DiscoveryJust Rammed Its Endgame Into a Pretty Solid Episode ofStar Trek

This week Star Trek : Discovery screamed : “ WE’RE IN THE LAST THREE instalment OF THE SEASON ” at the top of its lung . It did , in the typical Discovery personal manner , a hunky-dory job of flingingbig emotion , bountiful stake , big twists , and more at our brass to get us quick for time of year three ’s climax . But unlike past time of year , it managed to also deliver its own take on a classic Trek dealership narration data formatting .

“ Su’Kal ” at first starts off pretty subdued ; we beak up where we left off , with the crew continue to reminisce about theloss of Phillipa Georgiou . But everything startle to quickly unfurl into Finale Preparation Mode somewhat fast , when the gang ’s viewing is interrupted with selective information about the location of the sign in the Verubin Nebula that Tilly , Adira , and Stamets have been investigate as the potential starting point for the Burn .

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“You three are all about to learn how very boned you are going to be for the next two-and-a-bit episodes.”

“You three are all about to learn how very boned you are going to be for the next two-and-a-bit episodes.”Image: CBS

turn out , they were right . Because the Kelpien ship ’s distress sign they ’ve been analyzing for episodes is come from a satellite at the heart of the nebula , with a single subsister on its surface : a planet made almost entirely out of Dilithium . This does n’t just make it a vital imagination the Federation require to secure for itself , but , above all for Saru in particular , a rescue mission . Whoever ’s on the satellite is the winder to solving the Burn , but for the Discovery ’s captain , it ’s a moral and honorable dilemma , a luck to save a presumably traumatized member of his mintage .

After Vance dispatches part of Starfleet ’s limited military force-out to Kaminar — while Osyraa stages an Emerald Chain military exercise there , trying to draw Saru and the Discovery out — the work party heads for the nebula , hoping to find a means through its deadly radiation therapy pouch to the safety of the one planet in its midst . It ’s a marriage of the action mechanism stakes of Discovery , a high - fastness thrill chase as Book zooms his ship through the nebula to get a ping on the planet for the Discovery to glow a squad down to , and the variety of nerveless worldbuilding sciencey stuff classic Trek is made of , as Saru and the Bridge gang probe the mysterious nebula and seek to science their way through its barriers .

One DNA - recombined cat and some authoritative coordinates later , Michael , Culber , and Saru leave Tilly in charge — hell yeah — aboard the ship while they radiate to the control surface . What basically follows is 30 - ish minutes of a classical episode ripped right out of the Star Trek of old . Our heroes find themselves on a strange planet , unlike anything they expected , at the caprice of a herculean , almost divine being — the lone survive next genesis of the Khi’eth ’s enquiry team : Su’Kal . Su’Kal , however , is not really cut from the same cloth as a Trelane or what have you ; he lives in a huge holo - syllabus pretense that does n’t just mask the Dilithium globe but even translate Saru , Michael , and Culber into alternate part ( include a human Saru , lettingDoug Jonestruly shine without his usual Kelpien program heel and layers of prosthetics ) . They ’re perplexed , out of their ingredient , and battling mysterious actinotherapy that could pour down them all in a matter of time of day , unless they do what many Star Trek heroes have done before them : explore the hell out of this unearthly matter they find out themselves in .

Image: CBS

It work extremely well , even if much of this is a mood piece rather than in reality providing answer about the Burn that we the audience and our outside team alike want to experience . We get to see Saru , in particular , struggle with the hurting of being so close to receive another Kelpien only to find that Su’Kal is living through trauma — the last hope of his parents , sheltered his whole spirit so that neither he nor even Michael can manage to make a connection with him before he runs away ( summoning some kind of holo - demon in the process ) . We get to see Michael , who tries so often to put the burdens of others upon herself , not value up to the undertaking of making that connection to Su’Kal , and understand that , even with a human visage , it must be a fellow Kelpien who bonds with the haunted teen .

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Most fascinatingly , it pose Michael and Saru ’s kinship in an inverse manner . Earlier this time of year , we interpret Saru struggle to get through to Michael after her paying back to the bunch , a twelvemonth out front of them in this newfangled future . We see him grow frustrated with her reluctance to re - acquaint herself with Starfleet protocol , as he add up into his own as captain and as part of the battered Federation of this timeline . Afew episodes ago , he bump her for betraying his trustingness and not surveil his orders onwards of her own personal desire , and now , it ’s her turn to see that personal dilemma compromise him . But instead of calling him out on it to score points , Michael makes Saru realize that sometimes being part of bid imply you have to embrace that at time you will be emotionally compromised . In this example , Saru ’s compromise could be the link that let him hit out to Su’Kal and cypher out just how the Kelpien ostensibly caused the Burn in his excited throes in the first plaza .

Image: CBS

Image: CBS

Alas , it ’s almost unfortunate that this wise balance of Discovery ’s bread - and - butter character reference drama and definitive Trek escapade image has to be momently shunted by in the climax of “ Su’Kal , ” because , after all , there are TWO EPISODES LEFT and WE HAVE TO HAVE MORE STAKES . The bet are , at least , filled with potentiality .

While the away squad have been down on the major planet , Osyraa ’s flagship has warped in over the unexpecting Discovery , setting the stage for her hostile takeover of the ship , garble all the mode back to Federation HQ with the Discovery as an interstellar trojan gymnastic horse . Oh no , Michael and Book are seemingly trap with no mode to get back in time ! Stamets has been mind - moderate by gross look Chain tech ! Tilly and the crew have been cut off from comms and detained ! Oh , and , Saru and Culber are still slowly dying back in the Nebula as they attempt to rescue Su’Kal , and now Adira ’s with them too .

It ’s a hatful . A whole lot . But it ’s strong to say if the overwhelming amount of escalation will be too much just yet , as we ’ve got the next two episodes to see how all these problem play out . At least in the middling proportional composure before the storm of its third endgame , Discovery at least palm itself with a much more comfortable wedlock of eminent stakes and classical Trek heart and enigma than itsprevious closing curtain did .

Image: CBS

Image: CBS

Assorted Musings

Nothing to tally here , but please , do enjoy this picture of Michael Burnham cradle Grudge . Extremely wholesome .

But also , on no , Grudge got irradiation poisoning ! I mean , so did Book too , that was also bad . But Grudge ! They had to recombine her deoxyribonucleic acid ! ! Which sounded petrifying , but everyone treat it as no big deal in the sickbay . That seems kind of like the thing that would take someone out of the picture in preceding Trek shows , so mayhap it was just a bit of narrative restroom , or a play , insidious way to show that medicine has advanced so far in the thirty-second century that a niggling thing like lethal radioactivity poisoning is n’t all that much to deal with .

It was very fun to see Michael , Hugh , and Saru out of their element being “ holotransformed ” by Su’Kal ’s programs , but a especial shout out has to go to the chance to see Doug Jones act without layer of prosthetics as Saru here . It was a great performance that balanced the occupation between still feeling like Saru while still being unsettling for both the interview and the character that he ’s vulnerably presented like this .

Image: CBS

Image: CBS

Tilly ’s first time in the Captain ’s chair was like being thrust in the melting pot , but she handled it somewhat dang well considering it was a nightmare scenario . It ’s so cool to have seen her and the crew ’s faith in her come so far from time of year one that she ’s now receive bridge deck - repulsion with the bad guys and keeping her cool like the kickass officer she always require to be . Step aside , Mirror Killy , Captain - to - be - Tilly ( Mary Wiseman ) is in command of our hearts now .

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Image: CBS