Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad

Maybe the best-written, best-paced Star Trek episode I've seen, and I've seen them all. Funny, unpredictable, tense, and even romantic. This was like a 45 minute movie. I was a little skeptical of this series after the pilot, but now I'm sure it's in good hands. Even the gay characters are turning out to be much more than just "Look at us! We're the first gay TV Star Trek characters!" This next episode will be the first episode of anything on TV that I'll really, really be looking forward to since Breaking Bad and Battlestar Galactica both wrapped up years ago. Discovery is now, officially, in my book, special.

This episode was another really strong entry into Star Trek: Discovery's first season. Sonequa Martin-Green continues to impress as Michael Burhnam, a character who's development in the past two episodes has been great to watch, and the rest of the cast is strong as well. Once again, the direction and cinematography are solid, and this story hits some nice emotional beats as well. I also liked the incorporation of having a time loop in the episode: it's a pretty cool sci-fi element that makes the episode more interesting. I didn't like Rainn Wilson's character in his first episode, but here he was more fun to watch on screen.

8 out of 10. Another *really* good episode.

Discovery gets caught in a time-loop.

As much as I rolled my eyes at the prospect of a time-loop concept being redone on another Trek show, there are parts of this that work well.

The plot involves a relatively lacklustre concept as an excuse for the looping, but it does serve as an interesting way to explore themes about structure and repetition in life, particularly in the situations involving a desire to take chances and make changes. I hope I was right in thinking we are not really meant to get caught up in the plot too much as the stakes are so implausibly high it's feels like a situation designed to observe characters and provide opportunities for exposition. Also the ending is very much a throwback to something from the original series and a lot lighter than the build up would having you expect. It is all fairly cinematic as it unfolds which is a big plus.

As good as Sonequa Martin-Green and Shazad Latif are, their romance doesn't really work for me. I need a bit more than two characters who happen to be attracted to each other. I like my screen relationships to develop out of something interesting and meaningful the characters go through that makes me want them to get together. For me so far, it has been as uninspiring most other Trek romances. Some of the scenes in the party leading up to it do not help, particularly with the crew acting like kids at a high-school dance. Given that it's so early in the show I'm guessing this romance maybe doomed to either failure or be a bit on-off. Either way, if they dedicate screen time to it, I need to care about it and so far I don't.

The standout performances by far are Rainn Wilson and Anthony Rapp who get the material that drives the episode forward and generates the best entertainment.

All visuals, effects and editing are excellent as always.

I do not believe this was a bad episode at all. It was much more ensemble focused. Although I do want to know more about the robot chick on the bridge and the ginger lass, who was also on the Shenzou, with a robotic eye. The bad science wasn't as in your face as some of the other episodes and the crew seemed to carry out their actions as their characters would. Surely some sort of stasis field for the space whale would have been necessary though? I think, after a very shaky start, we might just have had our first actual Trek, Discovery episode. I have to agree with some of the others comments when I think about Tilly's character…. She seems far too "dipsy" to be a Star fleet officer. I'm sure her character can be developed in the second season. Also even though there weren't any actual Klingons in this episode SORT OUT THEM OUT THEY'RE AN AFFRONT TO TREK LEGACY.

When I was a kid, I remember one night watching a new episode of STNG and being irritated that the basic premise had been "stolen" from a TOS episode.

And while it's true that over the course of Star Trek's history there are a lot of poor recreations of earlier episodes (I'm looking at you, VOY episode 108, "Ex Post Facto"), there are just as many examples where they took a solid premise and improved upon it.

This episode is one of those examples. Time loops are an especially popular plot device in science fiction, and the two STNG examples of them are excellent ("Cause and Effect" and "Clues").

"Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" enhances the premise by making it a vehicle for relationship-building amongst the main characters.

Beyond it's conceptual virtues, it's also just a genuinely fun episode.