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Star Trek: Discovery

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 1, Episode 13: Another Death, Another Twist, Another Shrug

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By Sopan Deb

• Jan. 29, 2018

Season 1, Episode 13, ‘What’s Past Is Prologue’

“We would have helped you get home if you had asked,” Burnham tells Lorca, right before he is killed.

I burst out laughing. Because why didn’t he just ask? Why pull an incredibly complicated, high-risk charade that has little chance of working? Because he’s Terran and being devious is the only thing he knows how to do? Perhaps — but he spent enough time with the Federation to understand that it’s in the Federation’s nature to help him get home, if he’d only asked for help.

Instead Mirror Lorca went on an odyssey back to the mirror universe, with a plan that required a great many things to fall exactly into place: He needed to retain command. He needed no one to realize that his behavior was different from the non-mirror Lorca. He needed the spore drive — an untested technology — to work to perfection. He needed the Klingons to not kill him. He needed others to not kill him. He needed Burnham. And he needed a certain type of Burnham for his plan to wholly succeed.

This week’s “Discovery” kills off another major character whom we have too many questions about, with an overwrought, messy plot that is difficult to follow. The episode’s title is “What’s Past Is Prologue,” a reference to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

So much of the 43-minute episode left me scratching my head. At times, it seemed like the writers themselves did the same. A couple minutes in, Mirror Landry (Welcome back, Rekha Sharma!) says to Lorca, “I don’t know how you got here or how you got us all out alive.” It’s a good point and we don’t really get an answer to this — setting a tone of confusion right from the start. (How did Lorca walk unscathed and free all his supporters, who of course happen to be on the ship right after murdering someone and escaping the Agonizer?)

This episode — and much of the first season of “Discovery” — reminds me of another “Star Trek” product: “ Star Trek: Nemesis ,” the last of “The Next Generation” movies. It was not well-received by fans or critics — even though the special effects and action scenes were top notch. “Nemesis” was a good action movie. “Discovery” has great action. But in both, the characters make such astoundingly odd decisions that it makes it difficult to get invested in the action. The plots exist simply as transportation vehicles.

And the ending of the episode — that the Discovery crew has time traveled within their normal universe — is another big twist, though it was hard to care much about it, at least for now. Too many plot twists come and go in this show without satisfying resolutions; the characters don’t even seem that interested in shocking news anymore. (When Saru finds out that Lorca isn’t, you know, Lorca, he reacts as if he’s told that the mess hall is out of pudding.)

“Discovery” is a bottom-line show: It’s more concerned with plot ends than with the narrative means. This leaves viewers with the sort of basic questions that shows answer organically, when they don’t opt for cheap plot twists over careful story development.

What Worked

1. The fight scenes

This week, let’s raise our glasses to Glen Keenan, the show’s cinematographer. Georgiou’s containment field was eye-popping and the choreography in the superb fight scenes were unlike anything we’ve seen in Trek. Whatever the other flaws, Mr. Keenan’s work is a bright spot.

2. Rekha Sharma

It was wonderful to see Ms. Sharma back in action. Like many characters this season, Landry was killed off far too early, wasting an interesting character in the process. (Along with Georgiou, Culber, T’Kuvma, and others.)

What Didn’t Work

Where to begin?

The “Star Wars” rip-off

This one is slight — but it was enough to get me to shake my fist at the television. When Mirror Lorca says to Mirror Stamets, “Your lack of vision continues to disappoint me,” it was way too close to Darth Vader’s “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” in “Star Wars: A New Hope.” It is one of the most famous lines in cinematic history. You can’t pull off a line like that unless it’s a direct homage. And Lorca is no Darth Vader.

So many “Wait, what?” moments

More important, there were way too moments during the episode where I was baffled — either by character actions or exposition in the plot. An incomplete and not-so-short list:

• Early on, Lorca frees his followers from a room of Agonizers. Why were they alive to begin with? In previous episodes, even allies are killed with impunity in the Terran Empire. Enemies are shown being beamed into space. There is no real incentive for Evil Georgiou to not execute a group trying to pull of a coup.

• An ion storm pushed Mirror Lorca out of his own universe? This is a classic Trek plot device. “We need a way to get from Point A to Point B. Get me an ion storm.” [Update: Multiple readers have pointed out that an ion storm is how the original Enterprise crew, led by Kirk, ended up in the mirror universe. They are correct, so I’ll offer a mea culpa on this one. I forgot. I will, however, stand by an ion storm being a classic Trek plot device!]

• If you understood how Stamets recovered fully and is able to operate the spore drive with no issues, you are a more attentive viewer than me. Same if you can understand why the spore drive is no longer instantaneous, which is the entire point of the thing, or why the Terran’s bad faith use of the mycelium network would effect other universes.

• Why does Georgiou want Lorca to be brought to her alive? She thought he was dead this whole time until Burnham brought him back. Why is it important to her that she gets to kill him?

• Boy, Burnham is sure able to walk around empty areas of Georgiou’s ship for long periods of time exactly when she needs to, even though many people are trying to find her.

• So Burnham’s plan, when she and Georgiou get to the throne room, was to kick the guards? And why didn’t Lorca just immediately shoot a defenseless Georgiou?

• Uh, does anyone know what happened to Franken-TylerVoq-enstein?

• Why does Georgiou assume she’s a fallen emperor? She put down Lorca’s coup (again). Why can’t she eliminate his supporters, since they have no one to follow?

While I’m not very invested in the time travel plot that’s coming up, I am slightly intrigued. Saru is captain now? More Doug Jones? Yes, please. I’m curious about how the writers will approach a world where the Federation has hit a worst-case scenario — having lost a war. (This has happened before, if rarely: Things looked bleak in “Deep Space Nine” during the Dominion War. In “First Contact,” the Borg actually did assimilate all of Earth.)

An earlier version of this article misstated how many episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” have aired. Sunday’s episode was the thirteenth of the season, not the twelfth.

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Review: A Major Battle Is Won, But an Action-Packed Episode Reminds Us of the Real War

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[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for “Star Trek: Discovery” Season 1 Episode 13, “What’s Past is Prologue.”]

Mission Brief

After last week’s massive reveals regarding Lorca, it’s an all-out war between him and his loyal forces (including the Mirror Universe version of Commander Landry, played by Rekha Sharma, who we last saw being brutally killed by a panicked tardigrade in Episode 4, “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry”) and Emperor Georgiou, who initially maintains control over the Charon before ultimately being overwhelmed. Lorca loses the upper hand, however, due to a moment of vulnerability with Burnham, and by “loses the upper hand” we mean “gets stabbed through the chest and then disintegrated.”

While that battle ends with Lorca’s seemingly unequivocal death, that’s not the biggest threat faced in this episode. While the Terrans fight amongst themselves, the Discovery crew looks to find not just a way home but a way to save “life as we know it,” due to the Terran Empire’s thoughtless exploitation of the mycelium network, pushing it for an unsustainable power system to a level that could destroy every universe.

Thanks to some good old-fashioned Starfleet ingenuity, the Discovery crew comes up with a solution that does, fortunately, rocket them back to their original universe, at long last. The catch? The mycelium network brought them back nine months after they left — just enough time for the Klingons to win the war, and for the Federation to be gone.

Two more episodes left in Season 1!

Love in Space

Again, we remain on alert for the ongoing story of Stamets and Culber, whose love story remains firmly rooted in the tragic, despite the occasional presence of Culber helping Stamets find his way through “the forest.” But in the meantime, there’s Lorca and Burnham to consider…

Last week, it’d been strongly hinted that Lorca and Burnham’s Mirror Universe counterpart had been in a relationship, and in “What’s Past Is Prologue” an offhand comment about “pillow talk” indicated as much.

In an interview with IndieWire this week, in fact, Jason Isaacs confirmed that he definitely felt that Lorca and Mirror!Burnham were having sex. Though while he wasn’t sure how much you could define it as a relationship, given how life is tough in the Mirror Universe, he did feel that “just that tiny flaw of vulnerability, hoping that Burnham will once again ally with him, is enough to get him killed.” (For more from our interview with Isaacs, click here .)

Quite the Body Count

By the end of “What’s Past Is Prologue,” the only survivor of the Charon is Mirror!Georgiou, and that was a fluke moment courtesy of Burnham’s mercy. Otherwise, the brutality of the Mirror Universe was on full display here, from Stamets deploying his special custom weapon for Lorca to the corridor phaser battle that included no shortage of moments illustrating “Discovery’s” special take on the shoot-to-kill setting. Watching so many people choke on foaming vomit or blow away in a burst of red mist made this tough viewing, to be sure, though fitting with this universe. And it was interesting to see Starfleet-esque technology applied to a more bloodthirsty culture, making us appreciate, all the more, the importance of setting one’s phaser to stun.

Quote of the Episode

“My species is bred to sense the coming of death. I do not sense it today. I am surrounded by a team I trust — the finest a captain could ever hope to command. Discovery is no longer Lorca’s, she is ours. And today will be her maiden voyage.” — Saru

Let’s just say this: Doug Jones has been an underrecognized MVP on this show, week after week, and if we’ve failed to appreciate his presence in the cast, that is very much a flaw that’s on us. Captain Saru can lead us anywhere, and while literally anything can happen in the remaining episodes of the season, our sincere hope is that he sticks around for quite some time.

Also, the optimism Saru’s speech inspired in his crew may have preceded Cadet James T. Kirk’s Kobayashi Maru run by a few years, but honestly telling a group of young frightened officers that he doesn’t believe in no-win scenarios was perhaps just the right thing to say, in order to spur them forward. Now that the crew has returned to a Klingon-dominated Alpha Quadrant, the challenges are even more real, but we can’t wait to see how they rally.

Final Thoughts

Serious question: If the episode had been entirely focused on the battle on the Emperor’s ship, with no one worrying about the mycelial network and returning to the Prime Universe, would it have still worked? Maybe — if only because the ultimate resolution, settling the three-way conflict between Georgiou, Burnham, and Lorca, would have gotten some room to breathe.

However, the choice to combine both sequences is right in line with “Discovery’s” overall choice to keep the plot’s pace at a breakneck level, and also hints that there’s a lot more territory to cover in the remaining two episodes of the season. Good god, could we be looking at parallel universes and time travel in the first season of “Discovery”? If we weren’t having such fun, we’d be getting whiplash.

New episodes of “Star Trek: Discovery” stream Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS All Access.

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• Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 13

What's Past is Prologue

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[Originally aired January 28, 2018 on CBS All Access]

Having escaped his agony chamber, killed the Charon's captain, and revealed himself to be the Mirror-Lorca, intent on overthrowing the Emperor, Lorca finds his followers in their agony chambers and frees them all, including the Mirror-Landry.

They make their way to Engineering and find Mirror-Stamets hiding behind a holographic shield. Lorca recounts how he ended up in the Prime Universe, revealing that Stamets betrayed him to the Emperor, ruining the first coup attempt. When the Emperor tracked him down, she fired on his ship, the Buran, but an ion storm hit at the same moment as the torpedoes, causing a transporter malfunction which put him in the Prime Universe Buran. He demands Stamets show him the bio-weapon being developed for the Emperor.

Using the bio-weapon, Lorca begins killing whole decks of Imperial troops at a time. The Emperor monitors the casualties from her throne room and waits for him to reveal his location. Burnham warns against underestimating Lorca and asks to contact the Discovery again to warn them about the battle.

Emperor Georgiou orders her to be taken to the brig but she fights off the guards and escapes. While she is pursued by one set of guards, another is dispatched to bring Lorca to the throne room alive to be executed by the Emperor herself.

Aboard the Discovery, Stamets has repaired the spore drive but is unable to save the mycelial crop. He and Tilly have discovered that Mirror-Stamets is also using the mycelial network to power his ship, the Charon, but rather than traveling along the networks paths, he is sucking the power out of the network, poisoning it. If the contamination isn't contained and reversed, it will destroy the network throughout the multiverse.

Lorca makes a ship-wide announcement, addressing the Emperor and accusing her of failing to preserve the Empire. He offers amnesty to everyone who renounces the Emperor and follows him. Also, he states that Michael Burnham is not to be touched. The Emperor uses the broadcast to track his location and orders her personal guard to follow her lead.

Entering the main lab, the Emperor is approached by Commander Owosekun who reports her squad was ambushed and destroyed and she was spared so that she could deliver Lorca's message to the Emperor that he was here. Just as she completes her message, she is disintegrated by a blast and Lorca and his forces makes themselves known. They fire but the Emperor's forces are protected by a containment field. The Emperor activates auto-fire cannons above the door and Lorca's group scatters for cover. He and Landry are able to take down the cannons and then they fire until the containment field falls. The Emperor signals retreat and Lorca detonates a flash grenade. The Imperial guard is downed and the Emperor takes out several rebels before initiating an emergency transport and beaming out.

Lorca is annoyed Stamets didn't warn him the Emperor had an emergency transport set up. Landry wants to kill Stamets but he is able to disable the ship's emergency transport. Lorca orders his troops to set up a perimeter around the throne room.

Burnham is in the ship's access tunnels and attempts to contact Discovery. Making contact, she informs Saru and the crew of Lorca's true identity and his plan to overthrow the Emperor. She implores them to abort the meeting with the Charon. Saru refuses to leave her behind. Stamets informs her of the damage to the network. They tell her that a photon hit on the Charon's orb would sever the connection but there's a containment field that they can't penetrate. Burnham tells them that she'll deal with the containment field.

Lorca and his troops enter the throne room. Lorca lectures them on Destiny. He tells Stamets that his usefulness is at an end and prepares to drop him through a hole in the floor into the mycelial orb that powers the ship. Instead, Landry shoots and disintegrates him.

Landry notifies Lorca that there's been an unauthorized ship-to-ship transmission and Lorca knows that it was Burnham.

Lorca addresses Burnham through the ship's video screens and she responds. He tries to convince her to join him while Landry hunts her down. She finds that the video feed was rerouted so they don't know where Burnham is. Lorca is convinced that she'll see things his way and join him.

Burnham finds the Emperor and they discuss Lorca. Burnham informs the Emperor that she plans on stopping Lorca but the Emperor is skeptical.

On the Discovery, Stamets is informing the crew that the photon torpedoes won't be enough to sever the orb's connection to the network. They'll need to load the ship's warheads with the harvested spores and use their entire supply, leaving them with no way home. On top of that, the simulations indicate that the force of the blast from freeing the network will incinerate the Discovery. Saru gives them a pep talk.

Landry reports to Lorca that all of the Emperor's lords and senior officers have been executed and everyone else is swearing allegiance. Burnham enters the throne room with the Emperor and bargains herself for the Discovery's crew. Lorca accepts.

Tilly and Stamets come up with a way for Discovery to not only save the ship but to get it home.

The Discovery rendezvous with the Charon. Lorca addresses them and Saru demands to know where Burnham is. Lorca informs them that she is staying by his side in order for the Discovery and its crew to escape annihilation. Saru wants to here is from Burnham who informs him she is where she needs to be. He takes that as confirmation that the plan is ready to execute and the Discovery fires on the throne room as Burnham and the Emperor attack their guards. 

The Emperor takes on Lorca while Landry fights Burnham. Lorca knocks the Emperor down but diverts to kill Landry rather than let her harm Burnham. Burnham turns to attack him instead and Lorca hesitates from killing Burnham so she gains the upper hand on him. She tells him that Starfleet would've help him get home if he had asked. She lowers her weapon, saying that she won't kill him here either. The Emperor stabs him from behind with her sword. He stumbles towards Burnham who steps aside to let him fall to the ground. The Emperor opens the pit to the orb and kicks Lorca in.

Burnham brings down the containment field.

The Emperor fights Lorca's followers to buy Burnham time because she is a defeated leader but wants to die on her feet. She wishes Burnham well and hands her a communicator.

She contacts the Discovery as Emperor Georgiou takes on the Lorca forces. Discovery gets a lock on her and beams her out. At the last moment, Burnham runs to Georgiou and grabs her, bringing her with her to the Discovery. Once he knows that Burnham is on board, Saru orders the attack on the orb and black alert.

Everything goes according to plan and, with the help of the advice Culber gave him, Stamets is able to navigate them back into their universe and their quadrant. Unfortunately, they arrive nine months after they crossed over to the Mirror Universe and it appears that the Klingons have won the war and Starfleet no longer exists.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 13 Quotes

To me, it was Physics acting as the Hand of Destiny. My Destiny. Lorca Permalink: To me, it was Physics acting as the Hand of Destiny. My Destiny. Added: January 28, 2018

One year, two hundred and twelve days of torture. Of agony, my friends. My followers. But I have returned to give meaning to your suffering. Today is the day we reclaim our empire. Lorca Permalink: Today is the day we reclaim our empire. Added: January 28, 2018

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 13 Photos

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Star Trek: Discovery – Season 1, Episode 13

What's past is prologue, where to watch, star trek: discovery — season 1, episode 13.

Watch Star Trek: Discovery — Season 1, Episode 13 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Star Trek: Discovery 's 13th episode shows that the show is capable of delivering shocking twists and exciting fight scenes, all while paying homage to its predecessors.

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Sonequa Martin-Green

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Published Apr 5, 2024

RECAP | Star Trek: Discovery 501 - 'Red Directive'

There's never a dull moment for the U.S.S. Discovery!

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Discovery.

StarTrek.com

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery opens with " Red Directive, " where Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery are sent to retrieve a mysterious artifact hidden inside a 800-year-old Romulan vessel – but find that they’re not the only ones on the hunt. Meanwhile, Saru is offered the position of a lifetime.

• Michael Burnham
• Hugh Culber
• Paul Stamets
• Sylvia Tilly
• Laira Rillak
• Charles Vance
• Christopher
• Joann Owosekun
• Keyla Detmer
• Cleveland "Book" Booker

• Federation Headquarters
• U.S.S. Discovery -A
• U.S.S. Antares

As a vessel traverses the stars at high warp, Captain Michael Burnham experiences exhilaration as she clings to its hull in her environmental suit. The captain quips that there’s "never a dull moment" and proceeds to use her phaser in a bid to knock out the starship's engines. Burnham notes that they need to retrieve an item taken from a vault over the comm channel. As her suit advises her that warp bubble stability is declining rapidly, the captain remarks that this is not what she expected to happen when the night started…

"Red Directive"

Four hours earlier, Burnham joyfully converses with Ensign Adira Tal, Lt. Sylvia Tilly, Commander Paul Stamets, and Dr. Hugh Culber at Federation Headquarters, where Cadet Ross introduces them to Tonic 2161 — the official cocktail of the millennium celebration. Though the Federation was founded in 2161, the Burn prevented any widespread festivities when the holiday actually occurred decades before in 3161. Paired with a blue liquid, the beverage’s "floaty bits" — which taste like Bajoran jumja sticks — honor the Federation flag and its starry features.

The captain offers a smile, stating that it’s good to see that the Federation is back and at peace. Stamets nevertheless comes off as melancholic, and Culber discloses that the astromycologist just found out that Starfleet is shuttering the spore drive program. Paul expresses trepidation over his new title of "Scientific Luminary," adding that the Federation’s new Pathway Drive "won out" as the propulsion system of the future. Adira chimes in, remarking that this means the U.S.S. Discovery -A will always be one-of-a-kind, but Stamets replies with skepticism, believing his legacy was destroyed along with Cleveland "Book" Booker’s ship.

Certain he would have figured out the spore drive's navigator problem one day, the scientist emphasizes the potential for rolling out the technology to the whole fleet. His friends exchange concerned glances, but Captain Burnham then assures him that they will all find a new purpose and raises a glass in a toast to change. An aide informs Burnham that her presence has been requested by Federation President Laira Rillak, leaving Stamets to chastise himself for mentioning Book as the captain departs. While Tilly assures him that Burnham has not even talked about Book in months, Culber applies his psychiatric expertise and highlights the significant difference between locking something away and moving on. Tilly notices a fellow officer and goes to visit him, and the rest of the group disperses to "mingle."

On the dance floor, Captain Saru chats softly with Ni'Var's President T'Rina, who recognizes that the Kelpien has news and playfully wonders if she'll be "forced" to mind meld with him in order to learn what has transpired. President Rillak would like Saru to serve as a Federation Ambassador to a coalition of smaller worlds, ensuring that their needs are addressed as the Federation continues to expand. T'Rina appreciates the government’s effort to avoid repeating its past mistakes and observes that the planets’ locations could leave them open to influences from the Tholian Republic or the Breen Imperium.

Saru cites the Federation's need to remain unified, but the post would require that he resign his Starfleet commission. However, as an ambassador, he would be based at Federation HQ, in close proximity to T'Rina and her own duties. Ni'Var's president interrupts her dance partner, stating that — despite their deep love for one another — it is only logical that their relationship not factor into Saru's decision, an observation which seems to unsettle the Kelpien.

Across the room, Admiral Charles Vance approaches Captain Burnham and hands her an infinity-shaped device. The two retreat to a secure location — a featureless, all-white area known as the Infinity Room — and rendezvous with Dr. Kovich, who acknowledges the facility’s over-the-top theatricality. Turning to Burnham, Vance explains that an 800-year old science vessel was just found at the edge of the Beta Quadrant. Discovery needs to jump there immediately, but Kovich will only say that the ship contains "something vital to the security of the Federation." Burnham begins to object, but Kovich silences any disagreement when he reveals that the mission is a Red Directive.

Saru beams into Discovery 's Bridge and receives status reports from Lt. Christopher, Lt. Linus, Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun, Lt. Naya, Lt. Commander Gen Rhys, and Lt. Commander Keyla Detmer. Burnham and Kovich transport aboard and share that the crew will be going on a Red Directive classified mission. Their target? A 24th Century Romulan science vessel that will most certainly attract the attention of scavengers and other nefarious characters. A second Starfleet ship is already en route, but Discovery will arrive first — or so they believe…

Across the quadrant, two helmeted figures pillage the derelict Romulan starship, ultimately removing their protective gear and taking in the ship’s breathable atmosphere. The female — Moll — comments that the U.S.S. Antares is on its way, and her male cohort L’ak sees a second Starfleet ship on their scanners. L’ak believes this means that the Romulan cargo must be "extra shiny," but he suggests they call it a day and enjoy a holodeck for two. Moll asks if L’ak wants "the pebbles or the mountain," convincing her partner to stay the course.

Discovery enters scanning range, and Owosekun detects two lifeforms on the Romulan ship — at least until their lifesigns suddenly vanish. Burnham gathers Owosekun and Rhys for the away team, but Kovich offers some disturbing insight — setting weapons to stun might not be enough, so they are authorized to use lethal force. Shock covers Burnham's face, and Kovich orders her to successfully complete the mission by any means necessary.

The three Starfleet officers beam over to the Romulan vessel's darkened corridors with phasers drawn and begin searching for the trespassers. Aerosolized water droplets notify them that the intruders had not been gone long, and Burnham advises Rhys and Owosekun to keep their phasers on stun. The trio continue on and locate an 800-year old Romulan corpse and an uncloaked — and empty — vault. Realizing the scavengers must be close, the Starfleet officers spin around and open fire. Moll and L'ak materialize in front of them, managing to capture Rhys and Owosekun in containment fields and making their escape.

Captain Burnham pursues, converting her weapon into a phaser rifle and exchanging volleys with her opponents. Moll and L'ak step forward, holding the prize they acquired from the vault and tossing an explosive charge toward the captain. As the intruders beam away, Burnham is tossed through an opening and into space. Fortunately, her programmable matter EV suit automatically activates, and the captain jets toward the outline of Moll and L'ak's ship. Burnham magnetizes her suit as the craft enters warp.

As Burnham works to sabotage the engines, the U.S.S. Antares follows and grabs the ship with a tractor beam. Captain Rayner signals Burnham, who notices the warp bubble has started to collapse and urges the U.S.S. Antares to release its hold on the fleeing vessel. Operating on Burn-era tech and lacking a state-of-the-art Pathway Drive, Rayner knows the Antares can’t pull the enemy craft out of warp. Having previously encountered Moll and L'ak, Rayner is hesitant to let them elude him

Checking in from Discovery 's center seat, Saru informs Burnham — who doesn’t want to miss her upcoming saxophone lesson — that Owosekun and Rhys are being treated in Sickbay. Detmer pilots the Crossfield -class vessel into position and Lt. Gallo prepares to transport the captain to safety. The ride is bumpy, but Kovich resolves to remain on the Bridge until the mission is completed. Burnham repeats her warning to Rayner, advising that the breakup of Moll's ship would also destroy the Antares . Believing that every mission is personal, Rayner pushes back on Burnham's own record, but he eventually concedes.

The three starships, as well as Captain Burnham, drop out of warp. The intruders' vessel spouts numerous probes, and they all leap to warp on different courses. Burnham is beamed right to Discovery 's Bridge, barely able to catch her breath before Rayner's hologram appears to discuss what he describes as the "cherry that they just dropped on our shit sundae." Appearing with a stern face and pointed ears, Rayner states that the probes left behind 20 warp signatures, meaning it will take days to determine which course Moll and L'ak actually took. Kovich voices his displeasure, but Burnham admits she knows someone who can help them find the thieves.

Discovery jumps to a ringed planet, and its captain nervously strolls into the shuttlebay to greet Cleveland "Book" Booker, who beams in and requests permission to come aboard. The somewhat awkward reunion shifts into Discovery 's corridors, where Burnham announces her suspicion that Moll and L'ak used to be couriers. The Federation is expanding and most of the old networks are closed, but Burnham hopes Book's experience, expertise, and insight can assist them in determining the correct warp signature. The two acknowledge that it has been a while since they spoke, and Burnham commends him for the work he has done with the refugees who were affected by the Dark Matter Anomaly. Book is eager to "make things right" in the wake of stealing the experimental spore drive for his own ship.

Burnham and Book confer with Saru, Kovich, Vance, and Rayner in the Ready Room, where the Antares ' captain briefs them on what is known about Moll — a human — and L'ak, a member of an unknown species. The duo, who showed up in the sector approximately two years ago, procured a tan zhekran — a traditional Romulan puzzle box — from the science ship. Kovich claims he is not at liberty to share details about the item and shifts the conversation to Book's detective skills. Factoring in the need to avoid Federation territory and the few fencers who would have interest in a 24th Century haul, Book determines that Moll and L'ak are headed to meet with a broker named Fred — just "Fred" — on Q’Mau. Vance orders Burnham and Rayner to investigate, insisting that they try working together.

The officers begin to walk out, but Saru stays behind to speak with Captain Burnham in private. Noting that a tan zhekran can contain almost anything, including a weapon or a pathogen, the captain is concerned that Kovich won't even tell her the name of the Romulan scientist who owned it. Saru slyly suggests that someone outside of Discovery 's chain of command with access to different databases might be able to assist. Burnham responds with a joyous smile, her expression turning serious as she remembers Saru could soon be leaving for another post.

Back at Federation HQ, Lt. Tilly enters her quarters in the midst of an energetic chat with Lt. Jax. Lamenting over a cadet who refuses to leave the lab during the Academy's Simulation Week, Tilly outlines collaboration's importance to Starfleet's future and — very briefly — ponders whether she could crash every cadet onto an ice moon in order to teach them that lesson. Tilly attributes her talkativeness to the champagne served at the after party, and the two officers exchange flirtatious gazes.

Tilly and Jax — who both love walking and talking — share a clumsy goodbye that nevertheless elicits a smirk from the Academy instructor. Now alone, Tilly orders up a coffee from the replicator. The respite is short-lived, as an incoming communication from Captain Burnham provides another boost to Tilly's energy reserves. Theorizing that Tilly must have had some Andorian champagne, Burnham adopts her "serious voice" and asks Tilly for her help. Always available for her friends, Tilly gleefully responds, "Whatever it is, I’m in."

Discovery arrives at Q’Mau, where Burnham and Book beam down to a small settlement that is surrounded by a desert landscape and rocky outcroppings. Book remarks that it feels like their old courier days, and Burnham asks about Grudge — the Queen is great, she says, "Hi." They disagree about who should have made more of an effort to contact the other, but Rayner's arrival disperses the mounting tension.

Elsewhere in the marketplace, Moll and L'ak are scanned and welcomed into Fred's establishment. Fred, who has the distinctive appearance of a synthetic lifeform, maintains a friendly demeanor, though his guards supply the room with an air of hostility. Fred notices Moll and L'ak's "togetherness," spiritedly contrasting the bilabial nasal of "Moll" with the voiceless velar plosive of "L'ak." The thieves present Fred with their recent finds — isolinear coprocessors, vintage PADDS and tricorders, self-sealing stem bolts, and the mysterious puzzle box.

Intrigued, Fred mentions that he hasn’t encountered such an item in 622.7 years. He unlocks the box by shifting its features into a new configuration, revealing a handwritten diary. The android skims the text, happily offering Moll and L'ak three bars of latinum for the entire lot. The duo replies with a laugh, unsatisfied with the price. Fred refuses to return their items, prompting the pair to burst into hand-to-hand combat with his guards. Moll is struck by an energy blast from the synth’s weapon, and — though her wound is not fatal — L'ak launches into a violent frenzy that results in Fred’s demise.

Book, Burnham, and Rayner locate Fred's lair soon after and confiscate the synth's body so that Discovery can scan his memory. Rayner hurriedly sets off on his own, but Book and Burnham remain to plot their next move. As they realize that Moll and L'ak must have cloaked their ship outside the settlement, Dr. Culber observes Fred's corpse in Sickbay. The android is an old model — dozens of generations before the tech used for Gray’s body — marked with the serial number "AS0572Y." Stamets deduces that the "AS" was intended to honor Altan Soong*, marveling at the 24th Century scientist’s legacy. The astromycologist needs wires to interface with Fred's memory drive, quipping that — luckily — Culber had married a packrat.

Down on the planet's surface, Moll and L'ak speed by Rayner on sand runners — swift transports used by locals to navigate the terrain. Thanks to their patience and foresight, Burnham and Book had anticipated the chase and already rented three of the vehicles. Rayner isn't impressed by Burnham's "strategic advantages," leaving Discovery 's captain to tell Book that she hasn’t disliked someone this much in 930 years.

Meanwhile, at Federation HQ, two security officers burst into Tilly's quarters as the lieutenant prepares to break the shifting fractal encryption which safeguards a secure Federation database. Vance marches in and intervenes, who astonishingly agrees that Captain Burnham deserves to know why her crew is risking their lives for an 800-year old Romulan ship. The admiral says that it is a "shame" he didn't get to stop Tilly in time and allows her to unlock the file. A shaky holo-recording manifests, depicting Doctor Vellek* — the Romulan whose body they had found. The Romulan scientist warns that his knowledge of an ancient technology beyond all comprehension — hidden in the "shadow of twin moons" — must not be lost or fall into the wrong hands.

On Q’Mau, the Starfleet officers close in on Moll and L'ak, but Rayner ventures ahead once again. Book teases Burnham by claiming that Rayner reminds him of another captain he knows, but the situation intensifies once the thieves reach their starship. Moll and L'ak set course for a nearby mountain's tunnel system so as to avoid detection by Discovery and Antares , and sensors detect an explosive charge in one of the tunnel's entrances. Aware that their foes planned ahead to distract their pursuers with an avalanche. According to Saru, Zora estimates there to be a 30% chance that the disaster would decimate the settlement.

Captain Rayner proposes an unorthodox plan — detonate the charge themselves and block Moll and L'ak's escape route. Burnham disagrees, yet her counterpart insists that she is letting stats get in the way of strategy — though possible, an avalanche is unlikely. As Rayner orders Antares to lock phasers on target, Burnham contends that they are on a non-Federation planet and undertaking a classified mission, but Rayner follows through with his plan. Phaser beams strike down from orbit and seal the tunnel, yet Saru confirms that scans show the mountainside remains stable… at least until Moll and L'ak launch a photon torpedo that sends the rattled cliff into a freefall.

Burnham, Book, and Rayner flee from the rising debris cloud on their sand runners, but Zora announces that the avalanche is reaching speeds of 200 kilometers per hour — there is not enough time to evacuate the local encampment. In Engineering, Stamets and Adira run through several solutions, ultimately landing on the idea of combining Discovery and Antares ' shields to serve as a "brake" for the avalanche. Will it work? Stamets thinks — no, hopes — it will work, finally deciding, "Let’s go with 'hope.'"

Captain Saru starts to organize the maneuver, but Rayner does not want Antares to leave orbit and lose track of Moll and L'ak. Burnham emphasizes that the safety of the civilians in the avalanche's path is now their primary mission, and Rayner relents. Discovery and Antares burst through the atmosphere in a tight formation, fusing their shields together and burying their forward saucers into the planet's desert. The avalanche ripples against the energy barrier, but the starships triumphantly hold the line and inspire cheers from the settlement. The relief is lost on Rayner, who watches as Moll and L'ak escape to warp.

Rayner beams back to the Antares , giving Burnham and Book a moment to enjoy each other's company and confess that they both should have called one another. Still bruised from the ordeal, Burnham takes her admission a step further and reveals that she's not sure how to be around him anymore. Book considers the statement, countering that some things are hard to move past. The heart-to-heart is interrupted by a transmission from Tilly, who tells the captain that she has "wild" answers to her pressing questions.

The Discovery -A employs its spore drive to return to Federation Headquarters, where Captain Saru resolves to have his own private conversation with his partner. T'Rina expresses concern over rumors of Saru's eventful mission. The Kelpien reflects on the danger the civilians had faced and recalls something Tilly had once told him — "life is just a blink." Saru struggles to elaborate, aware that fear had constrained him from embracing love while dealing with the cullings of his youth.***

Had he been endangered by the avalanche, Saru would only have been able to think of T'Rina, therefore their relationship must be factored in as he considers his future. T'Rina is his home, his family, and so much more, and he intends to accept the ambassadorship to be alongside her — always. T’Rina welcomes the news, pleasantly surprising Saru when she proposes they "codify" their bond through marriage.

On Discovery , Captain Burnham enters Sickbay to get an update on Fred from Culber and Stamets. They downloaded the last 15 teraquads of data from his ocular processing unit, giving them an extended look at the pages of Vellek's diary. A handwritten diagram depicting the Vileen system's "twin moons" catches the captain's attention, sending her on a mission to meet Kovich on a holographic representation of a barren planetary surface. Kovich admires her tenacity but claims this Red Directive has been classified for centuries. His threat to pass the assignment to another team doesn't phase Burnham, who knows she holds the key to their target's location.

"The Chase"

Kovich lets out a sheepish grin, aware that Tilly and Vance played key parts in briefing the captain. He discontinues the holo, and — as the two stand in his office — he recounts the details. As one of the greatest scientists of his day, Dr. Vellek, was present when a Starfleet captain — Jean-Luc Picard — found a message left by a race of ancient beings — referred to as the "Progenitors" — who created every humanoid species in the galaxy.** Vellek discovered the technology that the Progenitors used to design life itself, but its location was lost when he disappeared 800 years ago.

Now, either Moll and L'ak know where this powerful find is or the diary is the first piece of the puzzle. Starfleet must track down this technology to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Burnham divulges that Lyrek, a planet situated in an outer sector of the Beta Quadrant within the Vileen system, has three moons — two of which move in perfect sync. Pleased, Kovich proclaims that the greatest treasure in the known galaxy is out there, lightheartedly asking the captain what she’s waiting for. Burnham flashes a smile and replies, "Let’s fly."

* " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 " — The dealer in Q'Mau, Fred, is a Soong-inspired synthetic possessed a memory drive that had a serial number with an attribution to Altan Soong. The self-described "mad scientist" is the son of Noonien Soong , the creator of Soong-type androids. Altan Soong would continue his work despite the Federation's ban on synths. His work (and Dr. Maddox's research), known as the Soong Method, on transferring sentience into an artificial golem body was what helped create Gray Tal's new synthetic body's design in "Anomaly."

** " The Chase " — This Star Trek: The Next Generation adventure was where Captain Jean-Luc Picard found himself in a race with the Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans to solve a four billion year old genetic puzzle. The Romulan Dr. Vellek, one of the greatest scientists of his day, was among those present when Picard discovered a message left by a race of ancient beings known as Progenitors, who created life as we know it — every humanoid species in the galaxy.

*** " An Obol for Charon " — Following Saru's survival of Vahar'ai , he discovered that the maturation process didn't signal death. It was in fact a biological event in the Kelpien's evolution that removed their suppression of fear. Concerned with their own survival, the Ba'ul who lived on Kaminar with Kelpiens exploited their binary nature to oppress the later group.

• Written by Michelle Paradise
• Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi

"Red Directive" features a dedication:

For JP, with love.

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Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek Discovery season 1 review: "Discovery works for today’s audience in a way Kirk and co never would"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

While hardcore Trekkies will struggle to love it, and plot holes abound towards the end, Discovery is the Star Trek we need right now.

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In recent years we’ve come to expect almost everything we’ve ever loved being rebooted in some form or another. So the announcement that a new Star Trek series was being developed way back in 2015 wasn't that shocking. It had been a decade since Enterprise had finished and the (then) upcoming 50th anniversary of the show had everyone thinking it was maybe time to boldly go again. Years (and many delays) later, Star Trek Discovery warped onto our screens in September 2017 with a fresh outlook on the future which was almost unrecognisable but, after 15 episodes with the USS Discovery and it’s crew, it’s clear that there’s a place for a darker Trek in our viewing schedules. While it’s not without its flaws, and hardcore Trekkies continue to struggle with how different it is from the original, Discovery proves that it’s possible to merge a beloved sci-fi classic with everything that works about modern television. 

No sooner had the series premiered than the proclamation ‘This is not Star Trek!’ echoed around the internet. And so started a fan war of disagreements, which was perhaps only surpassed by the whole Star Wars: The Last Jedi ‘debate’ at the end of last year. The truth is that Discovery is just a very different Trek series to past iterations, and if you’re looking for more of the Original Series or The Next Generation... well, you’re better off rewatching those series than giving Discovery a go because you won’t find many monster-of-the-week or space anomaly style adventures here. However, if you’re open to the idea of the franchise changing for a completely new era of television, and perhaps even - shock, horror - introducing a new audience to the world of the Federation, then Discovery fills that role perfectly. While hardcore Trekkies may never see the value of the series (and that’s fine - we don’t all have to like the same thing), Discovery found its audience mostly in people who had never watched a Star Trek TV show before in their lives. With its darker version of the future and lack of traditional space exploration hijinks, Discovery is the Trek series we need in this day and age, and it’s brought a beloved, yet outdated, series into the present golden age of television. 

8 questions we have after watching Star Trek Discovery season 1

Unlike previous Treks, the action centres on First Officer Michael Burnham (although she doesn’t remain First Officer for long) who, while human, was raised Vulcan by Spock’s parents. Through her misguided logic she inadvertently starts a war with the Klingons who aren’t yet the united Empire we know from the Original Series, and so we see the Federation as we’ve never seen it before; not as explorers but as soldiers at war. It’s not hard to see why this doesn’t sit well with some fans, but the television landscape (and the world) has changed a lot since Gene Roddenberry first imagined Star Trek and Discovery works for today’s audience in a way Kirk and co never would. Burnham joins the crew of the Discovery under the leadership of Captain Lorca who is desperate to make a new form of transport work to give the Federation the edge in a war they are clearly losing, all the while Klingons Voq and L’Rell attempt to unite the 24 great Klingon Houses under one rule. From Burnham’s mutiny and the development of the DASH drive, to getting lost in Terran space and Lorca’s true identity, it really is incredible how much is packed into the first season of Discovery and while it can sometimes feel a little over-stuffed (especially towards the end), almost every episode is standout television. Expertly combining the rich and varied world of Star Trek and modern audience’s love of fan theories and twists, Discovery’s plot keeps you glued to the screen from episode-to-episode, despite a few annoying plot holes which crop up from time to time. It also doesn't rely too heavily on its well-known background and although there are plenty of Easter eggs and fan pleasing moments, they remain just that, never creeping too far into the narrative and taking over. 

Every member of the cast holds their own, including lead Sonequa Martin-Green (despite the difficulties of her character which I’ll get to in a moment), but there are a handful of performances that really are spectacular. It’s a joy to see actor Doug Jones getting the recognition he deserves after years of playing characters with heavy prosthetics. His role as Saru in Discovery is no different, but the industry is finally sitting up a noticing how much work goes into playing a character like this and his performance as the mild-mannered yet highly intelligent Kelpien is far from the one-dimensional Star Trek aliens of the past. Shazad Latif could be praised simply for playing two characters on the show (Voq and Tyler) and keeping it a secret until the big reveal, but he does so much more than that. Both performances are strong and well-rounded but it’s when they come together and merge as Tyler discovers his true identity that you realise how much work goes into portraying someone with dual personalities. However, it’s Jason Isaacs who steals the show as Gabriel Lorca - a Captain with depth and mystery, and one that plays everyone from the beginning. There is always something a bit off about his character, but it isn’t until his true motivations are revealed that you notice how much Isaacs has subtly been planting the seeds for his arc the whole time. 

Houston, we have a problem

Sadly, the main problem with Discovery is that its least interesting and endearing character is also - unfortunately - its main character: Michael Burnham. While most fans were intrigued by the idea that Discovery would be the first Star Trek series whose main character wouldn’t be the Captain of the title ship, the series failed to produce a strong enough substitute. This is mainly down to the fact that Burnham is human, but raised Vulcan which makes for an incredibly tricky character for actress Sonequa Martin-Green to get a handle on. Due to the dispassionate nature of Vulcans, they’re never a viable series lead, and while we may love Spock and the occasional Vulcan-focused episode is a joy, we can’t root for a race which is so emotionally different to our own. It’s as if the showrunners wanted to created a character that services fans without alienating them too much (Vulcan + Human = Burnham), but instead ended up making someone who’s emotionless and boring one moment and reckless and naive the next. In essence, Burnham is just too inconsistent as a lead and the series suffers for it despite its many other compelling characters. 

Discovery’s other problem is another issue of inconsistency, this time, in the form of pacing. It’s easy to dismiss or forget how important pacing of a show (or movie) can be, but you sure as hell notice it when it’s off. While Discovery started off at a gentle trot (Burnham didn’t even make it onto the USS Discovery until episode 3 and the long promised Mirror Universe plot made its debut in the mid-season finale), by the time we got to the end of the season, everything had gone a bit Game of Thrones season 6 with characters teleporting all over the place and major deaths getting little reaction time. While teleportation is actually a thing in the Trek universe (unlike Westeros), we still needed more time to adjust to a lot of what happened in the second half, especially when the first half had allowed us to do just that. The showrunners clearly use the first half to set everything up and let us get accustomed to this new Trek, but then there just isn't enough time to do justice to everything they’d promised in the second half. Lorca only gets to be the baddie/true Terran for one full episode before being killed off, the Tyler/Voq storyline still doesn’t feel like it ever got it’s well-deserved payoff, and even minor characters - such as Mudd, who made some of the best moments from the beginning of the series - were never heard of again. After putting in so much time and effort to set up some truly compelling plot points, fan theories, and interesting twists, it’s disappointing that ultimately most of them don't get the screen time they deserve.

Star Trek Discovery - every Easter egg and secret reference hidden in season 1

No doubt, Discovery redefines what Star Trek is for a new audience, and not everyone is going to like that. The good news is that if you love the traditional Star Trek of yesteryear, there’s still plenty of that for you to rewatch and enjoy, but if you want a new science fiction show which is a bit more gritty, amps up the action, and actually gives the Federation something to complain about, Discovery pretty much nails it. While it probably shouldn't have made it’s main character Vulcan-like, and could have benefitted from a bit more breathing room for some of its storylines, the series stands out in an age of exceptional television to become one of the best shows of recent times. This is a Star Trek series which knows its past, but isn’t beholden to it… basically, a near perfect reboot then. 

Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.

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Star Trek: Discovery Series Premiere Recap: Get Back in the Antiproton Chamber!

Star trek: discovery.

I was put on this Earth to do two things: chew gum and love Star Trek . I have plenty of gum on my person and a brand-new Star Trek series to watch; the lark’s on the wing, the snail’s on the thorn, God’s in His heaven, and all’s right with the world. I am a simple man, with a simple and easy-to-please heart. Nothing pleases me more than when, for example, a cocksure pilot in a sci-fi movie says “We’ve got company” in a tone that suggests that the “company” in question is not in fact invited and expected guests, but enemy pilots who are shortly going to shoot at our heroes. “ Oh-ho ,” chortles my easy-to-please heart, “ company indeed .”

The premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery opens with a shot of a galaxy slowly turning into an iris, which is a sci-fi trope I have loved ever since I first saw it during Men in Black . I loved it just as much tonight as if I had never seen it before. This is quickly followed by a bit of banter (“You’re lost,” ”Technically, we are lost”) that further relaxed me into a state of pure lizard-brain enjoyment. Said banter is exchanged between a calm and confident captain — Captain Philippa Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou — and her skeptical, measured first officer — Michael Burnham, (also called Number One, in a nice nod to Majel Barrett ’s short-lived role in The Cage ) — as they explore the surface of a desert planet belonging to a race known only as the Crepusculans (“ He’s crepuscular! Get him, boys! ”), a name that immediately and eternally endeared them to me.

In the grand tradition of Starfleet’s Prime Directive (“Kind of do whatever you want as long as nobody sees you do it!”), Georgiou and Burnham attempt to, essentially, bomb a local well into decontaminating the surrounding water table ( “Sure!” –Me ). Every Star Trek incarnation has to decide its own relationship to the Federation’s status as an ostensibly demilitarized body, and to what degree Starfleet can be understood as either a peaceful, scientific endeavor or as essentially an interstellar navy. There are endless possibilities, and from the outset Discovery seems honestly committed to exploring a number of them — some in good faith, others less so. This conflict is nowhere more strongly lampshaded than in Lieutenant Commander Michael Burnham herself, a human raised on Vulcan according to Vulcan tradition, and the ward of no less than Sarek, Spock’s father. I profoundly appreciated the fact that she seemed to have acquired the innate sense of Vulcan Time Estimation through her education, because it supports my long-standing and totally unsupported belief that I, too, could be punctual and disciplined instead of always texting “I’m five minutes away,” as I get into my car, had I been raised by Vulcans.

I want very much to avoid coming across as the superfan from The Simpsons who attended an Itchy & Scratchy Q&A panel and asked the question , “In Episode 2F09, when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is a magic xylophone, or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder,” but I found myself genuinely surprised when, at the episode’s climax, Burnham performs a Vulcan nerve pinch on her commanding officer, a move that I had previously believed non-Vulcans to be incapable of delivering. (Data, Odo, and a melded-with-Sarek Picard all standing out as notable nonhuman and enhanced-human examples.) Upon rereading this paragraph, I can confidently say I have failed in my initial objective, but I confess I find myself wildly curious about Burnham’s upbringing. I want to know everything : Was she expected to complete the kahs-wan at age 11, like everybody else? Did they let her bring some, I don’t know, whatever the Vulcan equivalent is of Gatorade ( “A tri-ox compound?” —Me ), on account of how humans are pretty easily dehydrated in comparison with Vulcans? Vulcan teachings are often intricately bound up in Vulcan physiology — the various meditation levels that require telepathy and so on — and I have so many questions about what a biological human’s experience of the way of Surak might look like, not to mention the obvious comparisons to her apparent foster-brother Spock and his own struggles growing up as the child of both Vulcan and human parents on the same planet.

Next, I would like to cheerfully admit to welling up at the following moments:

• When the credits began.

• Again during the credits when they showed, like, a blueprint for a communicator.

• Every time I heard the good old communicator chirp.

• During the Klingon funeral, specifically the part where all the surviving Klingons bellowed their rage to the skies and shunked Rejac’s coffin out of a porthole.

• When Lieutenant Commander Burnham and Lieutenant Commander Saru start squabbling just like Spock and Bones, and Captain Georgiou leaned back in her chair as if to silently say, “I’m really getting a kick out of how you two express your mutual concern for my safety and respect for our mission by saying passive-aggressive things about one another’s methodology, shoving each other away from the science console, and making sweeping comments about biological determinism.”

• When Ensign Connor (henceforth “Earnest Space Baby”) does a cute, chipper little fake-pilot’s announcement for Burnham’s solo EVA-suited jaunt out to examine a damaged interstellar relay, and then again a minute later when I reconsidered it as an indirect tribute to Anton Yelchin’s similar chipperness.

The primary conflict of this premiere is centered around an ambiguous encounter with a Klingon artifact, which appears to have damaged one of Starfleet’s interstellar relays. Whether the damage was intentional, whether the damage was intended to draw a Starfleet response, whether the Klingons are guaranteed to attack or simply open to the possibility — everything’s up for debate. Burnham reflexively defends herself against the lone Klingon manning said artefact, killing him, which leads to the hands-down best line of the entire episode: Burnham wakes up in a sick bay being treated for radiation sickness, learns she’s been unconscious for three hours, then immediately lets herself out of the decontamination chamber early (why is there even a button for a patient to unlock the doors of their own decontamination chamber?) to head for the bridge, causing the always-fantastic Maulik Pancholy to deliver the line, “I NEED YOU BACK IN THE ANTIPROTON CHAMBER,” with perfect sincerity and not the slightest hint of a wink.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a cadre of Klingons mourns Rejac, their fallen “Torchbearer,” by encasing him in the most fabulous sarcophagus I have ever seen with my unworthy eyes. There’s something to be said for a really hefty set-dressing budget. (“Oh my God,” I wrote in my notes, “This room looks like the H.R. Giger Outer Space Vatican.”) Rejac’s brother, Or’Eq, respectfully declines the suggestion that he take up his brother’s post due to insufficient belief in the power of Kahless and also a real lack of team spirit. Voq, “son of nobody,” volunteers with an odd, indirect allusion to Ephesians 2:8 , and proves his worthiness by briefly setting his hand on fire. Everyone else thinks this is fantastic. I am worried about his hand, and choose to believe there is a cut-for-time scene somewhere of a Klingon Nurse Chapel going over it with a medical tricorder for a few passes.

The bulk of the episode is given over to flashbacks from Burnham’s Vulcan upbringing and the Klingon-led attack that killed her parents, which led, somehow, to her being raised by Sarek. She’s weighed down with a particularly traumatic past, as well as having her motives constantly questioned by her commanding officer, the Starfleet admiralty, and Sarek himself. Part of me wonders if, in an attempt to correct for the perception that previous Starfleet captains and XOs have “gotten away” with too many violations of the Prime Directive as well as cowboying it in general, Discovery is trying instead to put one of its protagonists under relentless external and internal scrutiny.

Burnham attempts to make a case for attacking after the Klingons fail to respond to the Captain’s request they either open communication or exit Federation space, citing numerous case histories of Vulcan-Klingon encounters. After an unprovoked attack on a Vulcan vessel 240 years ago, the Vulcans made it official policy to fire upon any Klingon warbird they encountered until formal relations were established. “They said hello in a language Klingons respected,” she says. “Let’s give them a Vulcan hello.” Burnham suggests that the Shenzhou follow the same strategy, but Captain Georgiou insists that Starfleet doesn’t fire first (which is … sometimes true!). It’s a tense situation: Where’s the line between prudence and belligerence? When does a legitimate threat merit escalation? How do one’s preconceived notions about the behavior of a perceived but inactive enemy prevent one from seeing reality? But what happens next abandons a number of potentially more interesting long-term possibilities, and creates a high-stakes standoff at what feels like the expense of Burnham’s character.

After being repeatedly dismissed by her captain, her colleagues, and her foster-father, being reminded again and again that her own personally traumatic history makes it impossible for her to see their present situation clearly, Burnham takes matters into her own hands, nerve-pinches Captain Georgiou, and commands the crew to fire on the Klingon ship, a move that felt out of place and an artificial attempt to very quickly ratchet up the stakes. The captain returns just before the credits to pull a phaser on her erstwhile first officer and remand her to the brig. It’s an awfully bold move — sort of like opening TOS with “The Menagerie,” rather than with “Where No Man Has Gone Before” — but I’m not sure that it works. We’re only one episode in, so there are of course ways this could eventually pay off that at present remain to be seen. Wherever we’re going, I’m just happy to be here.

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Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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Recap | Star Trek: Discovery S1E9 - "Into the Forest I Go"

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• April 25, 2024 | Jonathan Frakes Sees Opportunities With Streaming Star Trek Movies, Weighs In On “Filler Episodes”
• April 25, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”
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• April 24, 2024 | ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ Documentary Arrives On VOD On Friday
• April 23, 2024 | THEORY: Did ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Finally Resolve The “Calypso” Mystery?

Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Gets The Timing Right In “Face The Strange”

| April 18, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 70 comments so far

“Face the Strange”

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 – Debuted Thursday, April 18, 2024 Written by Sean Cochran Directed by Lee Rose

A classic Trek setup provides a fun canvas for Discovery to explore the big changes behind the characters and foreshadow changes yet to come.

There is nothing suspicious about the way I am holding this bag.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Change is hard”

After a quick flashback to a double-cross with a shady arms dealer showing how Moll and L’ak acquired the thingie she planted on Adira last episode, we catch up with the ensign in their quarters chatting with (now ex-bf) Gray. A mechanical spider jumps off their uniform and blends into the bulkhead just as the Disco arrives at the coordinates provided by Jinaal only to find a whole lot of nothing. The bridge crew starts brainstorming ideas, but newly minted XO Rayner wants to “stick to the facts” and brusquely shuts down speculation from Rhys. The captain takes Rayner to her ready room to remind him how they do things on Discovery—has he not binged the previous seasons? The hardened vet of The Burn years knows he crossed the line with “Spare me the ‘I get you bulls—t’” as Burnham makes it clear it’s her way or the spaceway. But before they can hug it out, evil spidey sinks into a bulkhead in engineering and things start going all flashy wonky… and boom: The ship is suddenly at warp and red alert. With transporter badges inoperative, Burnham and Rayner have to actually walk to the bridge. What’s next, stone knives and bearskins?

Michael susses they have traveled back in time to when the Discovery jumped forward to the 32 nd century when she finds the crew passed out in their old uniforms, following the red angel suit (with her inside it) through a wormhole. Before they experience the fun of a crash landing, lights flash again and the pair is returned to the ready room, sans a bulkhead. After admiring the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from even further in the past, Rayner dispatches a flustered construction worker building the Disco. Another flash jump takes them forward to the battle with Control and Rayner figures it out: The ship has been infected with a Krenim “time bug” weapon, likely from their pals Moll and L’ak. The attempt to transport just as the weirdness started explains why they are the only ones who are aware, with the exception of Stamets because he lives outside of time due to a tardigrade DNA injection… long story. Another time jump finds them back in the 32 nd century, but before they can find Stamets, they end up in a corridor gunfight with Emerald Chain regulators and get a surprisingly helpful assist from Reno. One more jump puts them back in the ready room but things are quiet… too quiet. The computer is non-responsive, the ship is abandoned… and what’s that sound? Is that Doris Day? Oh boy .

Does this thing get Paramount+?

“Please set things right, captain.”

The pair of involuntary time travelers is greeted by Zora on the bridge, who isn’t quite sure she isn’t dreaming, since Burnham and the crew all died decades ago after failing the Progenitor mission. It’s 3218 and outside the window, they can see Federation HQ smashed by the Breen, Moll and L’ak’s highest bidders for the god-level tech. This horrible end to their story has Michael thinking back to her first time walking onto that bridge with big-time imposter syndrome, and Rayner offers a surprisingly empathetic pep talk. Buoyed and motivated to stop this future from happening, they make a plan to break the Krenim Chronophage cycle, and Zora and Burnham technobabble a map of the time bug’s pattern to help track and stop it. They say adieu to the lonely AI and the next jump finds Stamets in his old uniform, bluffing his way through a years-old conversation with Reno. He uses the opportunity to get her thoughts on the best way to “theoretically” tech their way out of this temporal nightmare. “Are you stuck in a time loop?” she asks… but the acerbic engineer is just messing with him. Cynicism for the win!

Michael and Rayner arrive and they all put their pieces together into a plan to squash that time bug with a “chronotron stabilizer,” but Paul is going to need some stuff from around the ship. They work out a plan to meet up after jumps on the oddly empty Deck 13. During a jump back to the 32 nd century (around the time Burnham took command), she has to get some fluid from the holodeck in her quarters, which is where  Book shows up, straight from the gym! To him, she is still his gf, so off comes the shirt and on comes the irresistible carnal charm… humana humana . “It’s hard being a new captain.” You can say that again. She bluffs her way through with talk of being needed on the bridge but not before Book can give her a nice little pick-me-up chat and a big ‘ol “I love you” kiss. She accepts it—and it doesn’t really look like she’s bluffing. Back in the lab, Stamets’ time bug killer is built, but when they try it out, it bounces right off. Of course, the Krenim device has temporal shields and anything that gets too close super-ages into dust. Well, kiss my Annorax .

Would it have killed you to do some dusting, Zora?

“Don’t’ give up.”

The team reconvenes after another jump with a new crazy plan. To get around the temporal shield they have to use Stamets’ ChronoBugSmasher TM just as the ship breaks out of a warp bubble and hope the relativistic forces don’t kill them all first. But as a bonus, if they do it right, they won’t have to worry about that Temporal Prime Directive as there is a handy reset button. Stamets needs to be in engineering backed up by Rayner, so Michael has to do the warp bubble thing from the bridge… but now they’re back in time to when she was a mistrusted mutineer. Lorca and Saru are away, leaving Airiam ( sniff ) in command. After a fun fashion appreciation moment with Linus in the turbolift, Michael comes face to face with… herself. You knew this was coming! Younger, angrier Burnham is not listening to this obvious imposter’s attempt to de-escalate things, so it’s fight club time. As you’d expect, the pair is fairly evenly matched, but Captain Mike has learned some new moves and puts down her younger self, telling sleepy Michael things will get better. Stamets and Rayner are also at odds, but the XO shows some empathy for all the pressure Paul is under to take on the mystery of Progenitor tech, so the gruff first officer buries the hatchet with a formerly gruff scientist with, “Hey, Paul, let’s show ‘em how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks.” Aw, he made a new gruff friend.

On the bridge, Airiam is wondering what Specialist Burnham is doing out of uniform and Tilly is wondering what she did with her hair… never change, Sylvia. Michael goes with full honesty: time bug, warp bubble, etc. It’s a tough crowd, but she uses an understanding of their personal stories to connect with them, convincing Airiam when she recounts her heroism and sacrifice, then Burnham gets to work showing off her impressive 32 nd -century tech, which probably could have saved her some “I’m really from the future” convincing time. The bridge crew is ready to do the warp bubble thing, but the action in engineering has gone sideways: Young Burnham has arrived with Rhys and a couple of phasers, convinced this is all some shapeshifter trick. Now it’s Rayner’s turn to show he has been listening, proving to both he knows them from the future. It works, they execute the plan, and blammo, back to the future! It’s only been six hours in the time bug loop so now they have plenty of time to get Marty’s mom to the dance , sorry… to get to the Progenitor tech first. On the bridge, it’s time for some warm moments with the crew as Michael tells the tale of the warp bubble escape. Moll and L’ak’s warp trail has been found, proving Rhys’ theory and earning the young officer an attaboy from Rayner, showing he has learned the lesson of the episode. That trail appears to lead nowhere. At least it’s a clue… but that’s for another time. See what I did there?

At this point, Rayner is second-guessing not taking retirement.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Now more confident in its own identity in its fifth season, Discovery feels free to inject a bit more classic Star Trek into the show, which allows them to explore how much the show—and more importantly, the characters—have changed over the years. They may not have known this was going to be their last season, but this episode sure felt like they were reflecting on the show’s evolution, indulging in visits to some key moments, not unlike the Voyager’s final season episode “Shattered.” Like the excellent season 4 Lower Decks episode “Caves,” this bottle show had a bit of a clip show style, but each visit helped give more meaning to the characters’ stories. The “Face the Strange” title was the first clue; it’s a line from the classic David Bowie song “ Changes ,” which was all about how he had reinvented himself throughout his career. Of course, being Discovery , the episode made sure you got this by mentioning variations of “change” multiple times. Disco is going to Disco, but “Face the Change” feels a bit like the show is wearing its heart on its sleeve, leaning into how Michael Burnham’s (and the show’s) emphasis on exploring characters (and their feelings) is a source of strength, with the outsider Rayner offering an opposing view for her to argue with and prove the point.

Sonequa Martin-Green and Callum Keith Rennie had to carry the episode, the series star doing a bit of double duty having to play her younger self. The actress, along with excellent stunt choreography, really drove home the episode theme. This episode finally gave Anthony Rapp something to do, as it also explored how much Paul Stamets has evolved through the series, getting him to bring back some of his old gruff self to clear out his lab. An arc regarding his grappling with the morality of the Progenitor tech is starting to take shape. Rapp’s scene with Tig Notaro was a lot of fun, as was Reno’s interaction with Rayner. Both scenes gave the engineer some more layers, although it still remains unclear who is in charge as the show continues to have no interest in differentiating science and engineering onboard Disco. Martin-Green and Rapp, along with assists from Notaro and David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus), showed good comic timing as the episode indulged in some of the fun that can be had with time travel, evoking the first season time loop episode “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.” While there are some similarities, “Face the Strange” had a distinct premise and theme that didn’t make it feel like a repeat of that excellent season 1 episode.

It’s not fair I am the only one to have to wear the old uniform.

It’s about time

Pulling together a time-jumping plot like this is complicated, but “Face the Strange” did it (mostly) seamlessly, jumping straight into the events of several episodes without breaking time or canon. Longtime fans get rewarded by recognizing some of the stops, such as the battle with Control and follow-up jump to the future , and Osyraa taking over the ship . We also got to see the Discovery under construction. San Francisco Shipyard has usually been depicted in Earth orbit, but perhaps the prototype nature of the ship explains why it was built in the actual San Francisco. They did have some fun with Burnham and Rayner navigating the past ship in their bold red uniforms, with Linus hanging a lantern on that in a fun way, but it didn’t really make sense that the 23 rd -century shipyard worker took them to be Starfleet brass. And Stamets also jumping but not keeping his 32nd-century uniform made sense, as established by the aforementioned “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” based on his tardigrade DNA. The visit to the possible dark future was also a nice nod to the Short Treks episode “ Calypso ” to show that when left alone, Zora will turn to old musicals for comfort. Once the pattern started, fans are likely to anticipate who else may pop up, so it was smart to explain the lack of Lorca right away upon arrival in early season 1, a key time period to nail the episode theme. The return of Airiam was suitably emotional, with Hannah Cheesman putting in a strong performance; however, Michael using the dead officer’s sacrifice as a way to convince everyone she traveled from the future didn’t really land, as any good Starfleet officer would do the same, given the stakes. But all in all, fans of time travel should enjoy this episode, which holds up to the difficult standards of temporal scrutiny.

Being waylaid through time did put the main quest plot on hold for the most part, but the episode did still squeeze in some character development for Moll and L’ak in the brief flashback at the top. The season adversaries continue to add a few layers and we can even start to see nuances in each of their motivations, with L’ak showing hints he may want to get off the ride before the walls close in on them. There was also a key bit of worldbuilding and potential foreshadowing, specifically for the Breen; we even got a look at a Breen ship. After the DS9 species got name-dropped in the previous 3 episodes, they are now emerging as the big threat to the Federation and competing bidders for the Progenitor tech. Speaking of tech, there was a delightful amount of technobabble, from mentions of polarons and chronitons to the plan hinging on breaking a warp bubble. Things got nice and nerdy. Added to how the time-mastering Krenim and Temporal Cold War tied in, “Face the Strange” continues the trend of how season 5 is doing a much better job of weaving elements of Trek lore into the events of each episode.

For the last time, I was not in Ahsoka !

Final thoughts

“Face the Strange” may be the best episode of the season so far. A very Star Trek premise was just the starting point for a very Discovery story about the characters. It demonstrates that in its final season, Discovery has learned how to carry the serialized story on through stand-alone episodes. Season 5 continues to deliver on its promises of a positive pivot into adventure without losing the heart of the series.

Time looping? Me?

• The episode began with a warning for flashing images.
• Doug Jones is not credited in this episode. The shot of an unconscious Saru is likely from previously unseen footage shot for the episode “ Far From Home .” The audio for the “This is commander Saru, all decks prepare for impact” announcement was taken from that episode.
• The weapons dealer was Annari , previously only seen in the Delta Quadrant on Voyager .
• In addition to Hannah Cheesman, the episode also featured the return of Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Bryce .
• In the dark future, Zora was listening to the Doris Day song “ Que Sera, Sera .”
• Reno warns Stamets that if he buries his mind in the abstract he could turn into a Rothko painting, referring 20th century abstract artist Mark Rothko .
• Stamets mentions calibrating his chronotron stabilizer to “Scaravelli’s Constant,” which is possibly a reference to Vanda Scaravelli , a pioneer in introducing the practice of yoga to the West.
• Rayner proved he knew Rhys by talking about his admiration of Constitution class ships, which he learned during his 20-word crew briefings in the previous episode.
• Reno and Rayner share a love for Vesper Martinis , a cocktail invented for James Bond.

That’s Reno, Jett Reno.

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek Podcast  covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,  Pocket Casts ,  Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

The fifth and final season of  Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery  will also premiere on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuts on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Great episode i really enjoyed watching it and it had a lot of good character moments.

I loved the references to the Krenim and the temporal wars and I’m not surprised they invented a weapon like the time bug which can seriously mess up a Star-ship that way.

I enjoyed seeing the old uniforms again as i missed them.

Overall it was again a great episode it is one of my favorites of Discovery and one of the best episodes in Modern Trek. Looking forward to the next episode.

Other than Year of Hell, this feels like another episode of Voyager too, one in which Janeway and Chakotay jump through different time periods. Which one was that?

Exactly right

Yeah. I hadn’t finished reading the article when I made that post. It does cite that episode.

Ah, Shattered.

“still squeeze in some character development for Moll and L’ak”

Huh? Moll and L’ak have had no character development at all. They’ve continued Star Trek’s villain problem, as evident in previous Discovery seasons, as well as in all three seasons of Picard. That said, this was better than I’d expected, and really wasn’t the Groundhog’s Day ripoffI it looked like in the preview. Connecting this episode to the Krenim and the Temporal Wars was a very cool idea, as it went far toward making something ridiculous like a time bug more plausible.

While SMG’s acting really hasn’t improved much–she’s still just as needlessly whispery as she’s always been–seeing season-one Burnham again was surprisingly fun! I agree with your criticisms of the plot holes, though. The Airiam and Linus scenes, while nostalgic in the first and humorous in the second, didn’t make any logical sense.

All in all, this season has been very, very good, despite the lackluster villains. I’ve often been critical of Discovery for its lack of logic, excessive whispering, and near-complete lack of characterization for anyone not named Michael or Saru. And I’ve really not enjoyed the past two seasons because the 32nd century is weirdly uninteresting. This season is fun, though. I hope they can stick the landing, as we’re nearly at the half-point already, and not much has happened.

Unlike Season 3’s poor development of Osyraa as a villain, I think what’s happening with Moll and L’ak is intentional. We know Moll has a familial connection to Book’s namesake. We also know she’s incredibly driven, while it seems L’ak would be content to find a quiet corner of the galaxy to settle down. My guess is we will get an “All About Moll and L’ak” episode in a couple weeks. I like how they’re handing their character development so far.

poor Zora! I really hope she doesn’t end up alone.

We already know she ends up alone.

Unless the events of Calypso were one of the ‘dreams’ Zora references. Some sites are suggesting Calypso was a dream after this episode.

Doesn’t the episode imply that successfully stopping Moll and L’ak will prevent them all from dying and leaving her alone? That was how I read it.

Yes, it does.

The Rothko line was priceless…

I usually hate on Discovery but that was a fun episode. Of course, I LOLed when Michael paused her time sensitive mission to have a “I love you” moment with Book, and another one when she’s gently stroking umm, herself in the hallway. But other than Discovery being Discovery in stupid ways like that, I enjoyed the episode. Plus, Stamets finally got some screen time.

Yeah, Stamets has been sorely underutilized ever since season two. I don’t know why–he’s one of the few great characters this show has, yet they rarely use him.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really love Anthony Rapp’s acting on camera. He’s a bit mannered and never feels quite natural, whereas on stage he’s so clearly at home and is a joy to watch. So Stamets isn’t always my thing, even though I like how he’s part of a healthy couple and I do enjoy a tetchy engineer-type in Trek. But I think he was well-used this time out!

This is one of the rare times in the past 7 years when the episode itself lived up to the pre-episode hype. Enjoyed it.

Same. This season has done a lot of overall things right. The dips into canon work in a really good way… fan service is not unwelcome, I just want it to feel organic and it does here. One really good example is how they used the Soong Android. I feel like they would have tried to make him another offshoot of Data / Lore / B4 de age Brent Spiner in previous seasons. This is far more interesting. The way they’ve done the ties into the TNG episode this is based on.. I’m digging it so far. I was bored while they were on Trill, but this one is seriously good. Gotta give credit where it’s due.

At least DSC is respecting its OWN canon. My nitpicky issues regarding writing, etc, remain. That said, I enjoyed the ep. The fight choreography was great. Finally, Burnham kicks some butt! The moment near the end of the episode, when Burnham and Raynham start to “get each other,” is a nice touch. I’d like to see that relationship continue to develop. (I thought the 20-word thing was silly) A great surprise to see Airiam. I didn’t see that one coming. Well, six eps more to go. I hope they can maintain the momentum.

I really enjoyed this episode. Much better than the first three by quite some way IMO. I’m also enjoying the Burnham Rayner partnership. Hope the series maintains this energy and fun for the rest of the season.

Not a Discovery fan but absolutely loved this, they kicked it out the park.

So happy to hear you say that Keith!

I’m glad you liked it but it didn’t work for me. All of the time travel was too similar and didn’t really feel like time travel. Yes they referenced a lot of things, but especially there they dropped the ball for me. They had so many opportunities to actually cut in scenes from said episodes, but they were just talking about them in stead of showing it. So many opportunities for cameos, but they waited till the 3/4 mark to finally give us Ariam and Bryce, in quite a weird scene by the way. It was a 7/10 for me.

Best thing of the episode for me was Rayner’s arc progressing. He’s really good and yes, he’s giving off Shaw vibes. By the way: did his ears grow since the last episode?

I thought his ears looked sharper.

Yeah, I thought in a few shots they stuck out way more than before. Glad it wasn’t just me.

Here’s the thing about repeating Trek / Sci Fi tropes. At the end of the day, how original can you make it? The best I feel like I can hope for is they make it feel organic and interesting. I’ve railed on inorganic fan service before… but here it’s actually working. If a trope or fan service is in service of the story, then I just don’t feel like I can complain to much. So far, this is working.

Solid. Definitely reminiscent of a bunch of Voyager time travel shenanigans, but when it comes to high concept sci-fi, that’s borrowing from some of the best.

Good use of humor, Stamets, and Rayner’s character progression didn’t feel too cloying. Burnham wasting precious time giving her unconscious self a pep talk was a bit much.

Best episode in a very long time, serving as a good refresher on the journey this crew/ship has been on.

A good episode, but I think there was just a little bit too much technobabble. Also, when Rhys and young Burnham had phasers on Stamets near the end, why couldn’t the bridge crew have just beamed them away?

I wondered why Ariam didn’t just order them to stand down. She was in command.

Excellent point! Dramatic license, I guess…

Honestly I think this is my favorite one of the season so far. I’m always a sucker for time travel stories and always like weird trippy Star Trek. This one was fun and yes clearly took it’s cues from Voyager’s Shattered; which I think is a still better episode than this one overall but this was a very close second. And way better than the last episode which I didn’t like at all.

It’s also funny in the latest Kurtzman article discussing how much the old shows did a lot of filler episodes and/or bottle shows and this one did clearly both. But as said it’s fine when it’s GOOD. I did like seeing how much Burnham has developed and how far she’s come in this time. I still think being a Captain from a mutineer is ridiculous but whatever it’s Star Trek don’t overthink it.

And also Burnham now joins the other famous Star Trek trope of Captains interacting with some other version of themselves through time travel (usually) or cloning or something.

She now joins the club with Kirk, Picard, Janeway and Pike. :)

There were certainly problems with it and the technobabble made little sense to me but minor issues. I’ll probably have to watch it again to spot any big red flags.

Overall Discovery this season has been really fun and a treat to watch IMO. Not amazing but solid (outside episode 3 for me).. But I have been down this transwarp corridor several times already, so hoping it can sustain it.

Despite Season 5 being quite good, it looks like many, at least on this board, have checked out.

If the total number of posts is an indicator, it may be an issue of “too little, too late”. I understand why many may not be watching the final season of Discovery (even I forgot the new episode was out yesterday) – but I hope not, because IMHO last night was a perfect example of a good Star Trek episode.

Someone mentioned this before with the opening episode review thread as well and yeah the posts are WAY down.

And it’s not just here either. Other places like Trekcre, Reddit etc are also a lot smaller now.

It is a shame but I think it proves a lot of people have basically lost interest in the show overall. And it probably doesn’t help being off the air for basically two years either.

But you can’t spin it. A year ago this time Picard season 3 was getting literally hundreds of posts every episode. There was huge interest in it for obvious reasons. Certainly not the case with this show now even with the positive fanfare so far.

Yep that was me!

And I thought maybe it was just a weird fluke or something and the next few episodes the discussions would become higher again. Nope they only become worse and over other discussion boards in general.

What does it say when an article about finding a lost model of the original Enterprise from 40 years ago literally has twice the posts of a brand new Trek episode…one that most fans seem to love including myself? Trekcor has only a dozen posts discussing it right now and it’s been out two days.

I think what DeanH said is on the money, just too little too late and probably not a surprise why it got cancelled. They saw the writing on the wall and that fans were losing a lot of interest in the show.

I think posts are down because fans, like me, are tired of all the hate and bashing going on. I rarely read the posts or want to comment on the due to the high negativity. But I do read all the articles posted. Would be interesting to see the traffic count on here compared to the post count. I don’t think it has anything to do with people losing interest with the show, but with people not wanting to read and react to the negativity about the show.

Sorry I don’t really buy this for several reasons.

A. As I said discussion seems to down in OTHER places as well ,not just this website alone.

B. People bashed Picard for the first two seasons as much as they bashed Discovery and yet season 3 had huge interest here. Yes a big part of that was having the TNG cast back but people were generally excited about it even after how much complaining there was about season 2.

C. Most people are actually being very positive about this season so far. It looks like the ratio of positive vs negative posts seems to be overwhelming positive as this very thread has shown. So I’m not sure why people would be staying away when most people are currently being positive about it? How much hate bashing is happening on this thread? That could change later of course but people seem to be liking the season.

Now that said, sure you could still be right but I really do think Discovery has just lost interest by a lot of people; at least in terms of discussion. Maybe many are watching it. But the interest does seem to be down in most places.

Again it was probably cancelled for many reasons but the main one the show could just have less viewers today.

I used to post all the time. On this board as well as others. My participation in posting went down on all of them when the bashing started rising. I don’t even follow the other boards anymore to be honest, I follow Trek movie because I prefer the articles better. I do read every article… It will be rare that I even read the posts because I know exactly what they are before I even read them. And you’ll find that there are far more negative posts by a landslide compared to the positive ones. People like me are quite fed up with repetitive negative posts. You see the exact same thing from the exact same people….over and over and over again. Offer times in the same article? How many time can you repeat you have nostalgia and Easter eggs before people are fed up of hear the same dribble? I can’t talk for everyone, but I can definitely talk for myself. That’s the reason I post less and less each time.

Ok fine but again the problem with your argument in THIS case is that the posts have been overwhelmingly positive so what am I missing?

Let’s count them up here (easy since it’s not that many posts lol). I just counted any post that specifically stated they either liked or hated the episode.

Number of positive posts: 24

Number of negative posts: 3

It’s literally 7 times more positive remarks than negative. Again I’m not disagreeing with your basic argument, but in THIS case that doesn’t seem to be bearing out correct? In fact what’s funny is a lot of the posts are people saying they normally hate the show but still say they enjoyed this episode or season so far.

I include myself in that btw. I said I would have an open mind going in but I really wasn’t sure how I would feel since I have felt disappointed by every season so far. But I am truly enjoying it and praying to Kahless that won’t change.

So I don’t really buy this argument. Sure if it’s just a ton of nastiness and/or people going out their way to put down the show then I could see your point why others staying away. But that’s not remotely happening either. Most people seems to have a pretty positive view of the season, at least so far. And I’ll go one farther and say the people who are NOT enjoying it isn’t attacking anyone for it either or vice versa. People are just having very civil conversations no matter how you feel about it. Seriously no one is getting triggered one way or the other.

And this has been the case since the season started, but the lack of any big discussions about it is obvious; especially it being the shows last season.

On that note you should start posting again since people are pretty receptive to the season right now. It would be nice to have more discussions surrounding it and would love to hear your thoughts positive or negative.

It’s really such an odd argument. People are staying away on purpose because of all the ‘negative’ posts only those posts are in the vast minority since the season started. Even I’m being super positive lol. And as you stated even the people who isn’t liking it isn’t trying to tell others they are crazy for liking it. So what’s the problem?

I think this is another denial that some people have and can’t accept that maybe others have just lost interest in the show. That may not be the case but since it’s been cancelled it’s not exactly a shocker either that less people care about it these days.

And as said both seasons of PIC was raked through the coals and yet last season was the busiest that show ever been probably due to both having the TNG cast back and just having an amazing season overall on top of it

Maybe Discovery should’ve made a Synth Riker and put him in the season. I bet more people would be discussing it. 😂

Count me in the camp as someone who doesn’t really care anymore.. but I’ll always watch, and I’ll probably always come here to chat about it. But I’m glad we’re getting an entertaining season… so far. lol.

Last week was just incredibly busy for me so I didn’t get to chime in a timely fashion.. but I’m certainly much more chatty about it when an episode pisses me off, lol. That hasn’t happened this season.

That episode felt more “Star Trek” than any of the whole series so far.

I know what you mean Steve. The episode also served to remined me why I enjoyed 23rd C Discovery way more than post-jump, especially Season 2. I was all up for the trip to the far future and I thought that S3 started well but unfortunately for me at least, it fell apart and like may, I got burned by the burn so to speak.

I have to admit, this was the first time that Discovery felt like an actual episode of Star Trek! And I have watched every episode on release (for my sins). Crazy!

The episode was actually pretty good and felt like a classic bottle episode, that focused on character growth, exactly what Kurtzman was speaking against with his so-called “filler”.

I tell you what, Rayner has been a breath of fresh air. It gives the overly lovey-dovey crew a kick in the aft deck. The trio of Burnham, Raynor and Stamets worked really well in this episode.

It’s a big shame Discovery didn’t go forward into the 32nd century from the get-go. Imagine after the two part pilot they got thrust into the future? This time frame is perfect as gives the writers the freedom to create their own, new canon, without contradicting that of the 23rd century. Both narratively and visually.

If season 5 continues like this episode, we might get a decent send off to Discovery. Though might be a shame that as the show is ending, it is finally finding its feet (like TNG S3 or ENT S4 etc).

“It’s a big shame Discovery didn’t go forward into the 32nd century from the get-go. Imagine after the two part pilot they got thrust into the future? This time frame is perfect as gives the writers the freedom to create their own, new canon, without contradicting that of the 23rd century. Both narratively and visually.’

I agree with this many times over and I’m someone who basically thought the last two seasons sucked.

But it had nothing to do with the time period itself, just the bad writing surrounding it. But I think if Discovery just started in the 32nd century where it could just tell it’s own stories and not be so tied down to canon or people citing how much it conflicted with TOS it would’ve had a better reception even if they were still disappointed with it.

I guess for me I just really want to see different things. I don’t just want more TOS or TNG. Again I have to stress it doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them at all since I was a big supporter of both Picard and SNW. I’m only saying it would be nice that we finally have something that’s TRULY different from everything else and why I’m also a huge supporter of SFA (although I definitely feel like I’m in the minority on that one lol).

But I also know some fans who just want the same stuff they grew up with. I’ve seen plenty of posts from people who have said they only want Star Trek in the 23rd or 24th century because that’s what made them fans in the first place. For example, there were people generally excited about having the Kelvin movies because it gave the impression that they were wiping the slate clean just going back to TOS but ONLY TOS again and all the spin offs could just be ignored completely from that point om going forward.

I get it and being a fan since the 70s myself I understand wanting to constantly scratch the nostalgia itch. Again NOTHING wrong with that in general. It’s just entertainment and people just enjoy what they enjoy.

But I do think the MAJORITY of fans really do want to see new settings and characters and why we are getting more of it now. But there is always the belief in Hollywood it’s easier to roll the dice on something that worked before versus doing something new and different because one is obviously more guaranteed to work vs the other.

Ironically though, it’s probably a reason why the movie franchise is having a hard time starting up again because when the tried and true fails as the last Kelvin movie did then it’s even harder on taking a chance on an unknown entity with a very fickle audience base and throwing in a lot more money in the process.

Another reason why Trek is just better as a TV franchise in the end.

Missed a chance for a Lorca cameo!! How would Burnham have reacted to him knowing his shady truth?

Yeah, but maybe Isaacs wasn’t available or they didn’t have the budget just to have him there.. who knows.

I too have to admit, this was a good one and as many others have said, it “felt” like a Star Trek episode.

No use recapping the story which I thought was quite good. I really liked that they focused on three characters (Burnham, Rayner and Stamets) and did not go off track trying to include everyone else. I also liked the return of Stamets being his old cynical and direct self, yelling at people, recognizing the urgency of the situation and not having time to worry about their feelings. Him yelling at the crewmember to “GET OUT” was great!

Of course, Discovery has to always get sidetracked with some form of romantic interlude – this time it was Booker and Burnham, even though time was of the essence, she had to forget about what they were doing and pause for two minutes to steal a kiss. (eyeroll) Fortunately, that was a minor part of the episode and did not last long and things got back on track. Btw, as characters, I hope those two do end up together (I’m not heartless).

So far, S5 has been quite good. Hey writers room – see you can actually write good episodic-like stories without having to stray from the season long story arc. Let’s hope they can keep it up. Oh btw, up here north of the border, CTV Sci-Fi channel ran the Voyager two part Year from Hell last night. Nice tie in to the Krenim story.

Of course, Discovery has to always get sidetracked with some form of romantic interlude – this time it was Booker and Burnham, even though time was of the essence, she had to forget about what they were doing and pause for two minutes to steal a kiss. (eyeroll)

This is exactly what Jim Kirk would do. And he has.

Does anyone know why the episode is not available in Germany yet? The first three eps were available right when they were supposed to but still no sign of ep 4…

Some of you bitch about SMG’s acting as one note, but I have to say, she was pretty great on this episode. Maybe the contrast of old her vs younger her made it more obvious but I thought she did an exceptional job this episode.

She’s been good since the first episode. I haven’t always liked the way Burnham was written, but I’ve rarely had a problem with the way Martin-Green played her. I hope the end of this season won’t be the last we see of her in the role.

This is a great episode for the final season because it really does remind you how much has happened and how far the crew has evolved. I immediately wanted to re-watch the entire series.

It kind of gave me that feeling too, which is saying something because I didn’t like the first three seasons much at all. It’s true, though; and I hope whenever I get around to that rewatch, I find out I was wrong all along. I’d love that!

This episode felt like a lot of fun. I really love time loop episodes. And this was a cool new take on them. For a bottle show I was thoroughly entertained. Burnham and Rayner, Stamets and Reno, Burnham and Airiam… there were some great pairings in this episode.

I really enjoyed this filler episode. I think it felt a lot like a Voyager inspired episode and it even mentions the Krenim.

I also liked seeing the contrast of past and present versions of Burnham, but was she really that aggressive in the beginning? I’ll have to go back and watch the first season again, but she seemed more like the mirror universe version of her past self.

Oh, and the technobabble was so wonderfully Star Trek. I’m glad they weren’t afraid to include some. I love seeing the characters use their expertise in and mastery of their fictional technologies to solve problems. I’m watching a show about the future where such amazing technology exists after all. I like when they explain how it is all supposed to work.

I hope the rest of the season is this good.

An excellent episode, I thought. The way they handled the Krenim Easter egg was perfect. Strong character dynamics, too.

Did the colors look weird to anyone else? I can’t put my finger on it, but it seemed like something weird was going on with Paramount+ when I watched.

Worst episode of the season so far The bridge crew are lifeless characters with zero personality and any storyline which involves them suffers heavily! Also thought Michael was back to her annoying best whispering every line. even Rayner couldn’t save this one.

I would agree that a distinguishing feature of Discovery in comparison to other iterations of ST is that the bridge crew are almost invisible and that ~4.5 seasons in, we know almost nothing about them. I don’t know why the writers have taken this route but for me personally, it’s had the effect of making it difficult for me to really bond with this ship and crew. I felt I had more connection with the bridge crew of the Titan and that was after only 3-4 episodes!

Well they actually made it worse in seasons 3 and 4 when they tried to give them more dialogue, because it was clumsy things like, “I used to kite surf!” “Thanks for letting me lead this important away mission entirely offscreen while we follow your storyline instead,” “I am upset and being unprofessional in a crisis because I couldn’t save my friend years ago!” or “I love you all!” And then the show would condescendingly have characters tell us how great Detmer or Bryce are. It’s lazy and clunky, and worse than when it was just more of a deliberate creative choice to emphasize them in seasons 1-2. But this halting approach is not great. Give them meaningful snippets of development and personality and it will make them endearing and feel real. But if they are just here to look worried, laugh/clap, spout technobabble, and be propped up by the main characters, it’s just not my thing.

Shortened seasons leave little room for character development. With 26 episodes per season sometimes the character story was the A story and the B story was something like a comet or an asteroid, as a backdrop. But you could generate character development from the A-story, apart from the what are the odds coincidences of meeting rikers father or Worfs brother leading some refugees. Take Li Nalas for example. You could learn about Kira from how she viewed him, reacted to him, talked. Lots of Dialogue. DSC Season 3 was about the burn, no personal experiences of the crew would fit that, then the dark matter anomaly, also nothing people could maybe share an experience (but it could have been worked in, from somebody remembering some dark matter survey or something), season 4 now theyre on the hunt for some technology from a throwaway stand alone TNG episode, and well none of the crew had a long dialogue scene talking about some excavations or something they might have taken part in. TLDR not just shortened seasons but missed opportunities by writers as well.

Anybody else didnt feel anything when starfleet headquarters was shown destroyed?

I felt a little sorrow for Zora at least.

Has anyone posted a proper look at the Breen ship from the alt future? It just looked like a jumble of debris. Discovery has never been very good about delivering the ship p*rn. I needed a lovely cutaway after Burnham asked about the ship!

Yeah it was hard to distinguish with Starfleet headquarters.

Does anybody know of anyone that posts lists of episodes to prepare for the latest episodes? Like a pre-game episode checklist to better understand all of the references and Easter eggs? I really like to catch everything when I watch a new episode, but it’s hard when they reference so much stuff across the franchise history, some of which I haven’t seen in decades. I often just read the reviews on here and figure out what I need to watch, but that means I read all the spoilers with it. It would be cool if there was something that just told me what to watch beforehand. Anybody aware of something like this, and if not, would anybody want to do it?

Trekc0re’s reviews pick up a decent bit of that.

Probably one of my favorite Discovery episodes to date. Probably because it felt like a classic trek episode of any era, as others have mentioned.

For any other Star Trek show, it would be a sub par episode, nice idea, poor execution, but for Discovery standards I get that this is the best we can get out of this soap opera in space. So after 3 horrible episodes, here something at least watchable without feel nauseated.

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Or, they try to. And okay, it turns out the gratuitous beaming was for good reason, story-wise, because in the instant that the pair attempt to beam back to the bridge, Discovery plunges through time, and only their mid-transport timing protects them from the ship’s time-hopping. Everyone else aboard Discovery is experiencing “regular” time travel, as it were, unaware of their movement and remaining “of the time” they jump to.

Everyone, that is, except for Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who thanks to his tardigrade DNA infusion all the way back in Season 1, the scientist is bouncing through time like the rest of the crew — but he’s mentally aware of the jumping remains “himself” like Burnham and Rayner.

Like “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” this is another episode about time shenanigans centering on Stamets and Burnham (and now also Rayner), but it doesn’t feel like a repeat of the same story so much as a deliberate permutation on a theme. Discovery , the show, is revisiting its past just the same way Burnham revisits her past self here; in both cases, the future versions have grown and changed in ways their past selves could never have imagined.

Who could have guessed, watching the series’ seventh episode, that original showrunner and creator Bryan Fuller would leave after just one season and a majority of the show would end up taking place in 32nd century? Not me, that’s for sure.

(As a side note, I was hoping one of the pasts they visited would be the “Magic” situation, just because come on, who doesn’t want to see what a time loop within a time loop looks like?)

It takes them all a few time jumps to figure out what’s going on, and a few more after that for all three of them to rendezvous. The second jump takes them back to Discovery mid-construction, sitting in dry dock at the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the Golden Gate Bridge framed nicely in a missing bulkhead section. (Both Star Trek and The Room have one rule: If you’re in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge must be visible at all times!)

Next jump is to the Season 2-ending battle with Control, and finally with three jumps there’s enough of a pattern visible for Rayner to identify what’s going on and what, exactly, is causing it. First, each time they jump Burnham and Rayner always return to the ready room – the place where they beamed themselves out of time — and second, that little mechanical spider that’s been crawling around the ship since it first detached itself from Adira’s uniform is a Krenim chronophage (yes, those Krenim ) left over from more lawless times  when paralyzing a ship by having it randomly cycle through time was a thing that apparently people did.

After a few more jumps, including one where a past version of Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) happens to save Rayner’s hide, he and Burnham land on an empty, dusty Discovery , abandoned by everyone except the one person who can’t leave: Zora (Annabelle Wallace). Listening to “Que Sera, Sera” and convinced that she’s dreaming, Zora explains that in this future, Discovery remained stuck in its time paralysis long enough for the Breen to get their hands on the Progenitor’s technology.

It’s a bleak future to visit, but it’s also very fortuitous that they did, because Zora is able to quickly do the math necessary for Stamets — who they finally meet up with in the next time jump –to figure out how to get them out of this. Just build a chroniton stabilizer and squish the bug with it, easy peasy!

And all Burnham has to do is get a component for it from her quarters without being seen. Not so easy as it turns out, as she runs into Book (David Ajala) who is very much in love with Burnham during this time period — and keen to show it. And she, as we all probably suspected, is still very much in love with him and gives herself a brief moment to indulge in that fact.

In their final final jump — this time to early in Lorca’s captaincy — Burnham runs into her much angrier and more jaded younger self; a Michael Burnham who is so barely out of prison that she still doesn’t even have a combadge and who flat-out does not believe this woman in a strange red uniform who claims to be her. Why? Because there’s no way anyone would ever make Michael Burnham a captain .

After a fight in a thankfully empty corridor, our Burnham ends up victorious and heads to the bridge… where she needs to convince everyone that they should listen to her and do something you never really want to do with a warp engine going at maximum speed: intentionally break the warp bubble and slam yourself back into the effects of general relativity.

Flashbacks are a tried and true way for shows to bring back departed characters, so the choice to include Airiam (Hanna Spear) on the bridge makes sense and is nice for audience members who miss her. What doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me is how her presence is used (which is a bit of an unfortunate parallel to her death for me – or at least the impact it was supposed to have).

Burnham knows she needs to convince the crew that she really is herself and that she really is from the future, but instead of, I don’t know, showing them her combadge which is full of 32nd century bells and whistles and exotic alloys that haven’t been invented yet she… convinces Airiam that they know each other because Burnham knows Airiam would sacrifice her life to save the ship? Then someone blurts out a “No she wouldn’t!” like that’s not the first thing any appropriately heroic Starfleet officer would do?

This scene is the one fumble in an otherwise great episode. Two minutes after this weird “I know you and here’s a generic hypothetical that applies to most people in Starfleet to prove it,” Airiam sees Burnham’s fancy holographic combadge and openly gawks at it. See, easily convinced! That would have worked and it wouldn’t have required the show to reexamine the hollowness of Airiam’s death without correcting its mistake.

The fact that Burnham doesn’t have anything better or more personal to say to or about Airiam except “You died, sorry that happened,” underscores just how undeveloped she was as a character. Why bring that up again? But hey, Burnham’s tactic works, and I suppose that’s what really matters here.

Meanwhile, past-Burnham and her era’s Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) show up in engineering, phasers drawn, to try and stop Stamets and this weird guy they’ve never seen before from doing whatever it is that they’re trying to do to the ship. Rayner, solidifying himself as a solid gold example of a favorite character trope of mine — Grumpy Guy who’s a Secret Softie — defuses the situation by being brave as hell (he walks right into Burnham’s drawn phaser) but also emotionally astute.

He doesn’t just tell Burnham personal facts he couldn’t have known if he were really a stranger, he tells her with conviction that she really does deserve to be here on Discovery…  something that sinks to the core of who she is and what she’s battling in this moment in time.

The plan succeeds: the time bug is proverbially squished, and Discovery and her crew are all right back where they belong, minus the six hours they lost during all the jumping. Unfortunately, those six hours were long enough for Moll and L’ak to catch up with them and leave again. Did they find anything, or did they get sick of looking at seemingly empty space and leave? We don’t know yet, so tune in next week.

Which brings us to the beginning of “Face the Strange” — see, I can jump through time too! — when we see Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) acquiring the bug in the first place. While the Progenitors’ technology is enormous in its power and implications and Moll and L’ak are willing to do just about anything to find it, their motivations seem strictly personal.

Sure, if the way Moll takes revenge on the guy who sells her the chronophage is any indication, they’ll get some personal satisfaction out of seeing the Federation burn, but more than anything they’re in it for their freedom. Freedom from someone or something, certainly – though who or what we still don’t know – but, given the themes in “Face the Strange”, I’d guess freedom from their pasts might be the real goal.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• “Face the Strange” is a reference to the David Bowie classic “Changes.”
• This episode is a spiritual sequel to Star Trek: Voyager’s “Shattered,” a similar final-season tale which saw Chakotay bouncing through different eras of Voyager adventures.
• Discovery’s time jumps include visits to the ship’s transit through the Red Angel wormhole (leading to the ship’s crash-landing in “Far From Home” ), a time when the starship was under construction in the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the battle with Control ( “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” ), Stardate 865422.4 (during Osyyra’s takover in “There Is A Tide…” ), an unknown date nearly 30 years into the future, a period in early Season 2 (shortly after Jett Reno’s rescue in “Brother” ), a point ahead of the Season 4 premiere after Burnham was promoted to captai), and the encounter with past-Burnham which takes place just ahead of “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” (denoted by the reference to a still-alive Ellen Landry ).

• Retrofit into corridor after Season 2’s set updates, the passage to the left-rear of Discovery’s command chair returns to its Season 1 “blue blinkies” configuration.
• Captain Pike’s broken wood-and-glass conference table returns to the ready room set during the first time jump, a good touch from the set decoration department.
• We’ve seen the San Francisco bay many times in Star Trek history… so just where in the heck was Discovery’s dry dock located?
• A Krenim chronophage — or “time bug” — snared Discovery in a time bubble, from the species behind Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell.”
• Season 3-era Reno’s drink of choice is a Vesper martini, served ice cold — and she tells Rayner that he can buy her a drink “at Red’s,” the onboard bar and lounge set added to Discovery during its 32nd century upgrades (though not introduced until Season 4).
• While the ready room set was not built for Discovery until Season 2, the second time jump confirms the room existed as part of the ship’s original construction… but in a continuity goof, the 32nd century version of the Starfleet emblem remains on the Discovery ready room floor in each different time period, instead of the old version seen in Seasons 1 and 2.

• Burnham gives a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nostalgic smile when Stamets hands her a 23rd century Starfleet communicator, retired after the crew upgraded to 32nd tricombadges in Season 3’s “Scavengers.”
• Saurian officer Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) appears in the Season 1 time period, indicating he boarded Discovery long before his first actual appearance in Season 2’s “Brothers.”
• Former Discovery cast members Hannah Cheesman and Ronnie Rowe, Jr. return as Airiam and Bryce, Julianne Grossman returns as the original voice of Discovery’s computer. (While Cheesman portrayed Airiam in Season 2, the role was actually portrayed by Sara Mitich in Discovery’s first season.)
• I forgot just how much Airiam moves like C-3PO. Might have toned down that arm placement there in that wide shot if it were me, yikes.
• Discovery’s viewscreen may be an open window to space, but it features blast doors which can be closed as necessary.
• The future time period Burnham and Rayner visit is reminiscent of the alternate future setting in “Calypso,” where Zora and Discovery sat abandoned for nearly 1000 years. Zora even believes she’s having “another dream” when the officers arrive, perhaps hinting that the events of “Calypso” may have been one of Zora’s dreams — as the “Zora-point-of-view” shots mirror moments from that  Short Trek  tale.

• This episode marks the first time we’ve seen Discovery’s original hull and nacelle configuration since its big 32nd century upgrade in “Scavengers.”
• Even living “outside of time,” it’s curious that Stamets can jump back to a time period before his tardigrade DNA injection occurred.
• Stamets’ tactics for clearing engineering get less and less sophisticated as the episode proceeds — going from making up specific problems with the spore drive containment field to just shouting “I’m grumpy!” It works.
• “Hey Paul, let’s show ‘em how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks!” Whoever gave Rayner a used copy of a dictionary of idioms from 1962, I thank you for your service.
• Rayner’s hand gets the “Timescape” treatment, aging uncomfortably fast while he squashes the time bug — though thankfully avoiding those awful long fingernails.
• Rayner surmises that Burnham must be the first person in Starfleet to captain a ship she first boarded as a prisoner. He’s probably right, but if we allow for a few technicalities I’d put Seven of Nine in that rare club as well: she’s imprisoned very quickly after boarding Voyager , and while she doesn’t hold a Starfleet rank at the time, she does command that vessel for over a month during the events of “One”.

Even with all the time jumping and the temporal-relativity-heavy plot, “Face the Strange” is a straightforward hour of television that confidently knows exactly what it wants to do – both in terms of the story and the characters. There are almost no extraneous moments, but the episode doesn’t feel rushed or overly full. The pacing is great: quick enough that we get to jump through a lot of different time periods, but relaxed enough that there’s room for smaller moments of comedy and character work.

The pacing and placement of the more emotional moments is especially effective, with characters examining and confronting their past and present selves in a way that’s emotionally resonant but also truly moves the story forward both at the episode and season levels.

A frequent frustration I have with Discovery is that the emotional beats and plot beats feel like they’re competing with each other for the same space, but with “Face the Strange” it feels like the show has finally figured out a way to have them work together and compliment one another.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Mirrors” on Thursday, April 25.

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Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery season 5, episode 5 ending explained.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 contains two major reveals about the Mirror Universe and the Breen. We break down what the ending means.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 - "Mirrors"

• Star Trek: Discovery's next clue is hidden aboard the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise trapped in interdimensional space.
• L'ak is a Breen with a blood bounty on his head, and his backstory with Moll is revealed.
• The USS Discovery crew, led by Commander Rayner, helps save Burnham and Book and bring the ISS Enterprise into the Prime Universe, but Moll and L'ak escape.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors," ends with Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery's crew grappling with jaw-dropping reveals about the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise, L'ak's (Elias Toufexis) species, and the next clue in the hunt for the Progenitors' treasure. Written by Johanna Lee and Carlos Cisco and directed by Jen McGowan, the thrilling "Mirrors" sends Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) into interdimensional space after Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak and the third Progenitors' clue , but they found a lot more than they bargained for.

In Star Trek: Discovery s eason 5, episode 5, Captain Burnham, Cleveland Booker, Moll, and L'ak are all trapped aboard the derelict ISS Enterprise after Burnham's shuttle and L'ak's ship are destroyed by interdimensional space, a dangerous region between Star Trek 's Prime and Mirror Universes . Michael ingeniously uses the Enterprise's tractor beam to send a distress signal to the USS Discovery, where Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) and the bridge crew find a way to keep the aperture of the interdimensional space wormhole open to fly the ISS Enterprise through. However, L'ak and Moll make their escape, leaving Burnham, Book, and the Starfleet heroes to grapple with the third clue to the Progenitors' treasure, and what they learned and found in the wormhole.

The ISS Enterprise's first and only previous appearance was in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2's "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the Mirror Universe.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Captain kirk's mirror universe iss enterprise now belongs to 32nd century starfleet, it's been a long road for the iss enterprise.

The Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise becomes the property of the 32nd century's Starfleet and United Federation of Planets at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors." Captain Burnham assigned Lt. Commanders Kayla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) - who don't actually appear in the episode - to fly the ISS Enterprise back to Federation HQ to be put into "storage". However, the acquisition of a major historical find like a 23rd-century Constitution Class starship filled with Terran Empire technology from the Mirror Universe is bound to be of interest to Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg).

After the Temporal Wars, crossing over between the Mirror Universe and Star Trek 's Prime universe is now impossible, but the ISS Enteprise was trapped in interdimensional space for centuries, which crossing over could still happen.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5's ISS Enterprise scenes were filmed on the USS Enterprise sets of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Discovery season 5's production took place at the end of 2022, after Strange New Worlds season 2 had wrapped in June and long before Strange New Worlds season 3 filming started in December 2023. The USS Enterprise's bridge, medical bay, transporter room, and hallways were redressed to turn the starship into its Mirror Universe counterpart.

Commander Michael Burnham previously came aboard Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Discovery season 2.

Star Trek: Discovery's Mirror Universe Revelations

We found out what happened to mirror spock and mirror saru.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5's ISS Enterprise appearance answered some big questions about the events of the Mirror Universe after Star Trek: The Original Series ' "Mirror, Mirror." Cleveland Booker learned from the plaque where the Enterprise's missing crew left their story behind that the Terran High Chancellor was assassinated after making reforms. This refers to the Mirror Universe's Spock (Leonard Nimoy), who was urged by the Prime Universe's Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) to make reforms to prevent the inevitable collapse of the Terran Empire, which happened anyway.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's Mirror Universe episodes revealed that the Terran Empire, weakened by Spock's reforms, was conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

Refugees led by a Kelpien slave-turned-rebel leader - Saru (Doug Jones) - used the ISS Enterprise to flee the Mirror Universe for the Prime Universe in the 23rd century, but the starship was trapped in interdimensional space. The Enterprise's crew eventually used the ship's shuttles and escape pods to abandon the starship in an effort to make it to the Prime Universe. Some did make it through, including the ISS Enterprise's junior science officer, Dr. Cho , who later joined Starfleet and became a branch Admiral in the 24th century.

Jinaal Bix redacted the names of the scientists who found the Progenitors' technology, including Dr. Cho.

Moll & L'ak Escaped Discovery With A Breen Bounty On Their Heads

L'ak is the nephew of the breen primarch.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 revealed the backstory of Moll and L'ak, including the revelation that L'ak is Breen . Years before Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Moll was a courier who sold latinum to the Breen Imperium, where she met L'ak, the nephew of the Breen's Primarch Ruhn (Tony Nappo), who had fallen out of favor and was working in the shuttle bay. Moll and L'ak fell in love , and L'ak committed a crime against the Breen by consorting with "a lesser being" and removing his helmet to show Moll his true face. Confronted by his uncle, L'ak shot the Primarch and fled with Moll.

Moll and L'ak used one of the ISS Enterprise's remaining warp pods to flee capture.

Moll and L'ak both have an Erigah, a Breen blood bounty, on their heads, and they hope that finding the Progenitors' treasure and selling it to the Breen will buy their freedom. Neither Moll and L'ak want the Federation's help offered by Captain Burnham, and they would "rather die" than be separated in a Federation prison. L'ak was injured in a brawl with Burnham, but instead of seeking medical attention from the USS Discovery, Moll and L'ak used one of the ISS Enterprise's remaining warp pods to flee capture. However, this time, Moll and L'ak left behind a warp trail Discovery can follow.

Cleveland Booker Tries To Connect With Moll

Booker's mentor was moll's absentee father.

Cleveland Booker has personal reasons to connect with and save Moll. Moll's real name is Malinne Booker, and she is the daughter of Book's late mentor, Cleveland Booker IV . Moll's father abandoned her and her mother to become a courier and raise the funds needed to move his family to a new home in the Gamma Quadrant. However, Booker IV's dangerous life as a courier and dealings with criminal organizations like the Emerald Chain made him keep his distance from Malinne, who blamed him for leaving her behind.

Moll doesn't want Cleveland Booker in her life.

Moll became a courier like her father to do what he didn't and earn enough latinum to move to the Gamma Quadrant, but Moll's entire world shifted when she fell in love with L'ak and the Breen placed a blood bounty on their head s. Moll doesn't want Cleveland Booker in her life , but she relents when she has the chance to kill the man who took her father's name. Whether Moll will ever come to see Book as the "only family" she has left, the way Book sees her, remains to be seen.

Commander Rayner Got The Best Out Of USS Discovery's Crew

Citrus mash for everyone.

Captain Burnham left Commander Rayner at the conn of the USS Discovery while she and Book went on their away mission, despite Rayner's reservations about leading Burnham's crew. However, Rayner was impressed that Burnhum learned Kellerun literature to connect with her new First Officer. This knowledge was the key to Rayner saving Burnham from interdimensional space. Burnham used the ISS Enterprise's tractor beam to send a signal the Kellerun commander would understand.

Rayner gained a new appreciation for Discovery's crew and how to work with them as his own crew.

Commander Rayner placed his trust in the USS Discovery's crew to "science" a way to open the wormhole's aperture and pull the ISS Enterprise into the Prime Universe. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp). Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio), Lt. Commander Gen Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon), Lt. Christopher (Orville Cummings), Lt. Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson), Lt. Naya (Victoria Sawal), Lt. Commander Asha (Christina Dixon), and Lt. Gallo (Natalie Liconti) all rose to the occasion and found a way to save Burnham and Book. In turn, Rayner gained a new appreciation for Discovery's crew and how to work with them as his own crew.

Dr. Culber Reaches Out To Tilly

Culber has questions science can't answer.

The USS Discovery's counselor, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), needs a counselor of his own. Culber continues to deal with the unimaginable experience of Trill scientist Jinaal Bix occupying his mind and body in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 3, "Jinaal." Being taken over by a Trill has left Culber with existential questions, and he hopes finding the Progenitors' technology will provide him with the answers he seeks.

Hugh finds a sympathetic ear in Lt. Sylvia Tilly.

Unfortunately for Hugh, he doesn't believe he can share his feelings with his husband, Commander Paul Stamets because Paul is a man of science, and Culber's questions are ineffable. Hugh finds a sympathetic ear in Lt. Sylvia Tilly, but the answers Dr. Culber seeks are tied to what the USS Discovery finds when they locate the Progenitors' treasure - or so Hugh hopes. Culber, who has already died and been resurrected, may find himself in a new scenario that has pivotal life-or-death decisions in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Dr. Hugh Culber's dilemma in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is a rare attempt by Star Trek to address spiritual questions.

Where Star Trek: Discovery's Next Progenitors' Treasure Clue Leads

The next clue involves water.

Captain Burnham acquired the third clue from Moll and L'ak, which is a vial of water contained within a piece of the Progenitors' treasure map. Burnham is waiting for Commander Stamets to conduct a chemical analysis of the water, which will reveal where the USS Discovery must go next for the 4th clue . However, Michael told Book that Dr. Cho, the former Terran scientist who became a Starfleet Admiral, went back to the ISS Enterprise in interdimensional space and hid her clue to the Progenitors' technology there.

Michael also told Book she saw him in the past during Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange's" time loops, and that they were happy back then.

Burnham and Book mused over the lessons attached to each clue. On Trill, finding Jinaal's clue was dependent on Burnham and Booker proving they value lifeforms other than their own. On Lyrek for the first clue, the lesson was the importance of cultural context. Michael surmised that the lesson Dr. Cho left behind with her clue on the ISS Enterprise was to have the hope to shape your own future in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 as the search for the Progenitors' treasure and the answers to life, itself, continues.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 3 'Jinaal' is a slow but steady affair

Humans have evidently evolved beyond the need for stairs in the 32nd century as teleportation has replaced the simple act of actually walking to places

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 3

The latest installment of "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5 on Paramount Plus adds a little water – and possibly some fertilizer – to the various different story seeds sewn last week. 

Entitled "Jinaal," the primary plot revolves around a revisit to the planet Trill and as you may recall, the last time we spent any length of time here was the episode " Forget Me Not " (S03, E04), which was not terrible. In fact, it was undeniable highlight of the third season, which itself had some of the best we've seen from "Discovery." Incidentally, that was first look at the Trill homeworld since " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine " episode "Equilibrium" (bizarrely, also S03, E04). (If you need a recap on how to watch Star Trek: Discovery, check out our Star Trek streaming guide for Paramount Plus .)

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Curiously, in that episode "Forget Me Not," Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) was given a rare and welcome chance to shine and he does so once again in this episode as well. To briefly recap, Adira (Blu del Barrio) and her lover, a Trill named Gray (Ian Alexander), were aboard a generation ship way back when. They were both orphans, very much in love, and Gray had just received his symbiote when the ship was struck by an asteroid and everyone was ordered to evacuate. Unfortunately, Gray was fatally injured and the only way to save the symbiote was for Adira to join with it. And that's how it was for all of season three right up until the fourth season episode " Choose To Live " (S04, E03). 

Then, after all of that, Gray Tal has his consciousness transferred out of Adira and into an artificial synth golem before heading back to Trill to complete all that monk-style studying. And now you're all caught up. 

While a trip back to Trill is nice, you can't help but start to wonder if this fifth and final season will end up a 10-episode long epilogue as it ties up all its loose ends, almost like season five of " Babylon 5 ."  Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) pops up in this episode at last, which more or less just leaves Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril), whom we last saw in the episode " Rubicon " S04, E09, to make an appearance. Although Ancheril's IMDb page does currently say, "Coming up in 2024, Rachael will be seen again in 'Chucky' season three [and] 'Star Trek Discovery' for its final season," so who knows. 

The big highlight this week was, as we alluded to above, Cruz's chance to stretch his acting chops just a little bit and he does not disappoint. The two biggest grumbles however, are the dialogue written by a writer who just saw "Lethal Weapon II" for the very first time and that the notion of teleporting around the place instead of just walking, has been taken to ludicrous extremes. 

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"Star Trek: Discovery" seems to be at peace with lifting from other IPs, sci-fi or otherwise. We've seen a nice " Close Encounters of the Third Kind " reference with mashed potato and we've even seen a fun nod to "Scooby-Doo," but these were all subtle. Then there was the extremely unsubtle " Die Hard " thing and then in " Scavengers " (S03, E06) the writers went  way  beyond homage and practically lifted a set piece directly from the 1987 movie "The Running Man." The premise was the same, the effect was the same and even the setting was practically identical.

This week's insight into what classic movie the Gen-Z writers of "Discovery" have recently discovered comes from a legendary scene with equally legendary dialogue between Sgt. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Sgt. Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) during a rescue attempt after the latter learns that the toilet he's been sitting on has been rigged with a bomb in the first "Lethal Weapon" sequel. Lest we forget, this underrated action extravaganza also gave us Leo Getz and immortalized phrases like "diplomatik immunitee." and "but, but...you're blick."

Still, at least it was just a line or two of dialogue this time and not an entire set piece. My other main grumble with this episode as we mentioned above is the carefree abandon with which transporters are used. And I've touched upon this before. Despite beaming becoming a very common part of everyday life of the 32nd century, to the extent that folk use transporters instead of stairs and even to just change outfits, like we saw in the season four premiere episode — but the thing is, transporters kill you .

The creators of " Star Trek " have never officially confirmed that transporters kill you. However, solely based on the science, transporters do kill you. In simple terms, these teleportation devices scan every molecule in your body and briefly store them in the pattern buffer, while at the same time, the original body is to all intents and purposes, disintegrated. The transporter then converts the scanned copy into energy and beams the data stream to the desired location, where the body is rebuilt, from a sub-atomic level, using technology similar to a replicator. It's comparable in principle to a fax, except this fax machine destroys the original, to prevent duplication, although that has been known to happen.

The issue is essentially an existential one. Since our bodies are made up of identifiable matter, why won't transference of consciousness occur? What makes our consciousness so unique? What's the difference between an identical copy and you? If you were to put your copy into a different room that you hadn't been into, would you be able to see it? No. It's a perfect copy, but it's not you. There is a good article on Ars Technica that really goes into detail on this.

Still, all of this banter aside, this episode is not ... terrible. It is very evenly paced and that, despite the not-exactly edge-of-seat storyline, makes it bearable. Every sub-story seems to be given equal time and brief-but-enjoyable interplay between Lt. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) is fun. Plus, of course, we get to see the Trill homeworld again, which is nice. 

In other "Star Trek" news, " Strange New Worlds " has been renewed for a fourth season, while " Lower Decks " will end with its previously announced upcoming fifth season, expected to air sometime this year. Creator Mike McMahan and executive producer Alex Kurtzman posted a statement on the Star Trek website: “While five seasons of any series these days seems like a miracle, it’s no exaggeration to say that every second we've spent making this show has been a dream come true. Our incredible cast, crew and artists have given you everything they have because they love the characters they play, they love the world we've built, and more than anything we all love, love, love Star Trek."

Meanwhile, "Strange New Worlds" is currently in production on its third season, which is set to debut in 2025. It seems that all of this combined with the fact that "Section 31" ended up as a movie , casts doubt over the future of the Starfleet Academy spin-off and hopefully signals the end of the idiotic idea of "Star Trek: Legacy." Perhaps Paramount should look to cancel other ludicrous endeavors like the proposed Picard movie instead of cancelling decent shows in their efforts to tighten purse strings. 

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" and every episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US while "Prodigy" has found a new home o n Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on  Paramount Plus  in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on  Paramount Plus  in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

 —   Watch the bittersweet trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery's final season (video)

 —  'Spaceman' sees Adam Sandler shine as a cosmonaut in crisis in Netflix's somber sci-fi film (review)

—  Star Trek's Seven of Nine returns in new novel 'Picard: Firewall' (exclusive)

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 5 'Mirrors' is a quality installment, but weighed down by another anchor of nostalgia

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This Week's Star Trek: Discovery Is a Time-Hopping Marvel

In "face the strange," discovery returns to a trek trope it mastered in its first season to deliver a clever, thoughtful reflection on how far it's come..

Star Trek: Discovery is really good with time. We knew this almost immediately when one of its earliest episodes to really wow us was “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” a delightful time loop caper. We knew it again, when it flung caution to the wind and catapulted itself into a future no Star Trek show had visited yet at the climax of season two . And now, as it stares down its final end , Discovery once again turns to time—and twists it, to look back on its long, strange trip.

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“Face the Strange” is a deceptively simple episode on the surface, and a bold move for a show on its last lap: instead of accelerating the chase between Discovery and Moll and L’ak as they hunt for more clues to the Progenitor tech, it almost literally slams the brakes on everything to deliver a wonderful little character piece, not just for Michael Burnham, but to give time to explore Discovery ’s crew, and even its newcomer in Commander Rayner, who is still struggling to adapt to Discovery ’s more personable approach to hierarchy. After leaving Trill with Adira unknowingly tagged by Moll, the Discovery heads to coordinates where it expects to find the next piece of the puzzle, only to find... nothing. But what Adira was tagged with, it turns out, wasn’t a tracking device, but a “Time Bug,” a piece of Krenim technology held over from the Temporal Cold War (another great bit of using Discovery ’s handling of time, in this case the passage of it, for a fun Voyager / Enterprise nod!). The Time Bug infiltrates Discovery ’s systems, and locks them down—not by disabling the ship’s systems, but by trapping them in a spiraling series of time loops.

Burnham and Rayner—who were busy arguing in the ready room over Rayner’s abrasive mood—are partially unaffected by the bug’s looping, having attempted to beam back to the bridge at the precise moment it activated. While they’re caught in the same looping, being shunted backward and forward in Discovery ’s timeline, they remain aware between each loop that something is wrong—and that if they don’t put aside their differences and disable the bug, Discovery will be shut down while Moll and L’ak solve the clues to the Progenitor tech and doom the galaxy (to the Breen, of all people, we learn in one of the loops!).

This is already a really fun idea, because as we previously said— Discovery knows how to do a killer time loop story already, and has known how to do that for a very long time. But what crucially sets “Face the Strange” apart from “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” (god bless the show also toned down its love of long episode titles) is a context that the episode itself ultimately plays with: one of these episodes came just seven stories into the show’s existence. The other is the 59th , and in the time between them Discovery has done so much, changed so much, and developed in its own confidence, that it can use a similar structure and format like this again not to say “hey, look Star Trek fans, we can use the same tropes as the shows you loved,” but to instead say “hey, how do we use this trope to make a Discovery story?”

The answer is in both its characters—of course, particularly Michael—but also in the masterful way “Face the Strange” uses the concept of time looping to revisit a bunch of key moments from Discovery ’s metatextual past, giving Burnham, who went through it all, and Rayner, as the newcomer, (and eventually Stamets, who thanks to the spore drive tardigrade DNA, can’t be affected by time loops—a delightfully clever nod back to “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”!) a chance to see just how far this crew has come through and how much it’s changed them all along the way. Through Michael and Rayner’s eyes as they puzzle out the pattern of each loop, and what they need to do to stop the bug, we get to go through so much of Discovery ’s past—from it being built in drydock in San Francisco, to the moment it jumped to the 32nd century, to fighting off the Emerald Chain in season three, and, most crucially, climaxing back in the early days of season one when Michael was still just a downtrodden turncoat barely given a second chance by Starfleet after the start of the Federation-Klingon war. And with that perspective, and the carried awareness from loop to loop, both Michael and Rayner alike come to understand what Discovery has been through all the better.

It’s an episode that’s perfect for a final season—standalone enough that it is also simply just a great time loop scenario, but also vitally informed by Discovery ’s history over the last four seasons to deliver a really touching moment of acknowledgement for the series as it looks back on how far it’s come. It’s fun seeing the old blue metallic uniforms again, or seeing Stamets realizing that a) he’s a little worried he can quickly empty engineering of officers with a totally fake spore breach warning, or b) he used to be able to do that even quicker by being a massive asshole. It’s just as fun to see Rayner, who’s still resistant to connect to Discovery ’s crew, soften as he sees everything they went through to get to where they are now, and slowly but surely use the things he’s picked up about them to his advantage. It’s both extremely fun and extremely good that, in the last time loop set during Discovery season one, we not just get to see how cold and distant the bridge crew were back then, but that Discovery finally does justice to its former cyborg crewmate, Airiam (the returning Hannah Cheesman), making her belief in Michael key to saving the day—three seasons in the making, but a far more fitting farewell to the character after her clunkily unceremonious death in season two.

But above all, “Face the Strange” is Michael’s episode, and her journey is the one examined most of all. Because if you’re going to narratively go back in time to Discovery ’s first season, well, as much as she doesn’t want to, you’re going to have Present Michael face Past Michael. Sonequa Martin-Green plays the encounter to perfection: two determinedly stubborn women with things they still want to prove to both themselves and the world, pushed in each other’s faces. That it becomes a knock-down mirror match punch-up is deeply funny—fitting the aggression if Discovery ’s original wartime setting while also just making it the inevitable outcome of putting two unstoppable forces in each other’s way. But Martin-Green sells just how much of a difference there is between Michael’s past and her presence in these moments with incredible charm and subtlety. The show really hammers home that while there are still things about Michael that are still Michael, the young woman petrified that she had no place aboard a starship in season one and the undeniably heroic captain of season five represent a remarkable journey the character has been on.

Crucially, however, while Burnham vs Burnham ends with her current self Vulcan neck-pinching her past self, the actual moment the day is saved is done not by Michael, but Rayner, finally learning the keys to understanding what makes the Discovery crew tick. After Past-Michael wakes up and, being so eager to prove her worth, takes the Rayner and future-Stamets on at phaser-point in Engineering as they prepare to finally destroy the Time Bug, it’s Rayner who steps in to get her to back down, making a connection—by leaning on the things Michael had told him about herself in their argument at the start of the episode—and getting Michael to see that one day she’s going to prove herself on a long, painful, but rewarding path ahead of her... if only she stops being so stubborn for a damn second and let them save the future. Even if she doesn’t remember it, it’s the exact perfect advice season one Michael needs—advice she’ll learn the hard way through Lorca’s betrayal . And in having it passed onto her from Rayner, a man who Michael herself has begun to help grow and connect to others again after all his own frustrations and hurts, really hits home just how far she’s come.

“Face the Strange” is an episode Discovery could only pull off once, as its journey comes to an end—and it does so almost perfectly, an incredibly compelling use of a time-and-tested Trek format to examine the metatextual and textual journey it’s been on these last seven years. While there’s still more adventures to go on just yet—with the Time Bug stopped, the race between Discovery and Moll and L’ak is now tighter than ever—this was a great chance to take a moment and have its heroes and the show alike take stock of how much it’s grown: and how ready it is to bid farewell.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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'Star Trek: Discovery' recap: 'Context Is for Kings'

Burnham boards the series' titular ship and meets a (mostly) new cast of characters

Star Trek: Discovery ‘s eventful, two-part debut last week suggested the show would explore the moral dilemmas of war, and the third episode of the sci-fi franchise’s latest reboot continued to probe those age-old philosophical questions. Though “Context Is for Kings” introduced a slew of new characters and a fresh starship to boot, the show zipped along with well-paced drama, snappy action, and plenty of way-too-complicated science — in other words, all the makings of an excellent Star Trek episode.

“Context Is for Kings” picks up six months after the court martial that concluded “Battle at the Binary Stars.” Michael Burnham, sentenced to life imprisonment for staging a mutiny aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou, is being transported along with other prisoners to a new detainment facility. That is, until a cloud of a organisms — GS54, we learn, which feeds ruthlessly on electricity — envelops the shuttle, threatening to drain it of its power and life-support capabilities. The pilot exits the ship to investigate, but her safety tether is broken; things appear headed downhill in a hurry for the still-cuffed prisoners, but the U.S.S. Discovery swoops in to rescue them.

One of Burnham’s fellow prisoners raises the question viewers don’t know to ask: What’s a brand-new starship like the Discovery doing so far from the front line during wartime? (Burnham’s mutiny, of course, was a consequential one: She played a pivotal role in the Shenzhou’s skirmish with Klingon forces, which has blossomed into a full-blown conflict by the time of “Context Is for Kings.”) Commander Landry (Rekha Sharma), the Discovery’s chief of security, escorts the rescued prisoners through the ship’s halls and to the mess hall, where Burnham senses both universal recognition and disdain; when her fellow detainees attempt to murder her, none of the Starfleet officers raise a finger. Luckily, Burnham knows suus mahna , a form of Vulcan martial arts, and neutralizes the threat. Landry whisks her away again — this time, to meet Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs).

Outside Burnham herself and Saru — her Shenzhou comrade who’s now also stationed aboard the Discovery — Lorca is one of the most compelling characters Discovery has offered up yet. “It was the family business a century ago,” he tells Burnham as he extends a tray of fortune cookies. “That was before the future came and hunger and need and want disappeared. Course, they’re making a comeback now — thanks to you.” The concise colorfulness of his dialogue is entertaining for a Discovery viewer — but less so for Burnham, who suspects Lorca somehow staged the circumstances that brought her aboard the ship. His decision to utilize her high-level quantum physics training and put her to work — “I’m not a chauffeur,” he explains — only heightens her skepticism.

Uneasy mystery dominates “Context Is for Kings,” and the episode’s writing, directing, and acting effectively capture the ambiguity that any outsider senses when integrating with new people in a new place. Whenever Burnham tries to determine exactly what is going on aboard the Discovery, she’s rebuffed; when Saru escorts her to engineering to begin her work, she asks him if the ship is really a science vessel, and he balks.

At engineering, Burnham crunches code for Lieutenant Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who refuses to contextualize the data. Stamets is shown speaking with another Starfleet officer, Straal, who’s aboard the U.S.S. Glenn, but in confusing terminology. (Stamets, it’s worth noting, is another worthy addition to Discovery ‘s cast; his joke comparing Burnham’s Vulcanism to the John Lennonism of a member of a Beatles tribute band was the funniest line in “Context Is for Kings” by a mile.) In totality, the disorienting scenes articulate the disorientation Burnham must feel. And while many of her suspicions are warranted — more on that in a moment — some of them aren’t. For instance, her annoying new roomie Cadet Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) tells Burnham not to stand next to her in engineering because of “assigned seating”; later, Tilly confesses that she just didn’t want her own career tarnished by association with a convict like Burnham.

The facade begins to deteriorate when the Discovery finds the Glenn adrift, with its entire crew dead. Lorca orders Stamets and Landry to form a boarding party and commands them to take Burnham along. As they approach the Glenn, Stamets categorizes the etchings on the ship’s exterior as consequences of a “catastrophic basidiosac rupture,” and Burnham presses him on the phrase, suggesting that it indicates something related to spores. Stamets begins to expound about the relationship between physics and biology — at the atomic level, he explains, they’re the same — but shows too much of his hand, divulging that he and Straal had performed extensive research prior to the Klingon conflict that Starfleet had subsequently co-opted. He specifically labels Lorca a “warmonger.” (Recap continues on page 2)

Once aboard the ship, the Discovery’s boarding party discovers a dozen Klingon corpses. Stamets predicts that the Klingons actually arrived after the Glenn’s crew died and were seeking to pilfer the ship’s technology — and alludes to the conflict being lost if they’d discovered “the device.” Right on cue, a Klingon appears in the hallway. But instead of aggression, he shushes the Starfleet officers — and is promptly attacked and killed by a lion-sized alien beast. Stamets, Burnham, and the rest of the Discovery’s team flee to the Glenn’s engineering bay, where they barricade themselves in and discover the dead Straal, his face weirdly distorted and his ribs sticking through his sides. As a diversion, Burnham leads the beast through the Glenn’s Jeffries tubes — reciting Alice in Wonderland passages to herself along the way — until she arrives at an exit point directly above the landing vessel, where the rest of the team has already convened.

Once the boarding team returns to the Discovery, Lorca summons Burnham and extends an offer for her to remain aboard the Discovery, despite the fact that her fellow prisoners are to be taken to a new detention facility later that day. Burnham confronts him. Lorca, she alleges, is developing “some sort of spore-based biological weapon,” which would be banned by the Geneva Conventions of 1928 and 2155. (The former is historical fact in our society; the latter stemmed from the xenophobic Terra Prime movement explored in Star Trek: Enterprise .) Burnham deduces to Lorca that he desires her for her intellectual prowess and willingness to wage the sort of “unsanctioned war” that she attempted during her mutiny aboard the Shenzhou.

True and not true, it turns out. Lorca escorts Burnham to engineering to show her what the Discovery’s crew has been developing — it’s spore-based, yes, but not a weapon. Earlier in the episode, Burnham had stolen a swab of Tilly’s saliva and used it to gain entry to the ship’s cultivation bay, where she’d found a grove of flora. Lorca explains that the Discovery has produced mycelium spores and used them to develop revolutionary, organic propulsion transportation technology that allows nearly instantaneous travel throughout the universe. Stamets had discussed the spore-based transportation technology with Straal earlier in the episode, and the Glenn’s testing of the risky asset had gotten them all killed. Lorca draws Burnham in with the promise of the technology: Sure, it’ll prove invaluable for the Federation’s war effort, but afterward, it could revolutionize their scientific pursuits.

He also confronts the war’s knotty moral dilemmas. “You chose to do the right thing over and above what was sanctioned, even at great cost to yourself,” he says to Burnham when articulating why he admired her actions at the Battle of the Binary Stars. “That is the kind of thinking that wins wars.” He concludes with a goosebump-inducing flourish: “Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for kings.” It’s exhilarating to see these Trek characters so quickly occupying the grey spaces between good and evil. Discovery ‘s pilot presented viewers with multiple valid sides to sympathize with — the Klingons, the Federation, Burnham’s mutiny — and in “Context Is for Kings” the show continues to suggest that the choice between right and wrong is rarely cut and dried.

And we can brace for more morally ambiguous scenarios to come: The episode concludes with Lorca and Landry observing the beast they’d found aboard the Glenn, which they’ve covertly transported to the Discovery.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 Recap

Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery sees Burnham and Rayner team up to save the Discovery and its crew from a time travel wormhole.

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Episode 4 of Star Trek: Discovery aired on Paramount Plus this week,as it approaches the halfway mark in the fifth and final season. The sci-fi spin-off series consists of ten episodes, with one airing each week until the finale on May 30. The show began in 2017, and Season 5 has been praised for its serialized storytelling and exciting visual effects. Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Callum Keith Rennie, Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp.

The fourth episode of Star Trek: Discovery 's final season sees Burnham and Rayner put their differences aside when they realize they are in a wormhole and have traveled back in time. They must fight to save the Discovery and the crew on board, by facing off with bounty hunters, Moll and Lák.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 3 Recap

Star Trek: Discovery Episode 4 sees Moll and L’ak meeting with a dodgy dealer. They hand him a bag of the latinum and the dealer tries to raise the price of it, and it turns out Moll has poisoned the latinum, and takes the item from the dying dealer. L’ak is uncertain. But Moll assures him they’ll get ahead of the USS Discovery . She continues that once they have the Progenitor’s tech, they’ll be free. She tells him they have to hurry to catch Discovery on Trill. It is revealed that the device obtained from the dealer is the same one planted on Adira Tal in the final moments of the previous episode.

Elsewhere, the device activates in Adira’s quarters on the Discovery, and the device hops off the uniform and runs across the room and disappears into a girder.

In his lab, Stamets spots the bug and watches as it disappears into the wall. Captain Michael Burnham gets a report from Owo, revealing that she’s picking up some odd readings, and something has broadcast a signal from the ship. Burnham and Captain Rayner try to beam to the bridge, but they go nowhere.

The ship is moving but the lights flicker and a klaxon sounds. Rayner asks if they are under attack, as Burnham tries to contact the bridge but nothing seems to be working. Burnham and Rayner head to the bridge on foot and find the rest of the crew unconscious and wearing 23rd-century Starfleet uniforms. Rayner and Burnham realize they’re in a wormhole and have traveled back in time. Discovery follows Burnham as she goes through the wormhole into the future. Turns out, they haven’t just traveled back in time, but they’re actually jumping through time.

Burnham arrives in the future and explains the situation, and that she's undertaking an important mission for the future Discovery . Burnham demonstrates her personal knowledge of several crew members to prove her story , as Airiam, Tilly and the rest of the crew are confused at her appearance.

They remain skeptical of Burnham’s claims, but she says she will convince Airiam, and everyone will trust her judgment in the end. Burnham reveals she saw Airiam die, and she recounts the climax of “Project Daedalus.” Airiam convinces the rest of the crew of Burnham's legitimacy, and asks what help Burnham needs from them. Elsewhere, in the lab, Rayner and Stamets prepare to tackle the temporal shield, but a phaser wielding TB and Rhys interrupt their plans.

YB orders Stamets to shut down the warp core, but Rayner suggests Burnham come down, but there’s no time for that, and she urges Rayner to handle the situation. Rayner convinces Rhys they’re from the future with the knowledge he learned during interviews, but YB is still not convinced.

Rayner tells the story about Burnham arriving at the bridge and not feeling like she belongs. He tells YB she deserves to be there, and pleads with her to trust her instincts, which he knows are currently telling her to stand down, with YB seemingly convinced. Discovery ’s warp bubble is broken, and Rayner puts the device on the chronophage. Another time jump occurs, and they arrive back to the present day, which is fully intact.

Burnham orders Rayner to go to see Culber to tend to his hand injury, while Rayner states that it isn’t lost on him that what made them successful was their closeness with the crew. He admits he can be stubborn like Burnham used to be, but Burnham concludes they make a good team.

Star Trek: Discovery episode 4's ending sees the rest of the crew caught up on the chronophage. In the six hours since the time jumps began, the DOTs have found a warp signature that matches M’ak’s ship. Rayner compliments Rhys on his theory, which proved to be accurate. However, M’ak’s trail disappears, as Burnham orders the bridge crew to get to work on solving the mystery.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek 4: paramount needs to let this sequel die.