History Recap / StarTrekDiscoveryS3E12ThereIsATide

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Osyraa orders the bridge crew to be kept alive because she needs them as leverage against Vance, who might destroy ''Discovery'' otherwise.

* MechaMooks: The DOT-23 repair bots that have been in the credits this entire season are finally given prominence: the Sphere AI is hiding in them. The last shot of the episode shows them reporting to Captain Tilly, prepared to join her in the Die Hard attempt.

Lt. Commander Stamets wants to jump Discovery back to the Verubbin nebula to rescue his husband Dr. Culber, and Captain Saru and Adira Tal (Creator/BluDelBarrio), but Burnham instead puts him in escape field and puts him off the ship to be rescued by the Federation.

After capturing the U.S.S. ''Discovery'', Osyraa seeks a meeting with Admiral Vance. Meanwhile, Burnham and the crew attempt to regain command of their ship.
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!!Tropes in this episode:

* [[DieHardOnAnX "Die Hard" on Discovery]]: Burnham and Book successfully get aboard ''Discovery'' and start wreaking havoc while Tilly and the other bridge officers escape their captors.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/DougJones (Capt. Saru) and Creator/WilsonCruz (Dr. Culber) are credited, but do not appear.

* GeniusCripple: Aurellio is Osyraa's top scientist and has some kind of birth defect that has paralyzed him from the waist down.[[Note]]Aurellio actor Creator/KennethMitchell - who had previously appeared as the Klingons Kol, Kol-Sha, and Tevanik - had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2019. The character of Aurellio was created to allow Mitchell to appear in Season 3 in a manner that incorporated the wheelchair Mitchell now had to use into the role.[[/note]]

* GeniusCripple: Aurellio is Osyraa's top scientist and has some kind of birth defect that has paralyzed him from the waist down.

* IAteWhat: Vance messes with Osyraa by revealing that the replicated apples that they're eating are made from feces, broken down to its component atoms and used as material.[[note]]The reference work ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual was the first to establish that biological waste was used as source material for replicators, and that such material was extensively sterilized before it was reused by replicators.[[/note]]

* IAteWhat: Vance messes with Osyraa by revealing that the replicated apples that they're eating are made from feces, broken down to its component atoms and used as material.[[note]]The reference work ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual was the first to establish that biological waste was used as source material for replicators, and that such material was extensively sterilized ''before'' it was reused.[[/note]]

* IAteWhat: Vance messes with Osyraa by revealing that the replicated apples that they're eating are made from feces, broken down to its component atoms and used as material.

** The ''Discovery'', meanwhile, is making a dash to Federation HQ, pursued by the ''Viridian''. The audience knows it's a WoundedGazelleGambit, but Admiral Vance isn't sure either way.
* ContinuityNod: Burnham and Book are able to reach Discovery by traveling through a transwarp conduit like those used by the Borg. Presumably this is the same conduit Oysraa used in the previous episode.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Transwarp conduits can be used to go quickly from place to place, but even couriers don't do it because the conduits are filled with wreckage and any ship that tries it is just as likely to add to the pile. Of course, that's a risk Book and Burnham have to take.

* EveryoneKnowsMorse: Rhys and Bryce are tapping in Morse code, which was apparently still taught at the Academy in the early 23rd century. PlayedWith: all they were saying to each other is "keep tapping," knowing the guards would recognize that the taps have a pattern as an IncessantMusicMadness that allows the bridge crew to get a jump on their guards.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Admiral Vance muses aloud about why Osyraa would come alone to Federation Headquarters and then not leave once she failed to catch ''Discovery'', then realizes she must have captured ''Discovery'' and is already on it.

'''Vance:''' Why would Osyraa come by herself, just her ship? She knows part of our fleet is at Kam...All vessels, weapons hot. Prepare to fire on ''Discovery'' on my command.\\

* HeroicSacrifice: Book and Ryn stay behind to HoldTheLine against (and, knowingly, eventually get captured by) the Regulators after the bridge crew escapes. Combined with the sensor glitch Ryn engineers to hide said escape, it serves to draw their attention long enough for the bridge crew to get to the armory.
* IAteWhat: Vance messes with Osyraa by revealing that the replicated apples they're eating are made from feces, broken down to its component atoms and used as material.

'''Vance:''' It's made of our shit, you know. ''(Osyraa spits out her apple)'' That's the base material that we use in our replicators. We deconstruct it to the atomic level and then reform the atoms. ''(eats an apple)'' It's pretty good for shit, and we don't have to commit atrocities for it.

* LieDetector: Vance has Eli present in negotiations with Osyraa, saying his program is designed to tell when someone is lying. He jokes that it was less intimidating than a red light.

* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: Burnham loses her boots while fighting a Regulator in the Jefferies Tubes. She grabs a new pair from the ones she shoots while rescuing Stamets.

* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: Burnham's first priority is to get Stamets off the ship, because the spore drive doesn't function without its WetwareCPU. She has to do this against Stamets's wishes, because he's dead-set on rescuing Culber and Adira despite the situation ''Discovery'' is currently in.

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: A variation -- when the Sphere A.I. takes over the DOT-23's, it proves who it is to the ''Discovery'' officers by showing a holo of the Creator/BusterKeaton [[Film/SherlockJr movie]] that [[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS3E04ForgetMeNot the crew watched]].
* SpaceIsCold: The Regulator that gets flushed into space by the fire suppression system freezes and then [[LIterallyShatteredLives shatters]].
* TakeUpMySword: Tilly makes it clear that they are retaking ''Discovery'''s bridge at all costs, and that means if someone falls, they go on without them.
* TeleportInterdiction: Osyraa has a transport jammer placed on ''Discovery'' to prevent beaming in either direction, to make sure Starfleet can't beam in for a rescue. It also affects her own men, so the personal transporter Burnham steals is useless to her.

** Burnham seals Stamets in an emergency forcefield then overloads a phaser to cause a hull breach, sucking him outside. Starfleet Headquarters then detects his signal and tractors him in, denying Osyraa the use of the spore drive.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Aurellio is a genuinely nice person who believes Osyraa wants a better future for the galaxy, even if her methods can be distasteful at times. Stamets educates him on just how cruel she can be when he isn't there to see it, and he gets a front-row seat when she murders Ryn in cold blood just because he mouthed off to her.

* WeNeedADistraction: Book stays on his ship while giving Burnham a device that masks her life signs, reasoning that the Regulators will be expecting to find a pilot and she can sneak away while they think they've captured the only crewmember.
* WhatTheHellHero: Stamets is furious at Burnham for stopping him from using the spore drive to rescue Culber and Adira, since they're all he has in the future.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Osyraa has the ''Viridian'' chase after ''Discovery'', firing on them and jamming comms, to convince Starfleet they're in danger so Starfleet will lower their displacement field to provide assistance. They open a hole just big enough for ''Discovery'', which is what she wanted.

* AndAnotherThing: The negotiations seem to be going well...and then at the last minute Vance demands that Osyraa stand trial for her crimes, scrapping the negotiations.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: Vance and Osyraa are at a stalemate, and Osyraa returns to ''Discovery'' to secure her control over it. Book has volunteered the location of the planet where Su'Kal, Saru, Culber and Adira are stranded, dangling in front of Osyraa the promise of dilithium. Finally, Tilly and the Bridge Crew (Detmer, Owosekun, Rhys, Bryce and Ina) have reached the Armory and are ready for a concerted run on the bridge, joined by a trio of droids inhabited by the Sphere data; Burnham will presumably link up with them at some point during the season finale.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The three DOT-23 repair bots' eyes are colored red, blue, and gold; the three colors Starfleet uses to differentiate Command, Science, and Operations divisions.

-->'''Vance:''' Pretty good for shit.

After capturing the ''U.S.S. Discovery'', Osyraa seeks a meeting with Admiral Vance. Meanwhile, Burnham and the crew attempt to regain command of their ship.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/DougJones (Capt. Saru) and WilsonCruz (Dr. Culber) are credited, but do not appear.

* HeroicSacrifice: Book and Ryn stay behind to HoldTheLine against (and, knowingly, eventually get captured by) the Regulators after the rest of the bridge crew escapes. Combined with the sensor glitch Ryn engineers to hide said escape, it serves to draw their attention long enough for the bridge crew to get to the armory.