Let battle commence…

There’s far too much to discuss about this conclusion to Discovery’s second season to avoid spoilers, so if you’ve not watched the episode, head off to CBS All Access/Space/Netflix and do so…

Spoilers follow.

If Star Trek Discovery had ended here, then it would be a suitably epic finale – instead, it seems as if we’re about to reset the board yet again. The opening two episodes of the whole show were a very different series from the 13 that followed in season 1, and season 2 has charted another path again – firstly a variant on The Search for Spock, and then the battle to defeat Control, linked by the appearances of the Red Angel. Given the show’s stated aim to be focusing on Michael Burnham, I doubt there’s anyone who was surprised that it was Michael who appeared as the Red Angel in this conclusion – if anything, you might have expected that to have happened earlier. And now with a Motion Picture-influenced wormhole entering shot, Discovery’s crew are off to the future.

The decision to extend the finale to a double episode apparently came about quite late (as discussed in our interview with director Olatunde Osunsanmi coming shortly), but they’re two very distinct episodes visually – the camera is constantly on the move throughout the battle sequences, with the effects work matching the live action seamlessly. Rewatch this episode and you’ll see so many little background details that go to make the scenes work so effectively – whether it’s the trajectory of the phaser blasts, or the tiny shuttles moving around in the far background of the San Francisco bay establishing shot for Starfleet Headquarters in the last act.

And yes, there’s a huge amount of spectacle in this – whether it’s the arrival of the Klingon ship, or the sight of Enterprise with a piece seemingly bitten out of its saucer section – but Osunsanmi never loses sight of the “human” drama. Anson Mount’s Pike and Ethan Peck’s Spock have been essential portions of this season, but Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno has been a welcome breath of fresh air (an engineer who canna break the laws of physics and do things in half the time – I’m shocked!), and the Stamets/Culber relationship hasn’t felt forced down artificial pathways (and I’m very glad Culber has remained on the ship – you have to wonder if Wilson Cruz opens each script wondering how they’re going to potentially write him off this week!). Alan van Sprang and Michelle Yeoh get the drag-out physical battle that their interactions have been building to – including some very well staged “gravity-free” fighting. Doug Jones brings out further sides to Saru in each episode, and here we see him as an effective commander in battle. Mary Wiseman’s Tilly demonstrates here why she is on the command track and reaction shots to events come from all members of the Discovery crew rather than just those listed in the main titles, making you realise just how much more of a cohesive whole they feel – the family that Pike refers to in his farewell – as a result of all they’ve been through this year.

I resolutely refuse to believe that this is the last we’ll see of Pike, Number One (who, if I heard correctly, has been canonised as “Una” finally), Mr Spock and the other crew of the Enterprise – after all, the final act of this season of Star Trek: Discovery focused on them (and a little bit on Ash Tyler… but not that much), and a shout out to Jeff Russo for the blending of the two series’ themes in the closing titles. Christopher Pike has been expanded far beyond the character Jeffrey Hunter played in The Cage, yet Anson Mount has kept him as a credible continuation – and I was pleased that there was acknowledgement of the whole “predestined because I saw it in the Time Crystal therefore I can’t die here” argument. A shame that we’ve lost Jayne Brook’s Admiral Cornwell, but she got a suitably heroic ending and I hope that there’s a chance of some flashbacks for her.

The ending, I’m sure, is going to cause some controversy – basically it’s We Will Not Speak of Them Again (which isn’t quite as far ranging as I thought it was the first time I watched the episode – it’s actually quite specific as to what’s being barred, and what Sarek, Amanda and Spock agree as a family… even if Spock isn’t talking to his father at this point!). The more Discovery progressed, the more I thought this would have to be the way it went, with the Short Trek Calypso setting us up for the ship’s end point. I’d hoped there might be a way round it – or even that the problem would be ignored (after all, references to the NX-01 Enterprise and its crew have turned up in later iterations, notably Star Trek Beyond) – but this does, to an extent, clear the slate ready for Season 3… although I’m now very intrigued as to how Georgiou is going to get back in order to appear in the Section 31 series…

Verdict: I’ve enjoyed this season of Discovery overall more than any single season of Star Trek for many, many years, and this finale doesn’t disappoint. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Read our exclusive interview with visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman here and with director Olatunde Osunsanmi discussing season 2 and the finale here