Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery is in full swing now, and the series suddenly feels like it’s on solid ground. When Discovery debuted in 2017, some Trek fans like myself found it to be, frankly, a mess. Opting for a darker tone – complete with ratcheted-up violence and actual cussing – the first season sought to be a gritty war drama stuffed to the breaking point with harrowing revelations, sudden murders, and, most notably, an alteration (welcome or unwelcome, depending on who you ask) of the diplomatic and egalitarian philosophies that had marked most of Star Trek up to that point.
Some fans enjoyed the 180-degree about-face for Star Trek, while others felt that Discovery was too different an animal to be considered alongside reliable favorites like Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Having grown up on TNG, I have always been an acolyte of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (a Picardian perhaps?) and I am endlessly pleased to see DS9 having a proper renaissance these days; some hardcore fans even place DS9 at the top of the Trek canon now.
