This week brings us the fourth episode of the second season of ‘Star Trek Discovery.’ The show gets one week since its return where it does not have to go head-to-head with a new episode of the “other” network sci-fi series, ‘The Orville,’ as the Seth MacFarlane-created Fox show is showing a repeat of its second season’s first episode, for some reason.
Here’s the official episode synopsis, from CBS:
A mysterious sphere threatens the U.S.S. Discovery even as May, in her original form, implements a plan that puts Tilly’s life in danger. Saru and Burnham’s bond grows when Saru is forced to acknowledge a deeply unsettling Kelpien truth. Pike receives new intel on Spock from a loyal friend.
Take a peek at the episode’s preview trailer below, followed by some observations on our end and photos of the episode released by CBS.
OBSERVATIONS:
The title of the episode seems to be a fairly direct reference to the ancient Greek tradition of placing a coin, or obol, on the mouth of a deceased person, so that he/she could give it to Charon, the ferryman to the underworld, in exchange for being allowed “cross the river Styx” and enter into the afterlife. With much of the preview video focusing on Saru’s impending death (which we all know 100% will not be happening in this episode), it seems to be focused on his and Burnham’s storyline for this episode.
There certainly seems to be quite a few interweaving plots for this episode: Saru’s “impending” death, Tilly and her blobby spore friend, Number One coming to visit from the Enterprise, and ostensibly more talk-about-but-never-meeting-in person Spock.
I swear, if ‘Discovery’ puts Rebecca Romijn in one of the god-awful, marching-band-esque uniforms, I’m going to lose it (more so than I normally do when watching this show).
Speaking of Number One, though: could the ‘Discovery’ creative team be priming Romijn and her character to become the permanent Captain of the Discovery? “Number One,” as intelligent and headstrong a character as she has always been (subject to change at the ‘Discovery’ creative team’s canon-eschewing discretion, of course), certainly will not stay a First Officer forever. With no mention of her in ‘The Original Series,’ one would assume that she moved on from her Enterprise posting sooner rather than later…
Tony Schaab is a freelance pop-culture writer in addition to being an award-winning author and best-selling review critic, with his book series “The G.O.R.E. Score: A Review Guide to All Things Zombie” being an 8-time #1 best-seller (Amazon Kindle, Pop Culture chart, 2012-2019). Working as a DJ and Master of Ceremonies since 1999, he has performed MC/DJ work for the NFL, MTV, NBA, Wizard World Comic Con, PGA, IndyCar, and countless private events. Tony lives in Indianapolis with his 14-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son, and rambunctious rescue dog. Learn more about Tony at TonySchaab.com and chat him up on Instagram or Facebook @TonySchaab.