A surprising development in the hunt for the Red Angel sees Section 31 and the Discovery crew working together…

In just over a week’s time, I’ll be at WonderCon, chairing the panel of the visual effects team on Discovery. The temptation to ask what happens in the final episodes will be overwhelming… but I’m happy that answers are coming thick and fast.

This is another one where I’m not going to waste time discussing it spoiler-free – if you’re a Discovery fan, and not seen it yet, as always go off and watch, and we’ll wait.

Spoilers follow.

I suspect that I won’t be the only person who’s thrown by the revelation at the top of this episode regarding the identity of the Red Angel – nor the only person who therefore takes everything that you hear from then on as gospel, particularly as it plays into exactly what we think of Michael Burnham’s character… as Spock very helpfully points out in one of the many great scenes between Ethan Peck and Sonequa Martin-Green. So yes, I was surprised by the final shots (particularly as my first thought was that they hadn’t gone the aging route with Martin-Green). But by that point, I was genuinely wondering where things were going to go next, with the attack on Leland (the one by his own ship, not the one that Spock regretted not seeing), and Spock holding everyone at phaser point.

For all the high drama (and wonderful moments for Michelle Yeoh, whose scene with Anthony Rapp was laugh aloud funny), this is an episode about family, starting with the touching send off for Airiam before the credits, and continuing through the brother-sister squabbling and then make-up between Spock and Michael, to the surprising twist at the end… not the revelation about the Red Angel, but that it’s Georgiou who wants to stop the insane attempt and save Michael’s life. There are small but strong moments for Anson Mount’s Pike and Mary Wiseman’s Tilly, and the scene between Culber and the admiral is the sort of thing that would get cut if the episodes had to be cookie-cutter length… and makes the series all the more strong as a result of their inclusion. Amid all this, there’s some great effects work and some interesting directorial touches.

Verdict: Some great bait and switch in another strong episode. 9/10

Paul Simpson