Few tv shows can pride themselves in being both a prequel and a far-reaching sequel of a famed television franchise.
Star Trek: Discovery is one of these shows: after it established a new setting in the 32nd century, the show explores the possibilities of this unknown temporal period of the franchise and finally brings to life an idea that has been around for years-a Federation in disarray on the difficult path to reunification.
And, free from the creative constraints a prequel inevitably brings, showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise had enormous creative potential in front of them; and, after the third season of highs and lows, the show finally lived up to said potential – and did it greatly.
Rebuilding The Federation
Then the fourth season was released and, even with some surprising twists here and there (which we won’t spoil), the story beats are compelling enough but mostly familiar.
As the first trailers of the season were released, the supposed main plot of the season appeared to be an admittedly by-the-numbers Discovery story arc: a galactic-level threat whose true origins must be unveiled by the combined effort of the main crew and what is left of Starfleet. While the trailers introduced new characters, like Federation President Rillak and the President of Ni’Var T’Rina, and the return of familiar species, with the Ferengi getting a new look-, at first glance the show was set to cover an already explored ground.
Far from being attributable to a lack of creativity, however, this is indicative of the new focal point of the season: Discovery is, more than ever, about the necessity of communication. Most of the subplots and character arcs revolve around the need, the difficulties, the pain and the joy of communicating with each other, both on an intergalactic politics and on a personal level. This is revealed primarily from the interactions between characters, more urgent and dense than usual, and from the emphasis put on empathy and caring.
Star Trek: Discovery has always been a Trek show centred primarily on its lead: front and centre of the first few seasons was Michael Burnham, who took most of the character development. The third season however shifted to a more ensemble work, where each of the main cast has its moments to shine. But while more successful in introducing new characters and developing the older ones, that season still struggled in terms of storytelling and pacing, both of which never quite felt natural. Something this season mostly got right.
Beyond The Galaxy
The fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery isn’t the most ambitious or daring Star Trek season ever made, from a purely creative point of view. This is not to say the work on visuals, settings and VFX didn’t live up to the high standard set by the show, in fact, they’re excellent as usual with gorgeous shots, inventive starships designs and mesmerizing new locations (planet Alshain IV is really original, and the 10-C design is unique in the franchise).
But the exploration of those new worlds is not the main topic, and if some episodes offer a glimpse of the creativity we’re accustomed to, the season’s most memorable scenes happen on the ship and interiors it’s a natural consequence of the more introspective nature of the season. As we mentioned earlier, season 4 of Star Trek: Discovery is more than ever focused, on the relationship between the members of this crew.
The authors haven’t corrected all of the issues from previous seasons, in fact, some still persist. Mainly, the show has still so many characters, themes and subplots the authors couldn’t manage to handle them all properly, and the biggest victims of this may be Adira and Grey: their relationship starts with a lot of promise, but they quickly fade into the background and Grey leaves by the half of the season.
There’s no doubt we’ll see more of them in the next seasons, but it’s a shame they hadn’t had much to do in this season. And the bad habit of giving a character tons of development just before they leave the show in an attempt to make their exit more emotional (Airiam in season 2, Emperor Georgiou in season 3) is still here, even if this season is somehow mitigated by the promise we’ll see them again.
What hasn’t lost its lustre however is the strong work from its ensemble cast: Sonequa Martin-Green is as great and charming as ever, displaying both a commanding presence in the captain’s chair as well as a fun, playful side in her interactions with Book. It’s not just her, since most of the cast show unexplored sides of their characters with sensitivity and grace.
Doug Jones can touch its most vulnerable chords with T’Rina (Tara Rosling), and Wilson Cruz finally has its time to shine as he confronts its crewmates’ traumas as well as his own. But the most memorable performance may be offered by David Ajala as Book: after his Han Solo type persona of the previous season, he manages to deliver as Book tries to cope with an unimaginable trauma in a long and painful journey.
Let’s Fly!
The feeling this latest season of Star Trek: Discovery leaves with is that its authors finally managed to work on the show’s strengths after the -admittedly many- stumbles of its first seasons. The show’s at its best when it focuses on its primary themes: empathy, communication, and caring.
And it’s even more relevant when it becomes both the centre of its overarching plot and the main focus of most of the character iterations. It’s arguably one of the strongest seasons of Star Trek ever, and definitely the best season of Discovery so far. It’s also the most political of the bunch (but then again, Star Trek has always been political), and never afraid to stand up to its ideals and beliefs.
Despite some flaws, the fourth season of Discovery managed to both stay faithful to the core values of Star Trek and be unique and memorable in its own right, as it expands the Star Trek lore in intriguing directions and tackles with grace the timely themes it’s known for.
Star Trek: Discovery was renewed for a fifth season earlier this year and is due to begin production in June 2022. You can watch every episode on Paramount+ in the USA and other territories, Crave in Canada and Season 4 is currently being repeated on PlutoTV internationally.
