Oh boy I love Jim Henson’s Labyrinth!
‘Sontar-ha! Sontar-ha’ go the Breen as they slam their poles into the ground rhythmically. Lok’s body is being funeralised. The Breen talk in 8-bit for a while before translating to English for Moll and presumably our benefit. Moll proclaims necromancy, with the Progenitor’s tech. Apparently while the Primark is fine with Lok’s death, the other soldiers are more loyal to the Scion, and Moll uses this to her advantage.
Meanwhile, back in the Badlands, a bit more spikey since we last saw it! They hail the Archive and are greeted by someone who very much wants to give them a tour-guide speech and Burnham very rudely interrupts them – come on, how often do they get to give that speech, Federation ain’t gonna collapse coz of a few mins!
After a bumpy and excessively hazardous journey through the Badlands, they arrive at the archive – Raynor is given the conn (will we ever see that man lead an Away Mission???) and the Archive wants Book to visit, not just because he’s a main character but also because the Archive has an item from his lost world. The Archive is, wonderfully, a room full of literal bookshelves and displays. The archivist is very unconcerned by the prospect of the Breen, which hopefully means they, being an ancient race, are very prepared.
The archivist comments that it’s great that a Book is visiting them in the library for a change and honestly that’s so funny and I would die for this character.
Booker is moved to tears and overcome with emotion at finding the item from his world is the root of a world tree – it’s a beautiful scene and David Adala plays it beautifully, I found myself almost at tears too. Burnham is too overcome, by a metal fingerprint she presses in her book, and has collapsed on to the floor.
Burnham, meanwhile, wakes up in a fish-eye version of the archive – ah, so we’ve had the Mirror, we’ve had time travel, now we have the games of the mind!
To Burnham’s credit, she realises something is up, and a version of Book confirms she is in a mind escape (mindscape?), that her brain is perceiving as the most important place in her life – odd, then, that it is perceiving the archive, a place she has only just visited. The figure appearing as Book is part of the Betazoid program, the fact they look like Book is Burnham’s subconscious.
Culbert is examining Burnham (Raynor is here too, man’s finally been able to beam off the ship!), who quickly works out she’s in a program they can’t disconnect her from. Book tries to join her but this is a one player game. Raynor decides they can’t wait for Burnham to happen to wake up (not a ‘patience is a virtue’ guy, I guess) and demands info from the archivist to try and work things out from the outside.
The Book!Program is limited by how much they can help (typical NPC behaviour) and this game design is terrible as the objective isn’t even clear – Burnham has to work out what the puzzle even is before they can solve it. Working out that a filing cabinet can help her limit the scope, she logics that it must be in a book about the Dominion War (Book!Program also drops the ‘those who forget history are doomed to repeat it’ adage, an adage I like and one I think too many people don’t realise we have already failed). Book!Program drops the bombshell that if Burnham fails, she dies (okay!!! wow!!!! SERIOUS!!!), unless she chooses to quit now.
As the Archivist provides the information Raynor asked for (which is a LOT), they also reveal the Breen have arrived. Raynor visibly reacts and puts Discovery on red alert.
The Archivist refuses to take sides, but fortunately for the diplomatic integrity, the Primarch makes it easy for her by threatening her needlessly and excessively, including destroying the Archive, even at the expense of Breen items, to get at her, so she tells them to go away. Moll is clearly sowing discord, picking up on the other Breen’s discomfort about their Primarch’s disregard for cultural artifacts.
Burnham is struggling, and asks Book!Program if she’s going in the wrong direction – she is. She instead focuses on the fact her brain chose this location and realises it’s because nothing matters to her more than the mission – and the most important part of the mission is getting out, so to find the clue she needs to get out of the Labyrinth!
An alarm goes off in the Archive, and a more anxious Archivist comes in to update them – I uh … guess they aren’t as invulnerable as their earlier blaise nature would’ve suggested. Raynor orders Discovery to hide as it can’t take on the Dreadnaught, and we get to see some Bridge Crew action now as they work out how to hide as they cannot cloak. They decide to brave the Badlands.
Burnham tries to use maths to help her defeat the maze but, obviously, it isn’t that easy and the game puts her back where she started, Book!Program reminds her the scientists who made the quest had to make sure only those who could be trusted would find the work, Burnham hasn’t proven herself yet, and the lights are going out.
Meanwhile the Breen are ‘tunneling’ into the shields to get troops on board. Culbert asks Raynor to give him as much time as he can and Raynor darkly affirms. Burnham tries a different route and psychoanalysis herself, exposing a few anxieties, but alas she traumadumped for nothing, not the answer. She rants some more, and Book!Program picks up on her talking about having to prove she won’t fail ‘again‘. A sore point, and Burnham resolves to solve the problem away from them.
Staments, Tal and Reno get their science moment working out how to disrupt the tunneling by tricking it into getting the frequency wrong, while Raynor becomes the soldier and takes strategises a plan to ambush the Breen, picking a spot that will give them an advantage. It works, as the sensors for the Breen soldiers drop off their display as Book and Raynor take them out one at a time. We glance into their helmet cams to see their respective last things they see (Raynor’s face or Book shooting them). It’s like that scene in Jurassic World but twisted. The Primarch refuses to send Moll down to fight them, instead proclaiming his willingness to sacrifice as many soldiers as possible – giving Moll another tool to sow discord.
Raynor drags a badly shot Booker back into the room, wound to his abdomen that somehow, with all their nanobot technology, they can’t heal in the field (like I get it needs surgery but surely medical advancements by this stage can fix a shot wound????). Discovery can’t stay hidden for much longer. Raynor, poor thing, looks stressed. He says if Burnham doesn’t solve the clue in 5 mins, they’re evacuating and fleeing.
A tired Burnham sits down. Her and Book!Program talk about her fear of failure, and how she hates that fear drives her and makes her feel small. Book!Program acts as a therapist with his understanding replies. As a final request, Burnham asks what the test was – but she’s passed it, as all the lights turn on. She passed by being honest to herself about her vulnerabilities. Book!Program tells her where the physical clue is, and she just needs to get it when she wakes up.
They grab the clue just as Breen reinforcements beam in, luckily no one is fast off the trigger so Burnham has time to beam out with the Away Team. With the clue in hand, Discovery flies out into the open, hoping to draw the Breen away from the Archive. Unfortunately, she kind of plays her hand a bit early by telling the Primarch they can leave the Archive alone as Discovery has the clue – the Primarch decides instead to use the Archive as a hostage, along with the thousand lives inside. Burnham has an impossible decision. She stalls by demanding the Primach make a sacred oath – one he needs a moment to consider. Burnham uses that time to tell Tilly to put the map together quickly.
Burnham compiles the final clue, and the object projects the data and final coordinates. They copy the data, and Burnham orders the ship to prepare to vent shuttlebays – an order that confuses the Bridge Crew but Raynor seems to understand, commanding them to follow the order.
The Breen receive the clue, and Primarch orders them to destroy Discovery. Moll objects, under the excuse it would start a war, although her concern seems otherwise. The Primarch goes ahead regardless, dismissing her objections. Burnham orders Discovery to jump at the last possible moment, alongside venting the shuttlebays, a risk that pays off giving the impression that the Breen weapons have successfully destroyed the ship.
Unfortunately damage from the attack means they are off-target, and stuck with no warp, removing their advantage. It would take the Breen six hours to get to the coordinates, so it’s a race again (clever way to naturally get that tension into the finale, I like it) for Discovery to repair and warp or jump over.
Meanwhile, the Primarch, satisfied Discovery is destroyed, prepares to destroy the Archive. Moll appeals to him, telling him to remember the goal and also, incidentally, his oath. The Primarch egotistically declares his wishes are the goal. When another Breen speaks up, he is shot dead. This guy did not read the Evil Overlord List (I think this is on that list – it feels like it should be).
Moll plays her endgame. She forces the Primarch to show their disregard for Lok, their men, their culture. The ball is in the court of the other Breen. It’s enough to convince the one who Moll had been whispering into the ear of to point his weapon at the Primarch. The Primarch is indignant, and in that moment, Moll disarms him of his weapon and kills him. The rest of the Breen hold her at weapon point, but she proclaims herself the legal wife of the legal ruler. The Breen she was speaking to has a moment of hesitation (now isn”t really the moment to hesitate, you picked your side when you drew your weapon!), then they all chant with her. Looks like she’s the Captain now.
The Star Trek franchise, images and logo is copyright of CBS. Labyrinth is copyright of TriStar Pictures.
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