Way back, I made one of these lists for every season of Star Trek. New trek, new lists. I ask every episode: Why do I love trek? Most episodes demonstrate some of the reasons.
| Number / Name | Why I liked it |
| 1 / 1:1 “The Vulcan Hello” |
WOC leadership. Revealing a new ship. Delight at being in space. What is the right balance between emotions and logic? An unusual upbringing. Faced with potential conflict, is it ever the right choice to fire first? |
| 2 / 1:2 “Battle at the Binary Stars” |
Mutiny has consequences. The enemy is nationalism. |
| 3 / 1:3 “Context Is for Kings” |
Some new things in this new show turn up here. Revealing a new ship. Social awkwardness is not a barrier to a good job. WOC leadership. Fighting and war have rules. A second chance. |
| 4 / 1:4 “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” |
Tardigrade. Looking like a monster is not the same as being a monster. Science is open to all possibilities. Science takes time. Cool space suit helmet. |
| 5 / 1:5 “Choose Your Pain” |
“This is so f***ing cool.” Animal cruelty is bad. Person cruelty even worse. Gay love. |
| 6 / 1:6 “Lethe” |
Telepathy. Give newly released POWs a little time. Truth. |
| 7 / 1:7 “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” |
Fun with time. Montage of repetition. Intelligent people with a good plan. |
| 8 / 1:8 “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” |
A planet making music. Gaia. An end to anxiety. |
| 9 / 1:9 “Into the Forest I Go” |
PTSD shown realistically. |
| 10 / 1:10 “Despite Yourself” |
Alternate history. And blending in. Disqualified, knows the patient too well. Faking self confidence. A significant change in crew. |
| 11 / 1:11 “The Wolf Inside” |
Can you pretend to accept slavery, only pretend? Or the death penalty? “You’re my tether.” Learning authority. Female leadership. |
| 12 / 1:12 “Vaulting Ambition” |
Excellent revelation. |
| 13 / 1:13 “What’s Past Is Prologue” |
Nationalism is punished. Something hard actually goes a little wrong. Awesome high kick. |
| 14 / 1:14 “The War Without, The War Within” |
Suspicious events are treated with suspicion. Can you forgive someone, who was not an enemy but “possessed”? Yeah, men cry too. |
| 15 / 1:15 “Will You Take My Hand?” |
There are unbreakable principles. |
Also, there’s a very strong sense of continuity. Somebody knew how the whole season would go and planned accordingly. This is delicious going through the episodes the 2nd time.
Stuff from ommadawn.dk (Lise Andreasen) 