Star Trek: Discovery S2 E2 “New Eden”

Spoiler Level: Major

Last Time on Star Trek Discovery: while the starship Enterprise sees to some much-needed repairs, Captain Christopher Pike assumes command of the Discovery and sets off to investigate seven mysterious signals across the galaxy. They come upon the USS Hiawatha which has been trapped in a strange asteroid cluster. The Away Team rescues Jett Reno and the remaining crew. Michael Burnham has a vision of a red angel before escaping on the Discovery with a large sample of the asteroid. Michael learns her foster brother, Spock, is not aboard the Enterprise.

Episode 2 "New Eden": While investigating Spock's quarters, Pike and Burnham discover Spock was already onto the signals. Stamets confides to Tilly that while he was trapped in the network he saw his partner Hugh...after his death. It was the love the two men shared that allowed Hugh to guide the Discovery out of the mirror universe. Tilly has found a way to pinpoint one of the signals but it will require Stamets and the spore drive which causes Stamets to question if he might not want to leave the network if he finds Hugh there again.

As Captain Pike tries to hold his lunch down, Saru tells him "You never forget your first time, sir." After scanning for the distress signal they picked up, the Discovery finds what appears to be an Earth-style village complete with a church. Further scans reveal no warp signature and starships near the planet and most puzzling...the signal has been on a loop for 200 years...before warp science existed.

Determining that the colony of 11,000 on the planet is pre-warp and, aside from the distress beacon, no electricity can be found...it's decided Star Fleet General Order 1 applies.

Speculating that the asteroid chunk they secured may offer a viable non-human interface alternative for the spore drive due to its metreon charged dark matter, Tilly acquires a small fragment weighing over a ton! However, as Tilly admires the space rock, an energy discharge from it knocks her out.

Pike, Burnham, and Lt. Owosekun transport to the village and enter the church where the distress signal is emanating from. Pike asks Michael and the Lieutenant if they had ever been in a church. Owosekun says her family were non-believers and Michael states she is familiar with the texts of Earth's religions. She also determines the stained glass window portraying Jesus also contains references to Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto and Wicca. The people on the planet have cobbled together a religion based on the primary faiths of Earth. Pike mentions the purpose of the stained glass windows were to teach the gospel to those who couldn't read.

A man enters the church and Pike tells him they are "from the north". The man, Jacob, says the All-Mother will want to see them. Later, in a very religious ceremony, the Away Team is welcomed to "New Eden". It is also learned that the "first saved -- soldiers and civilians -- sought shelter on Earth in a white church as bombs fell from the sky during World War III in 2053". But before the bombs exploded, an angel surrounded by pillars of flames appeared and "delivered the church, and those within, here to Terralysium".

Back on the Discovery, Tilly wakes up in sickbay with the crewman May, who presumably saved her, standing by her bed. On the Bridge, Saru and the other officers make a shocking discovery that radioactive particles from the planet's outer ring will kill everyone on the planet in 62 minutes. On Terralysium, the Away Team's secret is discovered by Jacob whose family had kept the church beacon going till the power went out.

Michael and Captain Pike clash when Pike tells her they will follow the rules of General Order 1 and leave the planet once the distress beacon is turned off so no one else will come along and find it. Before Michael can argue her point much further, Captain Pike is critically injured and the away team is forced to return to the Discovery. Later though, Captain Pike returns to New Eden and gives a battery to Jacob in exchange for a broken helmet cam from the first soldiers who came to Terralysium.