Star Trek Discovery S03: Where No Trek Has Gone Before

Star Trek Discovery Season 3 opens very much like Season 2 of Lost did…with an alarm clock. It doesn’t play out as exciting as Lost did but it makes a point…one that is picked up on later in the episode and, like Lost, it will have repercussions for the entire season.

Michael Burnham exits the wormhole she was last seen going through with the Discovery right behind her in an attempt to get the vast knowledge Discovery is carrying away from Section 31’s renegade program “Control”. Michael exits on the other side of the wormhole narrowly clipping another ship which itself is dodging another ship firing upon it. Michael soon finds herself in freefall over the planet she believes is Terralysium but is able to act quick enough to activate the Red Angel suit’s force field. She hits hard but manages to survive. The year is 3188.

Something is missing though…the Discovery. Michael tries to contact the ship to no avail before she is attacked by the pilot of the ship she bumped into. After a brief skirmish with the man who didn’t even want to know her name, introductions are made and Michael meets Cleveland Booker (“Book”). After starting to trust her after Michael tells him there is no one else but Book whom she can trust, he takes her to his ship where he reveals the cargo that the other ship was chasing Book for when he collided with Michael.

Lost on a strange planet and having just time traveled over 900 years into the future, leaving everything she knew behind forever, Michael needs someone to give her hope.  So she joins forces with Book.  Michael is devastated to learn that 120 years ago there was a major catastrophic event called “The Burn” which had major consequences for Starfleet. Book’s ship, in the fracas with the ship pursuing him when Michael bumped into him, was damaged and needs more Dilithium crystals to get off the planet so they travel to a nearby city where she can sell her Star Fleet Tricorder and equipment as antiques to buy what they need.

Unfortunately, things do not go as planned and the typical STD battle ensues with Michael and Book vs thousand of aliens.  But hey, they’ve got tech for that! A perk of the 32nd century is they now have little personal transporters you can tap like a comm badge and teleport away. Escaping with some Dilithium, the two return to Book’s ship and head off to deliver his cargo. Michael Burnham gets introduced to–and I’m calling it here–the breakout star of Star Trek Discovery Season 3…Grudge the cat!

Book then takes Michael to a partially destroyed federation space station, where she meets Aditya Sahil who we met at the opening of the show. He is a civilian waiting–hoping–to keep the beacon of light which was once Starfleet alive.  It is a touching scene when Burnham commissions him as a member of Star Fleet. With the help of her new friends, Michael sets out to find her lost crew.

The third season of Discovery takes us to where no Starfleet officer has gone before.  A universe devoid of Starfleet and its moral compass, yet it feels what this new universe desperately needs is the hope that Starfleet had always provided.  The vision of a universe not ruled by money or power but by the need to be better than we currently are.   This is exactly what Discovery needed.  As much as I liked the first two seasons, I had always wished it would have been set in a timeline after The Next Generation and I think this is the perfect storyline for this crew.

Overall, the episode was very well done.  It is a thrilling emotional ride and Sonequa Martin-Green shines as Michael.  She artfully conveyed the emotional struggle she has with what she had just gone through and yet powers through.  She is alone and needs hope.  Hope in something or someone.  The new cast member, Book, played by David Ajala, is also a well-done character.  His connection with the universe is interesting and adds a great level of complexity to him.  His chemistry with Michael is great, fighting at first, but then growing quickly to trust each other.  He is also in search of a family, whether he knew it or not, and may have found his place with Michael.  The writing was excellent, and the story flowed seamlessly.  My main annoyances were the scene where Michael is trying to sell her equipment at the alien trade center/market place and after some trippy acid like experience her and Booker easily get out even though the odds are 1000 to one…just like when Michael escaped the Klingons and the time she escape her Mirror Universe pursuers. It’s getting overused a lot just as constantly having the fate of the Discovery or a planet or the frickin’ Universe always land upon Michaels shoulders. The producers really need to spread the action around with the other stars of the show or we are back the the Original Series days of having a couple of characters or one carry the show. That aside I am still very much liking Discovery in spite of the negative press it gets. On the plus side as I mentioned, David Ajala is a wonderful addition. But lets find the Discovery and get back to those characters soon!