Right ahead of the finale, the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery suggests that Burnham may not be the hero of this story.
“There Is A Tide…” is helmed by none other than Jonathan Frakes, who played Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and directed several of the films starring Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard. His skills aren’t wasted in the enthralling penultimate episode of season 3.
This installment offered up several revelations about Osyra and brought back a familiar foe. Also, Michael Burnham is starting to look less like a Federation officer and more like a crazy lady so obsessed with her job that she can’t see the damage that she is doing around her.
We kick off with the Discovery outrunning Osyra’s ship back to Federation headquarters. But things are not as they seem. Osyra makes it look like the Discovery is under attack, but really, she’s just trying to get the Federation to lower its defenses. Admiral Vance is hesitant and waits until the last second to open the shield, leaving just enough room for the Discovery to slip through.
On the ship, it turns out that Zareh (Jake Weber) survived the events of “Far from Home” earlier this season and is back with the Emerald Chain. Burnham and Booker take a dangerous courier route to catch up with the Discovery and crash into the ship’s shuttle bay just before it enters Federation headquarters.
Zareh’s regulators capture Book while Burnham finds Stamets, who’s wearing a signal jammer so no one can locate her. Elsewhere, Osyra has one of her top scientists try to figure out how to use the Spore Drive.
Admiral Vance quickly realizes that Osyra is aboard the Discovery and prepares to blow it up. Just before he can fire, Osyra contacts him and requests a meeting. She meets Admiral Vance in front of a hologram lie detector named Eli and requests that the Emerald Chain and Starfleet join forces to form a new Federation.
Burnham is injured dealing with a regulator and hides in a Jeffries Tube. While healing her wound, she sends a distress signal to her mom that also acts as a goodbye in case she doesn’t make it. Zareh quickly tracks the regulator communicator she stole and dispatches guards to retrieve her.
Ensign Tilly and the rest of the captives fake a fight in order to get the upper hand on their captors. To Book’s surprise, the science vessel crew is able to take down the armed guards without breaking a sweat.
Michael activates the fire suppression system in the Jeffries Tube to escape the regulators, which alerts Vance and Osyra and interrupts their negotiations. Osyra’s scientist Aurellio is arguing with Stamets over Osyra’s methods when Burnham blasts her way in to free him from his captors. She tries to get him off the ship, but he refuses, wanting to jump back to the nebula to save Culber, Saru and Adira.
Back at the negotiation, Vance requests that Osyra be tried for her crimes and that whoever represents the Chain thereafter have no connection with her. She is outraged and refuses, tanking any deal that could have been made.
Osyra returns to the Discovery and sends Zareh after the escaped hostages. Book makes a deal to save the crew in exchange for him giving her the location of the Dilithium in the Veruban Nebula. Osyra kills Blue and refuses the deal, instead ordering Aurelio to give Book a truth serum.
Stamets pleads with Burnham, but she won’t even look at him as she prepares to jettison him to safety. Before she does, he reminds her that they sacrificed everything to come to the future for her, and yet she’s always putting them in danger in pursuit of her own goals. It’s a bleak take on the show’s main character.
The tide turns when the Sphere data offers to help Ensign Tilly and the rest of the escaped hostages take back the ship, setting us up for an epic season finale.
“There Is A Tide…” was a pulse-pounding ride that brilliantly sets up a game-changing conclusion, although it was kind of a strange move to ignore what’s happening in the Nebula completely.
So is Michael selfish or if she just that passionate about the Federation? Because she can come off somewhat fanatical at times. With this episodes, this shows she may be a loose canon no longer cut out for Starfleet. Her actions have forced the crew to make sacrifice after sacrifice, and she gets away with it all in the name of the Federation. This season has done a good job of showcasing her flaws and the consequences of a lone wolf entering Starfleet’s hen house.
All in all, I’d have to say Burnham’s antics are getting annoying and repetitive, constantly breaking the rules to satisfy her obsessive need to keep the Federation going. If Michael survives to see season 4, I hope the show finds new ways to explore her character rather than continually falling back on the classics.
Overall, the show has done a stellar job of redefining itself this season, and it’s anyone’s guess where things will go next. One thing’s for sure: anybody who’s stuck around up to this point needs to see how Star Trek: Discovery season 3 comes to an end.
Episode Grade: B
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