Adira

Story: People of Earth

Written By: Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt

Series: Star Trek: Discovery

Year: 2020   

The Discovery crew are reunited with Burnham and then make their way to Earth, tracing a signal from a Starfleet admiral sent 12 years ago. Before Discovery made it to her she was too far away to return to Earth. So with Disco and Dilithium and the Spore Drive, they head home. Unfortunately they find no real sign of the Federation and Starfleet, and are instead welcomed by the Earth Defense Force, which is not nearly as friendly. While being inspected by Earth, a raider named Wen shows up and threatens war. 

But, it turns out that this evil alien raider called Wen is not an evil alien raider at all...he is a human that was living on a research facility on Titan, which Earth thought was self sustainable, and after they had an accident that depleted their resources, they travelled to Earth for help and was met with the same unfriendly welcome Disco received...only Earth destroyed them in the name of self defense. Saru get the two parties talking...and they agree to make arrangements to wirk together and solve Titan’s issues. The seeds of the Federation are already being planted to regrow what was once great. 

The episode also shines a light on the new Michael Burnham. She has spent a year away from Disco, and in that year she has experienced thus new future, and she has done so with a new friend in Book. She has changed. She isn’t as stoic as she once was, she is a bit lighter and a tad more of a rogue. Though Burnham was always slightly rogueish when a script called for it. 

This episode also adds a new character, Adira, a teen working with Earth Defense who sabotages her cohorts transporters in order to get a better look at Discovery. Adira is Trek’s first non-binary character. That’s cool. I am happy for those looking for representation in that, but I will be honest and say I have little other thoughts on the matter. I am glad that representation is there. Anyhow into spoiler town, it turns out Adira has info on where the Admiral they are looking for is...he is now in Adira. They may be human, but the Admiral was a trill, and the symbiont is now in them...though they can’t access the Symbiont’s memories as well.   

I vastly preferred this episode to the two that preceded it. I felt like the opener and the follow-up showed a universe too grim and made Trek seem like any other sci-fi property. It felt dark and violent and lacked the warmth and the hope I thoroughly enjoy about Trek. This episode was more in line with what I want to see. I think a major problem with the last two episodes is that it was trying to show off this darker future but to me it felt very similar to what we saw of the universe in Disco’s first two years. There was little contrast from what cane before. This episode at least offered up something new. Trying to be optimistic. 

NEXT TIME: Deep Into Memories