We are now 7 episodes in and we have finally found Spock and he was hidden on Vulcan the whole time. For a very Spock orientated episode we got very little from him, in his ‘broken’ state its hard to evaluate the man…Vulcan.
The episode had two main plots, Burnham travelling to Vulcan to meet Amanda and find Spock whilst Pike and the others concentrated on a rime rift.
Time travel episodes have proven to be the most mind bending and fun episodes in Star Trek, Mudd’s episode last season followed that trend and so does this one. Aboard Discovery the focus was very much on the interplay between Pike and Tyler. It makes sense that the upright Captain would be less than welcoming to a former Federation officer whose mind was blended to that of a Klingon and killed a fellow officer before joining the shadowy Section 31. The episode enabled Ash and Pike to reach some common ground with the bait and switch we saw on the shuttle.
So much happened in this episode that its hard to know where to begin. Each of the auxilary crew got more limelight again and looks like we will see much more from Lt.Cmdr Airiam, the augmented officer who seems to have been affected by the time probe.
The interplay of the Spock family was fascinating. We saw Amanda stand up to Sarek and display a tenacity that one would need to live and survive practically alone in an alien culture. Sarek likewise was solid and it was a joy to see the Vulcan vistas.
Less appealing was the interior shots of the turbolifts again and the plot whole regarding the temporal shockwave effects on Kaminar. Stamets beaming on to the shuttle was a little unbelievable but it was good to see him in action, I prefer his character a lot more now than in Season 1.
The reveal at the end of Talos was excellent and ties the Cage and Pike more significantly into Star Trek mythology. It will be very interesting to see what happens when Burnham gets there. We all assumed Talos IV was quarantined because of the Cage, what if it was to do with the Red Angels and what is going to happen next.
At episode 7 this is the mid point of the season and ramps up the possibilities once again. What has happened to Airiam? Where will the revelation about Leland lead with regards to Burnham? and what does Talos have to do with the Red Angel? and we still have to fix Spock.
The one fear I have with Time Travel being introduced is the magic wipe. CBS could alleviate all the haters by wiping the slate clean and making Discovery null and void, with the final shots returning to the Vulcan Hello and a different path being taken, this is something I dearly hope they do not do.
Into the Nebula 
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