Summary[]
The crew of the Discovery continue their search for the Federation Headquarters. Adira's symbiont Tal may have the decisive information, but Adira can neither communicate with Tal nor access their own memories. Therefore the ship jumps to Trill, in the hope of finding support with this issue. Burnham accompanies Adira to the surface where they talk with Leader Pav, Commissioner Vos and Guardian Xi. The planet has been hit hard by the Burn, which decimated its population. There are only few viable hosts left.
Whereas Vos is appalled by the idea of an alien carrying a Trill symbiont and demands Tal to be extracted from Adira, Xi is willing to allow them into the sacred Caves of Mak'ala so they can reconnect. Pav can't resolve the conflict and rules that Adira has to leave Trill. On their way to the shuttle, Vos tries to kidnap Adira, but Burnham disables him and his guards. Xi appears and leads them to the caves. On the ship, Saru invites his senior officers for dinner, in order to thank and encourage them. The event, however, ends prematurely with a quarrel between Detmer and Stamets.
In the caves on Trill, Adira enters the pool to connect with their symbiont. But after a while they sink to the bottom. Burnham is worried and follows Adira. The two establish a telepathic link. Burnham encourages Adira to allow the symbiont to connect with them, even though the memories are painful. Tal was previously joined with Gray, Adira's boyfriend. The two were on a generation ship on the way to the Federation Headquarters. Gray was fatally wounded after an asteroid collision, and the medical drones could only save Tal by implanting the symbiont into Adira. Following the successful reconnection with the previous hosts, including Senna Tal, Adira turns down the offer to stay on Trill and returns to the Discovery.
After the failure to boost the team spirit with the dinner, Saru arranges a slapstick movie event in the shuttlebay at the suggestion of the ship's computer, which is a success. Back on the ship, it turns out that Gray is still present in some fashion, and Adira can talk to him.
Errors and Explanations[]
Internet Movie Database[]
Character error[]
- Michael asks whether there's any way of knowing if the Trill are as peaceful as they were a millennia ago. Millennia is plural, the singular form is millennium.Who says the two terms aren't interchangeable?
Plot holes[]
- When Trill symbiotic creatures are introduced in The Next Generation (The Host), it was said that they were not able to exist long-term within humans. But no mention is made of how Adira has overcome this. Medical technology has clearly advanced enough to overcome that problem.
- The Trill are offended by one of their symbiotic creatures joined to a human. But Riker had done this as an emergency measure in The Next Generation (The Host) Exactly the point – the situation with Riker was an emergency, to allow the Odan symbiont to complete the negotiations before being placed in stasis, prior to being joined with a new host.
Ex Astris Scientia[]
Continuity[]
- Bernd Schneider: Vos says that "in 2000 years there hasn't been a single recorded instance of a successful joining between a symbiont and a non-Trill species." Implanting Odan into Riker's body in TNG: "The Host" was never meant to be permanent, and would hence not qualify as "successful", although "Will Odan" could access Odans's memories, whereas Adira has no connection to Tal. The latter could be a side effect of the implantation process.
- In "Equilibrium", it was established that the Symbiosis Commission maintains the position that only a small percentage of humanoid Trills can act as a host, although it is actually more like 50%. At the time of DS9, there were far more aspiring hosts than symbionts, despite the efforts to limit access to the program. If hosts, rather than symbionts, are rare after the Burn, this could mean that the Trill officials still or again lie about the percentage of viable hosts among the population, as counterproductive as this is for the survival of the species. Maybe the Burn has rendered many members of the Trill population physically incapable of being joined with a symbiont.
Nitpicking[]
- "Starfleet" and "Federation" are used totally interchangeably in the first four episodes of season 3, although there should be a difference between the two. While one could not exist without the other by the understanding of the Discovery crew, this may have changed by the 32nd century. Perhaps there are still planets that attempt to maintain the alliance but they mostly rely on their own ships? Vice versa, perhaps there is still a Starfleet out there but their scarce presence is not sufficient to tie together any planets that are in disarray or in isolation? The interchangeability could be due to public perception, on account of Starfleet being the only part of the Federation that people on many planets are aware of.
Notes[]
- ↑ Uncredited - J. Adam Huggins as a Discovery engineer
| Discovery Season 3 |
| That Hope is You I Far from Home I People of Earth I Forget Me Not I Die Trying I Scavengers I Unification III I The Sanctuary I Terra Firma Part 1 I Terra Firma Part 2 I Su'Kal I There Is A Tide... I That Hope is You Part 2 |