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We still haven’t gotten over the sacrifice/death of Lt. Airiam after last week’s shocking end to her existence, and this week’s episode kicks off with the funeral for the Discovery’s fallen comrade, and it was every bit as moving as the one for Spock at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, minus the bagpipes but with a traditional Kelpian tune. It was very touching, but shooting her into space in a torpedo casing seemed to be setting up the inevitable ‘she’s the Red Angel’ twist that everyone expected at the end of the previous episode.
Well, we were all wrong because before her body was jettisoned, Tilly helped purge all of Airiam’s memories so as not to fall into the wrong hands and she found something unsettling to say the least — a file marked Project Daedalus, the last thing Airiam told Michael to look for before she was sucked into the vacuum of space. And within that file was even more stunning information — the identity of the Red Angel: Michael Burnham. Did anyone see that coming? Yes, somehow Burnham found a suit in the future that allowed her to time travel but there still seems to be no rhyme or reason to her sudden arrivals. It seemed she would appear at times of great planetary distress, to possibly save a civilization since the Angel already gave Spock the knowledge that some event would cause the destruction of the universe.
But, even though the red signals seemed to signify some impending calamity that drew the Discovery to that location to help, the Red Angel did not always appear. It was Spock who finally correctly deduced that the Angel appeared only in time of great danger to Michael, for if she dies, the Red Angel vanishes from existence. The Discovery in conjunction with Leland and Section 31 hatches a plan to trap the Red Angel, closing the wormhole behind her so it doesn’t snap her back. But the only way to do that is to put Burnham in a life-threatening situation.
Luckily there’s a planet nearby that is totally inhospitable to human lifeforms, and an elaborate trap is set with Leland’s ship set to close the wormhole and a trap that will capture the Red Angel and then short circuit her time travel crystal with an EMP. And it’s here that Burnham demonstrates the whole ‘the good of the many outweigh the good of the one’ because there is a very good chance that Spock could be wrong and the Angel won’t show up. But as Spock says, if Burnham dies he will be arrested for the murder of a Starfleet officer and he’s not really down for that again. Spock does have a sense of humor.
Leading up to the setting of the trap, Captain Georgiou had some nice moments with Michael showing that she really does have a soft spot for her, even if this is not really her Michael Burnham. But the two have developed a nice bond, and every now and then Philippa can actually show a motherly side. But what’s she up to with Paul and Hugh? Hugh sought some therapeutic advice from Admiral Cornwell who told him the only way to walk a new path was to start one, but Georgiou seems to be trying to play Hugh and Paul against one another, but for what purpose? Is she going to end up taking Hugh with her to her spin-off series?
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But the trap for the Red Angel is set and everyone watches — from the bunker, from Discovery and from Leland’s ship — while Michael begins to suffocate in a most horrific manner … with no sign of the Red Angel. When they pass the two minute mark and her oxygen levels drop past 42%, Hugh and Georgiou want to abort the mission because they see Michael shaking her head no. Spock intervenes and basically holds everyone hostage in the bunker, explaining that Michael is saying no to ending the mission. Pike tries to have her beamed out, but there’s too much interference and then … the Red Angel appears as Burnham has taken her last breath.
For some reason, Leland’s ship did not have enough power to close the wormhole so he was looking into some device and trying to get it activated. When he did, needles shot out of the eyepieces into Leland’s eyes and that somehow seemed to provide the power needed to close the wormhole. Is Leland dead? How did stabbing his eyes provide the necessary power boost?? I don’t know what happened but it made me gasp loudly. With the wormhole closed, the Red Angel was trapped. She shot a burst of energy at Burnham that revived her and they got the oxygen turned back on. Neutralizing the Red Angel and trapped within a containment field, she removed her helmet and it wasn’t another Michael Burnham. Of course it wasn’t because that would create some kind of time paradox. Nope, the Red Angel is …
Michael Burnham’s mother! The woman she thought was dead. The woman Leland finally admitted to Burnham who died because of him, because they were actually working on a time travel project for Section 31. Working with a device stolen from the Klingons, who then came and ‘killed’ the Burnhams to get it back. The Red Angel may have opened a wormhole to gallivant around the galaxy, but the revelation of her identity has opened up a whole new can of worms for the crew of the Discovery.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery begin streaming Thursdays at 8:30 PM on CBS All Access.
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