Star Trek: 10 Best Episodes Showcasing Female Empowerment

5. Jett Reno Engineers A Sickbay

Tig Notaro's introduction in Star Trek: Discovery is funny and poignant, and showcases the actor's comedic timing alongside the character's engineering skills. Reno, stranded aboard the Hiawatha for months and facing the prospect of no rescue, jury-rigs a life support system for critically injured crewmembers. Did we mention she does this with some string and an elastic band?

The scenes featuring Reno in Brother establish her character immediately. She's everything that the show had been missing in its debut year. She brings levity in the dark, as well as expertise to seemingly justify her existence on the ship. Seeing her quickly become an ongoing and valuable member of the Discovery's crew only made sense.

She mentions a wife lost in the war. Rather than using this as an excuse to let her break down, there is a gallows humour to it. It's done, she's dead, and she's not coming back. At that stage in the show, there simply wasn't another character who could have delivered such a devastating revelation with such matter-of-fact clarity.

Reno, from this jump, became the voice of reason in a show that often treaded murky waters of technobabble and hyperbole. From her debut moments, she was one of, if not the, most essential member of the Discovery's crew. At this stage, we can only hope the same will be true for her future in Starfleet Academy.