Star Trek: Discovery 5 Ups & 3 Downs From 'Context Is For Kings'
Ups...
5. Burnham
CBS
Although Sonequa Martin-Green's Michael Burnham didn't endear herself to everyone in those first two episodes, the character came into her own in Context is for Kings.
Martin-Green did a tremendous job of conveying the character's guilt for what happened in the Battle of the Binary Stars this time around, with the episode taking the time to flesh out and explore the character's feelings in the aftermath of the event.
Her interaction with Saru was particularly brilliant, and it's clear that the death of Captain Georgiou will weigh heavily on the first officer throughout the series, especially now she's faced with the task of serving under the less than perfect Captain Lorca.
Burnham has a long way to go before she can rival Ryker and Spock for a spot on the series' best and brightest first officers, but what we've seen so far has made for encouraging viewing. She's certainly living up to the reputation of being the smartest officer in Starfleet, and while it's unlikely we'll get to see a typical Bridge dynamic on the Discovery, Burnham has proven that she's a protagonist worth getting behind.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
