Netflix UK TV review: Star Trek: Discovery: Season 3, Episode 8
Review Overview
Detmer gets her mojo back
9Run-of-the-mill bad guy
6Silly but fun nature-communing
7Ian Winterton | On 05, Dec 2020
Warning: This contains spoilers. Not caught up with Star Trek: Discovery? Read our review of the last episode here. New episodes arrive on Fridays within 24 hours of their US broadcast.
This episode marks a return to multi-plot soap opera mode for Disco Season 3, but it’s saved by a thrilling story-of-the-week, directed with customary aplomb by Star Trek alum Jonathan Frakes. Pre-credits, we’re given a first proper look at arch villain Osyraa (Janet Kidder), the green-skinned Osirian boss of interstellar cartel the Emerald Chain. Condemning her nephew, overseer Tolor, to a screaming death in the mouth of a trance worm – one of the creatures Book has risked life and limb to save – she’s established as the latest in a long line of ruthless and cruel Trek bad guys. She may be a run-of-the-mill character but, if this first showdown with her is anything to go by, we’re going to have a lot of fun watching her clash with the Discovery crew.
The main away mission this week sees Michael head off with Book to his home planet, Kwejian. Following on from her decision to re-commit to Starfleet last week, Michael doesn’t go rogue but instead, with Saru, seeks permission from Admiral Vance. This adds a different dimension to proceedings as Discovery’s terms of engagement are – United Nations-style – to observe, and only fire if fired upon.
On Kwejian we meet Book’s brother, Kyheem (Ache Hernandez), who has the enviable task of balancing the survival of his people, beset by swarms of blue, floaty pests (refugees from Avatar?) called “sea locusts” and dependent on the “protection” provided by the Emerald Chain, with cooperation with Starfleet. Osyraa wants Ryn, the Andorian whose antenna she lopped off, now a refugee on board Discovery and is willing to kill Book and, indeed, carpet bomb Kwejian’s forests in order to get him.
Quite why Ryn is so important isn’t fully revealed, although the man himself tells Tilly it’s because he knows the Emerald Chain is running out of dilithium – which doesn’t quite seem a convincing reason. Surely, as he points out, now he’s told them the secret is out of the bag. Either way, Ryn establishes himself this week as a brave soul and, considering actor Noah Averbach-Katz is married to Mary Wiseman – Tilly – in real life, it would be safe to assume he’ll be sticking around.
In terms of shipping the characters, though, Ryn and Tilly seem at least equally as likely as Ryn and Detmer – both of them bond over the stand-out sequence in the episode. In one of the many subplots, we see Detmer grumbling about the new “programmable matter” controls, feeling it takes away from her expertise as a pilot. Hey presto, in the final act it turns out she’s needed to fly Book’s ship in an attack on Osyraa’s cruiser (a feigned rogue action so Discovery can claim it didn’t intervene), with Ryn co-piloting and directed the fire at weak-spots he’s privy to. It’s a thrilling set piece and Detmer having to fly on complete manual with her mojo restored is heartwarming to see.
The main story is wrapped up in a satisfying manner that doesn’t suffer (as has been the case in other episodes) from the sense of being too neat – although it comes very close. His people threatened with bombs and famine, Kyheem has a choice to make – and comes down on the side of his brother. He and Book do some of their nature-communing magic and, their psychic signal boosted by Discovery’s powerful pseudoscience ray (yes, it gets pretty silly), the sea locusts are persuaded to swarm off.
Having seen more of the real Book, Michael’s love for him has evidently grown even deeper – and once again we’re shown that it goes both ways. Book wants to stay on Discovery – not just for Michael but because he’s coming to see that Starfleet is a force for good, and something he wants to be a part of. Both he and Michael end the episode blissfully happy – which can only mean tragedy is on the horizon.
Already in a bad way is Georgiou who, her blackouts and hallucinations worsening, spends the episode in denial, locking horns with Dr Culber. Quite what is going on is unclear – but from the way her corporeal form phases in and out, the fact she’s from a different universe is probably a factor. We also get a tiny hint of what will perhaps be an evolving storyline, as Culber blurts out that he wants children – only his Starfleet duties get in the way. And, then, later on, Stamets is shown being all fatherly towards Adira. Adira, too, is granted some character development as, in line with actor Blu del Barrio’s real life non-binary identity, Adira asks to be referred to the pronouns “they”/them”.
And finally, the over-arching story gets moved on a notch as Adira and Stamets work out that the musical ditty they’ve been hearing since arriving in 3188 is everywhere, and is actually a Federation distress signal. They pinpoint it to a section of the cosmos – the Verubin Nebula – which brings them a step closer to finding out the exact cause of the Burn. Finding out who perpetrated such a horrific cataclysm will surely be, in the safe hands of Discovery’s writing team, be a thrilling reveal – whether or not it’s a foe long known to Trek, or a new adversary.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 to 3 is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription.