Article contributed by Jasmina Demirovska
The crew finally arrives at the Federation headquarters and is amazed by their new technology. They do not yet know if the Federation still values the same morals, or if they have changed much.
First Impressions
Saru, Burnham and Adira Tal are being beamed to the headquarters and meet Charles Vance, the Admiral and Commander in Chief of Starfleet, and Chief Security Officer Lieutenant Willa. They are clearly suspicious of Saru, Burnham and Adira, and do not trust them yet. But the crew members tell them exactly what has happened to them, and how they got through the wormhole.
The Admiral explains that communication with Federation planets has been limited since the Burn, including the planet Kaminar, Saru’s home.
While Adira gets a full medical examination, Saru asks the Admiral what has happened to the Federation in the last 1000 years. He answers that only 38 planets belong to the Federation, as opposed to the 350 at its peak time, mainly because they have difficulties finding each other. Upon being asked about the Burn, the Admiral tells them that he has no obligation to tell them anything, because he does not trust them yet. Also, per law they are criminals at this moment because time travelling is illegal. So, he cannot even tell Burnham and Saru if the Command, the AI that tried to kill them in season two, is still active or not. The Admiral concludes that he needs evidence to trust them, and until he has that he does not allow the Discovery to work anymore. However, the crew will be reassigned, which also means that they will be separated.
Proof
Then, the crew gets interviewed by their AI, but no one is making their job easy. They try to play with them. Especially Georgiou has made it a mission to not give any answers, and even manages to destroy the holograms. However, another man is in the room with her and immediately knows that she is the Terran Emperor.
When they entered the headquarters, they saw Kili in need of medical attention. The Admiral told them that they are already working on a cure, that they have been poisoned by a plant. But in order to save them, they need the antidote, which they do not have.
Burnham then offers Saru that the Discovery can locate it by jumping to a seed vault and retrieve the needed seed. Burnham and Saru discuss the idea, and while Burnham just wants to jump there right away, Saru wants to do it by the Federation’s protocol and asks the Admiral. After a little dispute, they do it Saru’s way and thanks to Burnham’s persuasion skills they get to jump to the seed vault with the whole crew, and Willa as per the Admiral’s orders. Saru has to stay with the Admiral during this mission.
The Mission
After jumping to the “Tikhov” — the ship containing the seed vault, Burnham, Culber and Nhan are beamed on board. Nhan is specifically chosen for this mission by Burnham, because the last family to guard the vault was Barzan, like Nhan. They start to look for the family of two scientists and their children, but only find a hologram of them singing a melody — the same melody Adira played in the last episode. Burnham goes to the seed vault, which can only be entered by beaming inside of it, while Nhan looks through the logs. Meanwhile, Culber finds the actual family in capsules that are supposed to keep people in them alive, but the family is dead. Only the father is missing. Nhan concludes that the father must still be alive and tried to save his family.
Burnham wants to get the seed for the Kili but is not able to due to restricted access. The father finds her and attacks her, saying that he seeds belong to him. However, his face is folding into itself, and he seems out of sync. Burnham and the others contact the Discovery, mainly Stamets, Tilly and Reno. They immediately know that the reason he is doing that, is CME — a stars burp as Reno calls it. During this the family died, but the father is still alive because the beamed into the vault in the exact moment of the CME. They showcase their teamwork in front of Willa, who watches from the Discovery, and even compliments them on their work.
The only way to get the father out of his current status is to beam him again. Tilly beams him into the vault, causing a power outage at the Tikhov and thus the family’s capsules collapse — however they have been dead already. Nhan and Burnham talk to the father and ask him to give them some seeds, as he could save another families life. Realizing that his family is gone, he agrees.
Decisions
Culber wants to get the father to the Discovery to treat his internal wounds, but he does not want to leave his family. The three crew members discuss if they should leave him or take him against his will. Culber and Burnham want to take him against his will, or at least the Tikhov, because of the historic significance of the seeds. Nhan, being a Barzan herself and understanding the culture’s grief process, tells them to leave him with his family. Culber returns to the Discovery to work on the antidote for the Kili, while Burnham still talks to Nhan. Nhan would not let Michael persuade her, and makes the decision to stay on the Tikhov and guard the seed vault, giving up everything. She wants to be closer to her home again, and Burnham accepts this.
Back in the headquarters Saru and Burnham discuss their success with the Admiral, and he lets them operate again. He gives them the condition that they will only work under his commands.
Michael asked Lieutenant Willa if she found anything about the melody the family sang, but Willa only answers that everyone knows the melody. Burnham finds it odd that the family knew about the melody, if they did not have any contact with anyone else, but Willa cannot give her any answer.
Burnham then finds Georgiou on the ship and proceeds to ask her about the melody, but Georgiou seems to be fazed out, not even realising that Michael is standing there. Michael asks her if she is okay, and being as petty as ever, Georgiou only answers that she should not ask such a question.
Overall Thoughts
Episode five seems to be a little more dull than the episodes before, so I hope that it will get more exciting in the future again. I am very curious about the melody and wonder if it has anything to do with the Burn, knowing that everyone who was affected by it knows the melody.
