Introduction
“Context Is for Kings” is the third episode of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery, which is set roughly a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series and explores the war between the Federation and the Klingons.
The episode was written by showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, and Craig Sweeny, from a story by series co-creator Bryan Fuller, Berg, and Harberts. It was directed by producer Akiva Goldsman.
Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, the first Starfleet mutineer who began the war. Series regulars Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Jason Isaacs also appear in the episode. The series’ writers consider this episode to be the show’s equivalent of a pilot, introducing the majority of its main cast, the titular starship Discovery, and the beginning of the season-long story. The episode reused the series’ starship sets for both the Discovery and its sister ship Glenn.
“Context Is for Kings” was released on CBS All Access on 01 October 2017. The episode’s release was believed to have caused record subscriptions for All Access, and received mostly positive reviews from critics for the new status quo established after the prologue of the previous two episodes “The Vulcan Hello” (S01E01) and “Battle at the Binary Stars” (S01E02). The new cast additions were also praised, particularly Isaacs.
Outline
Six months after the start of the Federation-Klingon War of 2256, Michael Burnham, having been imprisoned for half a year, is on an unexpected prisoner transfer when an emergency forces her shuttle to be rescued by the USS Discovery.
Spending several days on the ship, Burnham is ordered by its captain, the mysterious Gabriel Lorca, to assist with a scientific assignment. Burnham spends hours poring over complex computer code in an attempt to find an error. Burnham overhears Lieutenant Paul Stamets, an astromycologist who is leading the assignment, discuss an upcoming experiment with a colleague serving on another starship; Lorca is soon informed of an incident on the Discovery’s sister ship, the USS Glenn, that has killed the entire crew.
Stamets leads a boarding party which includes Burnham to investigate and finds the dead crew hideously twisted and malformed, as well as a group of Klingons that has been killed by an unknown creature. When it attacks the boarding party, Burnham devises a plan to outwit the creature (later known as a Tardigrade) allowing the rest of the party to escape to the shuttle. Lorca later asks Burnham to work for him, despite her sentence, explaining that he organised the circumstances that led her to him as he needed strong minded people such as herself to help him win the war.
Burnham challenges him by saying she will not help him develop a weapon that goes against Geneva Convention Codes. Lorca says that is why he admires her and wants her on his team as she knows how to think for herself: “Universal law is for lackeys; context is for kings”.
He shows her that they are not working on a weapon but on a revolutionary propulsion method. After their conversation he talks to his Chief of Security Commander Ellen Landry to ensure his “package” is safely onboard. Landry has secretly transported the creature aboard the Discovery.
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Production & Filming Details
- Director(s): Akiva Goldsman.
- Writer(s): Bryan Fuller, Gretchen J. Berg, and Aaron Harberts.
- Release Date: 01 October 2017.
- Running Time: 49 minutes.
- Country: US.
- Language: English.
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