Third Season of Star Trek: Discovery Cyberpunks Its Way Into My Heart
As a big fan of Star Trek and the cyberpunk genre, the first episode of Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery definitely intrigued me, and left me with a lot of questions. Just maybe not the ones the writers intended.
How much of the season will take place in the cyberpunk-like setting introduced in latter part of the first episode? If the answer is “most of it” then I’m sold on this season. If I get to see a new element of a 31st century cyberpunk society set in the Star Trek universe every episode, I’ll love this season no matter what else happens.
Did they really have to set up an obvious romantic sub-plot, right out of the gate? I thought female leads have evolved past the need for that. Of course, I say that even as the first season of Discovery had Michael hooking up with a handsome unwitting double agent. It doesn’t really get much more cliché than that, unfortunately. Bleh. I just hope that Michael’s character-growth won’t be limited to another ill-advised romance that will inevitably end in some sort of tragedy.
Will every episode be as slow as the first one? This episode took its time developing the plot. Michael and Book spent way too much time chilling. I can’t handle another Star Trek: Picard, which seemingly used most of the season just to set up the main showdown that started and quickly resolved in the last few episodes. I really hope they pick up the pace or, like with Picard, I’m going to start missing episodes and eventually abandon the show entirely.
Will they capitalize on their ability to build Star Trek canon? The first couple seasons of Discovery definitely made me wonder how the show could canonically exist in the Star Trek universe. Now that the USS Discovery is further in the future than any Star Trek timeline has gone (and did a decent job covering its tracks in the past), I no longer have that question. The show can do whatever it wants without ever interfering with the established canon. Will they take seize this opportunity to go where no Star Trek show has gone before? I hope so.
