Now that we’ve established that Michael Burnham and her crew are alive, what will happen in this season episode?
We are back with Michael and Aditya Sahil, the new Communications Chief. Michael briefly explains the recent history again, says that ‘The Burn’ had happened without anyone knowing why, and that the Federation disappeared during the night. She became a courier, while she was searching for clues about the Federation and the Discovery. We get to know that Michael and Book became friends during this time. She explained all of this in a monologue while the viewer gets to see little snippets of the past year that Burnham lived on Hima.
Reunion
The scene cuts to Burnham reuniting with the crew of the Discovery. She starts to explain ‘The Burn’ to them, explains that millions had died. She found a part of a transmission sent by an Admiral of Starfleet located on Earth from 12 years ago. Their goal is now to get to Earth and talk to this Admiral, which they can do now with the spore drive of the Discovery. Before, the earth was too far away for Burnham to reach. At the end of their discussion, Burnham offers Saru the position of Captain.
The scene cuts to Tilly who mourns the people who have been gone for centuries now, such as her own family who must have died during ‘The Burn’. Michael condoles her.
Book enters the ship through transportation and meets Giourgiou first, and they have a sassy conversation about Michael, whether or not they are together. They are not.
Burnham gives Book the dilithium she promised him, and he warns her that the Discovery might become a target because they have so much of the needed material. She offers Book to take him with them to earth, and he accepts as he gets to handle the dilithium as his job.
Saru tells Michael that it is a bad idea to give him this task, and that he does not trust him or her decision at this point. But Michael explains to Saru that she has changed and adapted to the circumstances. So they compromise to give him the dilithium once it is safe.
Home
They jump to earth and encounter the United Earth Defense Force, which tells them to leave immediately. The Defence Force Officer boards the ship to inspect the ship and crew, as they suspect piracy and find it odd that the ship is still working 1000 years after its construction. They do not know about the time travelling yet, and think that the crew now are descendants of the original crew, as Saru told them.
The Defence Force Officer explains to Saru and Michael that the Federation and Starfleet have not been on Earth for 100 years, and Earth is not part of the Federation anymore. Also, the Admiral, who sent the transmission 12 years ago, died two years ago on an outbound ship. The Defence Force Officer explains that they have their defences up because of someone called Wen, who raids every ship that may have dilithium on board, and especially targets Earth and its orbit.
The Enemy
Soon after, the alarm is wailing and Wen has arrived to take the Discovery’s dilithium. The Defence Force Officer denies the Discovery entrance to the earth and orders her people to get off the ship, but something is sabotaging their transport and they cannot leave. The tasks now are to handle Wen without starting a war between him and Earth, and to inspect what is interfering with the Officer’s transport.
Michael and Book have a plan and want to get to Book’s ship, while Tilly and Stamets investigate the interference. They find tech that does not belong to the Starfleet, and remember that a 16-year old investigator looked around at that place, so they highly suspect that this girl has something to do with it, even though she trapped her own crew.
Meanwhile, Burnham and Book took all the dilithium and head towards the raiders. It seems like they intend to trade the dilithium with Wen, and count on Saru to get them out of there somehow, while Earth aims their weapons at the Discovery, because they do not want Wen to get that much dilithium. Saru trusts Burnham and takes the hit from Earth’s torpedos, even though the ship has just been repaired in the last episode. But they will not let Burnham down.
Burnham manages to convince a suspicious Wen to take the dilithium. To do so, Wen has to lower his own weapons to transport it. Burnham and Book capture Wen and bring him to the Discovery, and to the Defence Force Officer. As long as they have the raiders’ captain, they will not shoot the Discovery or Earth. The Defence Force Officer and Wen talk to each other, and Geourgiou takes Wen’s mask off forcefully, only to discover that Wen is actually human.
Wrong Assumptions
The 16-year old investigator gets caught looking at the ship by Stamets. Apparently she sabotaged the transport of the other investigators, so she can stay at the ship and learn more about it. Stamets, being the nice guy that he is, explains the spores to her and how it works. He even tells her that they are from the year 2258. In return, the girl explains that she became an investigator for the sole hope of coming across a Starfleet ship. She wants to stay with the Discovery and reveals that she knows the Admiral that has sent the transmission.
Wen explains that he lives on Titan, and after an accident they did not get help from anyone, because they were not able to contact anyone. They have sent a ship to Earth for help, but it was fired upon and destroyed immediately. Captain Ndoye, the Defence Force Officer, and Wen are willing to discuss terms about providing engineers and equipment to Titan and getting research from Titan in return. Thus, the Discovery helps in getting peace for these two.
Finally, the 16 year old girl reveals that she is, in a way, Admiral Tal. Trill symbionts who can access memories from their host, have joined with Adira, but she has difficulty accessing Admiral Tal’s memories.
Burnham explains to Saru that she has changed within this year, which is why she did not tell him of her plan on how to handle Wen. He accepts the apology and makes her his Number One as a captain.
Book leaves the ship for now, and Discovery members get to visit their home planet, Earth. Burnham and Saru watch from the Discovery, though.
Overall Thoughts?
I have hoped to get to know more about Burnham’s year on Hima in this episode, and also more about the past, including the ominous ‘Burn’. However, we will have to wait for another episode. I suspect that the mystery about the Burn will probably be revealed in the second half of the season. All in all, it was great to see Burnham with the crew again. The hints about her having changed make me want to watch another episode immediately, so I cannot wait for next week’s episode!
