Captain Burnham and the USS Discovery race to stop Book and Ruon Tarka from launching a rogue plan that could inadvertently endanger the galaxy. 

After last week’s somewhat unnecessary pause to take in some cage fighting and card games, the main storyline returns front and centre and does what Star Trek does best – pits one side against the other in a standoff, each attempting to outmanoeuvre the other.

Book and Tarka are prepping their weapon to destroy the DMA, but the Discovery has tracked their location. We now know that the DMA is a mining tool, not a superweapon, but can Tarka and Vance be talked down? Michael is joined by Commander Nhan to help ensure she makes the right decisions – there’s still concerns she’s too close to be objective. So follows a series of failed plans – trying to sneak onto the ship, flying a shuttle in front of Book – with a plan B of just blowing up Tarka and Book.

At a crucial moment, Stamets identifies that the DMA is safe for another week, everyone sighs in relief, and Tarka detonates his bomb regardless. Except that it doesn’t do anything but identify just who’s pulling the strings and from where. With just four episodes left, the DMA is as strong as ever – will first contact with its controllers yield a satisfactory result?

Verdict: A stronger episode than many we’ve seen this season, benefitting from a continuous shifting in control between the opponents. 8/10

Nick Joy