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There was a lot going on in this week’s Star Trek: Discovery episode, and while it was a mostly enjoyable episode it also felt very rushed, as if they spent the previous six episodes of the season building to this moment which now serves as a conclusion to a few plotlines while setting up what has been the main story of the season: the reason for The Burn. Newcomers to the franchise may also wonder why the episode’s title is ‘Unification III’. That’s because the episode serves as a major callback to Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s previous two ‘Unification’ episodes which brought Leonard Nimoy’s Ambassador Spock to the series as he attempted to reunify the Vulcan and Romulan races. And Michael even gets to peek into Jean-Luc Picard’s personal stash of recordings of Spock orating about the need to for reunification (full disclosure — I got a little weepy seeing Nimoy as Spock, even if it was just archival footage from those episodes).
But as Michael and Tilly have discovered The Burn did not happen simultaneously across the galaxy (it began with a Federation ship named the USS Yelchin, a nice tribute to the young actor who played Chekov in the modern Trek movies before his tragic death), and Burnham knows if she can convince Admiral Vance to support her research she can find the cause of The Burn. But there’s a problem — a project from centuries ago known as SB-19, a scientific experiment that spread sensors many light years across the universe. The records for the project are held on the plant Ni’Var and are not being released because the project is what is believed to have caused The Burn. Also, Ni’Var is the new (to Michael) name of the Planet Formerly Known as Vulcan. Spock’s efforts to reunite his people had succeeded, but The Burn caused Ni’Var to withdraw from the Federation over 100 years ago. Of course as the adopted daughter of Sarek and sister to Spock, Michael is the one person Vance can use to open communication with Ni’Var, putting both Saru and Michael into uncomfortable positions — Saru just demoted Michael and Michael doesn’t even know if she wants to remain in Starfleet because she’s ‘changed so much’ in her single year away from Discovery. (Aside: this really is some sloppy storytelling or there’s some reveal coming that it was much longer than a year because did her hair really grow that long in 365 days or did she find a braiding salon to get some extensions?)
But arranging a meeting with the president of Ni’Var, the Federation’s request is promptly shot down after Discovery’s arrival at the planet. So Michael forces the president’s hand by invoking some new to canon process called T’Kal-in-ket (and she can do this because she’s recognized as a citizen of Vulcan) which is a process that is designed to unearth deep truths and once invoked it cannot be denied. Needless to say, President T’Rina is not happy. But she also knows Burnham faces an uphill battle with the quorum and her own advocate, a member of the Qowat Milat, the group of women first introduced into Star Trek canon in the Star Trek: Picard episode ‘Absolute Candor’ who only speak the truth with no filter between thought and word. And Burnham’s advocate just happens to be … her mother! If ever that was a convenient plot device, this is it.
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Michael is shocked and happy to be reunited with her mother, and also has a chance to lay out her case about The Burn AND share her uncertainties about her position in Starfleet, probably not the best idea when speaking with someone whose sole reason for being now is to tell the truth. Michael is brought into a courtroom-style hearing — I kept waiting for Michael to yell at the stubborn Vulcan, ‘You can’t handle the truth!’ — that ended up being another instance of some lazy writing. The Vulcan was steadfastly against releasing the SB-19 info to the Federation, not trusting they would use it properly. The elder Romulan was all for giving them the information if it clears Ni’Var of any wrong-doing, and the other Romulan was undecided. But Michael didn’t count on her confidences with her mother being brought into the conversation as Gabrielle laid bare everything about her daughter, from her mutiny charges in Season 1 and her actions that led to the death of Prime Philippa Georgiou to her recent doubts about Starfleet and her demotion from the position of Discovery’s Number 1. She seemed to completely undermine Michael but … she also forced her to admit to her shortcomings and Michael ended up withdrawing her T’Kal-in-ket request, but said she would still share her information with them even if they would not do the same. Gabrielle had advised Michael earlier that there was another audience in the room, not just the quorum to whom she was speaking, and Michael’s candor actually did pay off — President T’Rina gave her the SB-19 research, helpfully setting up the storyline for the remained of the season.
There was a B-storyline this week as well, and one that makes us wonder if Saru is actually fit to be captain of a Federation starship. Needing a replacement as his Number 1, Saru didn’t consider Detmer, Rhys, Owosekun, Bryce or any of the other qualified bridge crew. No, he went right to … Ensign Tilly. Wait what?! Because Tilly was forthcoming in her opinion that Saru had to tell Vance about Michael’s disregard of orders in the last episode? That qualifies her to be the ship’s Number 1? Even if it is just an ‘acting’ position, it feels more reckless than anything. Stamets was appropriately aghast at the offer, but he did manage to rally the bridge crew to encourage Tilly to ‘say yes’.
But how long will this ‘acting’ position last before Tilly can breathe a sigh of relief? I’d say not long. After finally hitting it with Book, Michael gave him the big dump and finally realized that Starfleet is where she belongs, it’s where she’s belonged all along. She seems to need that kind of order to give her life purpose so instead of gallivanting across the universe with Book and Grudge, she’s going to stay put on Discovery because the gift of the SB-19 records gave her life purpose. The question now as we head into the back half of the season is … what or who really caused The Burn?
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream every Thursday on CBS All Access.
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