Star Trek: Discovery (3×13) That Hope is You, Part 2 Review

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

Synopsis: As the Emerald Chain tightens its grip and the mystery of the Burn is finally solved, Burnham and the crew have one last chance to save themselves – and the Federation. (IMDb)

Discovery’s third season comes to a close with an episode that acts as the third-part to its finale, but also the second half of the bookends of its season (hence the title borrowing from this season’s pilot). What results is unfortunately a lot more of the same problems from the past with no real hope for the future of this series being more than the peak it seems to have already reached.

That Hope is You, Part 2 essentially wraps up all the ongoing storylines. There’s the on-going war between the Federation and the Emerald Chain which, after last week’s failed negotiations, has Osyraa taking Discovery in an attempt to find the dilithium planet to harvest its resources and destroy the Federation. She attempts to use Book and Burnham to do this while the rest of the crew is in the midst of a mutiny that is becoming increasingly harder with their lack of oxygen. Meanwhile, Saru, Hugh and Adira continue to reason with Su’Kal so that they can leave the planet and their slow, radiated deaths.

Unfortunately, this finale felt incredibly lacklustre in comparison to world it set itself up for. This was a soft reboot for this series, allowing it to go to strange new worlds where no Trek had gone before. However, instead of tackle a very layered attempt at the crumbling Federation, dwindling resources in a seemingly utopian world and constant struggles with identity as a fish out of water, the series decides to instead merely scratch the surface and revert to overused, simplistic solutions to their problems.

This leads the full our to be action sequence after action sequences whether it’s hand-to-hand or spaceships, the whole thing feels very gimmicky. The struggle between the Federation and Emerald Chain is seemingly solved when one leader is destroyed, as if the entire organization beneath them will give up and change sides without any recourse. It’s all too neat and tidy for the story it was trying to tell up until this point.

The themes that were being brought up throughout the season 3 arc were cast aside continuously to focus on action, character spin-offs or backdoor pilots which in the end wasted many episodes in this already short season. And to end it off with Burnham being promoted to Captain is preposterous. She is unpredictable in the worst ways, shown no growth since her many infractions and is definitely less qualified than many other, level-headed crew members, but this is after all the Michael Burnham show. And she’s at her best as a rule-breaking rogue of Starfleet that struggles with her own identity between her Vulcan logic and humanity.

The only ounce of intrigue that Discovery brings to another season is the on-going story of Adira and Gray. After Hugh is able to see Gray on the planet, they make it their mission to find a way for Gray to be seen permanently which sets up a subplot for Adira, Hugh and Stamets next season revolving around their makeshift family. If only the series had more going for it.

What did you think of “That Hope is You, Part 2”? Was it a successful finale? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips