Star Trek: 10 Behind The Scenes Decisions We Can't Forgive

Speaking of space Nazis...

Star Trek: Discovery's questionable Klingon War arc served a unique purpose, depicting how a crew of sciencing do-gooders handle the horrors of war. Much of Discovery's first season found the show fighting to show humanity at its best when it was reduced to a brutal war with a brutal enemy. The twist – at least until midway through season one – was that Discovery's commanding officer was willing to be just as ferocious as that enemy.

In his days as captain of the USS Discovery, Gabriel Lorca ordered his officers to compromise their morality by experimenting on a helpless animal, allowed Admiral Cornwell to remain a prisoner of the Klingons in order to save his command, and allowed genetic experiments on Paul Stamets to give Discovery its vaunted tactical advantage. Conversely, Lorca showed compassion for both Michael Burnham and Ash Tyler, and, even he was being a dick, Lorca acknowledged his shortsightedness when it came to winning the war and getting back to boldly going.

And then Discovery hit the Mirror Universe and it turned out Lorca was not a nuanced or flawed character, he was a secret fascist who thought the Terran Empire wasn't totalitarian enough. Oh, and he also had a creepy lust for Michael and that's why he was so kind to her in previous episodes.

After squandering Michelle Yeoh's Captain Georgiou on the unnecessary shock twist of having her killed in the pilot, Star Trek: Discovery misused yet another great actor by throwing Jason Isaacs' lovable jerk Captain Lorca into a fire pit because he was evil with ten Es and deserved to die.

As Sarek says in "The Battle at the Binary Stars", "What I cannot abide is a waste of resources." Jason Isaacs was a resource Star Trek: Discovery would've been better off not wasting.