DISCLAIMER: This recap of Star Trek: Discovery holds enough spoilers to keep Section 31 busy for a decade. Jump to black alert at your peril.
Welcome, Trekkies! The sixth episode, “Stormy Weather,” of the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery lives up to its name. While seeking answers about the DMA, U.S.S. Discovery ventures into a subspace rift, while Book faces demons from his past.
Ready to dive into this week’s recap? Let’s fly!
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Seeking answers, Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) orders the U.S.S. Discovery into a subspace rift created by the Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA). Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is confident that going to the crime scene will help the Federation discover who is behind the anomaly. Burnham prepares to leave immediately consulting First Officer Mr. Saru (Doug Jones) about similar incidents in the Starfleet database like Captain Picard’s (Sir Patrick Stewart) encounter in “Forces of Nature.”
However, Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala) isn’t as confident in Vance’s plan as Burnham. And after his girlfriend leaves the briefing room, aka their quarters, he turns to Grudge with a bit twinkle in his eye … hm …
As all crew reports to their stations, we get a glimpse of Discovery‘s workout gear on Lieutenant Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) and Lieutenant Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo). Detmer and Owosekun get some nice character moments in this episode. They also set the stage for amazing new uniform designs by Discovery‘s costume designer Gersha Phillips in this episode.
Once Discovery is inside the rift, there is no turbulence as anticipated from Saru’s research into similar events. In fact, the computer’s external sensors aren’t picking up any input at all. The bridge’s view screen is black and all they can hear is, well, nothing.
To see what’s going on, Burnham sends a DOT-23 module. But instead of collecting data, it screams as it is destroyed when the rift slowly devours it. Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) theorizes that the DMA has turned subspace toxic and there must be something must be something in the rift.
Next, there’s an enjoyable montage of the crew showing off their respective skills, “getting creative” when they try “to find a way to see what their sensors cannot scan.” Unfortunately, what they learn is that in 30 minutes the ship will be destroyed by whatever destroyed the DOT.
Unable to reinforce Discovery‘s shields or complete their scientific mission, Burnham decides to abort the mission. But there are no navigational reference points within the void. The captain determines that they must jump out of the region, despite Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) objection that jumping carries unknown risks.
Because Stamets must stay behind to monitor systems during the jump, Book takes on the responsibility of operating the spore drive. However, as soon as they jump into black alert, Stamets is forced to initiate the shutdown matrix when Book is hit by an energy surge of some kind.
Earlier in the episode, Book remembered the day was the anniversary of his father’s birthday. Although, he appears to be okay, he begins to see things. Book sees his deceased father, Tareckx (Rothaford Gray) criticizing him for not doing enough to help Kwejian.
Doctor Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Doctor Tracy Pollard (Raven Dauda) give Book the bad news that the full sensory hallucinations may last for a few more days. The good news is the energy that passed through him left trace amounts of itself that will provide data about the void for Stamets to analyze.
But suddenly, a hull breach on Deck 17 forces Zora to erects a containment field. As Doctor Pollard runs down the hall to see what’s happening, she shouts for all personnel to evacuate. Ensign Cortez (Ivan Lopez) remains resolute until it’s too late for him to reach safety and he dies. The ship has 20 minutes left until the ship reaches critical condition. The crew struggles to find answers on how to get out of the void, so they don’t all meet the same fate as Cortez.
In my favorite turn of events in the episode, the only non-Starfleet person abroad Discovery, Gray Tal (Ian Alexander) solves the mystery of getting out of the void. While playing a game with Zora in the Forward Lounge, he figures out that the A.I.’s external sensors are getting some input and rushes to the bridge to tell Burnham.
Meanwhile, Book is in sickbay, hallucinating hard. Like, really hard, and his dead papa has some choice words for him. This was a great scene, and I loved seeing where the future of psychiatric care could go, as well. When you have trauma hallucinations of your abusive [insert x], American hospitals don’t have doctors like Culbers, Pollards and Stamets. So, you don’t have the freedom to walk around like Book. Instead, you get strapped to a bed like a criminal, and it makes a terrifying situation, more terrifying.
Next, Stamets calls Burnham to sickbay. He tells her the particles in Book’s brain are from outside the galactic barrier. The energy field surrounding the galaxy, meaning whoever made the device may have come from outside the Milky Way. Assuming the DMA is from outside the galaxy, it should have deposited more particles at the point where the device punched into their space. Discovery just needs to locate the greatest concentration of these extragalactic particles to find a way out of the void. The idea is that by using sonar frequency, Zora will be able to follow the sound out of the void.
With shields failing, Burnham orders the crew to the pattern buffer for the return trip. It’s better than being slowly eaten by the void after all. But, the Captain must go down with the ship. Burnham puts on her bada** environmental suit and remains on the bridge with Zora.
In a tearful moment, on board the bridge, Zora speaks of parts of herself dying as the plasma barrier rips of the hull. And then, Zora, learning from her interaction with Gray earlier, recognizes that Burnham also needs a distraction. She sings a beautiful cover of “Storm Weather,” first performed by Ethel Waters, who once said, “I sang ‘Stormy Weather’ from the depths of my private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated.”
Later, Burnham awakens in sickbay and learns the entire crew survived. However, Discovery will require some repairs at the Archer Spacedock, which are completed pretty quickly thanks to programmable matter.
As the episode nears its end, we learn that Book remains preoccupied with his own anger towards the DMA’s creators. Book tells Saru, “My father had so much anger in him. I told myself I’d never be like that. Maybe I am. All I want to do is destroy them.”
Gray, Zora and Star Trek‘s Trans Representation
In “Stormy Weather,” Zora (Annabelle Wallis) confirms that she has ability feel “emotions,” which was an organic development in her programming. Fans of Star Trek: Short Treks may recognize this development as an expansion of themes from “Calypso,” written by Michael Chabon, in which Zora becomes sentient and falls in love with a man, Craft.
In the episode, Gray asks Zora how she’s feeling in the Forward Lounge, and the A.I. reveals that she’s been experiencing atypical computer responses. Zora’s stopped receiving input from her external sensors, and although her internal sensors remain fully functional. For reasons unknown, she cannot prioritize her normal data processes, so it feels like her internal system is on overload.
Gray compares Zora’s inner experience to a brain consciously reporting on every breath and heartbeat. He sets out to help Zora clear her thoughts. As a chronic pain patient, I imagine it like central sensitization, which happens when the nervous system gets wound-up and responds to more stimuli than it should. Gray has been training to be a Guardian and practices exercises to assimilate into his new body. He uses a Trill game that helps with sensory confusion as a form of distraction to help Zora. Now, that’s great therapeutic advice, Gray!
During the therapeutic game, Zora shares that she selected her name for its meaning (‘dawn’ or a ‘new day’). Gray reveals that he chose his own name just because he liked it. This conversation provided wonderful guidance on how to respectfully use a preferred name, as well as insight into how people go about choosing a new name.
Gray is the first person onboard Discovery to accept and advocate for Zora as a full-fledge sentient being. And I can’t wait for this concept to be explored further in the second half of the season. I’m a psychology nerd and love theories of the brain as a computer, although I think Zora is more than that.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery will stream every Thursday on Paramount Plus.
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