Star Trek: Discovery review, Episode 304: “Forget Me Not”

The newest episode of Star Trek: Discovery is a bit sleepy, but the focus on the character dynamics of the crew continue to set it apart from other Trek shows.

It was inevitable that Star Trek: Discovery would eventually need to pump the brakes a bit, since the entire third season has been an all-out thrill ride from the get-go. “Forget Me Not” takes a step back from the search for the Federation and allows everyone on board the Discovery to breathe, assess, and reflect on their dire situation of being completely alone in a mysterious future.

“Forget me Not” has the crew members finally coming to terms with all the traumatic ordeals they have experienced, which leads to some intriguing character growth. This wasn’t a pulse-pounding installment, but it does continue to set up a fascinating narrative and heighten anticipation.

At the end of the last episode, we learn that an Adira has a Trill symbiont, a sentient vermiform lifeform from the planet Trill. The extraterrestrial worm-like creatures live inside humanoid hosts, retain their memories, and enable the current hosts to communicate with any previous ones.

“Forget Me Not” — Ep#304 — Pictured: Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber and Blu del Barrio as Adira of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Admiral that sent the message that Burnham is following is one of the previous hosts, but for some reason, Adira isn’t able to access those memories. So they decide to head to the creature’s home planet of Trill for answers. When they arrive, the Trill people are shocked to see a Starfleet ship. They are eager to meet one of their kind as so many were killed in The Burn.

But when the crew arrive on the surface, they are met with hostility. It was thought impossible for the Trill Symbiont to bond with a human, and Adira is seen by some as an abomination (and others as a possible savior).

Back on the ship, the crew tries to contend with the scarce amounts of Dilithium in this time period. If Dr. Stamets were ever to become incapacitated again, they would not be able to operate, so they work to find an alternative fuel source.

“Forget Me Not” — Ep#304 — Pictured (l-r): Karen Robinson as Leader Pav, Andres Apergis as Guardian Xi, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Blu del Barrio as Adira of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This hits the proud Stamets hard. He snaps at Ensign Tilly’s suggestion of utilizing Dark Matter for the backup, and tensions between them rise throughout the episode.

And that isn’t the only issue Saru is dealing with, as Culber reports that the crew’s stress levels are off the charts because everything they know and love is long gone. He asks the ship’s computer for suggestions. After a few that don’t seem to fit the bill, a glitch occurs and the mannerisms and voice of the computer changes. It starts offering up advice on how to throw a dinner party. Odd as it is, Saru follows through with a fancy meal, which starts slow but picks up when the Captain reminds everyone there of their bravery.

But that sentiment doesn’t last long. Quarrels begin to break out, and the evening ends with Georgia Phillippa walking away with the wine and saying that the alcohol was the highlight of the evening.

“Forget Me Not” — Ep#304 — Pictured: Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and David Ben Tomlinson as Linus of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Back on the planet, Burnham and Adira are asked to leave, but then ambushed. Unfortunately for their assailants, Michael was ready and takes them out without much fuss. Then one of the Trill people takes them to a sacred cave where they believe the symbiont will be able to communicate with Adira.

Adira has trouble figuring out what to do, but Michael joins her in the mind pool to help. When they make contact with the symbiote, we learn that she had a lover named Grey, who was a Trill with a symbiont. But after an accident, the symbiont transferred to Adira so the other hosts memories — including Grey’s — wouldn’t be lost forever.

Adira then gets the location of Starfleet headquarters and decides to stay with Discovery. And things seem to have gotten better on the ship: the Sphere data, which is apparently sentient now, has decided to help boost the ship’s morale and start a movie night, complete with popcorn. It goes over very well.

Star Trek: Discovery has done a decent job of balancing the character drama with action, but that wasn’t the case this week. It was nice to see Burnham takes down three assailants without breaking a sweat, but overall “Forget Me Not” moved pretty slowly.

The dinner party sequence felt a bit awkward, which could have very well been the intention, but even so, it made the crew look heartless rather than traumatized. A lot of the tension felt forced and kind of took me out of the episode.

The reveal that the Sphere data has become Discovery’s own personal J.A.R.V.I.S. and is going to protect it moving forward is interesting. Giving a big role to artificial intelligence never seems to work out in science fiction, so the chances of this going sideways are pretty good.

“Forget Me Not” was a bit of a snoozefest at times, and some of the dialogue was a bit difficult to bear. Episodes like this are better suited for shows that are released in their entirety all at once; week to week, a break like this can be hard to swallow.

But overall, the visuals were impressive, and the focus on the family aspect of this particular crew continues to set Discovery apart from other Star Trek series.

Episode Grade: C+

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