Captain’s log: stardate 2136.8 (which is a bit weird considering when the story takes place, and how stardates work in the next episode, not to mention The Original Series)

Aron Eli Coleite and Jesse Alexander pen Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad, which first aired on 29 October, 2017.

Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson) has escaped from the Klingon cell Lorca (Jason Isaacs) left him in and has revenge on his mind. And profit. He wants to get aboard Discovery and steal the secrets of the spore drive.

But it won’t be easy. So to help him, Mudd makes use of a time loop. A time loop that occurs during a party aboard the ship that I know some have had problems with, but honestly, it looks pretty on point with how humanity cuts loose and ends with the ship’s destruction.

Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Ash (Shazad Latif) dance around the beginning of a relationship, one Tilly (Mary Wiseman) encourages. And Stamets (Anthony Rapp) is showing different sides of his personality because of his connection to the spore drive, but is the only one who realises from the off that time is looping on itself.

It’s a fun episode, and I love a good time loop story to watch how things change from loop to loop, and how the narrative builds on top of that. It also lets Wilson’s Mudd be incredibly villainous and pose a real threat, as opposed to a lovable if dubious con artist as he appears in The Original Series.

Captain’s log: stardate 1308.9 (much more inline with what currently existed at this time in the Trek universe)

This episode was penned by Kirsten Beyer, and first debuted on 5 November, 2017, and sees the Discovery on a mission to the planet Pahvo in an attempt to understand and discover the secrets of the Klingon cloaking device.

The title is appropriate for the episode, “if you want peace, prepare for war,” as the Discovery sends an away team, Ash, Burnham and Saru (Doug Jones) to investigate the planet, and hopefully learn the secrets of the Klingon cloaking technology.

Saru, consequently, gets a moment to shine as he leads first contact with a unique energy beings, and has an odd effect on him, which may lead him into conflict with Ash and Burnham.

Meanwhile, we see Admiral Cornwall (Jayne Brook) is still alive, and being held by the Klingons, and gets an unexpected visitor in the form of L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) with an equally unexpected offer.  And aboard the Discovery, Stamets admits to Tilly that he is sensing changes and there are strange things occurring when he powers the spore drive.

The Pahvans have a plan for peace and unity throughout the galaxy, and they reach out to the Klingons to join the Federation in orbit around their planet, but when the Klingons arrive, it may not be for peace. We’ll find out next time.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday when I explore more of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery on blu-ray. It’s available now from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…