Borrowing from a comment I made in response to @ArmandoPenblade in the Orville thread regarding the idea that Discovery is a grimdark or grimrtrek show: that was my initial impression of it as well, but now I’m starting to think Discovery is not actually, strictly speaking, a grimdark (or #grimtrek) show, nor is it trying to be one. I think it’s representing itself as a story that starts off in a grimdark setting, and wants to break out and into a more optimistic Trek. I realize this may be a real stretch, at this stage, but it’s what I’m going with until I see more.
Sorta cross-posted in the Orville thread.