As the Emerald Chain tightens its grip and the mystery of the Burn is finally solved, Burnham and the crew have one last chance to save themselves – and the Federation.

Warning: Spoilers for the entire finale

If you imagined that the season finale of this show would include Starfleet’s Admiral ordering Voyager to fire on the Discovery, with David Cronenberg stood next with him, you have a far better imagination than me. This is one of those ‘throw in everything bar the kitchen sink’ (and throw out everything including the warp core) shows, with a swooping camera that ducks, dives and spins around – but behind the fireworks, is it a satisfying conclusion? Kind of.

All the constituent parts are here, and in the extended 61-minute run time there’s plenty of space to close off the different threads. There’s jeopardy for the Bridge crew when life support is turned off, there’s mano-a-mano bouts between Michael/Osyraa and Book/Zareh, both resulting in the baddies getting killed, as well as definite confirmation of what caused The Burn.

It’s fitting that the final act is launched by Michael doing a hard reboot of Discovery’s systems, with the final scenes setting us up for Season 4 – new uniforms, new captain, new mission. The closing on-screen quote from Gene Roddenberry and a very familiar closing theme tune leave us in no doubt that show is  doing its best to serve the Great Bird of the Galaxy’s legacy – and that’s as good a rationale as any for a series to exist.

Verdict: Let’s fly! An erratically paced season that eventually settled into its new timeframe, the pimped-up ship and show has plenty of opportunity to build on this next year. 7/10