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For my money, this episode of Star Trek: Discovery was the best of the season so far. And while our intrepid crew still has not made contact with the elusive Species 10-C, the episode did take them, and us, where no one has been before — outside of the Milky Way galaxy, aka extragalactic space. But it wasn’t an easy trip getting through that titular galactic barrier.
The episode picks up with Admiral Vance and President Rillak going over Discovery’s assignment with Captain Burnham: make first contact with Species 10-C before Booker and Tarka cause more problems, because the one they (well, Tarka) caused by blowing up the DMA’s controller only made the replacement DMA stronger and faster so it’s imperative that Burnham and her crew breech the barrier and contact 10-C before a war comes upon them. Before leaving on their mission which could be a one way trip, Saru decides to finally tell Ni’Var President T’Rina, in a very subtle way, that he does have feelings for her, but she’s interrupted by an urgent message so Saru never does get to say goodbye.
But surprise — T’Rina will be on the ship because the delegate from Ni’Var who is supposed to be part of the first contact delegation can’t make it to the ship in time. Which only makes Saru more awkward, but it give Dr. Culber some joy to see Saru expressing himself even if he thinks he’s made mistakes. We all make mistakes, Hugh tells him, so just accept them and move forward. Michael also gets a surprise when President Rillak decides to join the delegation as well, alerting Vance that she is turning over her power to the Vice President. Vance believes she needs to remain as the symbol of the Federation, but she feels her years in diplomatic service means her place is on Discovery … even if it is a potential death sentence. But Michael wants to make one thing clear to Rillak after her last excursion on Discovery — Burnham is in charge of the ship and the crew and Rillak will not overstep her bounds. Rillak agrees and tells Michael that the matter of diplomacy falls on her and Michael needs to stay in her lane on that front. Common ground!
But things get hairy from the start of the journey when Discovery is expected to jump about nine light years away, and Stamets can only get them to five light years because no one has ever been out that far and the ‘geography’ isn’t that well mapped out so they have to make the rest of the trip to the barrier at warp speed. At the same time, Book and Tarka are preparing for their own trip to the other side so Tarka can get that power he needs to get himself ‘home’ but Book actually has other plans … like dropping Tarka off at the nearest habitable planet and going on his merry way to take care of 10-C himself. But Tarka has an ace up his sleeve — Book’s ship will need modified shield with programmable antimatter in order to get through the barrier in one piece. Luckily, he knows just where to get some. Discovery’s shields were modified back at Starfleet so they will definitely have the jump (no pun intended) on Booker.
Discovery reaches the barrier but getting through is harder than expected, and not even the modified shields are holding up, with the ship at the brink of destruction. As they were just entering the barrier region, Rillak received a ‘for your eyes only’ message for her and Burnham, which they both watched. Admiral Vance had some disturbing news — the DMA completed its operation sooner than expected and has moved on … to the Alpha Quadrant, with Titan Ni’Var and Earth in its path. Unfortunately, the data at the end of the message was corrupted before it had been fully received so they don’t know what else Vance was trying to tell them, but the new situation led the women to debate whether or not to tell the crew. As quite a lot of them are from Earth, Michael believes they need to know the truth but Rillak fears that will jeopardize the mission, and that means proceeding through the barrier. The only way they can do that safely is by hitching a ride in a weird bubble that is one of thousands inside the barrier. But only a few of the specially colored bubbles are sufficient to contain and protect the ship. The rest, the gray ones, won’t help at all. Being in the field of bubbles also produces an interesting effect in that it desaturates the color pallet, and when that happens they are in trouble. But the bigger problem at the moment is that their current bubble is stuck in a traffic jam so they have to locate a new bubble that is large enough to accommodate the ship. Luckily they do, but with just seconds — six to be exact — to spare before the shields completely collapsed.
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Tarka guides book to a planet where the programmable antimatter awaits, but when they get there Book feels like he’s been trapped when he sees an Emerald Chain outpost ahead. Tarka assures him the outpost has been decommissioned for years and then Book puts two and two together — this is where Tarka escaped from. Book noticed the scar on the back of Tarka’s neck so he assumed he had been an Emerald Chain prisoner at some point, so this all makes sense. And here is where he finally get a bit of Tarka’s backstory to finally humanize him a bit, to make us sympathize with the character who’s been a bit of a jerk thus far. Tarka related how he first met Oros, both prisoners and scientists. Tarka said it took about a year before Oros fully trusted him and as their friendship (or more?) grew, Oros revealed he’d been secretly working on an interdimensional transporter to take him to a place called Kayalise, a paradise where they will no longer suffer. But it requires a huge amount of power, and they just happen to be in the right place for that but the trackers on the back of their necks may be a problem. Oros says maybe not since they will be in another galaxy if this works. Unfortunately it doesn’t work when they try to fire up the transporter and the guards are alerted. Even worse, Oros (and we) learn that Tarka was actually there as a spy, guaranteed his freedom of he got Oros’ technology for Osyraa. But by this point, the bond was too strong and Tarka removed their tracking devices and vowed to return for his friend. Oros forgives Tarka, telling him that he would also do whatever needed to be done to gain his own freedom. And that is what has brought the guilt-ridden Tarka back. They stashed away some of the needed programmable antimatter, but Tarka is also looking for a sign of Oros. He does find a symbol that had meaning for both of them but, as he tells Book, Tarka believes Oros did get the transporter working and made it to Kayalise because ever since Tarka left, there has been no recorded evidence of Oros’ existence past their time as prisoners. So he either made it, or he’s dead and Tarka needs that power source the DMA can provide to find out. The whole thing, complete with flashbacks, was a nice bit of character building, and really gave Shawn Doyle a moment to shine as Tarka.
Back on Discovery, the crew shares what they plan on doing when they get home which makes Michael and Rillak a bit uncomfortable knowing what they know about the location of the DMA. But they do finally make it through the barrier, noticing there are fewer stars, but now they will have to warp their way to locate 10-C since they have no idea if the mycelial network even exists here so they can jump. There is a planet nearby where Burnham believes they may find 10-C but first … she and Rillak agree to reveal the DMA news to the crew, and Burnham allows Rillak to speak, later telling her that the crew needed to hear their president speaking with confidence and encouragement, add that she is Burnham’s president too. All this certainly makes it seem that Rillak is definitely not coming back from this mission. And upon hearing the news, T’Rina asks Saru to sit with her while she sorts her thoughts about the danger the people of Ni’var are facing because of the calming effect he has on her. Awwww.
A couple of notable things from the episode: Adira is back, and Stamets may be just a little over-protective. Also, Doctor Kovich made an another appearance this week, and surprised everyone by not going on the mission even though he is more than qualified to handle a first contact situation. Kovich just demurs and says he has other things to do, and it’s things no one else needs to know about. But someone who may know is Lt. Commander Bryce, who leaves Discovery to go to work with Kovich. So what is Kovich up to?
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery premiere Thursdays on Paramount Plus. Subscribe using our affiliate link.
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