Season four is definitely the best one yet, and it's basically the show Discovery should have always been. It still has its flaws, but I like the Ten-C storyline and how the whole season is about trying to expand the Federation while also trying to figure out how to make first contact with the Ten-C. This season feels the most like Trek, and there were some fun episodes in this season too, like the poker episode, or the episode where Tilly takes the cadets on a training mission (more on that later).
I actually like some of the newer characters they introduced since season three. Admiral Vance is a much better character than Admiral Cornwall, the Federation and Ni'Var presidents offer an interesting dynamic, and Cleveland Booker is a much better love interest for Michael than Ash Tyler.
That said, Booker does get out of pocket a few too many times, especially for someone who literally holds no rank. Ignoring that he's essentially the villain this season, and while he was sympathetic in his madness, I wasn't a fan of that because you could see where they were going with that from a mile away. One part where he really bugged me was in the season four premiere when he snapped at Owo on the bridge after Kweijan blew up. If I was her I would have been like, "
. I know you're emotional, but just because you're fukking the captain doesn't mean you can talk to us any kind of way.
"
And speaking of the captain, Burnham is finally a somewhat decent character this season. Making her captain feels like a natural fit for her and it also makes more sense when she argues with her superiors. She also doesn't have all the answers for once. There was no reason this shouldn't have been the dynamic from the beginning, especially when Saru comes back and essentially demotes
himself to be her first officer. He gives her none of the shyt she gave him when he was captain, and neither does the rest of the crew. Saru is not only a respectful first officer, but also a guiding hand for Burnham to make the right decisions since he had more seniority since the Shenzhou despite them being the same rank. Why didn't they just make her captain in season three instead of wasting everybody's goddamn time?
I would have preferred it if they found a way to give Saru a promotion rather than have him being Michael's first officer despite still having the rank of captain. Make Saru and admiral and then they still could have had Saru be there when they made first contact with the Ten-C since they were relying on his knowledge of dozens of languages to translate.
I also hate how they write out Tilly for most of the season. She was by far the best written character on the show, and making her a Starfleet Academy teacher seemed a little odd since they were setting her up for a leadership position since season three. I was under the assumption that the actress wanted to leave until she showed back up for the finale.
The bridge crew (Detmer, Nillson, Owo, Bryce, Rhys) really aren't the focus of the show. They're just there to give a little exposition and go, "Aye, Captain." I understand that, but they still occasionally get small storylines as if we're supposed to care about them. I wouldn't have even known all their names, or which was which, if not for the IMDb feature on Prime Video. But it's weird that there is very little emotional connection to them even though all of them have been there since season one.
- Detmer gets a PTSD storyline in season three, that ultimately leads of nothing. It would have been cool if they did more with it since the show ignores that she was on the Shenzhou with Michael and Saru during the Battle of the Binary Stars, but all that happens is that in season four, Adira, who previously idolized Tilly, ends up idolizing Detmer after Tilly is written out, and Detmer's PTSD is briefly mentioned
- Rhys requests to go on an away mission to rescue a space colony from the DMA, because he was from a colony that was destroyed, and then isn't even in the rest of the episode, and just gets a few lines off screen.
- Rhys and Bryce get into an argument about Booker's actions, that has some clear tension between the two when Rhys tells Bryce he doesn't know grief, and Bryce responds that Rhys doesn't have a monopoly on it. This would be an interesting conversation if we actually knew anything about these characters.
- Bryce is written out of most of the season, for reasons that are very unclear to me, but he still pops in and out.
- I don't even know who the fukk Nilsson is or where she came from.
I do think the finale was very strong, and I appreciated how it wasn't purely Burnham giving the final speech to save the day.
God bless Stacey Abrams, but her being the President of the United Earth in the finale was corny as shyt.
I can only assume she was a huge lifelong Trek fan because otherwise that cameo was lame as hell. And her acting was
to boot.
Her gender fluid boyfriend annoyed the hell out of me 
I pretty much only did it because I wanted to start Strange New Worlds and I knew some of the storylines would carry over. 
" And when Burnham gets demoted, she's like 
. They make Tilly acting first officer, but Burnham just goes along like business as usual.
"
"
