First available for streaming on CBS All Access (later Paramount+) on November 12, 2020. Directed by Maja Vrvilo. Teleplay by Sean Cochran, based on a story by James Duff and Cochran.
Thanks to the coordinates given by Adira Tal, the USS Discovery arrives at the headquarters of the Federation, allowed to pass through a distortion field protecting the place. The crew are impressed by the advanced ships they find in there.
However, they are treated with suspicion by Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), on account of their mysterious ship from the past. And also, time travel is banned after the accords that ended the Temporal Wars. The whole crew must submit to an exhaustive debriefing.
There is a crisis with some Kili refugees, they were poisoned by a plant. Commander Burnham determines that Discovery can make a spore drive jump to where the USS Tikhov, the Federation's seed vault, is at, and use the pertinent healthy seeds to make a cure for the Kili.
Admiral Vance is skeptical. Captain Saru convinces Vance to approve the mission by agreeing to stay behind at headquarters while a couple of Vance's trusted subordinates go aboard Discovery to monitor Burnham carrying out the mission.
Since the Tikhov is currently manned by Barzans, it is determined that Commander Nhan will be on the away team. The atmosphere aboard the Tikhov is configured for Barzan, so Nhan can lose her breathing device, while the others on the away team will need breathing devices of their own.
Problem is that Dr. Attis (Jake Epstein), the only one who can access the vault, is out of phase due to a transporter accident. The away team brings him back in phase, but he refuses to help because he believes he can use the seeds to cure his family, who are all dead.
Burnham convinces Attis to release the needed seeds. Nhan will take the Tikhov back to the Barzan homeworld so that Attis's family can get a proper burial, probably ending Nhan's career aboard the Discovery.
With the crisis averted, Vance agrees to keep the crew of the Discovery together.
Also, Commander Georgiou is deeply upset by the news that the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe has collapsed.
Tropes
- Aesop Amnesia: Saru gently accuses Michael of this when she suggests that they steal the flight logs of the Kili's vessel, after it appears that the distrustful Starfleet won't give it to them. He points out that the Federation is already distrustful enough of them as it is, and following her suggestion would only make their situation worse. He's not mean about it, but he does express some disappointment that the harsh realities of what she has already been through haven't sunk in by now.
- Artistic License – History: According to The Other Wiki, Saru's discussion of the Renaissance being immediately preceded by the Dark Ages is about two centuries out of date, even as of 2020. As the article
shows, the term "Dark Ages" is presently disfavored altogether. For 200 years prior to the term's being discredited, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Dark Ages were regarded as lasting from the fifth to the tenth centuries, with the Renaissance beginning — at the earliest — during the fourteenth century. - Break the Haughty: The chief interrogator does this to Georgiou when he reveals that the Terran Empire collapsed. She's in such a shock when Burnham bumps into her, it actually catches her off guard.
- Brutal Honesty: Culber has Burnham tell Attis that his family is dead, as he is reluctant to help as long as he holds onto an empty hope that he can find a means to cure them.
- Captain's Log: Saru dictates a log about joining up with the present Federation."Captain's log, supplemental. After a journey of 930 years... and a return to Earth that we could not have anticipated... we are finally on the verge of reaching our destination: Federation and Starfleet headquarters. Separate entities that must now abide together; a sign of this new time, I suppose. I can only hope that they are as eager for us to arrive as we are to be home."
- Cassandra Truth: So Federation HQ suddenly gets a visit from a 23rd Century vessel that they have on record as being destroyed, with its crew expecting a warm welcome. They instead get interrogated and questioned like criminals. Without any sort of evidence to verify their claims, since everything about Control and the spore drive was deeply classified or erased, the Federation, already in pretty rough shape and with limited resources after the Burn, are not going to take any chances on a rogue element without some kind of proof.
- Contemplative Boss: Saru and Burnham end the episode by looking out of a viewport while musing about the current state of the Federation.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The Discovery crew make numerous references to the events of season 1 and 2 during the Interrogation Montage (Culber's death and resurrection, Reno's encounter with Michael, and Tilly impersonating her mirror universe counterpart).
- Continuity Nod:
- Voyager is in its 11th iteration (NCC-74656-J) by the 32nd century. She's also following the Enterprise precedent of keeping the original registry number and adding a letter to each descendant.
- One of the other ships the crew geeks out over is the U.S.S. Nog, named after the first Ferengi in Starfleet.
- The 32nd century Constitution class vessel seen is the U.S.S. Excalibur, NCC-1664-M, the 14th vessel to bear the name in honor of the vessel damaged by the Enterprise and losing her entire crew in "The Ultimate Computer"
- Discovery is in violation of the Temporal Prime Directive, established after the Temporal Cold War referred to in Star Trek: Enterprise.
- Vance notes that the Federation doesn't do five-year missions anymore.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Burnham shuts down the cryogenic pods holding the bodies of Attis's family, so that he will reappear and they can try to rescue him. She then confronts Attis and says that there is no cure for what happened to them, but with his help they can save the Kili so no one else will feel the same pain.
- Da Chief: Admiral Vance is the C-in-C of what's left of Starfleet, as well as a Reasonable Authority Figure. He may be initially suspicious of Discovery given her unorthodox arrival, but Saru and Burnham persuade him into giving them a chance to prove themselves. After they succeed, he welcomes them back to Starfleet.
- Dramatic Irony: The Discovery command crew's reaction to seeing the Voyager-J. They obviously realize this must be a multi-generation ship lineage and wonder about it and the history. The audience, of course, already knows that history — and that the original Voyager was worthy of creating its own lineage analogous to the Enterprise lineage.
- Dream Melody: Burnham notices that the music that the holo of Attis's wife is humming is the same as the music that Adira played on the cello, which was a memory of Senna Tal's. Given the distance and lack of communication, she asks Lt. Willa how that is possible. Willa doesn't have an answer, simply telling her that everyone has heard some version of it.
- Fictional Geneva Conventions: The Temporal Accords from Star Trek: Enterprise were expanded after the Temporal Wars to outlaw and destroy all time-travel technology.
- I Choose to Stay: Nhan chooses to stay on the Tikhov so Attis can be taken from it without abandoning it, since it will give her an opportunity to visit her homeworld once the Barzan shift has ended.
- Internal Reveal: Georgiou learns of the collapse of the Mirror Universe's Terran Empire.
- Invisibility Cloak: Federation Headquarters is hidden by a distortion field that masks it from outside observers, which can only be found if you know where to look.
- Jerkass: Willa is pretty blunt and hostile. While assigned to watch the Discovery, she mostly stands around being rude and unhelpful towards them.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Burnham is given command of Discovery for the first time, and she quickly takes charge with relative ease, working in near-perfect sync with her crew as they retrieve the Tikhov.
- Logic Bomb: Georgiou shorts out the holograms interrogating her by blinking at the same rate as their holomatrix cycles while asking them illogical questions.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Georgiou's interrogator, being well-studied on Terran history, manages to genuinely rattle her with the news that the Terran Empire collapsed.
- Polluted Wasteland: Urna, which was a hub for refining unstable metals in the 23rd century until the pollution poisoned the atmosphere and rendered the entire planet uninhabitable due to extensive radiation contamination. The Kili stopped there to scavenge for food, unaware that the plant life had mutated to become highly toxic.
- Previously on…: This reminder of things that have happened in previous episodes goes farther back into the second season to give some background on Commander Nhan.
- Put on a Bus: Commander Nhan chooses to stay on the USS Tikhov instead of Dr. Attis to be the representative of the Barzan species on the ship when Attis is taken elsewhere for treatment.
- Rank Up: Though he was promoted two episodes prior, Captain Saru updates his uniform at the beginning of this episode, prior to arriving at Federation Headquarters.
- The Reveal: Our heroes learn more about the state of the Federation before and after the Burn. Before, there were over 350 members; after, the number dropped to 38. On the bright side, that number now includes Kaminar and Benzar, much to the delight of Saru and Nhan.
- Rousing Speech: Burnham gives a short one before they jump to rendezvous with the Tikhov.Burnham: We have three hours left to retrieve the seed sample and create an antidote for the Kili. Let's show them who we are. (to Willa) You might want to hold onto something. Black alert.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Burnham suggests to Saru that they prove their worth to the Federation by getting their hands on the travel log for the Kili refugees and trace the origin of the prion disease afflicting them, which they can then retrieve the cure for using the spore drive. Saru points out that stealing from their potential allies wouldn't be a very good first impression, so he goes the diplomatic route of asking for the list with Burnham helping ease things along.
- Something Only They Would Say: Adira convinces Vance that they really have bonded with the Tal symbiont by mentioning that Senna would have reported sooner, but he wanted to see snow on Earth one last time.
- Technology Porn: When Discovery arrives at Federation Headquarters, her crew marvel at the 32nd-century starships.Burnham: Fascinating. The distortion field seems to be sustained by the collective energy of every ship within it.
Nilsson: Detecting neutronium-alloy fibers. Those— those used to be theoretical.
Tilly: Some of these hulls are organic. Some— some are completely comprised of holographic-containment walls.
Owosekun: Is that a new Constitution? I bet it can sleep a crew of a thousand! No, two thousand!
Detmer: Detached nacelles? Where do they even put the warp core?
Nhan: Must be a scout. Wonder what its range is like.
Tilly: That's a flying rain forest! - Teleporter Accident: The Tikhov was hit by a coronal mass ejection at the same time that Attis was beaming into the seed vault, causing him to phase in and out of existence.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Michael finds Georgiou just standing in the middle of a corridor, completely unresponsive, after her debriefing where she learned that the Terran Empire collapsed centuries ago.
- True Companions: Discovery's crew has ascended to this state by this episode. While Lt. Willa, their Starfleet liaison, observes (correctly) that Stamets, Reno, and Tilly are not precisely professional, they figure out the Monster of the Week so quickly that you'd be forgiven for thinking that they were telepaths.
- Un-person: Vance has trouble believing Saru's story because there are no records of their journey. Discovery was recorded as being destroyed in 2258, with no mention of Control or Discovery's unique capabilities.
- The Unreveal: Having found the remnants of Starfleet, Michael immediately tries asking what caused the Burn. She's told that it's classified. At the end of the episode, she asks if, having proven themselves, they can learn now. And... turns out that Starfleet doesn't know either. They've got a thousand and one theories, but no concrete evidence that could prove any of them.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- Saru learns that the Kelpiens joined the Federation, but nothing is said about what happened to the Ba'ul.
- Out of all the vessels at Starfleet HQ, there's one prominent name missing: Enterprise. It's not made clear if there's a vessel in their ranks that's carrying the name, if the last one was lost in The Burn, or if they just don't have one going around yet. At the very least, Voyager-J seems to be serving as the big name in the Enterprise's stead.
