Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1 Recap

Full recap of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.

Premise: Star Trek: Discovery is set roughly a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series, and follows the crew of the USS Discovery during the Federation–Klingon war of 2256.

Music: Doug Maxwell - Light Years Away

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01 - The Vulcan Hello
Investigating a damaged satellite near a binary star system on the edge of Federation space, the crew members of the USS Shenzhou discover an object obscured from their sensors. After First Officer Michael Burnham volunteers to investigate the object, she finds an ancient, carved vessel. She is then attacked by a Klingon, and when trying to escape, she accidentally kills him. A group of Klingons mourn the death of their soldier, dubbed the "Torchbearer", before the outcast Voq volunteers to take his place. The Klingons, led by T'Kuvma, reveal themselves in a cloakable ship. T'Kuvma preaches to his followers of the Federation's attempts to usurp the individuality of the Klingons and their culture, and plans to fulfill an ancient prophecy by uniting the 24 great Klingon houses as was once done by Kahless. Voq then activates a beacon that summons the Klingon leaders. Burnham, desperate to prevent a war, attempts to fire on the Klingons first, against the wishes of Captain Philippa Georgiou. It is then, that Burnham is arrested for mutiny.

02 - Battle at the Binary Stars
T'Kuvma convinces the majority of the Klingon leaders that he can lead them to victory over the Federation, as reinforcements for the Shenzhou arrive. Georgiou offers to resolve the situation peacefully, but the Klingons immediately open fire. Starfleet Admiral Anderson arrives and again offers peace to the Klingons, but his ship is rammed by another cloaked Klingon vessel. Anderson has his ship self-destruct, destroying the Klingon ship as well. Starfleet then retreats, leaving the Klingons to collect their dead. In the remains of the Shenzhou, Burnham escapes her cell after encouragement from her guardian Sarek via a telepathic connection. She convinces Georgiou to try to take T'Kuvma prisoner, and they create a distraction by sending an explosive onto his ship with a Klingon corpse. Boarding the vessel, Burnham overpowers Voq, while Georgiou attempts to capture T'Kuvma, but is killed. T'Kuvma is then fatally shot by Burnham, who is transported to safety. Voq promises that T'Kuvma's legacy will live on, while Burnham is sentenced to, life in prison, for her mutiny.

03 - Context Is for Kings
Six months into her sentence, Burnham is on an unexpected prison transfer when an emergency forces her shuttle to be rescued by the USS Discovery. Spending several days on the ship, Burnham is ordered by its captain, the mysterious Lorca, to assist with a scientific assignment. Burnham overhears Lieutenant Paul Stamets, an astromycologist who is leading the assignment, discuss an upcoming experiment with a colleague serving on another starship; Lorca is soon informed of an incident on the Discovery's sister ship, the USS Glenn, that has killed the entire crew. Stamets leads a boarding party to investigate and finds the dead crew hideously twisted and malformed, as well as a group of Klingons killed by an unknown creature. Lorca later asks Burnham to work for him, despite her sentence, explaining that he organized the circumstances that led her to him so she could help develop a new spore-based propulsion system that could win the war she started by killing T'Kuvma.
He then secretly has the creature transported aboard the Discovery.

04 - The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry
Lorca assigns Burnham to study the creature from the Glenn, dubbed a Tardigrade, to find a way to use its biology as a weapon. Starfleet then orders Discovery to the dilithium mining colony Corvan II, which is under Klingon attack. Stamets is reluctant to make such a long jump using the spores, and when the drive is activated the ship nearly collides with a star. Lorca then sends Commander Landry to keep Burnham's research on track, and she attempts to sedate the Tardigrade, which she calls Ripper, to cut off its claw, but it attacks her. Burnham believes that it was acting in self-defense, and is drawn to the spores. Stamets and Burnham transport it to Engineering, where it connects to the spore drive and interfaces with the navigation system. The ship successfully makes the jump to Corvan II and saves the colony. On T'Kuvma's stranded ship, Klingon leader Kol earns the loyalty of T'Kuvma's desperate followers, and leaves Voq to die in the wreckage of the Shenzhou. L'Rell, secretly loyal to Voq, promises a way for them to win the war for the house of T'Kuvma.



Most of the text summaries originate from Wikipedia. I may have adjusted some parts to provide a more cohesive story. I have added a voice-over and matching screenshots to provide you with an audiovisual recap.