Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Episode 13: Such Sweet Sorrow Review

For our review of the last episode of Star Trek: Discovery, click here.

“Such Sweet Sorrow”starts off with a desolate beach where Amanda approaches Sarek who is meditating. He sees a vision of Michael and wakes up. Meanwhile, the Discovery crew is preparing to abandon the ship. They establish evacuation corridors connecting them to the Enterprise as a wide scale transfer of crew is about to commence. The various crewmembers say goodbye to their quarters, the places they have called home on their journey of scientific discovery.

Burnham questions the logic behind everything, and things become more hazy when she decides to touch the Time Crystal and see a future of destruction, death and a showdown with Control. They initiate the ship’s self destruct and head over to the Enterprise’s bridge. Back to the original crew colours and the introduction of some of Pike’s crew including Number One (Rebecca Romijn).

Georgiou comes on board and vows to Burnham that she plans to track down Leland and kill him. They are interrupted when Pike initiates the autodestruct of Discovery as the crew watch their beloved ship for the last time. Except the auto-destruct fails and the ship’s shields have been powered on. The crew believes that the sphere is protecting itself.

Burnham starts to have visions and her conscious switches from reality to that of the Time Crystal. She sees a damaged Enterprise as an equally damaged Discovery and skeleton crew try to intervene. The ship is boarded and one-by-one the crew is killed off by Leland. Burnham grabs for Georgiou’s phaser, but Leland grabs her and hoists her into the air before executing her. She awakes from the vision as the crew tries to destroy their old ship. Burnham tells them to stop and understands what needs to be done. In order to save the universe, they must send the Discovery and its data to the future.

The crew decide to try to remake the Red Angel armour with Burnham, the closest genetic match, piloting it. They believe that a signal will be sent if they need help and Spock concludes that with this change of events that Burnham was the person responsible for these signals. Coincidentally for them, the signal appears. Pike brings essential personnel back to Discovery so Stamets can jump them to its location while Cornwall will take the long route to its location.

The planet it appears by is called Xahea (the focus of a “Short Trek”episode between seasons). Tilly realizes that this is the planet of her friend Queen Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po, Po for short (Yadira Guevara-Prip). Po does the calculations and plans to modify her advanced dilithium incubator to create an immense amount of energy. This blast, combined with dark energy, will mimic the power of a supernova and allow them to send Discovery and Burnham on a one-way trip to the future.

With this being Discovery’s seemingly last mission, Stamets and Culber share a touching moment about their hopes for after this is all over. Stamets wants to take his job at the Vulcan Science Academy while Culber decided he wants to take a position on the Enterprise. With Burnham’s mission, the command crew each take time to say their goodbyes to her. Georgiou berates her for making this decision, but she is distracted by Amanda and Sarek who arrive on the ship. They apologize for being bad parents, but Burnham breaks down and tells them that they were the best for her.

She is later confronted by the entire bridge crew, Spock, Tyler, Stamets and Reno who all want to come along with Burnham. Burnham tries to push them away, but they will follow her to the end causing further tears between her and her crew members. The emotional moments continue as a montage of characters record personal messages for their loved ones as they embark on this treacherous journey. However, Tyler decides to stay behind to make sure that Control cannot come back. This of course ends in a very intimate moment between them.

The Enterprise makes its way to Xahea just in front of the Section 31 fleet. Pike gives a speech to the crew for their dedication and exceptional work before appointing Saru the new captain of Discovery. This moment would’ve worked a lot better if the last 10 minutes weren’t so emotionally draining. The crew turn to face Pike, out of respect, as he exits the bridge for the last time. Meanwhile, Stamets, Tilly and Reno cannot figure out the last issues with the Time Crystal because it isn’t charging quickly enough. Reno forces them all to leave so she can work on the crystal, but she touches it and has the same vision that Burnham did.

Pike beams back to the Enterprise where he has an odd interaction with Georgiou. She reveals that she is Terran from their Mirror Universe to which he replies “What Mirror Universe?”and gives his former colleague a playful wink. Meanwhile, Tyler tells Pike that he needs to leave before the conflict starts. Most likely to bring in some Klingon reinforcements. The crews of the Discovery and Enterprise watch as Leland’s Section 31 fleet arrives and they prepare for battle.

Captain’s Log

• Will Burnham succeed and will she return to the past?
• Will the main Discovery crew be sent to the future to save the canonical timeline?
• Is Leland technically still alive?
• Will Pike fall to the fate of the time crystals?
• What do the red energy sources mean?

What did you think of “Such Sweet Sorrow”? Let me know in the comments below!

If you liked this, check out my YouTube channel The Film Fanatic, my other reviews and my website!

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook.

Dylan Phillips