So, advice ladies and gentlemen: never say never. I didn't pay for the service, but a co-worker introduced it to me after hours and I've caught up to the current episode.
Well, everyone's right.
Pros:
-- Saru... I like him. Best new character in the Star Trek universe in a long time. Just because you've been bred for cowardice doesn't mean you can't be a big damn hero.
-- Lorca is an interesting character. Without giving too much away (recent episodes have M. Night Shyamalan-esque twists, which is the only clue I'll give. If MNS makes you revulse, you know what's coming) I'll say he rightfully steals the spotlight a lot in this series.
-- The Discovery itself is improved a lot after the first ship reveal. It appears smaller than their original design now, has some of the Ralph McQuarrie-ness reduced, and even a 'ring' style saucer making it look more modern. I do like how they touched it up. And it's clear that the Discovery isn't intended to be a battle cruiser. The crew itself seems self-aware that in the beginning, Lorca is forcing the war down their throats, and they resist his inclinations bit by bit to return to their 'explorer' mission they all agreed to pursue. That alone has me interested in finishing the season.
Nit-picks:
-- The past is really unclear. The further they go, the harder they'll have to try to not retcon themselves let alone past series on TV.
-- Klingons being different doesn't bother me too much. What does is that the Klingon arc doesn't garner much empathy from me. Even facing the tribulations of other houses stomping on the earlier antagonist's work in bringing the houses together, I don't care if they succeed, let alone if the Federation manages a peaceful resolution. On that note...
-- Empathy is a vulnerability in the cast to me. Only 2-3 characters I feel any empathy towards concerning their situation. (Dr. Culber didn't have to try. And you know how I regard Saru. I'll let you guess who #3 is. It's not who it should be.) The rest of the cast I have no connection to yet. For the longest time, this included Michael herself... and recent developments have me watching her fall on my fictitious ladder of trust. She's not on the bottom rung yet (where one more 'mistake' I perceive and I'm done watching the series period), but she hasn't made it past the halfway point yet where I want her to win.
Cons:
-- Michael is impetulant at times, betraying her Vulcan background. And for seven years under Georgiou's training, the 'teenage phase' of emotions as a human shouldn't be as odd and uncomfortable as she is now. So is she a character worth redemption? Time will tell. I'm going to hold back judgement until the season is over on whether I think Michael is worth watching further until they finish this in a couple of weeks.
-- The technology is the biggest source of discord with past and future Trek shows. Holodeck before TOS? An experimental technology which isn't in any other series? (To avoid the episode 3 reveal, that's all I'll say. If you seen the show, you know what I mean.) This won't be easy to reconcile, especially with Trekkies. Some of the most unforgiving fans when it comes to continuity issues. (Star Wars fans are more forgiving in my experience.)
-- The plot twistiness doesn't let up really. It's Episode 13, there's two more left, and if they leave the season arc unresolved, that will go a long way in me telling folks whether this show is worth watching further or not. (If I even smell a deus ex machina coming... I'm done.)
Verdict: Flip a coin. At the moment, it's probably right either way.
If you like the show,
Ars Technica has favorable reviews of some of the episodes, while having fair criticism of the others. If you loathe it, so does the
AV Club. Find your crowd.