The Discovery is repaired and ready to start its first mission. Saru and the higher ups of the Federation discuss tasks during a meeting, and the Discovery is set to stay on alert, should the Federation need their spore drive. The Admiral expects the Emerald Chain to make a move within the next few hours, so they are on yellow alert.
Message
The crew tries out the new technology on the bridge when they get hailed by a ship outside of the Federation’s security system. It is Book’s cat, Grudge.
Michael and Saru got a message from Book, telling them that he knows of a black box they needed, and that he will retrieve it from Emerald Chain’s territory on Hunhau. He recorded this message in the case that he wouldn’t come back within 24 hours and send Grudge to the Discovery, which is the case now. However, they only got the message three weeks ago.
The black box contains the ship’s last moments, so if the Burn happened at one moment, like everyone think it did, every black box should have stopped recording at the exact same time.
During the year Burnham lived in this time zone, she found two black boxes that had stopped at another time, and now suspects that Book has found a third one, meaning new revelations about the Burn.
Michael wants to go to Hunhau, but as the Admiral has ordered the Discovery to stay alert and jump to Argeth anytime within the next 12 hours, Saru denies her request.
Behind Saru’s back, Burnham goes to Georgiou to ask her to come with her to Hunhau. Of course, she agrees.
Unsolicited Mission
They fly to Hunhau with Book’s ship, discussing the possibility of Burnham having a crush on Book, she firmly denies — maybe even a bit too firm. Georgiou suddenly has a flashback, seeing blood on her hands and a dead body which she calls “San”. She is clearly shocked by this but they have no time to discuss it, as they arrive on Hunhau and are being hailed. Philippa persuades the unknown person by saying that they have dilithium, so he lets them land.
Back at the Discovery, Grudge stays in Tilly’s room. Tilly looks for Burnham and quickly realises that she is not on the ship anymore. Meanwhile, Adira is redesigning the spore drive with nano gel, so Stamets would not have to use the shunts anymore.
We see Book on Hunhau, but a person injects everyone with a device on their neck. It is not revealed what this device is for, yet. Michael finds Book with a device, which Book usually used to find Grudge. The “workers” seem to be Osyraa’s slaves there, and Book is one of them. One of these workers gets caught stealing a water ration and gets killed while running through a fence.
Philippa is trying to buy Burnham some time, so she can speak to Book. They hug and Book tells her that he got the black box and that Burnham should get it from his quarters. She obviously would not want to leave him here and has an idea to get everyone out of there.
Saru talks to Tilly in private, about Michael. He asks her about Michael leaving and revealing that it was, in fact, against his orders. Saru says that he is not trusting her anymore, and probably couldn’t ever trust her again. Tilly tells Saru to tell the Admiral, because she thinks that the Discovery has a lot to proof and that the crew might be punished for Michael’s wrongdoings. But she thinks she would have done the same thing as Burnham.
A drone follows Burnham and Georgiou around, so they destroy it and build a weapon from scratch. Book has made a friend there, called Ryn. Ryn brings him the black box, and explains the plan to as many people as he could.
Saru tells the Admiral about Michael. The Admiral tells Saru to be ready to jump very soon.
Michael and Philippa get caught, while the enemy finds dilithium in the ship. He does not kill Michael and Georgiou yet as Michael says that Osyraa might not like that, if she wants to know their story first. During this, Book starts a fight — or shall I call it revolution — so its now a more even fight, while guards rush to the site. Philippa has another flashback and collapses while Burnham gets choked and urges her to get the controller for the fence, in which the slave died earlier. She manages to get up and get it, turning off the fence, so Book and the others can escape to the ship. Ryn takes a “bullet” for Book and gets injured, while the others can escape.
Consequences
Michael and Philippa start fighting the others from their ship, and beam Book and Ryn into the ship. Philippa destroys the other ships, and with it, the whole site.
Book gives the black box to Michael as they fly back to the Discovery. Michael then asks Philippa what is going on with her, and realises that she doesn’t know it herself. The flashbacks have been happening for a couple of weeks, but are getting worse. Philippa doesn’t want to tell anybody about this.
Stamets catches Adira talking to herself, but we know that she is talking to her boyfriend, Gray. She reveals it to him, and Stamets thinks that she is holding on to someone she loves. As he did before, when Hugh was dead. Stamets believes Adira, which clearly soothes her. Gray tells Adira that he likes Stamets. Adira then removes the spore drive control in Stamets arm.
Later, Stamets talks to Culber about Adira. He is grateful to her and wants to help her, because he was in the same position as her.
Back on the Discovery, Ryn is in sick bay and will probably survive. Burnham and Book walk to meet Saru. While in the elevator, Book and Michael have a moment and kiss.
Burnham and Saru talk to the Admiral. The Admiral says that he may have “deemed the intel worth the risk” if they would have asked him. Burnham tells the Admiral that she has looked for the source of the Burn for a year now, and that without knowing why it happened, the Federation can never be the same again. The Admiral leaves the punishment to Saru. Burnham does apologise to Saru, but he cannot trust her anymore and demotes her from being Number One to solely being a chief science officer. Michael tells him that he is doing the right thing. The End.
Overall Thoughts
This episode had more action than the last two or three episodes altogether, so it was more exciting again. The fight scenes reminded me a lot of the first episode, where Burnham met Book the first time. Also, we got to see Book again, which I hope to continue in future episodes, as the character has a lot of mysteries to solve, such as why Grudge is called a queen? It could only be a name for a cat, but I think there is more to it.
Also, the mystery surrounding Philippa’s condition is another exciting story to look forward to.
