Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, “Erigah,” was a banger of an episode, and it’s the one that drags the Breen into this whole chase in a big, bad way. I hope you’ve had the opportunity to watch it, because if you haven’t yet, man, you don’t know what you’re missing.
It’s clear there’s a whole lot going on as we get to the final stretch of this chase that Burnham, the crew of Discovery and, frankly, the Federation in general have going on. Where we left it, the fugitives Moll and L’ak had run from Breen space and from L’ak’s uncle, a Breen Primarch who wants to use L’ak to secure the Breen Empire for himself. Book was struggling to connect with Moll, the daughter of his mentor. L’ak was seemingly mortally wounded. The next clue to the Progenitor technology depended on the crew deciphering a metal card with Betazoid markings. And having secured Moll and L’ak, Discovery got recalled to Federation HQ.
Back in the Same Book
It’s been an interesting season so far, and I feel like we’re back in the same book again. No pun intended.
The last couple of episodes felt a little bit like they stood alone. And it’s funny, because I’m in a place where I just came to an understanding of what Discovery is supposed to be. Those last two felt out of place and very familiar at the same time, specifically in that they felt like classic Star Trek episodes, from a universe where the episodes are standalone, episodic. That’s not what Discovery is. This episode gets right back into the actual story itself, and that really made me feel a lot better.
Unreasonably in Love
Moll and L’ak have been captured, and as soon as they transport into sickbay, of course, they’re standoffish as usual. They just want to sit there, because they’re unreasonably in love with each other.
I say unreasonably because it defies any kind of logic or reason in terms of how people are communicating with them. It’s, hey, we’ve got to figure these things out, you guys have to help us. And they’re like, no, we want to be together, we want to be away from all this. They’re committed to their path, if you will.
That’s when the Admiral comes over with the news that the Breen are on their way. “Sensors show a Breen dreadnought heading this way at maximum warp. President Rillak is at a diplomatic summit on Tellar Prime. For her security, she’ll remain there.”
And who better to lead those particular negotiations than the president of Ni’Var herself, T’Rina? It turns out Saru is on an ambassadorial mission, which leaves her as the only one manning the house, if you will.
Throughout all of this, by the way, Stamets and Tilly and Adira and all of them are still trying their best to find the next piece of this puzzle, because at the end of the day that’s what this is really all about.
The Biggest Stick in the Yard
Come to find out, that’s the Breen dreadnought Burnham saw in her vision of the future, the one she had with Rayner a few episodes back. I had no idea Breen ships were that big. I mean, it’s ridiculously big.
We do get a few really interesting callbacks. One is to Deep Space Nine and that whole adventure, which we all know, because after we saw the Breen reveal we all talked about the fact that Kira knew and didn’t tell anyone.
The other one is a really cool little Easter egg more than anything. It has nothing to do with Star Trek itself. You find out that the author who wrote the book is named Marina. For those of you playing at home, Marina Sirtis is the actress who played Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Fun little callback in the Star Trek universe, and that’s about it.
You also find out Rayner’s backstory. Come to find out the Kellerun homeworld was essentially occupied, briefly, by the Breen. That’s why he’s got so much hatred built up for them. He’s basically saying, yeah, I don’t trust anybody. Don’t believe them, don’t trust them.
So they have to come up with an alternative method for negotiating, because this guy’s like, you’ve got one hour, hand over my people, I don’t want to hear about nothing. And I guess if you have the biggest stick in the yard, you can do that.
Starfleet Uses Its Head
They have to use intelligence, which is something Starfleet is very, very good at. What they end up choosing to do is make the uncle believe there’s another person looking to negotiate for L’ak, and what they agree to do is help them keep the status quo by holding on to L’ak.
Meanwhile Moll and L’ak, because they’re stupid, decide to break out. Their genius solution is that he injects himself with a whole lot more of a particular type of stimulant, and his system begins to crash. That leaves them no choice but to get the Breen involved and let them know what’s going on, and that’s exactly what they do.
The Breen show up, and throughout all of this, hello, it’s still only about the machinations of their particular political games. “You think a war to avenge him will unite the Breen behind you?” “If I cannot use the Scion in life, I will use him in death.”
So it has nothing to do with this culture. The Breen suck. The choices Burnham’s left with aren’t good, and they’re definitely not pretty.
Five Minutes
The episode ends with the death of L’ak, and the Breen are going to be quick to use this to their advantage.
Then Moll shows that apparently there’s a body tattoo, a brand thing. She and L’ak got married. The uncle’s like, it’s an abomination. And she goes, listen, the Federation’s hiding something from you. A power so great you won’t need L’ak to claim the throne, and I can get it for you.
And he’s like, my price for not going to war is her. You have five minutes to figure that out.
In that time they basically make the decision to go ahead and jump, and that’s where the episode ends.
The Library Card
Where they’re jumping to is the next piece, and you find that out because of Reno, who’s continuing the current tradition of engineers being way more than they look like. Apparently she was a smuggler at some point. Reno gets the opportunity to help them figure out there’s a hidden library, called something like eternity, and it jumps around. That’s the place where they’re going to find this final piece of the puzzle, and they’ve tracked down where they believe it’s going to end up.
Oh, and they’re in a competition with the Breen, okay? Just in case. Sorry, I missed that detail. The Breen don’t have the little library card thing. That’s where Book comes in, because he’s an empath. There were memories imprinted on the card, and they told him where the library was going to be located. They have the coordinates, and that’s where they’re headed.
The Verdict
Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, “Erigah,” gets an 8 and a half out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
Now that we’re back on track, I’m actually kind of happy. The episode itself is extraordinarily passable. Everything looks amazing, all the effects are good, and the story’s solid and decent.
I know the last couple of episodes have been a little bit of a downer, but it’s good to see the show back in its own full swing. This is the seventh episode, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this whole thing wraps up. It’s a big story for Starfleet to be this much behind the ball, so we’ll see where all that leads.
Did you have the same mentality about this one? Tell me what you thought of the episode in the comments on the video above. And if you want to get caught up on everything that’s happened this season, my Star Trek: Discovery playlist on the channel has you covered.
