Story: That Hope is You, Part 2
Meanwhile, back in the nebula, Saru works with Su'Kal, hoping to get him to face his fears and close the holoprogram so they can reach out (hopefully with Discovery waiting for them). While this element of the episode gets less screen time it is, in my opinion, the vastly more interesting story. This person who has grown up on this crazy radiated planet made of dilithium, with only holograms to keep him company. He's been all alone for so long and his only sense of fake company has been degrading and falling apart. It all turns out that The Burn occurred when his mother died many years ago, and he expressed such pain and anguish, that his weird mutated body sent out the signal that wiped out the ships.
NEXT TIME: Discovery Season 3 Recap
Written By: Michelle Paradise
Series: Star Trek: Discovery
Year: 2021
The Discovery crew battle to win back the ship from Osyraa, who is going off half crazed after finding out that the big compromise she'd have to make for peace with the Federation is to turn herself in for her long list of crimes. But Burnham never quits, and she is able to do everything she can to stop Osyraa, save the crew, and get them to help her in completing that mission, even when they are below decks and running low on life support.
But with Michael defeating Osyraa and saving the ship, they able to jump back to the planet just in time to rescue the away team...with the help of Book. It seems his empathis ability to communicate with creatures very different to his own also make him capable of using the jump drive (as determined by Osyraa's scientist friend). Book succeeds, they rescue the away team and Su'kal, and everyone sails home!
The big conclusion here is that Saru has decided to take at least some time off on Kaminar, and help Su'kal adapt to this new world and existence. But Admiral Vance needs a Discovery back in action. They can mine the dilithium planet and they need a delivery system to reach places fast, and reach out to worlds that have long been apart from the Federation, and hopefully rejoin them. And Discovery needs a Captain, it can't wait for Saru to return, so Vance chooses Saru's top choice: Burnham. It makes a sense, in spite of her troubles running against the rules earlier in the season, she is still the most experience leader on the ship. They aren't giving that Captaincy to an Ensign. Tilly may have proven herself somewhat capable in the situations they found themselves in...but she did lose the ship to Osyraa.
Burnham got them out of their situation. She rightly sent Stamets out of there (as much as that may cause future tensions between the two of them). I caught this spoiler (out of context) before the episode...and it seemed illogical to me based on how she has been this whole season. But the episode does a good job of justifying it. Burnham is now Discovery's captain. I still prefer and love Saru, but I get it. At least in the context of the show as temp replacement. But if it the show's intention to be Burnham for the forseeable future? Lame.
I feel we got so little of Saru as Captain but I loved what I saw. I wanted that show. I would happily exorcise huge swaths of the show in order to make it just Saru and his crew adventuring through space. But they have been determined to make Burnham the star. They never figured out how to make a character who is not the Captain the focus. I didn't, and still don't, think that this is impossible..but we must be honest: they never pulled it off.
They started with the mistake of making the character they are building around. I like Burnham, but they wrote her initially as a human, raised by Vulcans (thus emotionally stilted), and started off with her making a huge mistake, starting a war. Then threw in a a romance that was dragged out far beyond it's shelf life (you know...maybe Ash Tyler should be out of her life once he tried to...murder her?), and they kept introducing new Captains who had more personality and charisma and out shone her. Again, this is not a slight on the actress but the writing. They wrote Lorca as a more interesting character. They made Pike SUPER likable. Saru was already a break-out character from the start, and making him Captain just felt like "this is maybe where they should pivot!" But they must have realized that if your central character is not going to be the most interesting character, and you are slowly trying to build this ensemble vibe...then your central character has to at least be the damn Captain.
At any rate, this finale was decent. Everything on Discovery felt by the numbers action story to me. But the stuff with Saru on the planet, I dug that. I didn't even mention that the holoprogram could see and make EVERYONE see Grey. That is certainly a development going forward. I will give the season credit, I may not have been interested for a good chunk of it, but this is their most consistent season. One that genuinely, in the end, feels planned out. Good for them. Again, I am not a huge fan of the show at this point, but at least we didn't have the half thought out story arc this time.
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