Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.
At the end of season two of “Star Trek: Discovery,” Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) travels through a wormhole and ends up 900 years in the future, the year 3188 to be precise, but all by herself as Discovery is nowhere to be found. She crashes into the ship of Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala), a courier who transports stolen cargo and they both end up on the surface of a barren planet. She tells him she is from the past and asks what the future is like. He informs her of “The Burn,” an event that happened over a hundred years ago in which a mysterious incident caused most of the galaxy’s dilithium to explode, destroying many starships in the process, including most of Starfleet. He tells her that the galaxy is disconnected and is no longer regulated by the United Federation of Planets. She helps him get his ship back in the air and he agrees to drop her off at a seemingly abandoned Federation space station where she meets a Federation liaison who states that he can search for Discovery for her but after probing the galaxy, he tells her that they still not made it to this time in space.
For a year, Michael teams up with Booker and begins living a new life as a courier, resigned to the fact that Discovery did not make it through the wormhole and might not ever but out of the blue one day, Discovery appears and crashlands on a glacier on an ice planet. They discover that the parasitic ice is gradually enveloping the ship and with some of their resources destroyed, have no option but to venture outside to a nearby settlement in the hopes of securing the materials they need. Once there, they befriend the local miners who are willing to assist if they can return the favor and help them escape from the planet but then a courier named Zareh (Jake Weber), who has been oppressing the miners for years, appears and threatens them and the crewmembers of Discovery if they refuse to hand over the dilithium they think they have on their ship. Saru (Doug Jones), Discovery’s captain, agrees but they manage to overwhelm Zareh and his men and return to the ship but just as the parasitic ice is about to crush Discovery, Michael appears in Booker’s ship and helps them get free of the glacier.
Back onboard Discovery, Michael informs Saru and the rest of the crew about The Burn and that the future is nothing like they thought it would be. Discovery intercepts an old transmission from Admiral Senna Tal from earth but when they try to track him down, they learn that he is dead but a clue leads them to the location of Starfleet headquarters, where they meet with Commander-in-Chief Charles Vance (Oded Fehr). There, he informs them that according to their history records, Discovery was destroyed hundreds of years ago so he is somewhat skeptical but when Discovery assists Starfleet with a dangerous health crisis, he gradually learns to trust them. Michael is determined to ascertain how The Burn transpired and with clues left behind by a Kelpien ship and its inhabitants, Discovery finds the remnants of the ship inside the Verubin Nebula, and a life sign that Saru feels could be the child of one of the starship’s scientists who left the original message. Saru, Michael, and Hugh (Wilson Cruz) beam onto the decaying ship and find Su’Kal (Bill Irwin), the last remaining Kelpian, who has lived his whole life inside a complex holographic simulation designed by the scientists to raise and protect the child.
Meanwhile, Discovery is attacked by Osyraa (Janet Kidder), the sadistic leader of the Emerald Chain, a syndicate of Andorians and Orions who wants Discovery’s advanced spore drive since Dilithium is hard to come by. With Sylvia (Mary Wiseman) now the acting captain, she tries to jump away from the Verubin Nebula but Osyraa captures the ship and takes control, using the spore drive to jump to Federation headquarters. As they approach, Osyraa pretends Discovery is under attack by an enemy ship and Commander Vance lowers his shields, allowing them through their defenses under the pretense that it is actually Saru and his crew but he quickly learns that Osyraa is the one commandeering Discovery. She informs Vance that she wants to make a deal with Starfleet but he is hesitant to do so because of her past crimes against humanity. With time running out, Saru, Michael, and Hugh learn what actually caused The Burn all those years ago and there is a possibility it could happen again, and Vance must make a decision; blow Discovery out of the sky, with much of her crew still inside its walls, or listen to what Osyraa proposes.
The timeline for “Star Trek: Discovery” takes place about ten years before Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the crew of the Enterprise first meet but the technology here is far more advanced. Maybe an oversight on the part of the producers but this one criticism aside, “Discovery” is a welcome addition to the Star Trek Universe. When Sonequa Martin-Green was a part of “The Walking Dead,” she left the show to star in “Discovery” and at that time, nobody knew if the show would even get past season one but thankfully, she made the right decision and went from being a supporting character on TWD to being the star of “Discovery.” She brings the right amount of strength, pathos, and emotional vulnerability when called for, and excels at each and every one of them. While the original Star Trek was more of a male-dominated, void-of-pain-and-emotion type series, “Discovery” has much more emotional depth and sensitivity than its predecessor, although at times, it has a tendency to force every last tear, sob, and quivering lip out of a scene. The CGI is impressive and the sets and creatures, thank God, are so much better than the original series’ horrendously bad but laughable attempts at otherworldly alien civilizations and landscapes. “Discovery” infuses the Star Trek Universe with a timeline that predates the original series, and maybe somewhere down the line, the two might actually meet, although Spock and Captain Pike have already made an appearance. It would be great to see the original crew on the small screen once more.
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