In Review: Star Trek: Discovery – Magic to make the Sanest go Mad

Synopsis: As the U.S.S. Discovery crew attempts to let loose at a party, an unwelcome visitor comes aboard bringing about a problematic and twisted sequence of events.

Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ goes where every ‘Star Trek’ show has gone before with an episode, which features a time loop, but this episode is not so much about the time loop than it is about fleshing out a few of the character arcs and bringing Michael Burnham close to the crew.

Rainn Wilson returns as Harry Mudd and is rather dangerous and foolhardy with his time crystal, which keeps repeating the same 30 minutes over and over again. The only thing he doesn’t count on is Lieutenant Stamets somewhat unique relationship with the ship and the Spore Drive, which makes him somehow immune from the effects of the loop. Which makes Stamets the guy that must convince Burnham and Tyler that the ship and crew are in danger. 

Mudd’s obviously in this for profit. His plan is to learn about the Spore Drive and sell it and the U.S.S. Discovery to the Klingons.

The episode repeats events over and over again with slight alterations to move things along and manages to do so without it getting too tedious. Rainn Wilson’s performance as Mudd is solid throughout. And the absolute relish he has in killing Captain Lorca over and over again is played to the hilt.

The more fun element of this episode is Stamets. He starts off on one his Mushroom Trip ‘s in his initial scene with Tyler and Burnham, but when the loop starts repeating he gradually gets more and more bedraggled as he has to see events unfold over and over before being able to convey enough information for Michael and Tyler to come up with a plan, which is to give Mudd what he wants and more. Although Mudd has total control of the ship’s systems. Michael, Stamets and Tyler are able to use the none essential systems of the ship to learn more about Mudd and his life before the Klingon prison.

Though this storyline was not the greatest. It did allow for some nice character development for Burnham, Tyler and Stamets. All of whom are growing into quite likable characters. I’m specifically liking that Burnham is beginning to connect with her human emotions. Saying that her feelings are complicated when it concerns her liking Tyler.

Overall. A pretty good episode as far as character development goes, but not the greatest of stories.