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Of all the completed Star Trek serial , Discoverymay be the most unmanageable from which to pick out the 10 best sequence . That ’s not because it’sthe weakest series in the franchise likeEnterpriseis — by our reckoning , it ’s in reality in the scurvy middle — but because its serialized data format makes it dodgy to set apart specific chapters to celebrate .
Each season ofDiscoveryfollowed Michael Burnham and the crew of the show ’s eponymic starship on a protracted adventure with cosmic bet , but not every hour packed a memorable lick . Still , while many of the chapters lean to blur together , there are some definite standouts distribute evenly throughout the show ’s entire five - season run .
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10. “Coming Home” (season 4, episode 13)
The finale ofDiscovery ’s 4th season is an model of everything that ’s gravid about the serial publication , but also everything that ’s lame about it . The Federation ’s climactic opposition with the extragalactic Species 10 - degree Celsius is visually splendid , emotionally intense , and at last a news report about communicating and empathy , the cornerstone of Star Trek ’s ethos . Sonequa Martin - Green render one of the best performances in the integral franchise , as her character swallows her shock and heartbreak at her partner ’s apparent death and steadies herself for tariff .
But , by the end of the episode , everything has bring out swimmingly , there are hugs and grinning and no lasting result . pop reform-minded lawgiver Stacey Abrams spend a penny a cameo as the President of Earth to congratulatethe show ’s producersCaptain Burnham on her inspirational work . That’sDiscoveryfor you — sometimes amazing , sometimes cower , often at the same prison term .
9. “Terra Firma, parts 1 and 2” (season 3, episodes 9 and 10)
It ’s barbarian to remember that , in the yr before her Oscar - winning , career - redefining role inEverything Everywhere All at Once , Michelle Yeoh was playing a wise impish stepmother from a hell dimension onStar Trek : Discovery . As the Mirror Universe ’s dethrone Emperor Philippa Georgiou , Yeoh at the same time menaced and nurtured her daughter Michael ’s goody - delicacy Starfleet counterpart for the in force part of two seasons . Georgiou is one of the show ’s most interesting fiber , an apex marauder removed from a predatory environment and placed in one that rewards cooperation and corporate trust .
Her two - part send - off installment , in which she is returned to her home only to discover how much she ’s changed , is winding and campy and truly regard . The rest period of the even cast gets to go wild playing their vicious counterparts , and Yeoh gets to search depths of her character reference that Georgiou herself would deny even exist . Discoverydefinitely suffers from her absence seizure , but at least we get the spinoff movieSection 31out of the deal .
8. “Unification III” (season 3, episode 7)
The heart of time of year 3 is arguably the most interesting form in Michael Burnham ’s developing . After saving the entire beetleweed and strand herself in the upstage futurity , the once stiff Michael adapts to a novel life as a freewheeling adventurer just in clip for Starfleet to come call again . But in this illogical and chaotic new era , does she even still believe in the Federation ? What is her intent ?
Appropriately , Michael recover her answer where her journeying lead off — her former home satellite of Vulcan , now called Ni’Var — and by see the results of her blood brother Spock ’s tireless feat to reunite the Vulcan and Romulan peoples . jointure IIIis essentially Burnham ’s thesis defense for the Federation , and the mortal she most needs to convert is herself .
7. “Face the Strange” (season 5, episode 4)
No lead Star Trek character has undergo more alteration than Michael Burnham . From a stoical scientist raise by Vulcans to a traumatized fugitive to a rogue infinite dangerous undertaking to a rebel Starfleet captain , Michael ’s been through a lot . Season 5’sFace the Strangesends Captain Burnham bouncing uncontrollably through metre , finally pitting her face to face against her unsound self .
The confrontation between season 1 Michael and time of year 5 Michael is both a fun picayune nostalgia dad and also an incredible whiplash moment that reminds the audience of just how different a showDiscoveryused to be . The producer may not have have a go at it that time of year 5 was last to be the show ’s end , but they could n’t have clean a better time to reflect on its get-go .
6. “Brother” (season 2, episode 1)
After its grim and divisive first season , Discoverytook a heavy crook toward the bright and colorful . With the comer of Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike , Michael Burnham and the USS Discovery found a new optimism and a novel purpose , as they start out their pursuit of the mysterious “ Red Angel . ”
ThoughDiscoverywas always aiming to enchant the excitement and fun of the Abrams - eraStar Trek feature film , Brotheris where it number nigh to the mark . If the entire series had lived up to the promise of this re - pilot film , Discoverymight have gone down as one of the best series in the Trek canon .
5. “…But To Connect” (season 4, episode 7)
Because of its serialized format , Discoverydid not do many onetime - school Star Trek “ content episodes , ” and when it did , the writers were often stealthy about it . One of the two main storylines in … But To Connectis fundamentally a Human Resources mediation between Commander Paul Stamets ( Anthony Rapp ) and the USS Discovery ’s sentient AI , Zora ( voice of Annabelle Wallis ) . Stamets is nervous about let an AI to work autonomously aboard the ship and thinks something should be done to limit her world power .
But the disputation being had is n’t really about contrived intelligence , it ’s about whether a individual with entrenched social authority ( in this display case , Stamets ) should be permitted to confine the rights or potential of someone who they retrieve unsettling or unfamiliar ( Zora ) purely based on their own discomfort . Should a trans person conceal or rein in their gender identity operator because it makes a cis coworker uncomfortable , or should the cis someone be the one to adjust ? If the answer is n’t obvious to you already , this installment will help .
4. “Whistlespeak” (season 5, episode 6)
OfDiscovery ’s rare attempts at classic Trek moral dilemmas , Whistlespeakis by far the most evocative and the most fun . To begin with , Burnham and Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ) get to baby in a goofy outside mission in which they pass through a pre - warp civilisation and participate in an rising endurance contest while essentially exit of thirst .
The dynamic between the old friends is never more alert and comedic than it is here . But , just as importantly , Whistlespeakoffers two storylines that explore the contrast between faith and trust . Religion is base on stiff rules and beliefs , but trust is about what youdon’tknow but choose to believe . Is it really necessary to impose absolutes on something that is inherently ephemeral ?
3. “Far From Home” (season 3, episode 2)
A common complaint aboutDiscoveryis its minute direction on a single type , something that ’s common enough on telecasting but unusual for Star Trek . Discoveryis about Michael Burnham first and first of all , and the rest of the crew are petty fictional character . But what if you did an episode without Michael ?
InFar From Home , the USS Discovery has just followed Michael into the future only to get without her . beach on a unknown , uncongenial world , Commander Saru ( Doug Jones ) and the rest of the crew must figure out what to make of this strange new frontier , not knowing whether they ’ll ever be reunited with their friend . It ’s a terrific launching to the Wild West of the thirty-second century , and an chance for the residue of the cast to radiate .
2. “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” (season 1, episode 6)
As a standalone episode of television , Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Madis squarely the good exclusive hour in all ofDiscovery . It ’s one of the first episodes in the series to lighten up a bit , as Harry Mudd ( Rainn Wilson ) immobilise the ship in a time grummet and murders Captain Lorca ( Jason Issacs ) over and over and over in a variety of imaginative ways . There are cunning character moments for both Burnham and Stamets , and there ’s a Wyclef Jean needledrop — what else could you ask for ?
The trouble is , it does n’t really palpate like any other episode ofDiscovery , and as manifest byourBuffy the Vampire Slayercountdown , that matter for something . Discoverycould have definitely used more goofy hr - long dangerous undertaking like this one , but as it stands , it ’d be more at rest home onStrange New Worldsthan it is here .
1. “Such Sweet Sorrow, parts 1 and 2” (season 2, episodes 13 and 14)
The two - part finale ofDiscovery ’s 2d season is an exhausting and exhilarating drive , as all of the show ’s ongoing togs converge for a high - wager blank battle . The USS Discovery and Pike ’s Enterprise finally reunite , Section 31 ’s evil AI makes its play for astronomic subjugation , and everyone from Emperor Georgiou to Klingon Chancellor L’Rell ( Mary Chieffo ) to that alien queen who only actually seem on an episode ofShort Treksyou probably have n’t learn shows up to the company .
Most significantly , we get the reconciliation between Michael Burnham and her surrogate brother Spock ( Ethan Peck ) , who specify apart decennium of regret and bitterness to write all constituent life history and say their final arrivederci . Michael sets off on her new life history in the distant future , Benjamin Spock steps right ontoa terrific novel spinoff , and it ’s a happy conclusion for everyone .
