The following accommodates minor spoilers for season 4, episode six of ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ (and imprecise dialogue of episode seven).

There’s a little bit of a development or custom amongst Star Trek exhibits, beginning with The Next Generation. Somewhere round season three or 4 the present finds its means and really turns into good, if not nice. This isn’t a phenomenon restricted to Trek, in fact, however solely Trek has a selected identify for it: growing the beard. This is in reference to commanders William Riker and Benjamin Sisko, who each began their respective exhibits clean-shaven however grew beards across the time The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine received noticeably higher. And Discovery would possibly lastly be able to do its personal metamorphosis, however as a substitute of a beard it’s a change of format that has followers speaking.

One of the complaints about Discovery’s first three seasons — apart from the grimdark tone, the infallibility of Michael Burnham and all of the crying — was that it largely embraced a extra serial format, the place every episode was one other installment in a single lengthy ongoing storyline. Sure, there have been occasional one-off adventures, however every episode was nonetheless firmly targeted on the bigger story.

Season 4 began off in the identical method, with the season premiere and second episode devoted to establishing the brand new establishment of rebuilding the United Federation of Planets and introducing this season’s massive risk: the Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA). However, in contrast to earlier seasons the place every episode would have been targeted on one step towards discovering an answer, the problem-solving has taken a again seat to a largely standalone A-plot.

The shift could possibly be first seen in episode three, the place Burnham and her crew are tasked with monitoring down a rogue member of the Qowat Milat (as I described them to my editor: ninja nuns). The DMA is extra of a C-plot on this episode, with the B-plot place occupied by the story of Gray Tal and his new android physique. Episode 4 was Tilly attempting to coach and hold a bunch of Starfleet cadets alive (in a plot paying homage to Voyager episodes ‘Learning Curve’ and ‘Good Shepherd’). Episode 5 noticed the crew tasked with evacuating a planet threatened by the DMA. The anomaly could have been the instigating drive within the episode, however it was in actual fact interchangeable with just about another planetary risk because the episode was targeted extra on Michael’s battle to free six prisoners on the floor.

This week’s episode finds Discovery touring right into a subspace rift created by the DMA and turning into stranded, with the ship’s newly sentient AI Zora unable to steer the crew to security. However, whereas the anomaly is as soon as once more the reason for Discovery’s issues it’s additionally, as soon as once more, an interchangeable risk. The actual drive of the episode is the problem-solving to get the crew out, and the non-public struggles of characters like Zora and Cleveland Booker.

Next week will carry the Dark Matter Anomaly again to the forefront, however that’s solely logical because the seventh episode marks the tough midpoint of the 13-episode season in addition to the tip of our calendar yr. It’s common for a lot of tv exhibits to make use of this time to “check in” on their main storylines and advance these plots to the subsequent section. But it’s uncommon for Discovery in that it doesn’t characterize as clear a divide as in earlier seasons: season one went from the Klingon War to the Mirror Universe, season two went from the thriller of the Red Angel to battling the evil AI Control. Next week’s episode represents a smoother transition than beforehand.

That smoothness is generally because of the truth that the continuing storyline hasn’t been given as a lot time to brazenly flourish, as a substitute effervescent within the background whereas the present as a substitute focuses on character-building single-shot adventures. Standalone episodes would possibly really feel outdated in an period of streaming and binging, the place viewers can get their solutions straight away so there’s no must make every particular person chapter really feel “complete.” There’s no likelihood to grow to be unhappy by the content material of an episode when the subsequent one is merely seconds away. Even exhibits that premiere week by week have fallen into the lure, assuming that almost all viewers will binge the present afterward anyway, with solely the diehards watching every installment because it drops.

But for many of its existence at this level, Star Trek has been a franchise for the die-hards. The individuals who can’t look ahead to the subsequent episode, the individuals who will learn and write recaps on their favourite popular culture websites and those that share theories on social media. Paramount+ has put quite a lot of its chips on the energy of this die-hard base, stacking its manufacturing schedule with 5 completely different Star Trek exhibits that not often overlap, which means a fan who desires to see every part as quickly as doable might want to preserve their Paramount+ subscription all-year-round.

While fan complaints could have performed an enormous function in Discovery’s resolution to modify to a extra episodic format, it’s possible that the need to maintain followers on the hook for the present’s complete run performed an excellent greater half. When Discovery was the one Star Trek present, and one of many few Paramount+ choices interval, it was widespread for viewers to solely join a subscription after they needed to binge one thing — typically even throughout the free week the service provides to new prospects. Shows like Lower Decks, Prodigy and the upcoming Strange New Worlds already function with a extra episodic format, which means Discovery might have created a “hole” in an ongoing subscription for viewers, an opportunity for them to take a break from Star Trek and from paying $6 a month.

With an episodic present it’s quite a bit tougher to disregard it whereas it’s working; every episode represents an entire viewing expertise, making the wait between episodes much less excruciating. And when Discovery encounters new worlds and new adventures each week, it provides the followers one thing new to speak about, as a substitute of rehashing the identical outdated theories in regards to the ongoing storyline repeatedly till the season ends. Star Trek was simply made for episodic viewing, and embracing the format will make it simpler for Discovery to carry fan curiosity over time.