The plot didn’t make sense. The characters contradicted themselves again. And the pacing was all over the place.

But man, the “Discovery” season finale — “Will You Take My Hand?” — was satisfying. It was one of the rare episodes of the show in which great care is given to individual characters and their story lines. We see Mary Chieffo’s L’Rell given some meaty material as she tries to unite the Klingon houses under her leadership. Tyler and Burnham have a torturous goodbye. We even see Tilly retaining some of the confidence she attained from her Mirror Universe stint as a diabolical leader.

There was also, thanks to Akiva Goldsman, who directed the episode, a very impressive exploration of a new world we haven’t seen yet: the Orion-dominated area on Kronos. “Discovery,” as a show, hasn’t cared as much about exploration as most Trek voyages. Given its superb visuals, watching the buddy cop group of Tyler, Evil Georgiou, Tilly and Tyler navigate unfamiliar territory was a ride worth being on.

But more than anything, the last minute of the episode was the best moment in all of “Discovery,” and totally welcome fan service. We get our first peek of the Enterprise that we have known and loved for decades (Captain Pike was in charge, but still). Hats off to Goldsman for putting together, essentially, a perfect scene. We think the episode is over — and that the Discovery is riding off into the sunset. But then a traditional Trek trope: a distress call, followed by a screen saying, “NCC-17,” which is the moment we realize what is coming. And then there is the Enterprise — a remastered 2018 version that looks absolutely stunning.