deep commitment felt by everyone aboard the Discovery to both the ideals of the Federation and science; and Georgiou, just as a general agent of chaos—while dispensing entirely with all the baggage five decades of 23rd-century Star Trek storytelling that had originally weighed it down.

Bringing in an iconic character like Pike could have been disastrous but Discovery somehow makes it work. He's seamlessly woven into the narrative, bringing exhilarating new energy that never overpowers the series' core cast. ... Season 2 takes a carefully bold, gripping and undeniably fun stab at it and in turn, is the best it's ever been.

You respect the ambition of unspooling this story gradually, but the third episode also retroactively makes the two-part prologue feel even more overextended. This feels like a show struggling to find its heart. But at least Martin-Green gives it a pulse.

Listen up, Star Trek fans: sign up for your CBS All Access account now, because the most exciting and daring take on the franchise is happening there, and even if you don’t love it right out of the gate, it’s going to create conversations you won’t want to miss.

All told, Discovery still has some storytelling kinks to work out with the Klingons, and all the breathless action in the first two episodes didn’t leave a ton of room for character development beyond Burnham. But the seeds for a compelling series are definitely there--and, best of all, it feels like Star Trek.

The show still looks great; a little too reliant on the blue-gold thing, but still, slick and thrilling, with some striking moments throughout.

Good storytelling is what we get in the first four episodes of “Season 3” that have been made available for critics to review.

There is space action, and human interaction, and some attempt to represent the Klingon point of view with more than the usual nuance and sympathy — words not customarily associated with Klingons, whose very appearance, all bumpy brows and bad dentition, and guttural way of speech belie those notions.