TL;DR – A very Star Trek episode all about whether violence or diplomacy is the best way forward.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We are starting to get into the back half of the season, and you can feel things starting to come ahead. This would be tense in any season, but given this is the final season of Discovery, you can feel that being amplified even more so because the Breen are coming.  


So to set the scene, after finding the next clue in an abandoned weather tower, the next hint was some sort of Betazed text inscription. But when the USS Locherer catch up with Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), the Discovery jumps straight there and beams them to their sick bay. L’ak is in bad shape and needs emergency cryo-therapy at Starfleet HQ before he dies. But the Breen knows where they are and are coming for Starfleet HQ with a dreadnaught, and everyone can feel that we are at a tipping point. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

This was an interesting episode in that it worked both as a linchpin to move us into the end game of the season and also as a very classic Star Trek-style morality play. A lot of this links all the way back to the first season and Michael’s (Sonequa Martin-Green) mutiny in the Battle at the Binary Stars because there, she chose violence over diplomacy, which had dramatic repercussions. But here she is, the centre point, working with every side, like Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), trying to get any advantage that means that war can be avoided without them losing it all. Her plan of playing the different Breen Primarchs off each other was a good one, and you could see all the various steps that it took to get to that point. It is also a good showing of trust that Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) and President T’Rina (Tara Rosling) backed her play.

That use of talking someone down, rather than shooting, also came into play with how the de-escalating things with Moll. Book (David Ajala) was able to reach her because he came from a place of empathy and understood what truly motivated her. Unfortunately, that was the only part of Book’s story that worked this week. The telepathic echo felt a bit forced, but more than that, it was odd that Moll’s agency didn’t come into play with him, determining whether something was wrong or not. It just felt like a significant, forced error at the end of the episode that didn’t need to be there.

I did like that the Breen truly felt menacing this week, but not in an unknowing kind of way. Motivations were at the heart of it all, and you understood all of them. It is also good that we get references to the Dominion War in a way that makes it clear that the writers know what world they are dipping back into, but also for how the episode plays out. There were also these fun little beats throughout the episode. I loved Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Adira (Blu del Barrio) trying to source the book, which meant a heart-to-heart with Reno (Tig Notaro), who had the best line of the week. Also, I should point out that the effects this season continue to be stellar, and I am quite chuffed that I picked out The Badlands before they confirmed it on screen.       


In the end, do we recommend Star Trek: Discovery – Erigah? Yes, we do. I think episodes like this might not have happened if they had known this was the last season of the show. It did feel like a classic Star Trek episode, much like last week’s Whistletalk. As we move forward into the end game, I hope they can stick the landing.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Star Trek Discovery yet?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.   

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Star Trek Discovery
Directed by – Jon Dudkowski
Written by – M. Raven Metzner
Based off – Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Created by – Bryan Fuller & Alex Kurtzman  
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout & Paramount+. 
Starring – Sonequa Martin-Green, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, Blu del Barrio, Callum Keith Rennie, Tig Notaro & David Ajala with Oded Fehr, Annabelle Wallis, Tara Rosling, Eve Harlow,Elias Toufexis & Rachael Ancheril and Orville Cummings, David Benjamin Tomlinson, Victoria Sawal, Christina Dixson, Natalie Liconti, Tony Nappo, Dorian Grey & Dorren Lee