SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from Star Trek: Discovery episode “The War Without, The War Within.” Proceed with caution.
This episode picked up right as the Discovery returned to their Prime Universe. The ship took heavy damages traveling back through the Spore Network and decided to pause for repairs, instead of heading back into the war. While they waited, Admiral Cornwell and Sarek boarded their ship and took it under control. Thankfully Sarek’s mind meld with Saru helped him understand where the Discovery had been over the last nine months and why Georgiou was back. Let’s break down the newest episode.
Tyler Returns
While it was good to see Tyler back to his human self again, his explanation of the procedure meant that he was not the only person turned and sent in to infiltrate Starfleet. Apparently L’Rell’s people call it “Species reassignment protocol, specifically designed to infiltrate classified Starfleet intelligence.” It’s very possible that anyone we’ve met so far could actually be a transformed Klingon, like Tyler/Voq.
This presents a very close similarity to another sci-fi show, Battlestar Galactica. As a viewer, it was hard to decipher which humans were secretly Cylon robots. Who in Starfleet could also be a Klingon? When Saru asked Tyler if there were others, Tyler said that Voq was the test case. Perhaps this will be a key plot point in Season 2.
Starbase 1
After a very informative mind meld with Saru, Admiral Cornwell and Sarek decided it was best to take Discovery home, to Starbase 1. Starbase 1, is after all, the closest base to Earth, Starfleet’s homeworld. When they arrived they were too late. The Klingons had fired upon the base and left it destitute. That only meant one thing: the Klingons were heading for Earth.
The Klingons had claimed the base for themselves, something that had never happened before in Starfleet history. Saru then warped the Discovery out of range to save the ship from imminent attack. While deciding on what to do next, Cornwell asked L’Rell how to end the war. Her response? “It doesn’t. Conquer us, or we will never relent.” Burnham also reached out to Mirror Universe Georgiou about how to end the war — Georgiou told her to “destroy the tumor that is growing on Kronos.”
Georgiou’s Plan
Under this advice, the Discovery planned used the Spore Network to move themselves directly underneath the surface of Kronos. They will be able to do this after they populate an entire moon with Spores via Mycelial terra forming. They accomplished this and it was beautiful to watch something grow in the midst of such dark times. This beauty was complimented by Burnham finally going to see Tyler. He apologized, she admitted she loved him, and they both agreed that their relationship was far too complicated, considering Burnham’s parents death at the hands of Klingons.
Discovery’s plan to travel to Kronos came with two very interesting mentions: one, of Captain Archer and the crew of the Enterprise, and two, the revealing of Mirror Universe Georgiou to the rest of the Federation as the “recently rescued and presumed dead Philippa Georgiou.” There’s no telling what she REALLY has planned for Kronos or the Federation or the Discovery, but for now, she is Captain again.
The season finale of Star Trek: Discovery airs next Sundays at 5:30PST/8:30EST on CBS All Access and globally on Netflix the following day.
