Star Trek Discovery Episode 3 Review (Spoilers)

Hey you, welcome back to the channel. And guys, today we want to review Star Trek Discovery episode 3, Context Is for Kings. And so guys, you know, Star Trek Discovery, as I had said in my last episode review has divided the Star Trek audience. I'm finding that some of the traditional Trekkies kind of like it, some don't like it, and then we have a new group of viewers who do like it. And this is all very interesting because I think part of the direction for making a Star Trek show like this was to bring in a new audience of a new age, because the last Star Trek show that was on the air was over a decade ago. So some people are just now, you know, really getting on Star Trek, and some of the new people are liking it. So mission accomplished for Star Trek Discovery in that department. However, Star Trek Discovery is losing its core Star Trek fans, and I can understand why. I can see why. And, you know, what's kind of concerning for me is I did a video, you know, predicting that this may be the best Star Trek series out there, and so far I My record's been pretty good, you know. I pretty much, uh, you know, uh, hit home runs with making predictions on, uh, you know, on shows being good. Uh, you know, I've been able to kind of look at the actors involved, the directors involved, and, uh, I think for the first time I'm, I'm a little bit concerned because I, I saw some things, uh, you know, in this episode that was, uh, a little bit concerning. But anyway, we're gonna get into it, guys. Let's talk a little bit about where we left off with the show, where we are now. So we left off with, uh, Commander Burner being stripped of rank and imprisoned, right? Uh, her mutiny, uh, you know, being responsible for starting the war. And so we get a very interesting, uh, you know, beginning where we finally get introduced to the Starship Discovery. And the special effects and visuals are stunning. I thought they looked awesome. And this is, this is the thing that, um, you know, that they do right. Star Trek Discovery. And this is what I think is gonna be the saving grace for the show. You know, I, you know, if nothing else, I think right now I'm tuning in about 80% of the reason is just to see these great special effects, see where this budget has went, which has clearly went to the special effects department. But You know, the writing in the story is a bit concerning, a bit concerning. But we did get introduced to Captain Gabriel Lorca, and we got this very interesting story about how Captain Gabriel Lorca, um, you know, is basically trying to win this war with the Klingons. And I like Captain Gabriel Lorca. And, uh, that part came as no surprise to me. I've always liked Jason Isaacs' acting. And in earlier videos I did about Jason Isaacs— and this is very interesting, you guys can check this out— but the video I did about Jason Isaacs and his role as Captain Lorca, I actually went into detail about him being very good at playing these, uh commander-like, uh, science fiction type characters because I referenced Soldier, a movie that he did in which he was a sequel to the Blade Runner series and where he was the major commander of super soldiers. But the reason I'm bringing that up is because the accent he uses, the character he plays as Captain Gabriel Lorca, is very close in relation to the Major he played in the movie Soldier, starring Kurt Russell. And, uh, that's all very interesting because they seem almost like the same character. They both have these very southern accents, uh, you know, very, uh, calculating, practical. And another thing I want to reference about Jason Isaacs' portrayal of Captain Gabriel Lorca, his demeanor, is that, you know, earlier a lot of us had theorized that the Captain Garth of Izar story, you know, or Axanar battle, would somehow be involved with this. At least that's what we thought. It didn't go that way, and I think that was a great mistake. I would have very much now, as I'm getting into the series, very much like to have seen the Captain Garth of Izar story be told. I think it would have satisfied all the fans. I think it would have set up a good war situation for the Klingons and the Federation. But we go with this, so this is what we got. So Captain Lorca, very interesting character. Very gray, in a gray area character. Because one thing that's been the situation with a lot of Starfleet captains is their integrity. You know, like, you know, every captain we've met, they've been, you know, that's had, you know, been involved in their own series and been a regular, they've had honor, integrity, values, principles that they would stand to no matter how much the stakes were against them. So that's— that was the message we always got in the Star Trek series. But what we get with Captain Gabriel Lorca— and I am going into spoiler territory, guys, and I apologize for not saying that earlier, uh, but, uh, you know, if you haven't seen the, the episode yet, um, you know, and you don't want to be spoiled, please, uh, you know, come back after you've seen it and watched it. And that way we can, you know, as I get into spoilers, you won't— it won't ruin it for you. But, uh, uh, you know, what we get with Captain Gabriel Lorca is not a, not a character that's, uh, uh, you know, uh, good or bad. He's kind of in the gray area. You know, he's very reminiscent, I think, of what Captain Garth, you know, was on transition to becoming. And he just wants to win this war. He's going to use anything at his disposal to win it, including Commander Burnham. And that's why he picks her up. You know, he feels like she's still a Federation officer and she owes service to them. Whether she goes to prison in the end or not, or what happens to her, uh, he feels she should honor that commitment still. He doesn't feel that the universe should waste anything, and he's not going to waste, uh, using her skills and expertise to deal with a threat. You know, that of course what we got to see, these energy-eating bugs, uh, that are, you know, that they're experimenting with and various things like that. But, uh, you know, again, guys, the story writing with this has been very less impressive to me than the visuals. And, uh, you know, so what do you do? What are we to do in a situation like that? I, I mean, the story so far is really not holding my attention so much. It's really not pulling me in. I like Captain Lorca. Commander Burnham is growing on me. Her acting, I, you know, I believe she's acting the part as best she can with what the story she's given. And so I'm, you know, I'm having to put this on the writing department a lot. I don't think the character of Commander Burnham is, you know, not giving it her all and not putting in the proper energy. I just think her— right, the writing of her character is weird, and it seems like at points they don't quite know what to do with her. Uh, you know, at some point she's, uh— and I understand she's half human in the— I'm sorry, she's a human in the show that's been in the Vulcan culture. But I mean, uh, you know, there are certain aspects to how she deals with situations that I don't really see as the best logical approach, even if you're just a human being, you know, looking at the situation in Star Trek. And, uh, she's making choices that just kind of seem kind of out of context with her backstory, you know, attending the Vulcan Academy, being surrounded by Vulcans. Culturally, she should still be you know, pretty much thinking like a Vulcan. And, uh, you know, there are some things, but I guess at the same time you can kind of maybe blame it on a personal situation with the Klingons killing her family. You know, if they could kind of do a better job of storytelling and saying that, hey, by this incident, and you know, the Klingons killing your family, you're doing away with logic and make it a point to make that the story so we understand why this character seemingly flips back and forth from logic, you know, in a better story way, you know, a better storytelling way, I think. But anyway, guys, another thing we get is we get to meet other members of the crew. You know, we got to meet this science officer who was a a civilian. But, you know, Captain Lorca's bringing all these various people in because, you know, as we have to learn about these energy bugs, that, uh, whereas, uh, Commander Burnham had kind of, uh, infiltrated some of the information and thought that they might be used as some type of biological weapon, that, uh, Captain Lorca's explaining to her that it's really pretty much just, uh, a new way to fly, as they can kind of rip holes through space and can kind of transport them to various parts of the galaxy, you know, almost instantaneously. Now that's the one part of the storytelling that I did like, because there has been a bit of an issue with how Star Trek travels, especially Star Trek being the cerebral show where you have like the science of Star Trek, people actually trying to make Star Trek make sense, and you got them moving at several times the speed of light and getting to all these places, which still may not be fast enough because even at light speed, just to get to certain places, it takes us like 8 years or decades. And even if you're moving at 10 times that, you know, uh, you know, it's still taking quite a, quite a long time to get places. So, uh, you know, in a very small window, you know, of time that their missions operate in. But, uh, anyway, I kind of like that. I, I, I, I think that that was a good part of the storytelling to kind of put that in there, say, well, okay, this is how we zip around the universe so fast. So If you see us in Quadrant X or Quadrant Y from week to week, that's why, uh, and this is how we do it. So I'm fine with that. But, you know, as they come across this, uh, this ship that's been, they believe, attacked by Klingons, uh, which, you know, which I believe a Klingon raiding party did enter it, uh, you know, there's something on the ship just killing everybody, we get to find out it's this weird, uh, large dog, large creature, uh, of some origin. And so I'm looking at this and I'm seeing what appears to be kind of like some type of horror movie where the creature— where they're basically being hunted by this thing, they're trapped on the ship trying to get information and things like that. I did not like that at all. You know, um, what I think would have been a better direction to go, what I would have liked to have seen more, is Commander Burnham's, uh, uh, first, uh, idea that, uh, Captain Lorca may be using biological weapons because he wants to win this Klingon war any way he can, uh, because, uh, um The Federation has pretty much given him free rein to win it by any means he can. That's why he can get Commander Burnham out of prison. Why not go with that story? And as the Klingons are showing up on this ship and they're part of this raiding party, you know, you know, some kind of way that ties in, and they're— the Klingons are being killed as well as everybody else by these chemical or biological weapons. And I think that would have, you know, gave this show a bit more serious, realistic tone, you know, which it seems at points to be going in in this episode because we see all these disfigured bodies, you know, very disturbing images, you know, for family, you know, if this was a family show. And obviously this has an MA rating, it's not a family show, Star Trek, and it's kind of a war story and various things like that. But I Why not they just go with that? So they don't go with that. And then we kind of get Captain Lorca, you know, where he's had his security officer to transport this beast at the end, you know, back on the Discovery, where they're worried. It seems he's probably going to try to use it as a weapon of some sort to deal with, you know, maybe Klingons, I suppose. So he's stockpiling all these, if you will, weapons of mass destruction, okay, and secret scientific, you know, projects to, you know, to use to the Federation's advantage. But what I didn't like about that scene with them, you know, now we know Sonequa Martin-Green's character, Commander Burnham, came over from The Walking Dead. And I was, uh, first few seasons of Walking Dead, I liked it, and after that I didn't really watch it anymore. So I can't really tell you much about The Walking Dead. I was already pretty much burnt out with zombie shows, but I can tell you that, you know, The Walking Dead had those elements of, you know, the horror type situation where, you know, you're being hunted and you're hiding and you're running. And we had this play out in this Star Trek episode, which I did not like that either. But you know, it seems like this show, the direction they're taking, you know, Bryan Fuller, you know, it's kind of all kind of starting to make sense to me why he probably saw what was happening with this show and why he left early, you know. And I couldn't understand why. I was thinking, wow, it couldn't be that bad, you know. If, you know, anything with Star Trek would have to have some great elements to it, uh, that you could work through. But now as I'm seeing this, I think I'm kind of understanding what the issues, you know, were that Bryant was having. And maybe, you know, why he didn't want to be a part of this and why we were hearing all these rumors about falling out and going, this is you know, this is not going to work. Because there are elements of this that I think is trying to maybe— it's very— when the Star Trek fans complain, whereas before I was kind of not on the bandwagon with them, I thought they were kind of stuck in their own ways, they didn't understand this new age of storytelling. But this isn't really what's going on here. This isn't just like an Dope version of Star Trek or Game of Thrones version of Star Trek. This is just this mesh of stuff that is— it's got a Star Trek label, but it's not really any elements of Star Trek too much that I'm really, really gelling to. So I understand their great concern in that, and I can only hope that, you know, that it picks up a little bit better. Like I said, the good things I like was Captain Lorca. I like his character. I like the fact he's not good, like this good or bad, principled, highly valued captain with the— this just does all the Federation rulebook, plays everything by the rules. I like the fact that he has this kind of realistic feel where, you know, everything is gonna not— we're not gonna be able to end every episode so neat adhering to the Prime Directive and all the philosophies of Star Trek like that. But they can do that and keep that bottled in the, in the context of a Star Trek universe. I don't think they're doing a great job with that yet, but I'm gonna keep watching because these visuals, as I said earlier, if nothing else, are just so awesome. I mean, you just got to stick around and watch those. But I think CBS is fumbling the ball here if they think that how they're doing this show is gonna hold Star Trek fans. I don't know who they've been talking with. I thought some of the great directors from the movies were involved, some of the greatest movies. But I mean, this looks nothing at all like any of their work. So I don't know what this— you know, what were they— how they're putting this together. But like I said, guys, as a science fiction show, I find it entertaining. As a Star Trek show, there is a lot to be desired. And I apologize for my earlier prediction this would be the best Star Trek series thus far. I can only hope that the next episodes going forward somehow get us back on track and, you know, you know, kind of somewhat prove me right so I could save face, uh, with you guys. But, uh, yeah guys, that's, you know, pretty much what I want to say about that. The final thing I want to say is that, uh, I originally thought it was 13 episodes, it's 17 episodes. I'm finding out now that 17 episodes may be 17 episodes too many with this show. They're dragging on a lot of stuff that didn't have to— we didn't even have to see. Like, episode 1 and episode 2 should have— episode, episode 3 really should have been episode 2, in my opinion. You know, we should have been introduced to the Discovery. You know, granted, episode 1 could have gave us the backstory with Commander Burnham and Captain Georgiou of the Shenzhou and, you know, finish that off. And then we could have just jumped right to episode 3 from episode 1. You know, they've spent a lot of money and a whole hour, I think, you know, filling in with some stuff we didn't need. But anyway, guys, that's the good and bad I felt of this episode, and this is where I think we are so far. With the series. I, I'm ready to see Harry Mudd now. I hope he's going to be in it because that's another thing, we need some more strong characters, you know, besides, uh, Captain Lorca. Like I said, Commander Burnham, the main character, I believe she has the acting ability, she has the ability to carry this show, but her writing is horrible. So far for me. And Captain Walker, Jason Isaacs, always been a great actor. I'm not concerned about him. Again, I think the only thing that's gonna stumble him is just bad story writing. And Ryan Wilson, who's gonna be coming up, they keep showing him as Harry Mudd. I'm hoping he can save this because I hope the direction his character is gonna be a lot more interesting than what we've seen so far. But guys, that's all I got this week for you. Tell me what you think so far about Star Trek. I've already ranted and raved, so I would rather this time just hear what you think is good about the show in the comment section. I'm sorry guys, but it's too much of a downer every time to do one of these videos, and I just always get somebody commenting how terrible this show is. Is there anybody out there who likes this show, who can give one good comment about it, as I've already ranted a lot of bad stuff about it already. Guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe, and until next time, take care.