Star Trek: Discovery season 2 finale recap: Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2

The finale of Star Trek: Discovery season 2 is full of action of Michael Burnham attempts to flee to the future. But Section 31 has other plans.

"“This is Starfleet. Get it done.” – Captain Christopher Pike"

At the end of Star Trek: Discovery episode 13, the crews of Discovery and Enterprise were preparing to battle against Section 31 in order to allow Michael Burnham time to open a wormhole to the future in the Red Angel suit and protect the sphere data from Control. In the season finale, Captain Christopher Pike instructs his crew to ensure Burnham and Discovery complete their mission – all life in the universe depends on it.

Chaos ensues aboard the Discovery as the Engineering team rush to synthesize and assemble the suit. The Command crew take over the job, and Burnham assembles the pieces on the fly. But the suit needs its power source – the Time Crystal. Jett Reno has been charging it, but it’s taking its own time.

With subspace signals still being jammed by Control, the two ships are on their own. Saru, taking over the Captain’s chair for this battle, faces Leland/ Control alongside Phillipa Georgiou. Leland may look like he’s outnumbered, but Section 31 has a swarm of drones ready to take on these two ships. When all hope is lost, Queen Po comes to the rescue. She’s figured out a weakness in the drones and Pike orders the Enterprise to follow her lead.

Star Trek: Discovery season 2, episode 13 recap. light. More

This change in tactic fuels Control to attack the Discovery more aggressively. The Enterprise shields Discovery, but all viewers will recognize that some of these maneuvers were present in Burnham and Reno’s Time Crystal visions. What does this mean for the ships?

As Burnham and the crew get the suit ready for launch, a hull breach cascades towards them. The majority of the team are unhurt, but Stamets is impaled. Sylvia Tilly takes him to an overloaded Sickbay while Reno hands Burnham the fully charged crystal and takes over Stamets’ duties.

ÃƒÂ’Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2ÃƒÂ“ — Ep#214 — Pictured (l-r): Rachael Ancheril as Nhan; Ethan Peck as Spock; Anthony Rapp as Stamets; Tig Notaro as Reno; Mary Wiseman as Tilly of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Ben Mark Holzberg/CBS Ã‚Â©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Stamets reaches Sickbay and is treated by Hugh Culber. Culber had planned to join the Enterprise, but now he has realized that Stamets is his home. Culber puts Stamets in a coma, telling him that they are family and they’re going to be together.

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Burnham gets into the suit, and Spock launches a shuttle to escort her as she flies out into space. It is utter madness out there with Section 31 drones and the Enterprise squadron all battling it out. The effects in this season of Star Trek: Discovery have been out of this world, but this outer space battle scene rivals even the best science-fiction blockbuster.

As Burnham charges ahead with Enterprise and her squadron cocooning her, Leland beams aboard Discovery, guns blazing. He transported when Discovery lowered her shields for Spock and Burnham to launch. This is yet another Time Crystal vision come true.

Some of the Bridge crew survive Leland’s attack, bravely steering the ship as Georgiou and Nhan try to stop Leland from accessing the sphere data. Just as Enterprise learns of Leland transporting aboard the Discovery, an undetonated photon torpedo becomes lodged in the saucer section of their ship. If it explodes, the Enterprise will virtually be ripped apart.

Struggling to make her suit work, Burnham spots the breach in the Enterprise. All the visions from the previous episode of Star Trek: Discovery have come true. This is when things go really bad; Burnham is petrified.

Aboard the Enterprise, no one has a defeatist bone in their body. Pike launches some robots (ala Star Wars) to fix the various breaches, while Number One and Admiral Cornwell head off to manually un-jam a blast door in order to protect the ship from further destruction.

But Discovery’s shields are down – they can’t follow Burnham into the wormhole without shields. Lt. Owo detects a massive energy signature heading towards the battlefield. It’s the cavalry! Agent Tyler has convinced Chancellor L’Rell to bring a Klingon cleave ship! But, they’re not alone. A fleet of Ba’ul vessels is in pursuit, led by Siranna! Saru’s sister won’t let her brother fight alone ever again. Pike is delighted to see Tyler and the Klingons. Humans and Klingons may not always get along but L’Rell will fight for the future. The Klingons ready for battle with their most infamous battle cry:

"“Today is a good day to die!”"

ÃƒÂ’Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2ÃƒÂ“ — Ep#214 — Pictured (l-r): Shazad Latif as Tyler; Mary Chieffo as L’Rell of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Russ Martin/CBS Ã‚Â©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Cornwell finds the torpedo but has bad news – secondary detonation has already been triggered. None of Number One’s plans work, so Pike asks her to take over the Conn while he heads to assist Cornwell. Pike joins Cornwell, adamant that the torpedo won’t go off. Pike has seen his future, and he doesn’t die on the Enterprise, but Cornwell isn’t willing to risk the lives of the crew for this hypothesis. She orders Pike to leave, assuring him that he can handle whatever the future has in store for him. With that, Cornwell closes the blast doors and is killed by the torpedo. Her sacrifice saves the Enterprise crew.

While Burnham is at her wit’s end, Spock figures out the meaning behind the Red Signals. Each appearance throughout this season of Star Trek: Discovery has led to this moment in the finale. The discovery of Terralysium ensures a safe haven in the future. Rescuing Reno meant she was able to charge the Time Crystal. Liberating the Kelpians allowed them to join the battle against Section 31. Boreth was the birthplace of the Time Crystals and Queen Po was the only person who knew how to use them to charge Burnham’s suit. All these disparate events were created by Burnham in the present. To avoid the future that the Time Crystal showed her, she needs to send the Red Signals and set these events in motion. Burnham programs the signal coordinates which opens up a wormhole. She is pulled in and it’s a scary ride, but Burnham is ‘getting it done’.

With all five signals sent, Burnham returns with instructions for Discovery to follow her through the wormhole. She will send them a signal as a North Star (the sixth signal) so they can follow her. Burnham is ready to leave, but Spock’s shuttle has been disabled. He can’t fly back to Discovery, so he’ll have to remain in the present. Burnham is distraught about leaving her brother, but she leaves him with important advice about friendship. No wonder Spock was such a fierce friend to Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series. Spock is worried that he won’t know if Burnham is safe, so Burnham agrees to send one last signal.

ÃƒÂ’Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2ÃƒÂ“ — Ep#214 — Pictured: Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: John Medland/CBS Ã‚Â©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Georgiou and Nhan confront Leland, but he’s too strong for them. Even when gravity fails in that section, the fight continues. This is definitely the coolest Star Trek fight scene of all time. Think Inception but with badass ladies. Leland and Georgiou fight all the way down to Engineering, where Georgiou is able to lock him in the spore console. She magnetizes the chamber, which disrupts the nanobots from his body. The rest of the Section 31 ships are disabled.

Tilly is hard at work getting Discovery’s shields up and running. Pike orders Spock to be transported to Enterprise and Burnham opens the wormhole. As Discovery fly through, Pike bids farewell to his friends; his family. Siranna remembers her brother, Spock his sister. And Tyler mourns for the loss of his true love, Burnham.

Back at Starfleet headquarters, Tyler, Pike, Number One and Spock report that Discovery was destroyed. Since Section 31 allowed Control to exist, Tyler is promoted to Commander of the department. In the meantime, Spock recommends that Starfleet ensure no one speaks of Discovery ever again. Even Spock and his parents must deny Burnham’s existence. This explains why Discovery and her crew are never referenced by anyone in the Star Trek universe. A commendable attempt by the showrunners to maintain the continuity of the franchise, but a devastating sacrifice for the crew.

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Spock comes to terms with his new normal, but he continues to wait 124 days for his sister’s signal. In honor of Burnham’s memory, Spock gets rid of his beard and joins the Bridge in time to see the seventh Red Signal. Burnham is safe and now the Enterprise must seek out what the future holds.

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