Star Trek : Discovery S03E06 seemed like a step back from the narrative of Discovery returning to the Starfleet fold as Michael Burnham once again proved herself incapable of following Starfleet protocol. But what is a story without tension, without drama, without conflict? Nothing. Star Trek : Discovery is definitely more than nothing!
Certainly the relative straight-forward ‘boring’ plot that was outlined in Star Trek : Discovery S03E06 seems somewhat staid and predictable for a serial drama. I mean seriously, Michael Burnham flies off on an unauthorised mission with Georgiou, embarrasses her captain again but still somehow managed to save the day! I mean, what actually happened here in “Scavengers”?
Sure, it’s always fun to watch Georgiou being bad-ass and getting to kick ass but the storyline of Burnham rescuing Book is hardly galaxy-shattering, is it? The way they achieve their ends is hardly clever either. But maybe that’s the way this series has been handling season 3 so far – trying to keep things on a smaller scale after the epic adventures of the first two seasons.
This approach seems to be the reverse of The Mandalorian, where the series has been keeping the stories low key but only now possibly expanded to the wider scope of the Star Wars universe. After all, the complaint of most Trekkers was that the series eschewed the episodic nature of the classic series in favour of a more expansive serial narrative.
However, at the end of the Star Trek : Discovery S03E06, something Burnham expressed hit home strongly as to the driving quest of the series : to recover the soul of the Federation. This is Burnham’s obsession and it makes sense. Considering what Burnham and Discovery have sacrificed in order to save the universe from Control, it seems imperative for them to do all they can to fight for the future they find themselves in. Whatever the trolls might say, I am all in with Star Trek : Discovery for the ride.
…. still there’s more …