This article from nerdist captures the highs and lows from the season.
Let’s be completely honest: Star Trek has never been the most visually stunning of sci-fi franchises. No Trek fan has ever topped their list of favorite elements of the franchise with a commendation of the special effects. But Discovery is maybe the first Star Trek series to truly take advantage of a decent SFX budget. In fact, the series holds up even to the recent slew of Star Trek feature films. Whatever else I might think of this show, it consistently looks gorgeous.
To that end, the show relies on surprise twists and deus ex machina plot contrivances way too much. The fact that the final episode of the season found the resolution to the season-long Klingon war, which is described as having nearly devastated the Federation to the brink of collapse, by having a character drop a doohickey down a well is, I must say, pretty laughable.
"When someone is burning a book, they are showing utter contempt for all of the thinking that produced its ideas, all of the labor that went into its words and sentences, and all of the trouble that befell the author . . .” ― Lemony Snicket