Article contributed by Jasmina Demirovska
In the last episode Burnham and Georgiou went to look after Book and a black box, which might help them find new evidence about the Burn.
This episode starts with Michael, who says that she is not sure if she still belongs to the crew and the Federation, as she has changed so much during the year she has been without them. Book would want to leave the Federation and go somewhere else, together with Michael.
Michael reveals her insecurities to Tilly while Tilly is analysing the black box. Tilly does not want to engage in too much conversation with Michael, as she is still upset about Michael leaving without telling her. They find that an experiment called SB-19 seemingly didn’t report any data to the Federation, so they hope that by looking at the data, they can pinpoint the location of the Burn more exactly. Up until then, they only have a point in two dimensions, but not in three.
Michael and Saru talk to the Admiral about this, and he reveals that they will not get the data from the planet Ni’var, or formerly known as Vulcan, as they have left the Federation. Ni’var is also the planet of not only Vulcans, but also Romulans, who have been enemies in the past. But Spock, as an Ambassador, reunited these two nations on the planet. The SB-19 was essentially an experiment with the goal to find a new way to transport ships in an instant — like the spore drive — but the scientists explained that the experiment is too dangerous. The Federation forced them to continue, as dilithium got more scarce and they needed the system, until something went wrong. The inhabitants of Ni’var now believe that the Federation forced them to cause the Burn with their experiment.
The Admiral wants to send Michael as Spock’s sister to open discussions and reveal their own findings in order to get the data from SB-19.
While getting ready to jump to Ni’var, Saru approaches Tilly to ask her to be his First Officer only until he found a proper replacement for Burnham. Tilly is taken aback by his request, because she is only an ensign and does not feel ready yet. But Saru believes that it is in the best interest of the crew. Tilly goes to Stamets to reveal her insecurities and Saru’s request, but Stamets has to go back to work.
They jump to Ni’var and talk to T’rina, the president of Ni’var via transmission. She is honoured to speak to Burnham, but immediately denies access to SB-19 because the reunification is still vulnerable politically and culturally.
Michael practically forces T’rina to hear her out by invoking the traditional T’kal-in-ket, a philosophical trial to get to know the truth, which cannot be denied. Michael has to defend her assumptions in front of the scientific institute, and gets an advocate to help her out. Since the joining of Romulans and Vulcans only sisters from the Qovat Mulat can be advocates. The advocates that had an interest in Burnham according to the President, and who will help Burnham during her trial, is her mother.
While preparing for the trial on board of the Discovery, Saru shows the President around and tells her that the Federation surely feels the loss of Ni’var. He hopes that they might start diplomatic discussions again after Michael’s trial. The President answers that they might need more than that, because SB-19 was merely the final blow, and they had more complications with the Federation. The President thinks that the rarity of dilithium was only caused by the Federation and their many members. The Federation wanted to please everyone, so they dismissed smaller issues in her eyes.
Michael’s mother tells her that her case is lost, because the sisters of the Qovat Milat only take on lost causes. Michael reveals that she does not know if she belongs here anymore. Her mother gives her the advice that she should be true to herself.
The T’kal-in-ket begins and Michael gets interrupted immediately, because one of the members wants to end the quorum as he says that there is not enough reason to be there. The other two hear Michael out for a few minutes, and contemplate whether they want to join her, as there might be the slightest chance that the Burn was not caused by them. As the discussion is getting heated, Michael’s mother wants to have a break as the advocate of the hearing.
Her mother once again urges Michael to be true to herself, and to reveal her thoughts even though they are private, as she can only tell the truth this way. She even goes so far as to say that Michael cannot be trusted if she does not reveal her insecurities, by which Michael is appalled.
Once the hearing started again, Michaels own mother attacks her claims revealing everything Michael said to her in private. She accuses Michael of being manipulated by the Federation, of not being truthful to her own self, and thinking that her mother would not fulfil her own duties as advocate so she can help Michael out. Michael starts crying and admits that she does not know why she feels like she does not belong, but that she fears that she will do something wrong and hurt her crew while doing so, after all they have been through. She finally speaks truthfully to the peers, and to Saru and the President who are watching in the background.
The member that interrupted her earlier wants to end the discussions once again, but another peer clearly decided that he trusts Michael and wants to share the data, so they know if they were at fault or not. The peer even says that if the Vulcans don’t want to share their data, the Romulans will. A fight almost breaks out, but Michael stops them by reminding them that this is not what Spock wanted. In order to not destroy the peace of Ni’var, Michael withdraws her request. Before leaving the room, she tells them that she will keep searching for evidence and share all her data with the Ni’var scientific institute.
After seeing Michael opening up, President T’rina decides that she wants to give Michael the data through her mother. Michael and her mother part ways once again, but now Michael knows where to find her.
Back on the ship, the bridge waits for Tilly to arrive. Stamets told everyone about Tilly’s news and everybody urges her to take the offer. They trust her so they want her to say ‘yes’.
The episode ends with Michael and Book. Michael now feels like she belongs to her crew again. Book does not know what he will do, now that Michael stays on the Discovery, but Michael feels like home to him.
Overall Thoughts
The heated discussions Vulcan style reminded me of the new Star Trek movies, where Spock gets mocked for being too emotional. I think they could have made the arguments seem to be even more logical and less emotional, but as some members of this board were Romulans, and not very logical-thinking Vulcans, it might make more sense like this. The new findings about the Burn are revealed very slowly in these past episodes, and I hope that we can soon see a big wave of revealing information that might shock us.
