The plan is set and Section 31's fleet is on the way.
So settle in for the two part season finale as the crew decide to scuttle Discovery and make off on the Enterprise before Leland arrives.
Of course given that this is Star Trek that's never going to run smoothly and the sphere data is protecting itself first by cancelling the self-destruct and second by defending itself against an attack by the Enterprise. Damn, this stuff really wants to survive and it seems that the time crystal from Boreth may actually be the answer.
WOW. Now part one is how to set up your pieces for a big finish. Such Sweet Sorrow is all about part two. Everything here is laying the foundations for a finale that I believe will change the way the series progresses fundamentally. Of course, this being Star Trek I would then suggest that we're being fed information to deliberately put us off the real scent. The silly thing is that from the start a lot of the signals about the signal have been there in the titles - the crystals, the Red Angel suit, Section 31...and we just missed it like many of us did with Lorca in season one.
But Such Sweet Sorrow, Part One is also an incredibly poignant hour of TV. It really seems that there is no way out except for the crew to take Discovery into the future and securely out of the way of Control so much so that we have final letters being dictated by the whole of the bridge crew plus a visit by Sarek and Amanda who have sensed that something is coming. There's a genuine sense that this could well be the end, it's building to something very final from the off with lots dedicated to closing down story threads not just here but in the second part as well and we're not just talking about the Big Bad of the season.
But let's get to the bit most of us have wanted to talk about and that's the USS Enterprise herself. We have waited, we were teased and finally we get to see the bridge of Pike's ship in all her glory and my word is it stunning. Instantly this is a leap ahead from the Ikea concept from the Kelvin Timeline - it looks functional, it's more "real" to look at and is everthing you would hope an updated Constitution Class starship would be if The Original Series was filmed today. The colour scheme - although not to Georgiou's taste - harks back to the orange and black of The Original Series with curved viewscreens, buttons crafted by the team behind New Voyages and there's even those funky gridded panels in the corridors taking you back to that inspired '60's design yet keeping it ever so modern.
Here, again though, Anson Mount is superb as Pike with a truly wondrous scene in which he says farewell to the crew of Discovery and it's almost as if the audience are joining them to offer their respects to the starship's temporary commander. Absolutely loved that part of the episode yet you know there's more to come since this is only number 13 from 14 instalments this year.
It also feels as though Discovery's misdirection that the Short Treks were just there as fillers between seasons isn't actually true. Saru's past certainly linked in and now all the hints at time travel give rise to the belief that Calypso, my personal favourite of the four, will actually play a part in the finale and is potentially the future location in which the Discovery is hidden. Saying that, even Runaway has now been entwined with the main run of episodes with the reappearance of Queen Po from Xahea. It all makes "perfect" sense when you look at the bigger picture with the queen's advanced technological assistance helping to make the time crystal work. Cue the odd flash forward for Burnham and Jett Reno which offers up the vision of the Enterprise being hit with a torpedo weapon of some kind that is lodged in its hull.
You expect a certain level of build up here and every scene is filled with sprinkles of information or action that you hope and pray will be taken hold of in the final hour of the season.
Part Two on the flipside is likely to be remembered as the most game-changing episode of Star Trek ever written. It's an hour of action from start to finish as the Enterprise and Discovery take on the might of Control. It's an unrelenting onslaught of action scene after action sequence which leaves, oddly for Star Trek, very little room for actual character moments and at times it feels that even giving an extra episode to the season can't make up for the fact there's so much that has to be crammed in to this finale it does feel rushed.
Michelle Paradise's script is high octane with some great twists and high energy yet there is a large chunk of time devoted to flashbacks to make sure we've all successfully connected the dots of each episode, each signal although the reasons as to why each signal is created is well worth the explanation even though we all worked out four episodes ago that it had to be Michael who was causing them.
Yet Such Sweet Sorrow actually showcases Discovery at its worst and best. While being unpredictable and on a fantastically galactic scale, the episode is a visual spectacular with spinning battles, classic phaser fire, some of the best staged fights in Star Trek and truly wondrous visitations to the Enterprise and her awesome crew but it's like eating the biggest carbs meal ever - it's very bloated and at times feels far too much.
So I might spoil a few bits if you've still not seen it, but Cornwell's death seems almost pointless, the defeat of Control with a bit of martial arts and some big magnets seems incredibly simple and I can't fathom why the programme - which comes across as being damn intelligent - would not have made a backup/copy etc in case of this scenario.
The space battle is on another level for something staged for a TV audience yet the amount of small one man craft, shuttles and the like that are borne from the Enterprise and Discovery is hella excessive - would there be enough room for the crew?
Then there's Burnham and Spock's heart to heart and the time spent working out what's happening in regards to her calculations and the signals which takes an eternity - an eternity in which Control should have stopped her. In short it's a bit of a mess and that's before you even start to think about how the signals were all observed right back in episode one but then have been appearing sporadically through the season or just why Tyler is on the bloody Klingon ship after he's supposed to be dead. Phew, it's a lot to take in and not all particularly well constructed. Could this be a change of direction mid-season thanks to the switch in leadership on the show?
Everybody in front of the camera here pulls together to try and make this work. It is great, adrenaline filled TV but from a Star Trek perspective it's not quite successful and the final payoff for the crew isn't too much of a surprise considering how much this year has drawn on the Short Treks when it was made very clear they were standalone; cough Calypso cough.
Cudos goes to Ethan Peck and Anson Mount not just for this episode but for the season as a whole. They have pulled off the impossible with grace and style making a whole new generation and an old one fall in love with their takes on Spock and Pike. The clamour for a spinoff of some form is at fever pitch on whatever platform you care to peruse so I hope CBS take note.
As for Discovery's future it's odd that the season closes on the Enterprise, not even giving us a hint of what is to come in season three. In some senses it does show that the producers have listened to fans and stepped away from canon into the safety of a 950 year time jump. It erases the show from the 23rd Century and any concerns of canon clash plus opens up a whole new set of options for a crew out of time.
Season two of Discovery has, for the most part been a light year ahead of its first season potentially placing it as the most structurally sound series to air since those classic 66-69 shows. I have been entertained, gobsmacked and occasionally blown away by the places we have been but now the greatest challenge - to imagine a future further away than we have ever seen in the franchise - is yet to come...
What were your thoughts on the two-part finale? Was it worth the build up? What are your expectations for season three?
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