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Let’s Talk About ‘Anomaly’:
- Federation and non-Federation members gather to tackle the issue of the anomaly that destroyed Book’s planet and is moving through the galaxy.
- Saru returns to Discovery and offer to return to his position as Michael’s Number One.
- No one seems to have told Tilly of her demotion, setting up some uncomfortably awkward moments for her.
- Stamets believes a dual black hole is the source of the anomaly but upon arriving to investigate the phenomenon, they all find that is not the case.
- The only way to determine what the anomaly is is to fly into it, which Discovery cannot do so Book volunteers even though Michael believes he’s not mentally ready after seeing his planet destroyed.
- A holo-Stamets accompanies Book to gather data on the anomaly, but Discovery finds itself suddenly in the wake of the phenomena.
- Book has hallucinations of his dead nephew running around his ship and almost gets himself killed, but an idea of riding the wave out of the anomaly saves his life and the collected data.
- Dr. Culber has created an artificial body for Gray to transition to, and Tilly seeks professional help from the doc.
- Why are there gas jets on the bridge of Discovery that shoot flames up the walls every time there is some kind of major impact?
- Is everything in Adira’s quarters nailed down, because after Discovery was impacted by the anomaly, not a thing was out of place even though artificial gravity was lost.
I don’t know what’s going on with Star Trek: Discovery this season, but it’s not good. Is it because of the 947 producers, supervising producers and executive producers all having a say in the scriptwriting process? Is it because the writers perhaps had to work on their scripts remotely instead of in a writers room? Is it just the fact that the show was one of the first to go back into production in a pandemic bubble? Whatever it is, we can only hope the season finds its way (production is already complete) because right now it’s a real mess.
In the premiere, Federation President Rillak was acting all suspicious, giving the impression that she had an agenda to undermine Captain Burnham at every turn. That seemed to be just a bit of audience manipulation as she was simply on board Discovery to consider Burnham for a new, bigger job — a really dumb plot point as Burnham was just given the Captain’s Chair on Discovery and her first officer is … Tilly? Who would captain Discovery if Burnham did accept the offer? Certainly not Tilly! But this week the president is behaving more presidential at a gathering of representatives from Federation and non-Federation planets in an attempt to learn what this anomaly is that wrecked a Federation Deep Space base and destroyed Booker’s home planet. Even President T’Rina from Ni’Var offers assistance. All the evidence Stamets has gathered thus far suggests dual black holes several light years across causing the destruction. But that data is really inconclusive. Of course, Discovery is the only ship capable of getting to the current location of the anomaly and they are off before it hits another planet.
On Discovery, Burnham is thrilled to see Saru back — although she seems to have forgotten his name because it sounded like she called him Suru — and congratulates him on his appointment to the Captain’s Chair on another ship. But he explains this is not the time for him to move on, recalling how Michael was his eyes and ears while he captained Discovery, and he would be honored to do the same for her. So basically he offered to return to the position of Number One and Michael accepted without the slightest hesitation or thought to Tilly already having been given that position. And it seems no one bothered to tell her as she awkwardly walked with Saru down a corridor, asking if he got taller or maybe it was just his new swagger, as they went to the bridge. It all just seemed to contribute to Tilly’s feelings of inadequacy, which also caused her to snap at Adira during an emergency situation.
When the ship arrives at the anomaly — still with that stupid cartoon whistle sound effects they added during the jump — a visual reveals that everything Stamets thought was wrong. It doesn’t seem to be a single black hole, much less a dual black hole so they have to find some way to get close enough to it without being impacted. But Discovery is too big and too important a property to venture into the anomaly for it would surely be destroyed. Book can fly in though. Except he’s an emotional basket case and Michael doesn’t think he’s mentally ready for any mission, especially one that had involved the death of his family. She wants Detmer to fly in on his ship, but Saru and Michael agree that Book is the one most qualified to fly his ship. And Book isn’t taking no for an answer.
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Michael agrees to let him fly but they need someone else on board who can collect the data — Stamets. And he’s not thrilled about being placed in physical jeopardy yet again. There’s a solution for that — a hologram! Okay, he’s on board with that idea but he doesn’t have the best relationship with Book, so things could get awkward. And they do as the two butt heads while Book flies into the anomaly and tries not to get killed. Burnham also had a tether attached to his ship so if there was an emergency they could pull him out. Of course there is an emergency as his ship is battered and the engines are damaged, but Discovery suffers its own emergency as the ship is somehow buffered by the anomaly even though they are a safe distance away. If nothing else, it did give us the cool visual of the bridge completely losing artificial gravity, sending the entire group into the air … which also made it difficult for Owosekun and Detmer to reach their controls.
Tilly and Adira discovered the impacts were coming in waves but they could not prepare for the next one because they were not coming in a consistent pattern, another of the anomaly’s mysteries. The impacts forced Burnham to release the tether on Book’s ship, but once he began losing power she had no way to pull him back in, and Stamets needed more time to get all the data they needed. Without that all they could do was follow this rogue phenomenon through the universe, warning planets in its path. But thanks to the work of Tilly and Adira, Lt. Cmdr. Bryce was able to provide a solution to get Book out of the anomaly — ride the wave, just like a surfer. Burnham notified him of the plan and Stamets continued to collect data, telling Book to make his move into the wave on her order. Of course to amp up the drama in the most stupid way possible, when Michael told Book to go he replied, ‘Now?’ Yes, now! She seemed perfectly clear on her directions.
Frustrated with his lack of focus, Saru advised Michael that now was the time to speak to Book as a partner instead of as a captain, so he put herself in the Cone of Silence, or Bubble of Privacy, and spoke to Book in a calm manner, unaware that he was currently mesmerized by another hallucination of his dead nephew. She did, however, finally get through to him and Stamets assured him they had enough power to make one final attempt. Upon her command, Book gunned it into the wave and got out of the anomaly safely. Hugh was happy to have Paul back, and Tilly found it within herself to praise Adira for her work.
The biggest question now is why was Discovery impacted by the anomaly? The answer — it changed course, something that should be an impossibility with an energy force moving through the galaxy. Such a thing should travel in a straight line so how could it suddenly change course? That question seems to have been answered, somewhat, in the final moments of the episode as the camera pulled back from Discovery to reveal it inside of something very, very large. Is it a ship, is it a black hole? Who knows.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery premiere Thursdays on Paramount Plus. Subscribe using our affiliate link.
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