Context Is For Kings

"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 October 1, 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 new cast additions were also praised, particularly Isaacs.

Plot

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 to find an error.

She 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 killed its crew. Stamets leads a boarding party, including Burnham, to investigate and finds the dead crew hideously twisted and malformed, as well as a group of Klingons who were killed by an unknown creature. When it attacks the boarding party, Burnham devises a plan to outwit the creature, 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 organized the circumstances that led her to him, as he needs strong-minded people such as her to help him win the war. Burnham challenges him by saying she will not help him develop a weapon that goes against the Geneva Conventions. Lorca says he admires her and wants her on his team because 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, Lorca talks to his chief of security, Commander Ellen Landry, to ensure his "package" is safely on board. Landry has secretly transported the creature aboard the ''Discovery''.

Production

Development

On November 2, 2015, CBS announced a new ''Star Trek'' television series to premiere in January 2017, "on the heels" of the original series' 50th anniversary in 2016. In February 2016, Bryan Fuller was announced as the new series' showrunner, but was asked by CBS to step down at the end of October. Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts replaced him as showrunners. In September 2017, CBS revealed that the series' third episode would be titled "Context Is for Kings". It was directed by producer Akiva Goldsman.

Writing

The teleplay for the episode was written by Berg, Harberts, and Craig Sweeny, based on a story by Fuller, Berg, and Harberts. The writers structured the season so that the first two episodes would act as a prologue, with the third episode beginning the series' actual story arc and being considered by them to be more equivalent to a traditional pilot than the show's first episode is. Actor Jason Isaacs noted that a series would not traditionally be able to use that structure, but that ''Discovery'' is able to do so because of its streaming format though CBS All Access. Harberts described the episode as one of "secrets and mysteries" and introducing a version of Starfleet that is at war. The episode also re-introduces protagonist Michael Burnham as resigned to her fate as a lifelong prisoner following her mutiny in the prologue. The story begins six months after the prologue, inspired by film sequels that begin with significant events having transpired since the previous installment such as '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''.

Burnham's character arc for the episode takes her from not caring about her fate, to being willing to sign up for something new as part of the ''Discovery''s mission. The writers were interested in exploring Burnham's upbringing as the foster child of Amanda Grayson and Sarek, exploring how the human Grayson would have wanted to counter some of Burnham's "logical" Vulcan teachings, and similarly would have wanted to expand the views of her son Spock by teaching him that "logic doesn't dictate everything". This led to the introduction of Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' as a book that Grayson read to them as children and which Burnham now carries with her as a talisman to "center herself". The book also thematically connected to the series with its use of mushrooms, tying into the series' scientific exploration of fungi and spores. Grayson's interest in the works of Lewis Carroll and Spock's awareness of ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' were both previously established in the '' Star Trek: The Animated Series'' episode " Once Upon a Planet".

It was also important to the writers to justify the presence of Cadet Sylvia Tilly, whose optimistic outlook is at odds with the rest of the crew of the ''Discovery'' and the tone of the series, by having her prove herself during the character's first away mission. This came in the moment where Tilly spots, and calls out, a Klingon on the derelict starship ''Glenn'', showing the character to be as capable as the other characters. The monstrous creature introduced on the ''Glenn'' was described by Harberts as "vital" to the series, stating that it would be reappearing in future episodes, and that it would serve as a metaphor for Burnham and her character journey in the show.

Casting

The series stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, Doug Jones as Saru, Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Tilly, and Isaacs as Gabriel Lorca; Latif does not appear in this episode.

Additionally, guest star Rekha Sharma was cast as ''Discovery''s security officer Commander Landry at the end of April 2017. The creature introduced in the episode, referred to as a "tardigrade" after the real-life micro-animal

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