Culbert’s log fills us in to how the crew is handling their new isolation. He compares it to his isolation when dead. He also comments on how a crew of overachievers, needing help can be a hard vulnerability to hold on to, which I mean BIG MOOD AMIRITE. He tells us the crew are holding on to the mantra of ‘When they find the Federation’.
Adira comments that she has no memories of before she was found joined, and she has some blocked memories. Culbert suggests they go Trill to seek their help,
So they jump to Trill, where a hologram of a Trill greets them, happy to see a Federation and learn of a symbiote return. Saru (rather silly in my opinion) neglected to tell them of the Human host. Saru points out that Staments needs to come up with another way to operate the drive without Staments, in case they lose him. Staments coldly shuts down Tilly’s ideas and storms off.
Culbert suggests Burnham goes down with Adira to support her, as she has both had a loss and growth. Culbert also tells Saru about the crew’s mental state and how disconnected they feel with the universe. Some Trill react negatively to the idea of a Human-Trill connection, while some feel it is the saviour of the symbionts due to the loss of enough viable Trill hosts.
Burnham and Adira are ambushed but Birnham defends them as the pro-Human/Trill Trill escorts them to the caves to help her. Saru is speaking to the computer about therapy when suddenly the Sphere’s coding glitches it and it starts speaking to Saru with more ‘humanity’, even faking a laugh. Saru doesn’t seem as freaked out as he should considering what happens in the past.
Saru gives the senior crew a private meal. He gives them an inspirational speech and reminds them of the moment they shared before they agreed to jump to the future. Interestingly, the CMO and Chief Engineer aren’t there???? Like I’d feel insulted. (Even Georgiou is there!) Denmer is the only one who doesn’t drink with everyone else.
Adira prepares to enter the pool to try and heal herself. Back at the meal, the crew play around with haikus, until they push Detmer, who has been uncomfortable the entire time, to do one. She gets hyped up trying to make one about Staments near-accident, which upsets him. Staments defends himself, causing Detmer to fight back, ruining the dynamic in the table. The officers dismiss themselves.
As Adira gets in to trouble and is sucked under the pool, Burnham and the Guardian Trill are accosted by the other Trills. Burnham joins her in the pool and allows herself sucked in to go find her. Thread like vibes are trying to connect to Adira. She convinces her to let them. I think there’s a high frame rate effect happening here to help with the surrealism of the scene. The threads connect with Adira and she sees the previous host. They were on a generation ship trying to find the Federation. We see her struggle with dealing with the previous host changing with his new identities. Adira pushes through the trauma to learn that the host was killed in an accident, and Adira agreed to take the symbiont. Accepting this memory allows Adira to see all her previous hosts. Adira and Burnham return to the surface. Adira speaks her names and the Trill accept her.
Tilly comforts Saru and Staments apologises to Tilly. Detmer goes to Culbert for help. I cry. The crew meet in the shuttlebay to watch some comedy films and bond, and Staments and Detmer hug. More cry. 10/10 character work. Saru hypothesises that the Sphere data is protecting the crew in return. There’s a nice visual touch at the end as we see the ship fly away and the film still being projected in the shuttlebay.
Honestly loved this episode for the character work. Maybe could’ve used a bit more depth but it glued together in the end :’)
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