As most of us likely expected, the bulk of this episode focuses on the aftermath of Book’s decision to steal the prototype spore drive and head off to try and destroy the DMA on his own. Michael, naturally, is torn between her love for her partner and her duty to the Federation—whose inclination to diplomacy she fully supports in this particular instance. Though both Admiral Vance and President Rillak tell her to keep out of it, as she is obviously too close to what’s happening to be involved, Vance counts on her not listening to those instructions and manages to give her a secondary mission—tracking down some star charts from a less advanced species whose homeworld is basically across the galactic barrier from where Species 10-C exists—that allows her to go after Book anyway. 

I keep thinking that at some point, I’m going to get over how annoying it is that Michael has bent and broken the rules so often that it’s now not only expected of her but behavior that is actively encouraged, and yet. Here I am! To be fair, Season 4 has been remarkably good at delineating the differences between Michael Burnham, Starfleet officer, and Michael Burnham, Starfleet captain, and what her change in station has meant for the way she’s had to approach problems and manage competing loyalties.

But so much of this episode feels like backsliding on that front, and suddenly we’re right back to Michael doing things she shouldn’t and getting rewarded for them in the end. Even her admission at the end of the hour that she’ll have to do whatever’s necessary to stop Book and Tarka from destroying the DMA rings more hollow than it would have before this episode when it at least felt like Discovery was trying to attach real stakes and weight and even some level of accountability to Michael’s decisions as captain. (At last!)

But now—Does anyone really think she’d kill Book to avert a war rather than come up with an insane scheme to stop him that eventually, Rillak will somehow have to dub brilliant? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want anything to happen to Book (David Ajala remains my Season 4 MVP), but please let there at least be some real consequences attached to whatever Michael’s about to do to save him. Even if those consequences come from Book in some way.

One of the best elements about this episode, though, is the way it calls back, both in setting and tone, to Michael and Book’s first adventures together when she came to the 32nd century. It’s easy to forget that the two of them spent a year together as couriers when Michael thought she’d lost her Starfleet life forever, working with shady types and transporting illicit materials all over the galaxy. The ease with which they slip back into that partnership, from their awkwardly fake banter to the clear hand singles they use with one another, is a strangely welcome and necessary reminder of how good they really are together, something that has been (rightfully I think) overshadowed by Book’s grief over Kwaijon. 

Which, of course, comes at the precise moment where their future together seems more clouded and uncertain than ever. As is typical of the mature way Discovery has always written the romance between these two, the ultimate fate of Book and Burnham’s relationship has little  to do with how much they love one another. Instead, it’s about whether they’ll be able to successfully navigate what appear to be rather significant differences in moral philosophy. Book is willing to risk it all to prevent other races from feeling the loss he now struggles with every day and embraces an end justify the means attitude toward protecting those lives. 

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