10 Dumbest Things In Star Trek: Discovery

5. Death and Rebirth AGAIN

Culber reborn Saints of Imperfection
CBS Media Ventures

If at first it succeeds - try it again.

It's an age-old Star Trek classic that death isn't the end of the road for anyone, merely an inconvenience along the path. 

Scotty in The Original Series, Spock in The Wrath of Khan/The Search for Spock, Worf in Transfigurations, Picard as a synth. As a certain Vulcan said, "There are always possibilities". 

So, having Ash Tyler/Voq brutally kill Wilson Cruz's Doctor Culber could have been a game-changer. A major, popular character being abruptly murdered could have sent shockwaves through the show at least until the end of its second season.

However. Thanks to the mycelial network, Star Trek would make an about turn on one more character and bring Culber back in Saints of Imperfection just a handful of episodes later in the second season. This return softens the impact and aftermath of the doctor's death at the hands of Tyler when rewatched. Even when watching it for the first time, there is still that expectation that he'll be back, which the show 100% played to in its second season. This, in turn, suggested that the storyline wasn't as stable as fans might have hoped.

Culber is one of Discovery's strongest characters, played with heart and drive by Cruz; however, this chink is a part of his development that almost feels like it can be ignored completely with the speed at which the series moves on. 

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A Star Trek fan from birth, I love to dive into every aspect of the franchise in front and behind the screen. There's something here that's kept me interested for the best part of four decades! Now I'm getting back into writing and using Star Trek as my first line of literary attack. If I'm not here on WhatCulture then you're more than welcome to come and take a look at my blog, Some Kind of Star Trek at http://SKoST.co.uk or maybe follow me on Twitter as @TheWarpCore. Sometimes I force myself not to talk about Star Trek.