We left last week at a really trippy cliffhanger …
Burnham (dramatically) sprints into engineering where the creature has absorbed Tilly and Staments is standing looking despondent. Burnham talks about uncertainty and faith as Staments works on trying to save Tilly.
The Discovery catches up to Spock’s shuttle. Pike tries to talk to Spock but the shuttle makes to escape into the nebula. Pike disables the shuttle and brings on board, where an armed team greets … Georgiou. The armed team lowers their weapons – except Burnham, until called out by a confused Pike.
Georgiou tells Burnham and Pike she is from Section 31 and that she is hunting Spock. Georgiou and Burnham share shadow and cloak barbs. Georgiou’s handler contacts Pike and further innuendo threats are exchanged. Burnham threatens Georgiou if she hurts Spock as she leaves.
Staments refers to the conservation of mass to figure out May acted as an organic transporter to teleport Tilly to another place. Staments scans the network to find out where the other transporter is.
Tilly wakes up in the network as the manifestration of May drags her up. May asks Tilly for help, save her species to kill a monster.
Tyler, Section 31’s liaison, arrives. After Pike calls out Burnham on keeping obvious secrets from her about Georgiou, Burnham goes to see Tyler for the first time since he left Discovery. Tyler promises Burnahm he’ll keep Spock safe. May tells Tilly the monster entered her world when Staments used the spore drive for the first time.
As Staments briefs the crew on his rescue strategy, Burnham and Tyler enter the bridge. I remember the moment Staments and Tyler saw each other for the first time after he murdered Culber, and it was an extremely well acted scene. Staments says they can partially jump into the network, but the ship would only have an hour to survive while the search happens.
The crew mobilise and get ready to enact the plan. Discovery jumps into the network. Promising to help them, Tilly and Maya run to the ship. The spores attack Discovery, removing the paint.
“Where is everyone?” Tilly asks to an empty ship.
“Maybe they died trying to save you?”
“Thanks for that!”
Tilly is the best.
She arms herself as signs of the monster appear on the ship. Burnham and Staments arrive and Tilly fills her in on the monster. Suddenly a scream is heard. The team move in on the enemy. Then (predictably) they come across the source of the screams and it is a distorted Culber. Culber runs off and Staments chases after him. After telling the bridge what has happened, comms cut off. Burnham realises that Culber using the poison from a tree to defend himself from the spores implies he is a living conscious creature. Meanwhile the ship is increasingly thrown around. Tyler uses his prototype combadge to get Leeland to arrive in a ship disguised as an asteroid to use tractors to stabilise the ship.
Staments finds Culber and tries to convince him that he is real. He tries to reach out to him, and he grabs him. The other crew arrive and May attempts to kill Culber, but Tilly explains he was just defending himself. She talks her down. Staments theorises that Culber’s energy passed through Staments when he was linked to the network and transferred over, even after his death.
The ship is increasingly sinking in to the other network as the away team try to escape. However when Culber tries to cross he starts to disappear. Culber’s new body was made in the spore world, so its unclear if he can cross over. Culber tells Staments he has to let him go and starts to allow the spores to let him apart. Tilly however realises that the organic transporter is made of Tilly’s DNA and so can rebuild his body in the other world. May leads Culber away as the Away Team move out of the spores and Discovery jumps.
After telling Tyler to stay on the bridge, Pike goes down to meet the team, who are waiting anxiously to see if Culber appears in the organic transporter. Suddenly it disintegrates and a naked Culber appears.
Arriving on the Section 31 bridge, with Admiral Cornwall and Leeland, Pike is briefed that tachyon particles were found at the original point they explored. Telling them to work together, they are ordered to find Spock. Georgiou hails Burnham. Georgiou tells Burnham to trust her, but Burnham quotes the scorpion tale back to her.
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