Star Trek: Discovery (3×11) Su’Kal Review

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

Synopsis: Discovery ventures to the Verubin Nebula, where Burnham, Saru, and Culber make a shocking realization about the origin of the Burn as the rest of the crew faces an unexpected threat. (IMDb)

With the departure of Georgiou, Discovery left a giant hole in its cast and story as one of the most divisive characters from this series left before the end of this season. This leads into this week’s story where Discovery learns of the cause of The Burn, multiple high ranking crewmembers make odd and brash decisions and tropes are at an all-time high resulting in an episode that takes a step back when it should instead be revving things forward at full warp speed.

The crew is able to discover that a lifeform is on the Kelpien ship at the center of the nebula which causes Saru, Michael and Culber to go down and investigate. Why Michael is given leeway to go on this mission after losing rank and countless questionable choices is a mystery that continues to plague this season. The problem is that Saru himself is forced to test his own objectivity when another Kelpien is involved and Michael somehow is the voice of reason?

On the ship, their appearances are altered by a holo simulator that makes them less scary to the ship’s resident: Su’Kal, a young Kelpien who was born on the ship. This allows Doug Jones to finally show off his acting prowess outside of his layers of prosthetic and brings a further layer to Saru. Meanwhile Michael and Culber are turned into a Trill and Bajoran respectively barely altering their appearances.

Eventually, they meet Su’Kal and learn that he is living on a planet composed of dilithium and that adapting to this environment caused a genetic defect that basically made a simple temper tantrum go nuclear and cause The Burn event. How anticlimactic. This reduces the catastrophic event to a single individual again making everything feel a bit underwhelming. That paired with the use of many tropes from Trek past cause this savior story and reveal to become a speedbump in this season’s narrative.

Meanwhile, the secondary story revolves around Tilly taking command of Discovery and being confronted by Osyraa and the Emerald Chain. Cue the episodic reminder of Tilly’s age and lack of qualifications as a trope to belittle her only for her to prove her worth and skills later on. This back and forth is trite and of course ends with Osyraa using mind control on Stamets and then accessing the spore drive to steal Discovery. This all happens with Michael and Book on his own vessel and Adira on the planet with Saru and Culber bringing them much needed anti-radiation meds. It feels very… mundane, even if the cliffhanger wants to feel like more than it appears to be.

Captain’s Log

• Will Book and Ryn become permanent crew members?
• What other species will Discovery manage to bring into their New Federation?
• What will Su’Kal’s role be in the final two episodes?
• How will Adira, Culber and Saru get off of the planet?
• What is the Emerald Chain’s plan?

What did you think of “Su’Kal”? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips