Something to Watch: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is no James T. Kirk, and no Jean-Luc Picard either. She’s not even Spock, although she turns out to be his adopted sister. 

The protagonist of the latest Star Trek series, “Discovery” (CBS All Access), Michael is neither a captain, a man, nor white. When we meet her in season one, she is, like her famous half-brother, an uptight Starfleet officer with very short hair. 

Now, as season three begins, she is blossoming. Also, she has time-travelled into the future — the future’s future — where the communicators and tricorders Trekkies know and love are prized as antiques.

I grew up watching reruns of the original “Star Trek” with my older brothers. Back then, I took refuge from the chaos of childhood in the brightly lit moral universe of the Federation. I started watching “Discovery” last year, after — in what seemed to me a wonderful bit of serendipity — both former Georgia congressional representative Stacey Abrams and my own brother recommended it. I need that brightly lit morality now.