![]() Today, her righteous victory comes at a personal cost.Īboard Discovery, Zora makes a breakthrough and determines the coordinates of the 10-C’s DMA launch site. At the start of the season, we were promised that Michael Burnham would have to learn to accept a no-win scenario. Burnham also understands where Book is coming from and doesn’t want to oppose him directly, but she’s built a career out of defending Federation ideals under difficult circumstances, and President Rillak is counting on Burnham to speak on behalf of their shared values. (We heard that fear spoken aloud by the ghost of Book’s father last week.) Ruon Tarka draws Book to his side by offering the kind of direct action he’s been craving, but is also taking advantage of Book’s sympathetic position to advance his own aims. Book wants to trust Burnham to get justice for Kwejian, but fears that her idea of justice doesn’t align with his own. Most of this season’s ethical dilemmas haven’t excited me much, but this week’s debate works because the political stakes are directly tied to the character stakes. Swarmed by politicians looking to discuss their next steps, Burnham can only watch as her partner departs the gathering, defeated. Book argues well, but Burnham has a lot of experience giving speeches about principle and sacrifice and wins the vote for diplomacy. Ruon Tarka convinces Book to plead to the council to vote to use the isolytic weapon, and when that appears to win them over, Burnham is forced to argue the opposite position, knowing that it might put their romance in jeopardy. Burnham strongly disagrees, believing that to attack the 10-C without understanding their motives or attempting communication would be a betrayal of Federation values and most likely escalate the conflict. Book has seen his entire world destroyed, and pleads to the council to act now before the same fate befalls another civilization. While debates about the ethics of preemptive military strikes or collateral damage are old hat for Star Trek, “…But to Connect” injects greater stakes into the scenario by putting Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker on opposite sides and giving neither of them any room to budge. Tarka sees this as a feature, not a bug, delivering a whammy to their foe that might make them think twice about using the DMA again. Because the 10-C use a small wormhole to control and transmit energy to the DMA device, it’s likely that the isolytic burst also would make its way back into their territory and do some irreparable harm. Tarka’s invention is an isolytic weapon, banned by a centuries-old treaty for its capacity to permanently destabilize an area of space such that warp travel becomes impossible. Enter mad scientist Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle), who has used the results from his experiment back in “The Examples” to construct a device that can deactivate the machine at the heart of the DMA. This conversation seems purely academic at first - after all, if the 10-C are as powerful as they seem, even the combined military might of the Milky Way Galaxy might not be enough to defeat them. Ndoye believes that our galaxy must strike back decisively against the 10-C, while T’Rina believes that this should be preceded by diplomatic efforts. Rillak quickly becomes referee in a debate between Ndoye and Ni’Var President T’Rina, who represent the two prevailing viewpoints on the DMA crisis. Alien races both new and familiar are in attendance, as is General Ndoye of United Earth (Phumzile Sitole, last seen in Season 3’s “People of Earth”). In anticipation of that news, Federation President Rillak (returning guest star Chelah Horsdal) has assembled a council of galactic leaders, including Captain Burnham, to determine their next course of action. Soon, Zora will be able to determine the location of the intelligence behind the DMA, which Starfleet is calling Unknown Species 10-C. Zora, the sentient intelligence that lives inside Discovery’s computer, has been analyzing the data acquired during last week’s journey into the subspace tear left behind by the Dark Matter Anomaly. Not to Be Confused with English Rock Band 10cc “…But to Connect” is one of the strongest episodes of Discovery to date, conjoining a classic Trek “message” plot with some tense character drama and sending us into the mid-season break on an exciting cliffhanger. Star Trek: Discovery’s fourth season began with great promise, and after a few rough weeks it now feels like the show is back at full speed.
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