Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 13 (That Hope Is You, Part 2)

There’s usually been a clear distinction between good and evil in Star Trek.  The Federation, such as it is, is good.  The Emerald Chain is bad.  Most of the people in the 32^nd Century are doing their best, but that’s not always good enough.  Starfleet admits that it’s had to be reserved in the wake of The Burn, but it’s still a remnant of what it once was.

That Hope is You, Part II wraps things up for the third season.  Starfleet and The Emerald Chain are negotiating, but that’s not meant to be.  Saru is finally able to get Su'Kal off the ship and to a safe location.  We even get an epic battle between Osyraa’s crew and the Discovery crew.

I kind of feel like the season was a stretched-out episode.  We had a lot of stuff at the start of the season and a lot of stuff at the end of the season, but the episodes in the middle seemed to move the action along pretty slowly.  I feel like this would have been, at most, three episodes in another Star Trek series.  It’s something that might have played out while other stuff happened.  Yes, we get a nice neat bow and a nice lead-in for the fourth season, if COVID ever lets that happen.  It just seemed so prolonged.

Part of it is that the Emerald Chain seems like the bad guy that was invented just for the series, much like the Ferengi were for The Next Generation.  As I mentioned in the last review, another part is that we never get to see much of what’s going on with the other races.  The entire season is focused on The Burn, and the cause is a bit of a letdown.  After going through a dozen episodes, I expected something grandiose.

Making Burnham the captain at the end makes sense.  After all, this was supposed to be The Michael Burnham show.  This doesn’t mean that Saru won’t be made captain once he returns.  (It’s reported that Saru will come back, but it’s not clear in what capacity.)

I do hope for a fourth season.  This could serve as a series finale or a gateway into something grander.  What wasn’t pure action was maybe setting this up.  Osyraa might not get her day in court, but the Emerald Chain will have to ask itself some tough questions.  Former member worlds are rejoining The Federation.  Since Gray wasn’t a figment of Adira’s imagination, there’s a promise that they might return for next season.  I’m not sure how that will play out.

From the looks if it, COVID will delay the fourth season, rather than prevent it, which is good.  I would hope that the next season would return more to individual stories and maybe give us a better look at the 32^nd Century.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 11 (Su'Kal)

It occurred to me that Starfleet and The Federation had something like 125 years to figure out what caused The Burn.  For those that are just joining us, The Burn basically ended the use of warp drive as a major mode of transportation.  And yet, no one made any real headway on what caused it for over a century.

Then, along comes the U.S.S. Discovery.  Within a matter of months, they pinpoint where The Burn originated.  I’ll grant you that this location was remote, but you’d think someone would have thought to look at the black boxes on starships.  I’m just saying.

Anyway, Discovery goes off to the Verubin Nebula, where the find exactly one life sign, and tat one life sign happens to be a member of the same race as Captain Saru.  Sure, Saru is eager to get there and meet his Kelpian.  He even beams over to a radioactive ship to meet the guy.  To coin a phrase, you won’t believe what happens next.

We come to find out that the Kelpian, Su’Kal, has been alone for something like 125 years.  He’s had the ship’s computers and holodeck to basically raise him and keep him company for all that time.  Saru beams over with Michael Burnham and Dr. Culber.  They find that the Kelpian hasn’t developed much beyond the mentality of a child.  Getting him off the ship proves difficult.

Meanwhile, Ensign Tilly, as first officer, is left in command of Discovery.  This wouldn’t be a problem except that Dioscovery pissed off Osyraa and she promised revenge.  Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue.  It’s a big universe.  What are the odds that Osyraa would pick that moment to exact her revenge?

Well, Osyraa shows up and manages to capture the ship and jump to Federation/Starfleet headquarters.  Fortunately, Discovery has Booker to send over to pick up Burnham.  Unfortunately, Adira the human Trill stays behind in the nebula.

There are a few interesting things to consider here.  The first thing I noticed is that Saru is made to look human.  Su’Kal’s ship would seem to be one big holodeck, which allows the computer to change the appearance of the landing party.  It changes the one person who looks like Su’Kal to look human and the two humans to look slightly non-human.  Granted, the ship has suffered massive damage from radiation.  Still, it seems odd.

Grudge the Cat also pays a visit to sickbay.  It would appear that Grudge may actually be a cat.  No mention is made of her being anything else.  It’s not unheard of, even within the Star Trek universe, for a cat to be something more than a cat.  This cigar may be just a cigar, after all.

It seems that the writers for Star Trek like to take their time.  As mentioned, it took a long time for anyone to even realize that the ship existed.  (You’d think whoever sent the ship would have said something.)  Once on the ship, the landing party takes its sweet time trying to get Su’Kal off the ship.  Given that there’s dangerous radiation, you’d think someone would slap a homing beacon on him and be done with it.  They’re very aware that there’s a time limit, so why waste any?

This episode would seem to set up the last two episodes.  I’m a little late in reviewing this episode, so I’ve already seen one of those two episodes.  But I am left wondering how this season will end.  There is talk of a fourth season.  What will that look like?  I’m not sure.  It’s still not clear if The Burn can be fixed.  We now know the cause of it and there is a large stash of dilithium would could mitigate the problem, but it’s not clear to what extent.

A fourth season could see the Federation and Starfleet rebuilding with Discovery’s help.  It could also see Discovery jumping back in time or further ahead, although I doubt it.  I’m thinking that the narrative will jump ahead to a point where progress has been made, but there’s still work to do.  I guess we don’t have long to wait to see how this season ends.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 10 (Terra Firma, Part 2)

WARNING:  Spoilers ahead.  

 

There are so many Star Trek series in production right now, it’s hard to keep track.  Add to that several more series floating around in the ether.  One of those new ideas was a show about the mysterious Section 31, which was supposed to be headlined by Michelle Yeoh.  But the character in question is stuck in the 32^nd century.  Does that mean that Section 31 has lasted that long?  Or would Georgiou somehow be sent back in time?

Well, it looks like we get part of an answer, sort of.

In Part 1 of Terra Firma, we meet Carl.  Carl is an enigmatic type.  He offers Georgiou help.  Well, he offers her a door, which could help with her condition.  Upon walking through the detached doorway, she finds herself in what appears to be The Mirror Universe.  You see, Carl is weighing her, seeing what she’s made of.  Based on her decisions, Carl will either offer or deny her that help.

When she finally passes, we find out who Carl really is and what he’s up to.   You see, Carl is the personification of The Guardian of Forever.  Georgiou’s problem is that she’s both out of time and away from her home universe.  Like the saying goes, she doesn’t have to go home, but she can’t stay here.  Carl doesn’t send her back to The Mirror Universe, but can send her back to a time when her absence won’t be an issue.

It’s not clear what this means, exactly.  Section 31 existed from the dawn of The Federation.  She could end up meeting Jonathan Archer or Kathryn Janeway.  (Or, she could end up back in her own time, which is most probable.)

There also appears to be a bit of retcon with The Guardian.  When we first saw The Guardian, it was stated that the history of a planet could only be displayed in the fashion shown.  Someone couldn’t pick an exact time or place.

Granted, neither of Georgiou’s journeys necessarily violates that edict.  It’s not clear if what we saw her go through really happened.  It could have been a pocket universe or alternate timeline.   At the end of the episode, Carl is able to send Georgiou to a specific time place of his own choosing.  It could be The Guardian can do whatever it wants, but has no way to take a specific request.  Given the vastness of all of time and space, it might be some limitation on taking requests.

There’s also the issue of the Temporal Cold War.  Carl says that he had to go into hiding after what the various factions put him through.  Something  might have happened to The Guardian that altered its nature.  (That could be an interesting little miniseries right there.)  I guess we’ll just have to wait to see exactly what Carl did.

There’s a part of this episode (and the previous one) that feels like a detour.  Without Georgiou’s problem, the side trip would have been totally unnecessary.  We never would have met Carl/The Guardian.  I suppose it’s necessary to set up the Section 31 show and all.  I mean, I’m not complaining.  City on the Edge of Forever was a great episode and all.  I’m just wondering how else this will fit into the big picture.

The last stretch of the episode sees the crew getting back on track.  There’s this mysterious distress call.  The crew knows where it’s coming from, but decides to decode it before actually going there.  I suppose that’s a sensible precaution.  Had it not been for The Burn, it would have been fairly easy to send a bunch of ships there.

As it is, Discovery is the only ship that could make the journey in a reasonable amount of time.  If Starfleet is going to send a bunch of ships there, one would want to know what’s necessary.  (Do they need science vessels or warships, for instance?)

There are three more episodes left this season.  It looks like the next one will have Discovery going to the source of The Burn.  I’m hoping for a happy resolution, but nothing ever seems to be easy on this show.  At least it’s interesting.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 9 (Terra Firma, Part 1)

Georgiou is in a bad spot.  Her molecules are disintegrating and she has issues trusting people.   Not that it matters, though.  No one knows what’s happening to her, so there would be no way to help her.  Discovery gets a visit from Kovich, who basically states as much.  He didn’t cause the problem, as some might have suspected, but he does have some idea what’s going on.  It’s the one-two punch of crossing universes and jumping ahead in time.

That’s when Discovery’s computer chimes in.  You see, it was given vast quantities of information from a giant sphere and is now maybe sort of semisentient or something.  Anyway, it offers up a suggestion.  Go to a particular planet where Georgiou has a 5% chance of being cured.  It’s not clear what that means and Kovich isn’t quite enamored with that level of AI, but there Georgiou beams down with Commander Burnham.

They walk to a spot offered up by the ship’s computer.  It’s not clear why they couldn’t just beam down to that spot.  (Yes, it gives Burnham and Georgiou time to talk, but still…)  Anyway, they meet Carl.  Carl has a door.  When I say door, I mean just a door.  It sort of brings back memories of The Lost Room.

Carl has a proposition.  Georgiou can go through the doorway.  She’ll be free of the affliction that ails her at the moment, but that doesn’t mean she can’t die.  Carl is a little vague and enigmatic about it, but she takes him up on his unusual offer.

This is where it gets weird.  If you’ve read other reviews of this episode, you may have seen comparisons to City on the Edge of Forever and The Q.  These are not unwarranted comparisons, as Georgiou finds herself in what is ostensibly The Mirror Universe.  It reminds me of The Next Generation episode Tapestry in that Georgiou is likely being given a chance to resolve some issue from her past.  We’ve seen fragments of this in flashbacks.

Carl is also holding a newspaper.  It’s tomorrow’s paper, a la Early Edition.  In tomorrow’s paper, Georgiou is dead.  That can be changed, although Carl won’t give out any specifics.  Georgiou has to figure that out on her own.  (Being that this is a two-part episode, we’re going to have to wait.)

Much of the episode takes place in The Mirror Universe, but there are a lot of things going on.  Admiral Vance offers Captain Saru some advice.  We also find out that the ship emitting the distress call is Kelpian.  It was lost about 100 years ago, so there’s no expectation of finding anyone alive, but there is an incomplete message from a member of the crew.  I get a sense of a twist coming up.  Again, we’re going to have to wait to find out more.

Oh, and the Kelvin timeline is now cannon in the Prime timeline, so there’s that.

I’m hoping we’ll get to see Carl again.  It’s not clear who or what he is.  There’s no shortage of omnipotent beings in the Star Trek universe.  He might be Q.  He might be associated with The Guardian of Forever.  Most likely, he’s something new.  I’m curious about how Discovery knew to go there in the first place.  (It’s entirely plausible that it was Carl speaking through Discovery.)

I’m mostly curious what Carl, the door and The Mirror Universe have to do with Georgiou’s problem.  This is why I’m inclined to believe that she’s not actually in The Mirror Universe.  I’m thinking this is an exercise in enlightenment.  I half expect Burnham to say that Georgiou walked right through the door.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 8 (The Sanctuary)

Things aren’t good in the 32^nd Century.  The Federation is a shell of its former self.  The bad guy is The Emerald Chain, who seems to be made up of former Federation members.  Dilithium is scares and everyone is hurting, causing everyone to hurt others.  In The Sanctuary, that hurt comes to Booker’s home world, Kwejian.

Ryn, an Andorian who has gone against The Emerald Chain, is onboard The Discovery, as is Booker.  Osyraa wants Ryn back.  She correctly assumes that if she puts pressure on Kwejian, Booker will be the first person they call for help and that he (and, by extension, Discovery and Ryn) will eventually show up.

Saru is given explicit orders not to engage in battle.  Starfleet is stretched pretty thin as it is.  Another engagement wouldn’t make anything better.  Instead, offer up some diplomatic solution to the problem at hand.  If you know anything about the season so far, you know that’s not going to happen.

Osyraa really wants Ryn and she has Kwejian under her boot.  (They have a locust problem and she has a repellant.)  Saru is new as a captain.  In fact, he’s looking for some sort of catchphrase.  It comes across as goofy and unnecessary, but is probably more of a metaphor for the fact that he’s still finding himself.  Either way, he comes to realize that battle may be the best option.  It’s simply a question of how to go about it.

Everyone in this future is caught between two bad options.  Kwejian can’t tolerate insects that eat their food, but the solution is to put themselves at the mercy of a sort of protection racket.  Starfleet doesn’t want a battle, but that means implicitly allowing all manner of bad situations to continue.  Granted, Kwejian isn’t really their problem, but Starfleet used to mean something.  Starfleet used to do the right thing.

The Burn has really set thing back a long way.  Warp drive isn’t really a thing anymore and no one knows what caused it.  Fortunately, we now at least know where it may have begun.  In the previous episode, a location was pinpointed and a distress call was found coming from there.  No additional progress is made in this episode, which is frustrating.

However, we do know that there is something seriously wrong with Georgiou.  We even get one scene where her face acts like programmable matter.  It’s still not clear exactly what happened.  Georgiou doesn’t offer up any clues and the doctors are at a total loss, as well.

I’m curious to see how all of this comes together.  If someone did that to Georgiou, there would presumably be a reason.  I’m also curious to see what this distress call is.  Also, we find out a little bit about where a Booker got a human name.  Why is his cat called Grudge, though?  And is Grudge even really a cat?  Anyone that’s seen Captain Marvel knows that cat-shaped creatures aren’t always what they seem to be.

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 7 (Unification III)

It occurred to me that a 930-year jump is not insignificant.  The crew of the Discovery is so far in the future, it would be like someone from the Norman invasion of England coming to our time.  I bring this up because Spock gets a cameo in this episode, which is called Unification III.  This would be like one of us talking about William the Conqueror.  I want you to consider that for a moment.

You see, the central aspect of this episode is that Michael Burnham has to go to Vulcan.  Except they call it Ni’Var now, because Romulans are living there.  It looks like Spock’s efforts in The Next Generation paid off, even if he never lived to see it.  But that’s not why she’s going to Vulcan.  She needs information on The Burn.

Burnham has three points of reference as to The Burn’s cause.  She determines that the Burn happened at one location and spread out rather than happening all at once.  However, three points of reference only narrows down where that point of origin is.  Like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, Burnham needs more input.

The Vulcans had this experiment called SB-19.  In an effort to find alternatives to warp drive the Federation pushed Vulcan to conduct an experiment that may have caused The Burn.  The Vulcans blamed themselves, withdrew from The Federation and didn’t share the information.  It’s up to Burnham to play on the fact that she’s Spock’s sister.

The whole thing seems a little odd to me.  It’s like someone showed up today and claimed to be William the Conqueror’s sister.  Any sense of who William the Conqueror is reduced to legend and fable.  Anyway, Burnham goes through a bit of an inquisition, learns a valuable lesson and gets the information in spite of it all.

On top of this, we finally find out what happened to Burnham’s mother.  She ended up on Ni’Var and joined that Romulan candor sect from Star Trek: Picard.  She basically throws her daughter under a bus during the hearing to get the SB-19 information, citing honesty and everything.  Michael is forced to face some hard truths.  It’s little wonder that she resists and feels betrayed.

It’s also notable that the Vulcans aren’t relieved that The Burn isn’t their fault.  I know.  Vulcans don’t show emotion.  And there are other considerations, like The Federation was pushing them to do something that they knew wasn’t a good idea.  A hundred years later and the Vulcans are still saying we told you so.

Meanwhile, Tilly is made first officer.  Sure, she’s an ensign.  She was on the command track and all, but she seems a little inexperienced to be the executive officer, even if temporarily.  This could be an attempt to develop the character.  Even if she doesn’t permanently become executive officer, it will give her a chance to grow.  I would think she’d at least get a promotion.  Maybe later on, she will.  It would make more sense to hold off on that.

One thing stuck out while looking at information about the episode.  Vulcan’s new name is Ni’Var.  What’s this thing with apostrophes in names?  In text, it usually denotes a contraction.  Cannot becomes can’t.  Is Ni’Var a contraction for something?  Phonetically, I wouldn’t think it makes any difference.  I don’t know if it’s to show that it’s different than something else.  How do we get these random apostrophes?

It’s also still not mentioned what happened to Remans when Romulus exploded.  I think I may have caught a glimpse of one, but I can’t be certain.  It’s just as well.  The whole Reman thing seemed like a contrivance to begin with.  It’s something else that Star Trek brought into the fold only to abandon after one use.

I can’t wait to see how this season ends.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 6 (Scavengers)

I remember not liking Lwaxana Troi during the initial run of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  She was that annoying comic relief that just kept coming back.  Over the seasons, she began to get a back story and seemed less one-dimensional.  She was sympathetic, even if just a little.

I bring this up because I see a similar story arc for the Mirror Universe’s Georgiou.  I have noticed that Georgiou is written as overly aggressive and not much else.  She serves to antagonize at least one character per episode, not unlike Troi.  I’m thinking this might be a pivotal episode for the former emperor in that the writers might have more in mind for her.

The episode starts with various captains receiving their respective missions.  Saru, as captain of the Discovery, is told to wait around headquarters.  Since they have a spore drive and aren’t limited by The Burn, they can pop in on potentially volatile diplomatic talks if the need arises.

It’s an inconvenient time for Cleveland Booker’s ship to pop in, minus Booker.  When his cat hails Discovery, they know something’s up.  This puts Michael Burnham in a tough spot.  Admiral Vance gave Saru orders to stick around, so Discovery can’t go off to save him.  However, he was looking for black boxes from Starfleet vessels, which might contain valuable information on how The Burn played out.  Thus, Burnham and Georgiou take Book’s ship back to the planet where he’s being held.

She saves Book, gets the black box and makes it back to Discovery without incident.  This isn’t to say there won’t be consequences, though.  Saru reports the incident to Vance, who reprimands Burnham.  Since she saved lives and got valuable information, she won’t be put in the brig, but it doesn’t make Saru look good.

My major complaint with the episode is the obvious one, in that Discovery has a problem which prevents them from addressing another problem, which would further the story line.  Burnham, as first officer, shouldn’t have gone.  That much is true.  But there’s no reason another officer couldn’t have gone.  Vance even points out that Saru should have passed the importance of the information up the chain of command.  He may have authorized such a mission.  He might have even dispatched an actual Starfleet ship to deal with it.

That aspect of the episode seems forced to me.  Even having Burnham removed as first officer is more a reminder that she really shouldn’t have been made first officer in the first place.  It would make more sense for her to just be the science officer or, simply, the one who gets sent on such a mission when it arises.

You might be wondering what Georgiou has to do with any of this.  During the mission, she blacks out.  She even falls to the floor at a crucial moment.  We get to see flashes of memory, but not enough to really tell what’s going on.  This could be major.  It could be nothing.  I would hope that we’ll at least find out why Georgiou is the way she is.  (It’s also suspicious that this started right after she met with Kovach.)

It will be interesting to see who replaces Burnham as first officer.  I don’t see it being Tilly.  Yes, she’s on the command track.  She’ll be captain one day, but I don’t think it will happen just yet.  Given that she’s giving sound advice to the captain would indicate that it will happen one day.

For that matter, I don’t see it being any of the main characters.  I think everyone is where they need to be.  Reno, maybe?  I don’t think anyone had her in mind for XO when she was rescued, although it could happen.  I’m putting my money on Linus.  He basically spent the entire episode popping up in odd places, so I suppose anything is possible.

 

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Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 5 (Die Trying)

Getting what we want isn’t always what we expected.  It’s certainly not easy.  For the first part of Discovery’s third season, the title ship has been looking for Federation and Starfleet headquarters.  It’s been made more difficult by the fact that there’s no warp drive.  They have a spore drive, which isn’t hindered by The Burn, but information seems to be scarce.

In Die Trying, the ship finally arrives at headquarters, but the crew doesn’t get the warm welcome they expected.  Instead, they’re met with suspicion.  It’s understandable.  At the end of Season 2, it was revealed that Discovery is listed as destroyed in action.  All mention of the spore drive is erased from any official record.  No one will speak of them again, and this comes to bite Discovery in the hind quarters.

Admiral Charles Vance is in charge of Starfleet.  He basically tells Saru, now the captain of Discovery, that the crew will be debriefed and split up.  The ship will be retrofitted and whatnot.  This doesn’t sit well with the crew, but it’s a pretty realistic response.  Starfleet doesn’t have many ships left.  Federation membership has gone from 350 planets at its peak to 38, a reduction of almost 90%.  Vance and Co. aren’t in a good spot.  So, yeah.  It’s not the cheers and balloons anyone expected.

That’s not to say that anything bad is going to happen.  It turns out that there are some refugees that are in dire medical need.  A solution presents itself that’s uniquely suited to Discovery’s abilities, which gives the crew a chance to shine.

There’s a lot going on in this episode, but that’s not what’s important.  Sometimes, it’s what’s not said that draws my attention.  Vance states that Starfleet’s mission has changed over the years, which is probably why there are so many ships docked at headquarters. 

There’s also the giant distortion field, which acts as a giant cloaking device.  Starfleet has gone on the defensive.  It’s not stated exactly what that means, though.  Why have all these ships if you’re just going to keep them docked?  I realize that The Burn has rendered warp drives useless for the most part.  They want to conserve dilithium, which is at a premium now.  It’s also not clear how many other ships there are.  There would seem to be a few ships out and about.  Still, that’s a lot of ships.

Then, there’s the debriefing.  As I said, it’s understandable that Starfleet is suspicious of a crew from the past that just drops by, especially considering that time travel is now illegal.  Vance isn’t going to do them any favors, considering.  Of note is Georgiou’s debriefing.  She manages to disable her two holographic interrogators, leaving a mysterious gentleman named Kovach to question her.

Kovach seems to know all about Georgiou, like that she’s Terran.  How?  We don’t know.  He does know all about The Mirror Universe, stating that no one has crossed over in 500 years.  Maybe this guy is Section 31, which might make sense.  Maybe he’s from the other side, himself, but that would raise more questions.

There are a lot of nods to other series.  Most notable is the USS Voyager-J.  It seems to bear a striking resemblance to Janeway’s Voyager.  There’s also mention of a new Constitution-class vessel.  This makes me wonder if Starfleet is recycling old designs.  If so, why?  Is there some need for smaller ships?

For that matter, holograms seem to have regressed a little since Voyager’s time.  The holographic characters seem to have less personality.  I’m kind of hoping for a visit from the EMH from Voyager.  It might make for some nice commentary.

I miss the episodic format of the other series, but I kind of don’t.  Discovery is striking a nice balance between contained storylines and the bigger picture.  We get the obligatory “We don’t know squat about The Burn” segment, but there are also a lot of new things going on.  This episode moves the season along nicely.  I will say that, five episodes in, there’s no Disco shown.  I’d call that a good thing, knock on holographic wood.

 

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