Saru, Dr. Culber and Adira are still with Su’Kal, even though the radiation is getting worse. Michael has been captured by Zareh when she sent Stamets out of the Discovery, and the crew gets help from the sphere data in form of the DOT-23’s.
On the dilithium encased planet Saru tries to get closer to Su’Kal to prepare him for the inevitable departure from this planet. The Admiral fights against Osyraa and opens fire on the Discovery. Book and Michael are captured on the bridge. Book revealed that he knows how to get the dilithium out of the planet without being destroyed by the radiation, and Osyraa wants to torture him to get the information out of him.
Meanwhile, they find out that the crew is heading to the bridge and shut off the oxygen for them slowly. Thanks to Michael’s emergency call to her mother, Ni’Var ships have come to help the Federation defeat Osyraa. Osyraa has no other chance but to hail the Admiral and let Michael talk to him. Michael tries to persuade him to trust her and cease fire. He obliges.
As the ship breaks apart by Su’Kal’s scream, Saru attempts to calm him down by telling him that Saru, too, is a Kelpien. He wants Su’Kal to turn off the holo’s so he sees the truth, but he is too afraid of the outside.
On the Discovery, Osyraa tortures Book. Only when Michael starts to get desperate, Osyraa lets her persuade him to reveal the information. When Michael gets close enough to him, she activates a magnetic field around them and they escape. Michael sends a secret message to the crew. Tilly understands that she wants them to go to a nacelle and blow up something inside the magnetic field, so they will stop the warp and their allies can catch up to them. However, getting there without oxygen seems like a suicide mission. As they make their way through the halls, only Owo is strong enough to still walk, while the others are slowly suffocating. They urge her to leave them behind and finish the mission.
The Reason for the Burn
While the crew is fighting to get back the ship, Adira, Culber and Gray who can be seen by everyone because the holo allows it to happen, talk about Su’Kal and the connection to the Burn. Culber theorises that Su’Kal might have a genetic disorder which leads him to feel deeply connected to dilithium and subspace. Because of the amount of dilithium on this planet, his distress when he saw his mother die, is the reason for the Burn. The only solution to preventing another Burn is to get Su’Kal away from the dilithium. They try to persuade Su’Kal into turning off the holo’s, and after a lot of talking, he trusts them enough to do so. He sees Saru for the first time as his own species, namely Kelpien.
Being surrounded by too many enemies, Book tries to fight of Zareh and his men, while Michael needs to go to the data core quickly. There, Osyraa has already been waiting for Michael and fights her. After much fighting Michael kills Osyraa and gets back the control of the ship. Owo finally manages to deploy the bomb, and a DOT-23 drags her out of there into safety, even though the magnetic field destroys it. The ship’s warp system is destroyed. Back in the hall, Owo wakes up to see that every crew member has survived. They make their way back to the bridge.
Jumping without Stamets
With all the regulators gone, the crew’s only task is it to get out of the Viridian, Osyraa’s ship, into which she commanded the Discovery should pull into when they lost their warp. Michael wants to eject the warp core and blow their way out of the Viridian. Afterwards, the plan is to jump away and to the nebula, with Book instead of Stamets. Osyraa’s scientist Aurellio has switched sides and believes that Book, because of him being Kweijan, can communicate with species including the spore drive. Their plan succeeds, and they jump into the nebula. The Discovery finds Saru and the others, and beams them up, bringing Su’kal into the outside for the first time.
The crew flies back to the Federation headquarters. The Chain fell apart after Osyraa died, and the Federation is growing. Saru steps back from his position as Captain to return to Kaminar and help Su’Kal build his new life. Michael talks to the Admiral, who offers her the position as a Captain on the Discovery, bringing the planets the dilithium the Federation will mine.
The end of season three.
Overall Thoughts?
Well, for a finale that was only okay. I expected more from this season of Star Trek Discovery, as I thought that season one and two were great. This season focused too much on Michael in my opinion. Miraculously, she always found a solution to problems that seemed impossible. I also find it a bit odd that all of a sudden Book can jump and communicate with the spore drive. But nevertheless, it was still interesting to watch. Other than the previous season finales, this one did not end on a cliffhanger, but more on an actual Star Trek like future mission. Season four is already in the making, approximately finishing production mid 2021. Are you excited already?
