Star Trek: ‘Discovery’ Recap– “All In”
In Star Trek: Discovery’s “All In” Captain Burnham defies orders and tracks down Book before he and Tarka can destroy Species 10-C.
And we’re back! With only four episodes remaining of Star Trek: Discovery‘s fourth season, there’s still a lot of ground to cover and mysteries to unravel.
Who are Species 10-C? What is the true purpose of the DMA? What is Tarka’s true motivation for going on the offensive against 10-C? And can those two crazy kids, Michael and Book make it work or will their break-up tear asunder the burgeoning, new United Federation of Planets?
We get the answer to one of those questions this episode, so get hype!
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To Boldly Recap
President Laira Rillak absolutely reams out Admiral Vance and Captain Burnham for not realizing what Book and Tarka were up to. Rillak tells Burnham that she and Discovery can go sit in time out, but, also please figure out where Species 10-C are chilling. However, Vance is, like, “nah, nah” (I’m paraphrasing) “go get your man”.
Michael splits the difference and heads to a hidden casino called the Karma Barge on Porathia where she can obtain some sweet stellar cartography of the coordinates where Species 10-C have (theoretically) set up their in-universe base of operations. Michael also suspects that she’ll find Book there – and she’s right.
It turns out that Ruon Tarka is a bit of a fibber. “Don’t worry, babes,” he says (I am, once again, paraphrasing). “Betray the love of your life because my DMA-destroying weapon is 100% ready to get you some sweet revenge!” Twist: Tarka’s weapon is not ready. The weapon still needs some isolynium to make everything blow up real good.
Book brings Tarka to Porathia to buy their boom boom juice (that’s a technical term). Michael has the same plan and teams up for the first time with Lieutenant Commander Joanne Owosekun to get to Porathia first.
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Settling the Fate Of the Cosmos the Riker Way– With Poker
The Casino is owned and run by Haz Mazaro. Both Book and Michael know him from their courier days. It turns out Book owes Haz some money and Michael doesn’t have enough to afford the isolynium. Translation: both parties need to make a little extra scratch in a pinch.
Book and Tarka hunt down a shape-shifting, card-counting cheater. Meanwhile, Owosekun convinces Michael to let her get in the ring and fight a guy roughly twice her size. Shenanigans ensue and Michael and Book wind up helping each other get that proverbial bread.
With money in hand, we find out there are multiple parties interested in the isolynium (including some former Orion syndicate members). The only way to decide who gets what they want? You guessed it– poker. Book and Michael game the other two parties (read: they cheat), but the good times can’t last. Book eventually wins and Michael leaves defeated– or does she?
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Michael B the MVP and Species 10-C
President Laira Rillak absolutely reams out Admiral Vance and Captain Burnham again. This time, however, Michael has good news. Having placed a tracker on the isolynium, Starfleet is now free to follow Book and Tarka wherever they go.
Michael also secured the stellar cartography needed to learn about Species 10-C’s space. Bad news: there’s a kind of hyperfield Faraday Cage around that part of space that stretches 228 million kilometers in radius. Worse news: the only way to generate the power for something that big is through the use of a difficult-to-find compound called boronite.
In short: the DMA is a dredge. Species 10-C are destroying entire worlds just to get some fuel. And if the DMA is just their mining equipment, imagine what their actual weapons are like. Or, put another way, if Starfleet doesn’t stop Book and Tarka from picking a fight, the entire Federation is going to get wiped out by Species 10-C. Oops!
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To Boldly Review
Before the break, DISCO’s last episode was all philosophical all the time. Do we fight or choose diplomacy? Do we kill our sweet, sentient computer babe Zora? So, it makes sense that the first episode back was focused more on action.
The resulting casino adventure is good, but not great. Having Book and Michael fighting both together and against one another is fun but also tense. And it was nice seeing Owosekun and Michael team up, especially since this is arguably the most character development we’ve gotten out of Owosekun in all four seasons.
The problem is that this casino needs a Quark, and Haz Mazaro is no Quark. Yes, Haz is an opportunistic capitalist with a soft spot for Book and Michael, but he’s not nearly clever or funny enough to fill everyone’s favorite Ferengi’s shoes.
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Give Paul and Hugh More Love, Show!
There’s one scene where Paul Stamets provides some much needed emotional support to his husband Hugh Culber, and I wish we’d spent a little more time on this as a B-plot. Hugh has spent much of the last two seasons as everyone else’s emotional support, and I just want to see our sweet medical babe get as much tender love as possible.
My man has needs! Psychological, emotional, and romantic needs! Get him to the opera, stat!
The reveal on the DMA was nice. We’re fully in act three now, the stakes needing heightening and mission accomplished.
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Stray Observation Deck
Bless President Laira Rillak for consistently being the one who tells Michael she messed up.
There are Ferengi in both the Federation and at Porathia. What happened on Ferenginar in the centuries after Rom became Grand Nagus?
Seriously what is with Haz Mazarro? His lines are the weirdest! “I have missed you like a Cardassian misses cake“? Since when do Cardassians have a sweet tooth? Telling people not to “act like an Armus“? You mean don’t murder Tasha Yar? Okay, weirdo!
There’s a changeling cheating in the casino! Sure, DMA’s and the end of the world, blah, blah, yada yada. BUT WHAT’S UP WITH THE GREAT LINK? I NEED TO KNOW!
Michael acting a fool at the poker table reminds me that we need less “Serious” Michael and more “Comically Bad At Everything” Michael.
Great to see Owosekun get more to do. A whole episodes starring her and Detmer getting into trouble would be a thing of beauty. But, please: no one ever call her “Oh Wow Owosekun” ever again!
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Questions, Queries, Quibbles
What happens next? Will Species 10-C feature some familiar faces or will they be something brand new? And what is Tarka really up to? Tell us what you thought of this episode and share your theories. We’ll see you next week.
Until then, this is your humble recapper signing off. Computer: end program.
