All the pieces of the puzzle have been put together. Now with the end in sight, Burnham and her crew are on the edge of their greatest discovery. Yet there are still obstacles in the way with Moll and the Breen having taken possession of the combined Progenitor Artifact, the USS Discovery dead in the water and a potential all out conflict in the background. No wonder Rayner keeps pacing….
The season so far has been a mixed back that’s used the larger puzzle to scatter more personal and smaller scale episodes into the mix. From the planet of the week Whistlespeak, to the time jumping bottle episode Face the Strange right up to last week’s internally driven Labyrinths, it’s time for it all to be dialled up to 11 as Discovery does what it’s al;ways done best by letting everything out for the finale.
Everything gets set up nice and quickly in the episode within the first few minutes, which is a nice relief. Where certain ideas, such as the Langrange Point itself – a point between two black holes where theres an equilibrium of pull – could have been drawn out for a larger technobabbley story, things instantly take a left turn.
Moll and the Breen are winning the last leg of the race. Discovery makes it just before after a rough patch job on half melted systems, and just as they find the Progenitors surprisingly small artefact balanced between the two black holes, the Breen swoop in and tractor it out before Burnham can even ask her bridge crew for options. While Discovery’s defeated, cloaked and figuring out a plan B, back at Federation HQ Saru and T’Rina get roped in to more Breen tensions as another Primark’s heading towards Moll’s new buddies to give them all a spanking to leverage their position.
The entire episode is the first of the big finish for the season and it’s a fairly mixed bag. Some things seem utterly mental but there’s a certain logic to it that’s oddly fascinating. Burnham’s big plan is a weirdly nice callback, whether it was intentional or not. After we dove into her insecurities and pretty much addressed certain subreddits opinions of the captain head on last week, there’s a strange satisfaction to her plan being to sneak on board the Breen ship and steal the prize back.
Sneaking on board enemy megaships is how her story started, and where the bulk of her self loathing and insecurities came from after that resulted in the death of her mentor and captain. Pulling a heist may seem a tad odd, but it does link nicely to Not-Book inspiring her to get over her fear in the library. It’s also a lot of fun that uses Kira’s technique of running around Cardassia with a Breen helmet in the final days of Deep Space Nine, letting Burnham’s away teams hide in plain sight while they try sabotage the Breen ship in an attempt to beam the Progenitor tech away.
Despite some weird moments, mainly the split screen “Aye Captain!” which was a bit odd, and Michael opting to yet again choose the worst possible moment to have a talk about feelings which may have been better placed at the same time Adira was talking to their space dads before their first undercover operation, a lot of the character work in the episode really did showcase just how good this cast are.
Burnham felt more believable with a little bit more assured confidence behind her as she helped inspire and pick her team and the pairing with Book still brings a bit of humanity to them. Rayner was a scene stealer again however, showing how settled he’s become alongside the bridge crew despite not quite gaining his own confidence back after being demoted. Picking Tilly as his first officer, and their reverse mentoring also seems to play nicely which worked well as he finally sat in the Captains chair by the episodes end.
On the outskirts, despite being back at Federation Headquarters propping up the inevitable arrival or another Primark to the mix as a teaser for the finale, T’Rina and Saru still make a calmly interesting pair. It’s also nice to see a Vulcan with more balance following the Enterprise era sort of redefining any Vulcan that wasn’t called Spock into a more arrogant cultural persona. The only downside being that their story is merely a prequel for whats to come while breaking up the more action orientated heist in the A plot.
As a story the episode was fairly fun though being a split finale did harm the momentum a bit. Some beats were always going to be obvious tropes. The heist gone wrong being the big one. And as soon as we saw the artefact was a portal, it seemed destined that Moll and Burnham would end up inside for a cliffhanger ending. But the only real disappointment for me was Moll. Sure, maybe because I was hoping that the arc for her would be a little more sympathetic villain with a twist more than a surprisingly beloved outsider suddenly becoming a supervillian in her own right with flimsy reasoning. I suppose I always expected her to crumble at the wrong grail and wanted a surprised but at the same time, it seems inevitable we’re heading to the finale of The Last Crusade.
For the space action scenes, I quite liked that everything had a science base to the action. Well, kind of. The shuttle in the exhaust miscalculation was more just fun than science, but Tilly and the new pilot figuring out how to counter the binary black holes was a good start while Stamets figuring out how to use Discovery to ram the Breen’s shuttle bay containment field was a very nice touch in using knowledge over just mindlessly giving us an action sequence.
Overall as a set up episode, it was quite a bit of fun. Though it leaves a lot to folow up on in the extended finale. Aside from the reshoots to close the series off as a whole, we’ll have Moll and Burnham in the Progenitor realm – which I can imagine being atest of faith much like their Indiana Jones hints prior to the series launch – Rayner finally accepting his role and the fact his Breen oppressor is on their way with a huge army, and Saru joining the fun in a shuttle to try and not look intimidating as a diplomat. Or rather, finding an excuse to get back on board!
There’s a lot to carry into the last hour and a bit. And a lot of expectations. Aside form the final boss battle and what I imagine will be a question of morality when it comes to the end of the treasure hunt, the excitement for the final piece of the puzzle does come with a lot of expectation as it’s not just the end of the road for the mission to find out how well things will wrap up; but the unexpected and of an entire era which puts a lot of pressure on the next episode…
Star Trek Discovery’s Final Season is avfailable to watch weekly on Paramount+. MEmbers of SFC Quadrant 2 are welcome ot join the Discovery SPoilers & Discussion groups for erpisode discussion in line with Europa’s spoiler policy. For more informaiton, visit Starbase Europa on FB or reach out to your CO of DoFA.
About the author
Site & Service Updates July 2026
It's been a strange year as we adapt to then changing landscape of the Star Trek franchise with recent corporate shenanigans in the media industry, as well as adjusting to and anticipating new regulation sin our home base of the UK which has taken up more brain power than we'd expected!Still, despite distractions, we've been working away in the background with a revised Admin schedule to ensure at the very least every Sunday we can check off some items on the to do list and keep everyone updated on the changes whether minor, major or a bit pointless! On Screen Additions After being placed on the low priority list for a while, the On Screen Mission Log section has begun taking shape. Previously the On Screen section had it's own section per show since the launch of Discovery, however with […]
New Unit Application Guide
Account Academy Database Fleet Updates Calendar Latest Entries Explore Database Index Starfleet Academy Help & Support ⯇ DATABASE INDEX ACCOUNT HUB NEw Unit Application Guide Clarification This section is both for information and for making formal applications for creating or importing a new unit into SFCQ2. Applications can also be made directly to Fleet Administration. All applications are considered for review. × JOIN THE CAPTAINS TABLE Every Star Trek fans dreams of being the captain of their own Starship. Although running an SFC Quadrant 2 Unit is (probably) easier than commanding a starship, both roles require commitment and dedication.Unit’s are, and always will be, the core of SFC. It is within them that members can indulge in their shared interests for Star Trek and science fiction while enjoying the company of fellow fans and like minded people. At their best, […]
[Q2&A] Membership Handbook: Revised & Updated for 2026
With over fifty years (and counting) of history, joining SFC can sometimes be a whirlwind and while we're always focused on a more casual experience, tit can sometimes be overwhelming knowing where to start. While we offer our Academy as an induction tour of Quadrant 2's organisation and structure, and are always open to expanding more information in the Fleet Database, our Officers Pack gives you a one stop resource to highlight our core policies, membership information and more; The Membership Handbook/ Membership within Q2 is fairly laid back. But since it's inception - both overall as Starfleet Command as well as the administrative split for Quadrant 2 - out handbook has outlined who we are, how we operate and as a resource for members to be able to understand what membership entails from our core mission statement, to our […]
[Retro Review] The Galileo Seven
Pulled in two directions, the Enterprise has to deliver critical medical supplies to avert a plague and conduct vital research at the same time. Unable to turn down the order, Kirk thinks on his feet by carrying forward to save the planet, while sending Spock to lead a research team on the Galileo shuttle to carry out their mission until the Enterprise has finished it's mission of mercy. It's a good idea. Until it isn't. Isolated form the Enterprise, the Galileo runs into a bit of bother. Thrown off course by plot, the shuttle crash lands on a primitive planet. Alone with a broken ship and a people who are as barbaric as they are terrified by the shuttles sudden arrival, Spock has to lead his own team through fear and frustration with cool and calming logic. On the first […]
A Fistful of O’Brien
Entering the Star Trek world as an unnamed extra with a few bits of dialogue, O'Brien soon became a fixture on the Enterprise D as it's transporter chief before moving to Deep Space Nine to head up engineering and operations on what was thought to be a backwater outpost before it became one of the most strategically important stations in the quadrant!As the only enlisted or non commissioned officer to feature in the main cast of any Star Trek show to date, O'Brien stands as the only working class hero in the Star Trek universe with a vast and varied career taking from the front lines of the Cardassian war as a soldier, to the front lines of the Dominion War as an engineer, retrofitting DS9, keeping the Defiant from blowing itself apart, and even sniping Dominion troops. All in […]
[Q2&A] Career Track
SFC has always structured it's internal reward and recognition system on the command structure of Starfleet on screen. Newbies are cadets. When they become full members, they become Ensigns. And those eager to take on a leadership role can rank up to Commander or Captain. Even the board of directors are mirrored within the theme as Commodores and Admirals! It's always been the way, but the path of an officer isn't for everyone... Despite the original idea of all star ship personnel being highly trained astronauts, therefore nullifying the need for enlisted crew, the enlisted ranks have existed in some form since the original series. More defined in the film era, particularly under the revision of style and structure in The Wrath of Khan, they have been slightly more prominent since. Most notable of the enlisted members of Starfleet was […]
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