First available for streaming on CBS All Access (later Paramount+) on November 19, 2020. Directed by Douglas Aarniokoski. Written by Anne Cofell Saunders.
Grudge, Book's cat, aboard Book's ship, shows up at Federation Headquarters without Book (David Ajala) aboard. Book has found a black box that might help triangulate the point of origin for "the Burn".
Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) refuses to let Discovery go after Book, he wants Discovery on standby for the next twelve hours in case he needs to send an extra ship to help out in the Argeth sector. Captain Saru refuses to let Commander Burnham go alone in Book's ship. So Burnham enlists Commander Georgiou's help, she readily agrees. "You had me at 'unsanctioned mission'," Georgiou says.
Book has been enslaved by the Emerald Chain and is assigned back-breaking labor on the salvage yard at Hunhau. Burnham and Georgiou help Book free all the slaves, including Ryn (Noah Averbach Katz), an Andorian whose antennae were cut off as a punishment for an earlier slave uprising that failed.
This new slave uprising almost fails when Georgiou passes out at a crucial moment. There is clearly something wrong with her, but she doesn't want to admit it to anyone. Fortunately for the moment, Georgiou regains consciousness and helps Burnham complete the mission.
Burnham and Georgiou return to Federation Headquarters with the freed slaves. Burnham also brings another black box (looks more like a gray rod) from a ship that was destroyed by "the Burn".
After consulting with Ensign Tilly, Saru reports Burnham's insubordination to Vance. Although Vance is impressed by the clue about the origin of "the Burn" that Burnham has obtained, he directs Saru to punish Burnham for her insubordination. Saru relieves Burnham of her duties as first officer.
Also, Stamets bonds with Adira Tal because she has lost someone she loved, just as he lost Dr. Culber in the first season.
Tropes
- Aesop Amnesia: Burnham once again goes rogue by disobeying her captain's orders, which Saru warned her about last episode and Georgiou lampshades in this one. However, unlike last time, she does have a bit more justification in that the intel she needed to get was crucial to solving a larger crisis rather than preventing one, even if her actions undermined Saru's authority and pissed off Vance in the process. Because of this, she only gets slapped with a demotion from XO down to Science Officer, though Saru is notably displeased that she still hasn't learned her lesson.
- Almost Kiss: Between Book and Burnham, which gets interrupted by Linus popping in. They get back to it when he transports out.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Georgiou blusters her way onto Hunhau by verbally abusing Tolor while offering to trade dilithium. As she reasons, bullies crumble under bigger bullies, and she thoroughly enjoys being the latter.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Book and Burnham share a kiss in the turbolift after she rescues him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Burnham saves Book and the other prisoners and retrieves valuable intel regarding the Burn, but her rogue mission angers Vance, undermines her relationship with Saru, and leads to her being demoted from XO to Science Officer.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Vance and Saru are justifiably pissed that Burnham left Discovery and her crew high and dry in the middle of a potential crisis, which gets her relieved as XO for disobeying orders and being untrustworthy in general. At the same time, her argument — that the Federation can never recover as long as the mystery of the Burn is hanging over their heads — works on Vance, which is why he doesn't come down on her as hard as he could.
- Continuity Nod:
- Among the ships being salvaged on Hunhau are a Miranda-class, a Hoover-class, a Cardenas-class, and a Hiawatha-type.
- Tolor picks up a TNG-era phaser to show Georgiou, who dismisses it as not made with authentic parts.
- Self-sealing stem bolts get a mention as one of the things that Georgiou and Burnham are looking for.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: While most of his anger is directed at Burnham, Vance points out to Saru that he could have come to him with the intel she provided, and he may well have authorized the mission, since it was promising.
- Disappointed in You: Saru is completely crushed to discover that, once again, Burnham has gone out on her own in spite of his direct orders not to. Though he understands her reasoning, it undermined his own authority, and so has no choice but to remove her as first officer, only allowing her to maintain her position as science officer.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted, even for an organization as Mildly Military as Starfleet. Admiral Vance and Saru are not happy that Burnham went rogue and disobeyed a direct order at a critical crisis juncture. In fact, considering that the last time she did this, she not only ended up dishonorably discharged, but imprisoned for treason, she is very lucky that the only punishment she got was a simple relief from duty as Saru's first officer. The only reason that she's even let off so lightly is that both Vance and Saru do understand why she did it, and her mission not only saved lives, but gave them intel that could potentially solve why the Burn occurred. However, her actions may have severely hurt, if not outright destroyed, her friendship with Saru.
- Everyone Can See It: Georgiou comments on the attraction between Burnham and Book before they kiss.
- Explosive Leash: The slaves have disks attached to their necks which blow up their heads if they pass through the perimeter pylons.
- Exposition: Saru brings the other ship captains and the viewing audience up to speed on the Mid-Season Upgrade to Discovery.Saru: In the past three weeks, Discovery has evolved even more than we could have imagined. Her battle scars have been healed. Internal systems updated. Programmable matter has been integrated with our pre-Burn technology. Even her nacelles are now detached, improving maneuverability and enabling us to be more efficient in flight. Her retrofit is nearly complete. It is quite extraordinary, the journey we have had. We are grateful to have assisted Federation planets in the deepest regions of the galaxy, and equally grateful to be home. We are now ready to be of service here, in any way we can be.
Vance: Welcome back to the fleet, Discovery. And your crew?
Saru: Adapting and retraining as needed. Commander Burnham is overseeing the process.
Vance: Thank you, Captain Saru. - Freudian Slip: Burnham says that she didn't "love here" when talking about Book's ship, claiming to have had her own vessel, when Georgiou points out her familiarity with it. Georgiou immediately lampshades it.
- The Ghost: The Emerald Chain's ruler, Osyraa, is oft-mentioned but never seen.
- Gunship Rescue: Burnham and Georgiou use Book's ship to gun down the guards chasing the slaves.
- Hero Ball: Burnham violates orders to rescue Book as quickly as possible, even though a three-week absence means that his fate wouldn't be likely to change during the twelve hours that she would need to wait for an opportunity to perform a sanctioned rescue. Vance even points out that he would have likely authorized a rescue had Saru told him about the intel, given how important the data is to determining the cause of the Burn.
- If I Do Not Return: Book programmed his ship to find Burnham and deliver a recorded message if he didn't check in every 24 hours. Burnham notes that three weeks have passed since he recorded that message.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The Emerald Chain mooks epically suck at shooting the escaping prisoners, who aren't even really dodging.
- Legacy Vessel Naming: Discovery joins the list of Starfleet vessels which retain their call numbers, instead appended with an alphabetical suffix to indicate which generation she is. In this case, it symbolizes her re-commissioning for a new era, rather than replacing a destroyed or decommissioned vessel, as had been the case for (everything but the second) Enterprise and Voyager.
- Mark of Shame: Ryn tried to inspire an uprising against the Emerald Chain and failed, so his antenna were amputated and he was forced to stick the Explosive Leash tags on other slaves.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Discovery gets a refit to bring her up to 32nd-century standards, including detached nacelles, programmable-matter consoles, and an improved spore-drive interface, allowing Stamets to remove his arm implants. She's subsequently rechristened to the Discovery-A to mark these upgrades.
- Mission Briefing: Vance leads a conference which starts with Saru providing exposition on the Mid-Season Upgrade for Discovery and leading to Vance giving out assignments to the ships at HQ. This is when Saru learns how thin Starfleet resources are stretched and how vital Discovery is in her new role as a rapid responder, thus setting up Burnham to pull a Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! when Saru refuses to authorize a rescue mission in the middle of a situation that could flare up into a full-blown crisis.
- The Needs of the Many:
- Saru is sympathetic to Burnham's plight, but he's seen the Federation's instability firsthand at the briefing with the other captains, and he isn't willing to risk many lives in the short term for the faint hope of a step toward long-term stability by solving the mystery of the Burn. That said, Saru did fail to inform Vance about the intel, which would have kept the episode from playing out the way it did since he would have likely authorized the mission had he known about it.
- Tilly reluctantly recommends that Saru report Burnham's absence to Admiral Vance, as her actions would paint them all in a bad light unless Saru willingly gave her up.
- Nepotism: Tolor, the Orion who deals with Burnham and Georgiou, is Osyraa's nephew. Georgiou thinks that he's an idiot.
- N.G.O. Superpower: The Emerald Chain — the Andorian/Orion criminal alliance — commands enough influence that the weakened Federation has to negotiate with them on even terms.
- No One Gets Left Behind:
- Burnham refuses to abandon Book or the other slaves.
- Book insists on saving Ryn after Ryn took a shot for him, despite Ryn asking him to run.
- Not So Similar: When Tilly sticks up for Burnham by claiming she would have done the same thing in her shoes, Saru tells her that no, she would not have.
- Oh, Crap!: Tilly's reaction to learning that Burnham disobeyed a direct order from Saru to go on her secret mission.Tilly: Oh, shit. Sh-shit, shit.
Saru: My sentiment exactly. - Permission to Speak Freely: After Vance finishes chewing Burnham out.Burnham: Permission to speak?
Vance: It had better be the best thing I've ever heard.
Burnham: For the last year, I have spent every single day searching for the source of the Burn. Until we solve the mystery of how it happened, and why, I believe the Federation will never be... can never be... brought back together again.
Vance: Well, we'll see what your intel brings, Commander. - Poor Communication Kills: Saru's own fault in this episode was his failure to inform Admiral Vance about the vital intel Burnham has relating to the Burn. Had he passed it along up the chain instead of sitting around waiting to jump to their next mission, Vance would have authorized Burnham's mission, rendering her need to go rogue moot. To Saru's credit, he does acknowledge he made a mistake in this regard, which is part of the reason he doesn't go down quite as hard on Burnham as he should have.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner:Georgiou: Salvage this, you son of a bitch. (shoots the Emerald Chain ships)
- Previously on…: We're reminded about Book's arc so far, and about Georgiou's distraction.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Further demonstrated re: Vance. As understandably pissed as he is at Burnham for going on a rogue mission and abandoning Saru during a potential crisis, he goes far easier on her than he admits he could because said mission was a success. Her reasoning that the Federation needs to solve the mystery of the Burn if it's to ever recover also seems to hit home, even if he has more immediate priorities that demand his attention.
- Saru is similarly restrained with his punishment with Michael. Instead of throwing her in the brig, he only demotes her back to Science Officer partially because he understands her reasoning for going rogue, and he does admit he was partially at fault for not passing the intel onto Vance. However, it's plainly clear he's not happy that she once again went behind her Captain's back and acted on her own, and is mistrustful of her like back on the Shenzou.
- Red Herring: With the frequent references to the situation at Argeth, it's reasonable to assume that Discovery will end up jumping there. They don't, but the fact that they might have needed to is the main reason why Burnham's actions piss everyone off.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue Side Quest: Burnham and Georgiou leave Discovery in Book's ship to go rescue Book. Burnham is disobeying orders, while Georgiou just thinks the rescue might be interesting.
- The Reveal: During her year alone, Burnham salvaged two Federation black boxes, the data on which indicated that the ships exploded at slightly different times (measured in milliseconds). Though imperceptible to the naked eye, this would mean that the Burn came from a specific location. Book finds a third black box, which would allow for a triangulation of the Burn's origin.
- Running Gag: Linus popping in and out of places as he tries to get the hang of his personal transporter, which happens three times.
- Scavenger World: Hunhau is one of many places that was a travel hub at the time of the Burn. The Emerald Chain has since set up shop there, breaking down the wrecks for spare parts and selling them.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Burnham disobeys orders to rescue Book and get possible proof of the Burn's origin, joined by Georgiou because she's the only one who'd agree (and thinks that it'd be fun). As with the first time she did this, it gets her in serious trouble.
- Shoot the Dog: Tilly suggests that Saru should alert Admiral Vance about Burnham going rogue, not in the least because him finding out about it from anyone but Saru could seriously hurt his trust in Discovery and her crew at a crucial juncture. Saru is surprised she even suggested it, which Tilly agrees.
- Slave Revolt: Book leads the slaves in rising up against Tolor and his mooks, with help from Burnham and Georgiou.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: Discovery gets new communicators, but keeps the old uniforms.
- Taking the Bullet: Ryn takes a blast for Book, which fortunately isn't fatal thanks to quick treatment.
- Talking to Themself: Adira spends the episode talking to Gray, which Stamets catches onto, having had a similar experience with Culber after he died.
- Technology Porn: The Discovery crew is still in awe of 32nd-century tech, especially their new commbadges/holo-PADDs/personal transporters and programmable-matter consoles.Detmer: Do we really need all this?
Bryce: Hell yeah we do! - Teleportation Misfire: Linus has some trouble properly aiming his personal transporter, winding up in the wrong place several times.
- Too Awesome to Use: Discovery's spore drive is such a powerful resource that Vance doesn't want to send her on supply runs like other ships, but instead keeps her in reserve so she can immediately respond to the most critical situations. Vance even says that he wishes he could have ten more ships like her.
- Took a Level in Badass: Discovery undergoes a heavy retrofit to become the Discovery-A, giving her access to programmable matter technology to make it easier for her crew to control her, the spore drive is upgrade so Stamets doesn't have to physically plug himself into it, and the ship's nacelles are detached to improve her maneuverability. Unfortunately, the ship is kept on standby because her spore drive makes her absolutely necessary for rapid response situations, and Starfleet can't afford to spare her for anything else.
- Tracking Device: Grudge's collar has one linked to Book, which Burnham reverses to track him instead.
- Transforming Vehicle: Book's ship can split apart into different sections and re-assemble in a different configuration.
- Tranquil Fury: Both Vance and Saru are quietly pissed at Burnham for bucking orders and going on a rogue mission while in the middle of a potential crisis. The only reason that Vance doesn't throw her in the brig is that she liberated a work camp and may have brought back concrete evidence of the Burn's cause, so he leaves her punishment up to Saru. This results in Burnham getting a "What the Hell, Hero?" speech from Saru and losing her position as his Number Two.
- Trauma Button: Georgiou suffers from periodic flashes of a past trauma. The second time it happens, she collapses. It's been happening to her for weeks and has been steadily getting worse.
- Unusual User Interface: Programmable matter is integrated with Discovery's consoles, allowing them to generate solid objects for the users to manipulate that can dissolve just as quickly. Willa explains that the technology adapts to the user, allowing each console to personalize to its user.
- [Verb] This!: Mirror-Georgiou spits a "Salvage this" at the Emerald Chain ships before blowing them up.note
- We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: The Emerald Chain uses slave labor to sort salvage on Hunhau, even though they have access to drones that could be programmed to perform the same task.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Vance gives Burnham a quietly furious chewing out for going rogue.
Vance: Commander Burnham, why don't you tell me what I'm about to say?
Burnham: The source of the Burn is not an issue that you have the luxury of pursuing.
Vance: Correct.
Burnham: Because every day you have a hundred fires you have to put out.
Vance: Correct.
Burnham: And I disobeyed a direct order and undermined my captain's authority. And yours.
Vance: Correct. For a hot second there, it looked like Discovery may have had to engage with the Emerald Chain without her Number One. Did you think about the position you put your captain in? You put Starfleet in? As far as I'm concerned, when you jumped through that wormhole, you were doing your job. You're here now. And every mission, you start from zero. The only reason you're not in the brig is because you saved lives. Am I being clear, Commander Burnham?
Burnham: Very clear, sir.- Saru gives Burnham a chewing out, especially since he not only undermined his authority by going rogue, but makes it clear that she's failed to learn her lesson from what happened back at the Binary Stars all those years ago.
- With Due Respect: A variation in that Saru doesn't challenge or disagree with Vance's orders, but instead volunteers Discovery for one of the longer supply missions (a journey of two months that Discovery could perform in two hours) until Vance reveals that he has other plans for her.Saru: With respect, Admiral, given severely limited warp travel, if time is of the essence—
Vance: (waves a hand) No question. I could use ten of you right now, but as my only rapid responder, I need you here. - With My Hands Tied: Georgiou and Burnham have to fight the camp overseer while handcuffed.
- Your Head A-Splode: The result of the Explosive Leash implants detonating.
