“Hit it!”: So how ’bout that premiere episode of JJTrek: The Series?

Ok, there’s a few ways we can go here, but let’s start with this:

Last season there was a common talking point, especially among critics of the show, that it was a “good sci-fi show but bad Star Trek.” This was usually said as a kind of olive branch: hey we can agree on this but not on that, sort of thing. I never understood that line and I’d sit there bewildered wondering if I got the wrong version on my CBS All-Access. The version of STD I saw was terrible in practically every way — the first cut of a first draft that somehow made it to air. Terrible scripts, terrible plots, terrible characters, terrible acting in most cases (with notable exceptions Anthony Rapp and Doug Jones, and Shazad Latif at times). It was glossy and flashy but it was also depressing and boring, barely competent in its own right.

Well, in episode 1 of Season 2, Discovery crossed that boundary to me — this episode was a very good space action/adventure episode, even if it’s atrociously bad Star Trek. So, hey, compromise!

“omg Price you’re such a hater, how can you say it’s bad Star Trek?! It had Pike and Spock and jokes and lines about never leaving people behind and Cage references!”

Which brings us to what is ultimately the only review needed: this was an episode of JJTrek. And to be absolutely clear: I mean that in the most value-neutral way possible: if you like JJTrek movies, you will love this episode (and probably the season if it remains…