Star Trek: Discovery has been getting tighter with each episode, but in last night’s “Lethe,” the show turned a corner into addictively good storytelling. There were a couple of standout moments, plus an evolving conspiracy theory involving Klingon spies. But the best part was that we finally saw one of the show’s key arcs, which is how the Federation emerged out of planetary separatism.

Spoilers ahead! Go watch the episode and come back!

Logic extremism and hope

In previous episodes, we’ve already sensed that this Star Trek series would be more darkly psychological than its predecessors. Our main characters are complex and conflicted, much like the fledgling Federation itself. In “Lethe,” we saw how this aspect of the story could take us to truly interesting places.