Image Credit: IGN.com

Well, hot-damn! Another action-packed episode of Star Trek beams into our living rooms, mobile devices, and digital components for us carbon-units to dissect and obsess over. The season is a mere three episodes in and is already kicking some tail and taking names. Comparatively speaking, Discovery is holding its own quite nicely against past seasons of other Trek iterations within the shared universe. I’d even go so far as to say it’s on par with season two of The Original Series and has surpassed even that of Jean-Luc and company.

*Angry, indiscernible shouting can be heard echoing throughout the digital halls of the Interwebs*

I know, I know. “Blasphemy,” right? But say what you will, because I’d put Discovery up against any other series as a serious heavyweight contender.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s dive right in, and discuss a wee bit of the greatness that is “Point of Light”.

The episode was written by Andrew Colville and directed by Olatunde Osunsamni, who is fast becoming one of my favorite Star Trek directors. Now, there’s a lot to unpack in this installment. The episode wasted zero time throwing us right into the thick of it, first with Amanda coming to Burnham for help, then with the likely coup on Qo’noS that Tyler and L’Rell are having to preemptively quell, all culminating in a surprise reveal that Voq and L’Rell have a son (whuuuuut?!). There’s a lot of meat on this bone for viewers to chew on. However, I think the part which really got the old wheels in this geek’s noggin a-turnin’, was the parallels it drew between current, 21^st century Earth politics, and that of the Klingon Empire in the 23^rd century. The struggles L’Rell finds herself having to navigate are not unlike the struggles we’re seeing our female leaders having to navigate here in the United States. The pushback from the male Klingons, and their sexist attitude towards a female High Chancellor, quickly reminded me of the current state of the Republican Party. If you’ve been keeping up with your political news, you’ve definitely been privy to the misogyny and sexism embraced by men such as Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, and Orinn G. Hatch (not to mention the orange-skinned homie in the Executive Branch). For all intents and purposes, they might as well be Klingons in disguise. Colville and Osunsamni, not to mention the brilliant performances of our cast, really channeled all of this into Thursday’s episode.

The icing on our proverbial cake was the appearance of Emperor Georgiou at the very end. How freakin’ badass was the scene of her dropping in to save L’Rell and Tyler? Damn, I sooo love Michelle Yeoh. She’s great at making “bad” an enticing allure. I wasn’t too sure what to think of Section 31, at first introduction last season. I’m barely making my way through Deep Space Nine (don’t judge me, but I’ve never watched the series), which I believe is where Section 31 first made its debut, so my only exposure to this seedy underbelly of the Federation is via the Into Darkness film. However, seeing as Emperor Georgiou will be getting her own spin-off series, with a presumable focus on her work within Section 31, I’m in like Flynn. And if Tyler is coming along for the ride (hopefully), I’m sold, like a bacon-wrapped hot dog to an inebriated human on Saturday night.

On a final note, we learned that, at one point during Burnham’s childhood on Vulcan, she was almost killed by extremists, and as a result of this terrifying experience, she ran away. We also learned that the mysterious “Red Angel” told Spock where she could be found, lending further credence to the idea that these beings are some sort of intergalactic saviors. Of course, this supposition is no more than a hunch, given what we’ve learned over the course of just three episodes; but, so far, they’ve intervened on behalf of three situations that were in desperate need of aid: the rescue of the crew of the Hiawatha, the Terralysium rescue, and, now, the revelation that they assisted in the finding of Burnham as a child. Seems to me that there’s an ongoing theme here. I’m looking forward to seeing how, or if, this theory plays out. Until next week, kids, mind your Vulcan Ps and Qs.

Kirk out….