Star Trek: Discovery - Burnham’s New Skills Are Already Coming in Handy
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 4, "Forget Me Not," now streaming on CBS All Access.
At the beginning of the third season of Star Trek: Discovery, Michael Burnham time-traveled to the year 3188, spending a full year in this strange new future before the rest of her crew arrived. Once she was reunited with them, Michael showed how much she had changed. In her time away, she became a space courier and learned to operate without the rules and regulations of Starfleet.
Despite these potentially troublesome changes, Michael has been named the U.S.S. Discovery's First Officer. Now, in the series' latest episode, "Forget Me Not," Burnham accompanies the crew's latest recruit, Adira, on a peaceful mission to Trill. And there, Burnham shows how much her new outlaw skills come in handy in the 32nd century.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowIn last week's episode "People of Earth," the crew of the Discovery recruited Adira, a young member of the United Earth Defense Force who is bonded with a Trill symbiont. This symbiont's host had once been Admiral Senna Tal, a Starfleet officer who held crucial knowledge about how to bring the Federation back after the catastrophic event known as the Burn. Since the symbiont holds the memories of all of its past hosts, Adira carried the Admiral's knowledge, as well.
Unfortunately, they had trouble accessing those memories. Now, "Forget Me Not," explains why: A Trill symbiont has never bonded with a human before. Therefore, to fix Adira's connection to their symbiont, the Discovery travels to the planet Trill.
The Trill are more than thrilled to welcome Adira to the surface to help them -- but they don't travel to the planet alone. Burnham is also sent to accompany them, after it's decided she can serve as a strong emotional support.
Once Burnham and Adira arrive, however, they are quickly met with hostility as the Trill leadership see a human/symbiont pairing as an aberration. While one of them, Pav, wants Adira separated from her symbiont by force, the Trill leader, Vos, agrees to simply let Michael and Adira leave.
Yet, before they can head back to their ship, Michael and Adira are met by Pav and two Trill warriors. They are planning on keeping Adira's symbiont. Thankfully, Michael has no intention of becoming a prisoner or in keeping the peace. Instead, she breaks out her phaser and stuns all of their attackers with ease. While she could have attempted a more diplomatic solution, Michael opted for a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach.
Adira recognizes that this is far from Starfleet protocol, but Michael is completely unapologetic. She knows what the future is like, and she knows how dangerous it is.
Adira's life, not to mention the knowledge inside of their symbiont, was in Michael's hands and she chose to fight back. Thankfully, her attack leads directly to Guardian Xi's involvement, who helps Adira connect with the symbiont and access its memories.
Therefore, thanks to Michael's new, non-Starfleet regulated actions, she saves Adira's life and that of their symbiont, and she secures the knowledge the Discovery crew needs to continue their mission.
Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Commander Saru, Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Ian Alexander as Grey, Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Reno, Ethan Peck as Spock and Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou. New episodes of Season 3 are released on Thursdays.
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