Star Trek: Discovery (3×05) Die Trying Review

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

Synopsis: After reuniting with what remains of Starfleet and the Federation, the U.S.S. Discovery and its crew must prove that a 930 year old crew and starship are exactly what this new future needs. (IMDb)

With Discovery’s jump into the future, the series has been given an opportunity to explore a universe of unlimited potential. This has to start though with the decline of the Federation at the hands of the so-called Burn event. This still unknown cataclysmic event will be the driving force for Discovery’s current journey, but it still isn’t the focus of this episode as the crew finally makes contact with what remains of the Federation 930 years into the future.

After being continually blown away by the advancements in science and technology, Saru, Burnham and Adira meet Admiral Vance and Lieutenant Wiilla who end up being more of an interrogation crew than a welcoming party. The Federation doesn’t take kindly to time travel, especially after the Temporal Cold War. This leads to a debrief of the Discovery crew, but the Federation continues to be suspicious of them and their story.

However, Saru decides to ask some questions of his own. Turns out the Federation is now only 38 worlds down from 350 at the peak of its empire and with their lack of long-range communication they are unsure how many may need help. Before they can figure out how to solve this, the Admiral requisitions the Discovery and plans to reassign its crew.

After some bickering between the Captain and his new number 1, they decide that the crew needs to stay together and to show the Federation their worth they will solve a current crisis going on with the Kili. The crew is debriefed including a fun scene with Georgiou and guest star David Cronenberg as his character Kovich explains the fall of the Terran Empire and her being truly alone in this universe. As the Kili situation worsens, Burnham convinces the Federation to let Discovery find the old starship Tikhov which contains healthy proteins of the contaminated seeds which would help create an antidote.

Burnham takes the Discovery to the location of the Tikhov where they learn that its seed vault is protected by a rotating group of species from the Federation. The current caretakers are Barzan which prompts Burnham to bring Nahn and Culber on her away team. This leads to some backstory development for Nahn after being sidelined for most of last season, but that also paints a target on her back to be another redshirt who dies abruptly after having some growth.

They discover the frozen, dead Barzan family, but the father Attis is missing. Turns out he was trying to beam into the vault when a coronal mass ejection hit the Tikhov making his body destabilize. The Discovery manages to bring him back into phase and secure the seeds they need, but Attis refuses to leave his dead family. Nahn comes up with an alternative and decides to stay onboard the Tikhov hoping it is traveling back to Barzan. Back at Starfleet HQ, Admiral Vance is impressed by what Discovery achieved. He decides to keep Discovery around and use the ship as it was intended- as a science vessel giving this crew a purpose in their new reality.

All in all, this was a step backwards for this season. After setting up a strong new premise for Discovery and its crew, this attempt at winning the favour of the Federation feels drawn out and less thought out than previous iterations. The writers continue to remove characters from the cast in abrupt, meaningless ways that feel like a punch in the gut to fans who enjoyed seeing those faces on the bridge. From Landry in season one to Airiam last season, each crewmember that disappears has an episode dedicated to them after no development previously to try and create a sense of sorrow for their departure. This season it was Nahn and again it fails to work how the writers had hoped.

The story offers quick conclusions to the problems it faces, specifically trying to find a solution to the Kili conundrum. Why not use that situation to explore trying to find multiple starships that had seed vaults and show just how catastrophic the Burn was with the loss of so many vessels familiar to Discovery. Instead, Burnham manages to know exactly where they need to go and it causes the story to feel too contrived. And how does Discovery expect to be a science vessel with a crew who is consistently gobsmacked by the technology around them?

Here’s to hoping this episode is the low point of Discovery’s third season.

Captain’s Log

• What did Kovich say to Georgiou?
• What other species will Discovery manage to bring into their New Federation?
• What is the significant of the musical piece heard throughout?
• Is the Federation setting up Discovery for failure as a science vessel out of its depth?
• What happened during The Burn?

What did you think of “Die Trying”? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips