Star Trek: Discovery’s first half-season succeeded by breaking the rules

Spoilers ahead for the first half of season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery.
"Context is for kings,” Jason Isaacs’ Captain Gabriel Lorca intones in the third episode of Star Trek: Discovery, arguing that sometimes, Federation rules need to be broken if the situation warrants it. His declaration stands as a statement about the series in general. In its first half-season, Discovery broke many of Star Trek’s past TV rules, abandoning the familiar syndication-friendly episodic style in f