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This was another outstanding, heart-pounding episode of Star Trek: Discovery, so nicely recovered from the early part of the season and now we have just one episode left — if various reports of a 13-episode season are correct — to see if Burnham and crew can avert the destruction of Earth, Ni’Var and Titan … but she has to save herself first. And while there is some disappointment that we didn’t get to see Saru and T’Rina’s holo-date. Oh well, it must have happened because Saru was completely baffled by her rather stern behavior later.
But this episode excelled so much because it (finally) did what classic Star Trek did so well — it let people talk and think and ponder and work together to form a conclusion. With MATH! It may have all felt a little rushed, but Discovery does have a super-duper computer named Zora at their disposal so a very difficult task like learning how to communicate with an unknown species can be accelerated to fit within the confines of a 51-minute TV episode.
After weeks of everyone contemplating what Unknown Species Ten-C is (and apologies for having been writing it out improperly as 10-C) and how to communicate with them, Discovery finally arrives at its destination. Burnham certainly made the right call in the last episode to visit the planet they believed was once inhabited by Ten-C, and the discovery of the various compounds representing emotions was the ‘Rosetta Stone’ they needed. As Discovery is sucked into the Ten-C’s hyperfield after sending a cadre of DOTs to spray the surface with one of the ‘we come in peace’ compounds, there was concern that their hails were not being responded to. But with an expected language barrier, it makes sense because the Ten-C are going to have no idea what these primitive signals are telling them. But the idea of sending them a gift to show friendly intention is raised, but Dr. Hirai cautions that gift-giving in other circumstances may not always be a sign of a friendly intention. But Michael decides that since the Ten-C’s DMA has been mining the galaxy for boronite, and they have some on board, it’s worth the try to beam some over to see what happens.
And the gift gets a response, quickly, with something coming out of the ether, flashing a series of lights at them. Hoping that it’s a greeting, Discovery repeats the pattern to show that they understand but everyone realizes that simply repeating a possible question with the same question isn’t going to get them anywhere. The other major problem is that they don’t know how to read the lights, right to left, up to down, but the lights correspond to the emotional compounds in various percentages, from fear to comfort, and once Zora deciphers that and creates a 3D model, Burnham is able to match the two patterns so they can translate the message, to a point. It really is just a series of emotions. Dr. Hirai is able to boil it down to As and Bs, with a number of As on one side of the B and a different number on the right, which gives the B the meaning of ‘greater than’, so the message may be something like ‘curiosity is greater than fear’. With the help of members of the bridge crew and Zora, they are able to assign number value to the signals, and their communication is actually working.
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But no one knows that Book’s ship is still cloaked at attached to Discovery … but as Tarka predicted, Zora would eventually suspect something was wrong. Voicing her concern and confusion about what she was feeling, Hugh offers to play the game they played once before that helped Zora focus. There’s also the matter that no one has seen Jett Reno for a while even though Zora assures them that she is on the ship. For her part, Jett is playing it cool on Book’s ship, keeping an eye on the situation, able to see Tarka’s calculations for getting away from Discovery, out of the hyperfield and delivering the bomb to stop the DMA. Reno can also see that Book is beginning to get frustrated with Tarka for continuing to forge ahead without allowing Michael and the crew do their thing with the Ten-C. While Jett keeps asking Book to replicate her some black licorice, she finally manages to grab his attention to warn him that Tarka’s plan is not going to work as Book has been told — it’s not just going to blow up the DMA controller, it’s going to blow up the hyperfield, Discovery, possibly them, and then send a wave of energy to the Alpha Quadrant that will end up with the destruction of Earth. Book thinks she’s just trying to get into his head, but after delivering a heartfelt story of her late wife and how she refused to let someone die — the reason for which she didn’t even realize until the man had died and she saw that his eyes were the same exact color of her wife’s — coupled with Tarka’s refusal to stand down until the diplomacy attempt was completed, Book found himself held prisoner on his own ship. And back over on Discovery, General Ndoye — who at first hesitated in going all in with Tarka’s plans — turned tail the moment the Ten-C invited Michael and the diplomats to a meeting, and began venting plasma from the nacelle to help burn a hole in the hyperfield so Book’s ship could escape.
Ndoye had no idea what was happening with Burnham and company after the Ten-C transported them away but where they ended up was on a replica of the bridge, what Michael assumed was an attempt to make them feel more comfortable. The fact that the Ten-C was actually showing empathy, especially after they were able to compose an equation that translated to their terror of the DMA — which made the Ten-C sad — was a reassuring sign that the first contact was going better than expected. But the moment Tarka burned that hole in the hyperfield, the Ten-C immediately beamed Burnham and the other back to the landing bay, which left them puzzled until Burnham was told what had happened. And thanks to her own know-how, Reno was able to use the licorice to produce an electrical contact on the communicator badge she’d smuggled in with her to alert Discovery to Tarka’s plans. Zora was also able to locate the patch that Tarka had placed on the ship that kept her from seeing them. And now Michael is faced with another huge dilemma — with only four hours left before the Alpha Quadrant begins to feel the effects of the DMA, Reno has warned them of Tarka’s plan and how it will impact them all, urging Discovery to stop them by whatever means necessary.
And that leaves us with one more episode to see how the situation is resolved. Will Discovery actually be able to get out of the hyperfield? Will the Ten-C resume communication with them? How will Tarka be stopped, or will he be stopped? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Book will end up sacrificing his life to stop Tarka … and hopefully it won’t be at the cost of Jett Reno’s life as well. And, of course, what happened when Ndoye, and everyone else, realizes what she’s done?
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