Oros

Story: The Galactic Barrier

Written By: Anne Cofell Saunders

Series: Star Trek: Discovery

Year: 2022

With a new DMA and the fear of retaliation looming, the timeline for first contact with species 10-C is moved up.  Discovery is sent, with delegates from various worlds and even the President of the Federation herself in tow, to break through the galactic barrier and try to make contact. Meanwhile Tarka and Book are on the planet where Tarka was once a Emerald Chain prisoner so he can get some materials and tell his sad tale of woe that turned him into the overly determined dick he has become. He just wants his little alien scientist boyfriend back! To hell with everyone else if he can escape to some magical land that may or may not exist. Oh...and Saru takes some signals and tries to ask the Ni'Var president out on a date and she sort of ignores it.  

This is perfectly acceptable as an episode, but it feels so much like classic Discovery to me.  By that, I mean it is just a filler episode that slightly edges the ongoing season story forward but doesn't feel particularly memorable in any way.  There are important elements here, we learn Tarka's backstory (I don't care), and we learn the DMA has changed course for Ni'Var and Earth and could wipe out our favorite home planets (I sort of care).  But otherwise, this smacked of Season 2's "we must get to Spock but we also need to stretch this out a little longer" style.  

Again not terrible, perfectly watchable, I just found this one to be filler, an episode that is sort of about progressing the story but also doesn't progress it much.  

NEXT TIME: Dead Planet