As the DMA approaches Earth and Ni’Var, Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery attempt to make First Contact with the powerful species responsible for it.

Discovery’s penultimate episode of the season finally (finally!) makes progress by meeting Species-10C, but the episode still isn’t without its clunky, eye-rolling moments.

Discovery reaches the hypershield, where Species 10-C have been holding out. This race is so super-advanced that we can’t comprehend how clever they are – brains the size of a planet, I’d guess. So, much like the aliens in Arrival, much of the time is spent in trying to communicate, this time through mathematics. A welcome gift of boronite also goes down well, so much so that a shuttle is offered by the hosts to take an away party off to make first contact. They’re taken to a replica of the Discovery bridge, supposedly to make the humans feel at home, rather than to save the cost of constructing a new set.

It’s all going well, and then the Tarka storyline kicks in. The character has become this season’s major villain, and is now prepared to sacrifice the Discovery and Species 10-C by pulling the plug on the DMA and collapsing things in on themselves. Book finally realises that perhaps Tarka is a psychopath and tries to fight back (helped by a welcome Tig Notaro), but he’s been assisted by the dreadfully misguided General Ndoye and things are looking grim.

Verdict: With one episode to go, there’s only so many ways that this story can be rounded off. Frankly, I’m ready to hit the reset button and see what happens next season. 6/10

Nick Joy