Well this is a very interesting episode title. Unification and Unification II were two TNG episodes that guest starred Leonard Nimoy reprising his role as Spock as he attempted to work towards peace between Vulcans and Romulans and unify their races once again. It was, canonically, significant and played a role going forward, including being a minor plot point in Star Trek (2009). The fact this episode is titled as the third part (unusual as well – has there been an instance prior where a the titled third part of a story is in a completely different series) intrigues me!
Burnham considers leaving Discovery after her demotion, to work out the reason behind the Burn. She explains to Book how Spock influenced her obsessive nature. Before going through the data, Tilly also calls her out on the position she left her in, while Burnham alludes to not fitting in anymore. It’s a nice moment.
On telling the Admiral the results, he reveals to them Vulcan was renamed Ni’var – as now, the Romulans live there. Spock succeeded in reunifying them, albeit centuries after his ‘death’. Burnham doesn’t hide her joy about learning this, and it’s cute. However Ne’var has left the Federation, so the data they have Discovery needs isn’t easily accessible. They left after the Federation forced them to continue their scientific research into alternate forms of travel, with the belief this is what caused the Burn. The Admiral orders Burnham to use the fact she is Spock’s sister to bring the new data they have with them to prove otherwise and access their data.
Burnham watches back footage of Spock from Picard’s log (from Unification) to hyper herself up. Saru promotes Tilly to Acting XO – which. I mean okay look I love Tilly, and she’s clearly super capable, especially for her rank, but this is like – there are other capable people who have actually had command experience. And as much as I love Tilly she hasn’t really displayed the level of self-confidence and discipline needed. Like you can’t just promote someone from no command to XO. That’s an incredible jump. Like it’s the reason a lot of people criticised Star Trek (2009), but at least in that there was the excuse it was a ship mostly crewed by cadets, plus situationally it made sense at that time with the current incident. Like how must the other people in the command chain feel??? We’ve seen other people be given the bridge rather than Tilly who presumably are higher up in the command. At least promote Tilly to like 3rd Officer and a lieutenant first???
Discovery arrives at Vulcan, where the President greets them, especially Burnham, but refuses access to their data until Burnham invokes an old scientific rite, where she has to defend her theory rigorously to the Science Institute. The President warns her that should she fail, the reputation of her and Spock will be forever tarnished, which will have consequences. She also mentions that currently, the only people who can act as her advocate are members of the Qowat Milat, who we were introduced to in Picard.
Her advocate beams aboard – it is her mum.
Saru and the President speak about the future. There is a nice shot where we see the Vulcan sun appears over Ni’var in a CGI window reflection, and likewise we see the sun rise on their faces. Burnham and her mother talk, about her place in the world now. They then talk about the process Burnham faces, with her mother pointing out it’s a lost cause that the Qowat Milat tend to bind themselves to. Her mother points out the people she will be fighting against have agendas, and Burnham is on the backfoot.
The President points out that the Federation started to put the needs of the many over the few – before humorously countering Saru by saying Ni’van abandoned a lot of their maxims when they unified and gained new wisdoms. Saru posits that the Federation has learnt a great lesson through the price it has paid.
Members of Ni’van and the crew attend the rite. The debate begins, with Burnham and the Vulcan Chair tennis-ing off each other quite quickly. The Vulcan Chair is the biggest opponent, despite Burnham’s belief his logic would make him her best chance.
Tilly tried to get advice from Staments on her promotion, and he reacts exactly how I did earlier which like is completely fair – but before he can offer any more thoughts (I suspect he is going to), he needs to get back to work.
Burnham and her mother talk and argue about how the debate is going. Her mother points out that Burnham isn’t being completely honest about everything, and this is holding her back. Burnham walks back and humbly admits that she isn’t 100% sure of her belief. But asks they trust her, and the Federation, on faith. On this her mother turns on her, and points out Burnham’s own cynicism’s towards the Federation. She outs her mutinies and her lack of confidence in her own place. She lays all this out and asks why then she should be believed. She then steps forward and gives her own truths, about Burnham’s orphaning and not being truly Vulcan. Burnham counters back and gets her mother to confirm what the Federation did bring to Burnham. After confirming all that, she then shoots the armour-piercing question of why she still struggles to belong. Burnham wonders if it is due to he higher stakes and the risk she might lose everyone she loves. Her mother says she is now telling the truth.
The representatives are still torn, which then boils over as the Romulan insists he will share the data even if it is against Vulcan wishes. The Ni’varans all stand up in shock. Burnhams cools them down and reiterates Spock’s beliefs, and compares his unification ideals with the Federation. Burnham then redraws her request to protect Ni’vars peace, and promises to keep looking for the truth herself. She then leaves, to a standing Discovery crew.
Burnham’s mother advices her that she doesn’t need to choose between who she was and who she is, and that she managed to convince the President with her candor, who gave over the data to them. She declares Burnham is no longer a lost cause, and she always knows where to find her. The Senior Crew tell Tilly to accept her promotion, that they would follow her everywhere. It’s a nice moment – but she still REALLY isn’t qualified.
Burnham reaffirms her belonging with Discovery to Booker.
I think it was a nice continuation, if not directly, of the plot from Unification, and it was also a nice continuation of plot points from Picard. I like how they tired Burnham’s self-confidence into the resolution. But I do hope they execute Tilly’s arc in a meaningful way. I was even thinking from last week that maybe they would promote Tilly when Burnham was demoted, but I wasn’t serious with myself and never thought they’d actually do it. And this comes from a massive Tilly-stan as well. So hopefully the show narratively and logically earns it.
The Star Trek franchise and logo is copyright of CBS.