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This week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery remains firmly in the Mirror Universe for the majority of its time, right on down to the pretty cool opening title sequence which has been altered as a negative image and shown upside down (aside from the on screen text). A nice little touch to remind us exactly where we are this week.
The episode picks up after Michael’s betrayal, again, or Georgiou. But this time Michael is still alive, something she thinks makes her mother weak. But Mother has other plans for her rebellious daughter — some time in The Agonizer (an alternately silly and fabulous name for the ship’s torture device) at the hands of master ‘interrogator’ Tilly, who gleefully sends massive amounts of electrical energy through Michael’s body in an attempt to get her to name her co-conspirator and repledge her allegiance to Georgiou.
But Michael, and even Saru, know there’s something different about Georgiou. Michael just thinks she’s weak, but Saru questions whether she’s actually Terran. His suspicions grow after she tells him that he will accompany her but he’s beginning to feel his time is coming to an end. Georgiou knows from her experience with Prime Saru that what he believes is a fairy tale, that all he has to do is fight the madness coming upon him and he’ll come out the other side a stronger person. But will he take her at her word? So far she hasn’t eaten him, so why would she lie to him about this?
Georgiou also reveals more of how she’s been changed by her time in the Prime universe as she attempts to comfort Michael, who is back in the brig after another round of the Agonizer. Believing Michael is asleep, Philippa talks to her about when she was a child, and how Michael had night terrors that at one point caused her to sleepwalk into the middle of a field filled with fireflies. Philippa saw how Michael was comforted by the insects, and brings her a jar of fireflies now to comfort her, and hopefully tap into those memories of when they both respected and trusted each other.
Michael awakens after her mother leaves the cell and begins to eat again, something she hasn’t done since she was arrested. Eventually she’s brought to the bridge to ask for forgiveness and pledge her loyalty once again to her mother. But Georgiou isn’t quite sold, asking Michael to name and kill all of her co-conspirators. Michael is happy to do so with the help of Detmer … and it’s also a clever way to kill off all of the regular Discovery cast members who would otherwise have to appear on the Georgiou spin-off series (but more on that in a moment). Michael brings back the badges of her victims and says it’s done. Georgiou simply says, ‘Michael’, because she knows there is one more. So does Michael, and she switfly dispatches Detmer as well (only Tilly and Owosekun seem to survive). Now the deed is done and Michael is ready to serve alongside her mother to rebuild the Empire.
But Georgiou wasn’t born yesterday, and after a brief visit to Risa and the retrieval of one of Lorca’s henchmen (and still no Lorca in sight), she’s not quite taken by surprise when Michael betrays her … again. A fight breaks out between their loyalists while Philippa and Michael engage in a little hand-to-hand themselves. But, Philippa discovers that she really can’t change the past and is forced to impale Michael, killing her once again. But this time Michael also gets in a killing blow, slicing Philippa’s neck, bleeding out in Saru’s arms. Saru had just enough time to reveal he did survive and is the changed person she said he would be. And she dies.
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But … we’re back to the planet where Georgiou entered the portal. She regains consciousness, baffled as to why Michael and ‘Carl’ are still there three months later. Michael says she’s only been out for a minute, but the personal data Georgiou accesses shows she was indeed experiencing three months of life in the Mirror Universe. How is this possible and who exactly is ‘Carl’? Well, here’s where all the Trek fans lose their minds a little. ‘Carl’ is …
The Guardian of Forever, heard but not seen in the classic Star Trek episode ‘City on the Edge of Forever’. And the door Georgiou walked through is actually that familiar portal Kirk, Spock and Bones walked through. Whoa! But Georgiou’s not cured so what was the point of putting her through this experience? The Guardian says she was being tested. Philippa refuses to accept this because she still ened up killing Michael. But, The Guardian insists, she tried not to, her hand was forced and she did what she had to do, but the fact that she hesitated shows that her time among the crew of Discovery in the Prime universe has indeed changed her. He also explains that he’s here in this place because different factions tried to use him during the Temporal Wars, with some tragic results so he had to get away. It was only Discovery’s computers and Sphere Data that was able to pinpoint his location.
And now he can help Philippa. He can send her back to the Mirror Universe, to a time when it was more closely aligned with the Prime universe … which will basically put her back to where she was in the time frame of the show’s second season. So none of the Mirror Discovery crew is dead, and Georgiou will be able to reunite with Ash Tyler to continue their work inside Section 31. A very creative way to continue that storyline and keep that show divorced from Discovery as they will take place 930+ years apart. It will be interesting to see how this changed Georgiou behaves once she returns to her own time and place. Hoepfully she can balance who she is/was with what she’s learned. The scene with Philippa and Michael before she left was very touching, as was the toasts the crew gave Georgiou in her memory (and outside of Michael and Saru, as far as everyone including Admiral Vance knows, Philippa is dead).
Now with this out of the way, the final batch of episodes should be able to focus on resolving the mystery of The Burn. Thanks to Book, Adira and Stamets were able to use some Emerald Chain technology to access the Kelpian ship’s system. Saru finally delivers some information about the ship to Admiral Vance, who isn’t thrilled they used Emerald Chain tech but Book assured him it was safe and secure because he’s used it in the past. Vance and Saru are willing to consider using Book’s services if he follows Federation protocols. Book argues that as an outsider, with some contacts who would never deal with Starfleet, he should maintain his status as a civilian so he can get information the Federation needs. Vance reluctantly agrees. After Book is dismissed, Vance lays into Saru because he already knows Saru was withholding information about the Kelpian ship, perhaps because of Saru’s own Kelpian heritage. Saru assures Vance he just didn’t want to give him incomplete information, and Vance appears to accept his answer. But Saru knows he dodges a bullet. The question is … who’s snitching to Vance now?
With only three episodes left this season, we may found out sooner rather than later.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream every Thursday on CBS All Access.
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