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Now that Star Trek: Discovery is finished with the Mirror Universe — with a clip from the previous episode reiterating that Philippa is never coming back — we can finally get back to the season’s overarching storyline: The Burn.
We know that that Adira and Stamets have located a spot in the universe where The Burn originated. And we know that there is a Kelpien ship at that point sending out a distress signal over a hundred years later. And … there is a life form on the crashed ship. I can’t be the Kelpien scientist seen in the message because it looked like she was suffering from radiation poisoning. Ah, but Saru finally reveals — and why he’d keep this a secret is unknown — that the markings on her forehead were not from radiation … she was pregnant. Therefore the life form is her child, and it’s more urgent than ever for Discovery to slip on over to the planet and conduct a rescue mission. And there’s one other little tidbit: the planet is not a dilithium nursery, it’s an entire planet made of dilithium, a commodity the Federation desperately needs at this point, especially with the Emerald Chain breathing down their necks. In fact, Admiral Vance alerts Saru that the Chain is amassing ships at his home planet, a ploy they deduce is meant to draw Discovery there to take the spore drive. Of course their position now would be of even greater interest to Osyraa. A spore drive and all the dilithium the Chain would ever need would make them invincible. So Discovery needs to stay where it is out of harm’s way. Surely there’s no way Osyraa can find them.
Jumping to the Verubin Nebula to locate the ship and its survivor, Discovery is confronted with a major problem — radiation. The ship’s shields are unable to withstand the radiation and the storms inside the nebula so Book volunteers to take his ship in to pinpoint a place where Discovery can safely jump so an away team can beam down to the planet. Book (and Grudge) barely make it back alive as radiation begins to seep into his ship, but the mission is a success and modern medicine fixes up both of them upon their return. Now Saru and Burnham plan their mission and Hugh says he needs to accompany them because he can identify with the Kelpien, someone who feels alone in a world where they don’t belong. And Hugh offers a concerningly long goodbye to Paul, signaling that he ultimately may not return to Discovery. Saru leaves Tilly in charge because what could go wrong while they’re away?
On the planet, the trio is greeted with an amazing sight — themselves. They’ve somehow been transformed. Michael is Trill, Hugh is Bajoran and Saru is … Human! Yes, Doug Jones gets to perform as Saru without the head-to-toe makeup this week! As Spock would say, ‘Fascinating.’ Wilson Cruz makes for a pretty badass looking Bajoran too. But why are they changed? Turn out they are in an advance holo-program, which they learn was created by the child’s mother to raise, nurture and tutor him after her death. The program learns and grows along with the child, whose name is Su’Kal, but it hasn’t been able to socialize him to outsiders. He doesn’t even look fondly upon the idea of outsiders entering his fantasy world. The away team must think quickly and pretend they are new parts of the program so as not to freak him out. Michael spends the most time with him and has to perform a ‘reboot’ when Su’Kal begins to grow suspicious of her but she goes a little too far when telling him he needs to reboot the entire program, and he runs away from her.
Saru and Hugh are learning more about the program and its various parts, coming across a Kelpien elder (something Saru has never seen before, at least not at this advanced age) and they learn that there is a Kelpien monster in the program that Su’Kal must face if they are ever to leave the place. This is not great news as they are beginning to feel the effects of the massive radiation.
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Back on Discovery, a Federation ship appears to be approaching them but there are no M-Class planets in the vicinity and there should be no Federation ships in the area. A more detailed scan of the area around the ship reveals it’s not Federation at all, it’s Osyraa’s ship and she’s more than a little bemused to see Tilly in the captain’s chair. And she seems to know quite a lot about Tilly, attempting to poke all of her insecurity buttons, but Tilly actually stands her ground, not allowing Osyraa to get under her skin, at least not visibly so that Osyraa can detect her weaknesses. Tilly’s performance her actually makes us question if Saru is actually the person who should be guiding Discovery. It’s hard to imagine him trading barbs with Osyraa as sharp as the ones Tilly tossed at her. But Osyraa grows tired of sniping at Tilly and comes to the conclusion that Discovery is where it is because the captain is not on the ship, he’s on the planet. And that leaves the ship, the spore drive and the dilithium planet vulnerable.
During Discovery’s Federation upgrade, it was equipped with a cloaking device so Tilly uses that to buy them some time to get the away party back on board. Of course, Osyraa cloaks her ship too. And Book is forced once again to fly into the nebula to retrieve the team as their time is running out. And Adira hitches a ride, equipped with radiation pills to distribute. Knowing the have to leave, Saru asks Michael to stay with Su’Kal because he can’t be objective but Michael tells him that Su’Kal will only interact with him. Saru is the only shot they have to save him. And Hugh volunteers to stay as well. Before anyone can leave, the Kelpien monster Su’Kal must face appears but instead of facing his fear, Su’Kal seems to panic, emitting some kind of burst that decloaks both ships outside the nebula? Is Su’Kal somehow the actual source of The Burn? Michael is beamed on board Book’s ship but he is forced to leave Saru, Hugh and now Adira behind.
They are aware Osyraa is there as well, and the burst gave her a chance to beam her soldiers and herself to Discovery, putting Tilly in a precarious situation. With more Chain soldiers in the science bay with Stamets, they force him to enter the spore cube to make a jump. He tries to resist but they put a device on his head that basically turns him into a zombie under Osyraa’s control. Against his will, Stamets is forced to make a jump, just as Book and Michael exit the nebula to witness the departure of both ship, leaving them and the four on the planet stranded.
Now that’s a cliffhanger. And only two episodes left for the season. It’s going to be interesting to see how, or if, they wrap up this story or if it will continue into next season. A lot of Trek shows seems to have these dramatic situations that are cleared up in the last five minutes of the episode, so I hope they don’t rush this just to give us another season reboot.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream every Thursday on CBS All Access.
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