

The action stuff during Osyraa’s takeover of the Disco is all well done, of course, but it overshadows some of the more interesting twists from last week’s cliffhanger that needed more play here. (The show’s writers seem to feel the same way, with a throwaway line at the end here that “the Chain fractured,” indicating they were a one-and-done threat.) But nope, she’s gone, and you kind of forget about her just like that. In the end, when Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) shoots Osyraa after their big fight, it almost seems too easy, like the Orion is going to come back ala Jason Voorhees or somebody.

And that led to a lot of running and gunning and running out of oxygen for the Disco crew this week.
#STAR TREK DISCOVERY SEASON 3 EPISODE 1 REVIEW MANUAL#
The reasons for that treaty not being realized - she wouldn’t stand trial for her crimes - made sense, but unfortunately at that point she reverted to the manual manipulation of said mustache. Indeed, it was in last week’s episode, “There Is a Tide.,” that Janet Kidder’s Osyraa finally became more than just a mustache-twirling baddie, as she came to Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) with an offer of peace. That would be the siege of the Discovery by the Emerald Chain, the show’s new group of villains who were, in the end, just not that interesting a threat. The answer to the season-long mystery combined with the emotional impact of the truth are quite effective, but they are unnecessarily spread out among the other, less compelling story thread that closes the season.

I would imagine that the viewer who didn’t see this reveal coming might’ve appreciated this finale more than I did, but I can’t help but wonder if combining the episode “Su'Kal” with the character’s story from this week would’ve worked better as the final episode of the season. It’s a great concept - that the Federation, and the rest of the galaxy, were crippled not by some lethal, mysterious alien foe, but rather by the desperation and pain of one lost child - and it’s a terrific scene here when Su'Kal (and the Disco away team) learn the truth, but it’s also anticlimactic because it was kind of easy to predict two weeks back. That was pretty clear two episodes back, but here we get confirmation that it was the result of his crying out in anguish as a child at the moment of his mother’s death. Yes, Bill Irwin’s Su'Kal triggered that galactic calamity over a century ago. Let’s start with The Burn, the big quest arc of the season.
