Wasting no time, the third episode of Discovery’s final season fires straight into the core mission with Burnham and her crew following the next clue to finding the Progenitors hidden secrets, and that clue takes them to a familiar planet; the Trill home world. There Culber becomes host to a long departed Trill who’s consciousness is transferred to him to lead Burnham to the next part of the puzzle…
As Discovery races on, and the mission brings closure to Adira’s dwindling relationship, Saru faces his own romantic challenges with T’Rina planning to announce their engagement.
Meanwhile the newly demoted Commander Raynor starts his new job as first officer of Discovery, working alongside Tilly to get acquainted with the crew and try to settle in to his diminished role following his forced retirement as Captain.
One of the big takeaways in the episode is kind of Lower Decks in it’s method. Where we once saw Picard find the Progenitors, what happened when he moved on? Much like the Cerritos swoops in for ‘second contact’, we meet one of the scientists who followed up on the revelation in TNG’s The Chase. The titular Jinaal, a former host of Kalzara Bix, was one of the scientists chosen to study the Progenitors after they wee uncovered. He and the rest of the scientists reaslised the intensity of their power and, thanks to the horrors of the Dominion War, buried the secret until something worthy of the ancient technology came along.
There’s a lot to like about the main story and the history it provides. Not only in tying it to the Dominion War, which was dark enough in how desperate the Federation got before we saw more extremes of war time experiments in Picard’s final season, but in how it offers Burnham and Book a ‘test’. Again, the Indiana Jones vibes. Follow the clues to the next piece, in this case Bix’s Trill markings to find a current host, and prove yourselves worthy of the final prize. And of course, that final prize is the Grail of Star Trek Lore. Burnham and Book have to choose wisely in their decisions.
You can tell Wilson Cruz is having fun as Jinaal, playing on an egotistical scientist trope as he leads Burnham and Book through their awkward separated pairing into a good old fashioned sci fi quarry with monsters in it; leaving the duo on their own to find a way to defeat the beats and take the next puzzle piece.
More lively in the dialogue than the previous seasons, there’s just a lot more fun injected in the episode. And of course, a heavy dose of Next Gen style problem solving. The big bad monsters are just protecting their eggs, so Burnham stops shooting, lays down arms and tries to find an understanding with them by showing she’ll do no harm. Of course, thats whats Jinaal is looking for. Not greed or desperation. Just kindness and morality.
Compassion has been a big theme on Discovery, and of course in a lot of Star Trek’s past iterations. Form the action part of the episode, it’s quite nice to see the Next Generation solution finish the story; or at least pull it to the next clue. And it was a nice (though maybe a bit obvious) touch that new baddie treasure hunter Moll was hiding on Trill so she can steal the info without doing the work. Though the way the seasons going, I do have expect Lak or Moll to have their face melted while a Progenitor Knight smiles wryly at Burnham…
Elsewhere the romance parallels between the two couples weren’t thrilling, but interesting in their own way. Gray and Adira could have fell into the usual young drama, but just saw two people facing the obvious of growing apart and getting it out the way with smiles and understanding. On the flip side the matured Saru and T’Rina was just as mature in it’s approach. Doug Jones has really brought a calming and almost naive charm to Saru adjusting in both entering a political career and having his first romance at the same time. Getting baited by T’Rina’s aide to step aside before their engagement upsets Vulcan purists who wouldn’t want an ‘outsider’ marrying their president was handled quite nicely; and T’Rina’s Vulcanness shined through as she both asserted herself and her decision while almost comforting Saru in falling for it.
It’s a bit weird seeing Saru become so separated from Discovery right now, and I’m sure it’ll all align by the end, but with them not knowing this was the final season at the time it’s oddly impressive that this feels like a final evolution for Saru among others.
And of course, opposing Saru we have Raynor officially coming on board. I always see this type of casting as MASH casting. Getting rid of the bumbling civilian? Replace him with a hardcore veteran. The incompetent and idiotic surgeons gone? Replace him with a complete genius. Here Discovery’s lost Saru, who established himself as am emotional core and the cohesion of the crew in the last episodes of season one. Raynor doesn’t want to be emotional support. He doesn’t want a friend. He just wants to do his job as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Which, to be honest, is refreshing. Discovery’s always had a more laid back vibe since Lorca turned out to be a psychotic Terran. The core of the crew had been through a lot and chose to leave their old lives behind. The 32nd century was alien to them and all they really had was each other. So yeah, the crew is more lax and more about working together as a group. The professional boundries are pretty much vacant for the most part.
That’s not what Raynor is. He see’s a clear line between work and friendship. Something Tilly struggles with despite being in a leadership role herself these days. With the more abrupt and down to business first officer, I’m curious to see how he and the rest of the crew butt heads over the shows final five episodes…
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