TL;DR –  It starts on an emotional beat and stays there up until the very last moments.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review –

From the very first episode this season Brother there has been one defining question this season “who is the Red Angel?” well tonight we find out and while I am sure someone out there picked it, I did not see it coming at all.

So to set the scene, we begin the episode where Project Daedalus left off, where Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) was killed to save Control getting access to the data she had downloaded. At the start of today’s episode her body is recovered, her memories deleted, and finally, a memorial service was held where people shared their fondest memories and Saru (Doug Jones) sang as her body was laid to rest. There is a real threat out there and we have to stop it but now Section 31’s Leland (Alan Van Sprang) and Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) are willing to let slip that the Red Angel suit was theirs, or at least it started off that way. It was built when a new time war was heating up with the Klingons a few years ago that ended when both sides destroyed each other’s work. Oh and just a small thing that in one of Airiam’s data files was the scan of the Red Angel and it matches Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green).   

For me, I think what really stood out in this week’s episode was the smaller character moments. Like how Detmer (Emily Coutts) talked about how Airiam helped her work through the addition of her cybernetic components. Indeed the whole memorial scene was beautifully composed and a shout out to Doug Jones for singing in a different language under prosthetics. There were also the great one-liners this week like Michael’s “Thank-you for sharing that with the group Spock” or Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Hugh (Wilson Cruz) wondering “What just happened” as Georgiou came in like a wrecking ball.

Another thing I liked it how they have been reintroducing Hugh to the show and dealing with his clear post-traumatic-stress. You feel the break that has happened in his life, the pain that it has caused him, and you understand why he can’t be with Stamets at the moment. It was also good to see Hugh seek out Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook) to get help as she is a trained therapist. It shows that there is support and care for people going through trauma and also reinforces one of the things I really like about Star Trek and that is that Admirals can come from all areas of the organisation.  

The whole plan to spur on the Red Angel was an okay one but I’m not sure it worked that well when you think through the temporal mechanics of it all, but then thinking through the temporal mechanics is likely just to give you a headache. But it leads us to the big reveal of the season that the Red Angel (Sonja Sohn) is Michael’s mum. It is something that both makes no sense but also perfectly fits, and I am interested to see where it goes. It was also interesting to see what looked like the death of Leland and the confirmation that Control was there all along.

In the end, do we recommend Red Angel? Yes, I’m not sure it had the same impact as last week, but it was full of these wonderful character moments. It also had a lot of small references as to how the rest of the season is about to get bonkers, and I am here for it.      

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 – Hanelle M. Culpepper
Written by – Chris Silvestri & Anthony Maranville
Based off – Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Created by – Bryan Fuller & Alex Kurtzman  
Production/Distribution Companies – CBS Television Studios, Roddenberry Entertainment, Secret Hideout, CBS All Access & Netflix. 
Starring in Season 2 – Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Shazad Latif, Wilson Cruz & Anson Mount with Michelle Yeoh, Jayne Brook, Ethan Peck, Alan Van Sprang, Sonja Sohn, Rachael Ancheril, Tara Nicodemo, Hannah Cheesman, Emily Coutts, Oyin Oladejo, Patrick Kwok-Choon, Ronnie Rowe Jr. & Sara Mitich & Jason Anthony