Warp speed ahead! Star Trek: Discovery returns to a second season on CBS All Access streaming service. Having learned some harsh lessons about fan reaction to season one, the creative minds behind the science fiction series learned from a few of their mistakes and introduced a fan-favorite character to the show. Did it help? Hmm…

After the conclusion of the war with the Klingon Empire, the USS Discovery receives an urgent distress call. To their surprise, it is a heavily damaged USS Enterprise. Known other than Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Commander Saru (Doug Jones) surrenders command of the ship to Pike, who promises the crew, including Lt. Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), that he will not violate their trust.

The Discovery takes off with Captain Pike in command, searching for seven mysterious signals that appeared and vanished. The crew chases after the signals. There are two subplots seeing the crew dealing with the Starfleet intelligence agency Sector Seven while searching for Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), who has vanished after being contacted by an alien called the ‘Red Angel,’ who is thought to have sent the signals.

I have to say, this season was not much of an improvement on the first, but I did find some nuggets of positivity. The story followed a trajectory that was only hindered when the Klingons were involved. Sure, it was cohesive and had many callbacks to TOS, including actual scenes from the pilot ‘The Cage,’ later re-edited as ‘The Menagerie.’ This was an interesting development. Once again, the rest of the cast did fine in their performances as the crew. Ethan Peck was satisfactory as Spock, but I was not impressed with the writing given to him.

I will give credit, Anson Mount is incredible as Captain Christopher Pike. Nothing against Star Trek Into Darkness actor Bruce Greenwood or the original actors Jeffrey Hunter/Sean Kenney, but Mount really nails the character and hits a home-run with his performance. He also has some good writing which showed what the ideal Starfleet officer should be. It was good to see a captain who can be looked up to again as a commander.

This highlights another problem with the show, Captain Pike is the most interesting character. Burnham and Saru are supposed to be the main characters, but Pike and Spock are what you want to watch. The showrunners seemed to know this and several episodes highlighted the classic characters. It will be interesting to see how the series will progress going forward or if we will see an Enterprise spin-off.

Now, the season was not without its many faults and there were many. They haphazardly retconned the retcons from the first season to connect it better with the Star Trek universe, but they failed mostly. Burnham’s connection to Spock is still somewhat pointless. It makes little sense and even all of their patching together did not do a lot to explain the relationship. Also, they introduced Burnham’s birth mother, played by Sonja Sohn. That character felt pointless and had limited impact on the overall plot of the series.

The woke political correctness ramps up to 11. Math, science, sexuality, and naturalism reign supreme on this show. And this season grew MORE PC than DS9. It had many moments where you wanted to roll your eyes at the pandering they do for the SJW crowd. This time they tried to balance out the faith part, but all of the cringe makes it worthless.

I mentioned the writing earlier, but once again, they rely on shock value over substance. It really pushed a woke agenda and devalued a lot of what Starfleet such a compelling organization in previous iterations of the show. It made it seem bland and boring, plus the subplot about a super computer taking over felt forced and shoe-horned in, not organic in the slightest. It lead you to one lifeless episode to the next where the bad outweighs the good a lot. This is not a good sign for the future of Star Trek.

Check out the trailer below:

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, or novel you would like me to review. While you are at it, check out the story about how I broke the internet on StudioJake. Also, check out my reaction to the Star Trek: Picard teaser. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe for more posts like this one.

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