The third episode of this series, and we finally get introduced to the titular ship! “Context is for Kings” has Georgiou dead, the Federation at war, and Burnham a prisoner? Where is this show going? Answers certainly aren’t found once we get aboard the Discovery and come face to face with its captain, Gabriel Lorca.
Behind the Camera
“Context is for Kings” sees director Akiva Goldsman take the helm. We previously mentioned him back in “The Vulcan Hello,” as he teamed up with Bryan Fuller to help write the pilot. He’s primarily a writer, but his directing history does include four episodes of “Fringe” and an episode of “Kings.”
As far as writers? We got all kinds of stuff going on. The teleplay was written by Gretchen J. Berg, Aaron Harberts, and Craig Sweeny. Both Berg and Harberts wrote for the very last episode, “Battle at the Binary Stars.” While “Context is for Kings” is Craig Sweeny’s first time in the Star Trek universe, he’s no novice. He’s written multiple episodes of popular television series like Limitless, Elementary and Medium.
The story has Berg and Harberts teaming up with the original showrunner, Bryan Fuller. Fuller had a credit on both last week’s episode, as well as The Vulcan Hello.”
In Front of the Camera
Now that we seem to be settling into the main story a little bit more than with the two hour pilot event, it’s becoming clear who is a guest and who is a regular.
- We get to set our eyes on Jason Isaacs as captain of the Discovery, Gabriel Lorca. This fella is charming as hell, and also hella suspect.
- Anthony Rapp is looking to be a regular here as the engineer that is uncomfortable to suddenly find himself on a military ship
- Rekha Sharma, known to me for her role as Tory in Battlestar Galactica, is the no-nonsense first officer. She also played Dr. Harden back in that CW series Smallville, which holds an important place in my heart.
- We also meet Mary Wiseman’s Sylvia Tilly who I find to be irrepressibly delightful.
Don’t forget to subscribe to Disco Night: A Star Trek Discovery Podcast in iTunes. It’ll improve my life and happiness. It’s always more fun to watch Star Trek with friends.
Also head on over to There Are Four Mics, another Star Trek podcast. It’s fun.
Disco Night is a Star Trek Discovery Podcast, released every Monday.