Star Trek: Discovery Review: There is a Tide… (Season 3 Episode 12)

Reaching its penultimate episode, Star Trek: Discovery takes a step back from last week’s revelations about the Burn to refocus on the conflict with the Emerald Chain. 

Things look bleak for Discovery and the Federation at the start of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12, “There is a Tide…” Osyraa takes over the ship and arrives at Federation headquarters with no issue.

Initially, the episode seems like it will play out like a traditional action-adventure story with a big battle looming. While there are plenty of action pieces on the episode, including Burnham literally crawling through an air duct John McClane-style, there is much more to the story. 

From its first introduction, the Emerald Chain promised to be a worthy adversary for the Federation. What viewers probably didn’t predict is a last-minute attempt at diplomacy from its villainous leader, Osyraa.

Vance sees through their ploy to use Discovery to infiltrate headquarters, yet when they do make contact, Osyraa surprises him when she offers to engage in negotiations instead of battle.  Ultimately the episode’s decision to put Admiral Vance and Osyraa in a room together proves much more interesting than two ships attacking each other. 

The idea that they could combine the Federation’s respectability and Spore Drive with the Emerald Chain’s scientific resources to free the galaxy of dilithium dependency makes perfect sense. But as negotiations go on, the diametric opposition of their ideals begin to show. 

At the end of the day, the Federation’s ideals are all they have left after the Burn. They won’t compromise them by overlooking Osyraa’s crimes even if it seems like it might be for the greater good. Whether you agree with Vance or not, it raises an interesting moral question about what the greater good really means. 

Vance: The past is the only light with which we can see the future.

So much of the heart of this season explores why the Federation’s ideals matter, so making this conflict one of ideals and not strength connects to that overarching theme. 

Other characters also struggle with their own moral decisions on the episode. We meet Invigilator Aurelio (Kenneth Mitchell), a scientist working for Osyraa. A conversation with Stamets challenges what he believes about Osyraa and the nobility of her mission. 

He’s unable to reconcile all the good work she’s allowed him to do with her cruelty and violence. This revelation doesn’t pay off immediately, but I would guess much like Ryn he may become a thorn in her side later on.

Burnham’s tangle with right and wrong turns out to be much more heartbreaking. She decides for Stamets that saving the Spore Drive takes precedence over saving the stranded crew, including his partner and surrogate child. 

Stamets’ frenzied speech about how they followed Burnham into the future and now she’s betraying them lands like a dagger in the heart. Vance may sit in a room and make blanket assertions about the Federation’s values, but Burnham lives them on this episode.

Her decision may have a human cost, one that puts the greater good into question. 

So, what is the greater good? As a viewer, you’re left to the conclusion there is no one right answer.

The episode instead gives several interpretations. As Osyraa points out, they all have had to things differently after the Burn to survive. And the Federation has ideals, but the best one can do is try to strive for them in the circumstances they’re given. 

There is one downside to all the time spent on people talking in rooms on this episode: it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for them to rescue the crew stranded in the Nebula and help Su’Kal. 

With one episode left, Star Trek: Discovery still needs to cover a lot of ground to wrap up some of the key plot threads this season. Let’s hope the show’s hot streak continues through the finale. 

Additional Thoughts:

• Thank you to Book for reassuring us that Grudge is safe and sound. Priorities!
• Does Burnham’s message to her mom mean we might see her again by the end of the season? Perhaps Ni’Var will send aid to the Federation. 
• The Sphere data, which the Emerald Chain mistook for a simple strand of code containing a film, has now taken over cute little tiny robots. Another loose thread set up early in the season, the sphere data seems poised to play a role on the finale. 
• I am interested to see how Tilly’s arc plays out during the final episode. While the capture of the ship isn’t entirely her fault, she still deserves some redemption. 
• RIP Ryn, we hardly knew ye.

 

What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Discovery? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Star Trek: Discovery airs Thursdays on CBS All Access.

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