Star Trek: Discovery’s final season goes deep into the mind of a Starfleet officer in “Labyrinths,” one who’s dedicated the way Burnham is dedicated, and I think it’s a really good one. It’s a fun episode. It’s unique.
And it’s funny, because the closer we get to the end of this season, the more frustrated I’m getting. This episode was excellent, and that’s what’s frustrating. We had this big window of two episodes that were essentially one-off standalone episodes, and I feel like they didn’t belong in the season. In my opinion that hurt this season’s overall enjoyability factor. It really did. Because now, with everything that comes after, I’m just like, why didn’t you give me this sooner? You could’ve gotten here. There’s so much more.
I think this one is right in line with some of the better episodes that have had to do with going inside people’s heads.
The Archive, and a Moment for Book
They get to the library, and the library has this really nice, quirky archivist. “Hello and welcome. I’m Hy’Rell, one of the sworn order who tend to the Eternal Gallery and Archive and call it home.”
While they’re there, they find the Betazoid book they’re looking for. Labyrinths of the Mind is the title of the book.
Meanwhile, Mr. Booker gets brought in, because they happen to have something there that’s of Kwejian descent, and it turns out it’s a clipping from the great tree. “We were hoping you could tell us what it is.” “It’s a cutting from the Kwejian World Root.”
You get this really warm moment for Book. She tells him he’s entitled to take it with him, that it’s his right as the last of the species. It was nice to see him get that moment, because that character has gone through so much.
Inside Burnham’s Head
This isn’t one of those episodes where you have a lot of B plots. Everything right now is focused, hyperfocused in fact, on the hunt. I keep wanting to call it the treasure hunt. It isn’t really a treasure, but it’s the hunt for the Progenitor technology, the clue, whatever. And the Breen are obviously coming.
When Burnham goes into the room, she opens up the book and finds a device. She touches the device, and the device sucks her into her own mind. The image the device’s interface takes is that of Cleveland Booker. So she’s dealing with him in real life, and she’s also dealing with him in the mindscape of this program.
There’s a challenge, the whole bit. He tells her flat out: you have to find where the clue is in here, and where it is in here will correspond with where it is in the real world. She says okay and starts going around looking. As she progresses, she finds out she doesn’t have a lot of time. Not at all.
The Breen Arrive, and the Primarch Keeps Breaking His Word
The writers do something very clever, if a little long armed. They mirror her journey with what’s happening outside with the Breen.
So the Breen arrive, and the Breen are essentially the way they always are, all threats. The archivist greets them, because the archive keeps priceless Breen artifacts there as well. They help everybody, so they’re not used to people telling them off or being rude to them. And he proceeds, several times, to give his word and go back on it.
Meanwhile, Moll is watching her guard. She notices he’s constantly taking note of things, and that’s kind of keying her in. She keeps looking at him for confirmation, because clearly this uncle commander person isn’t being honorable. He’s being very selfish. He’s endangering people. The end goal doesn’t seem to justify the means anymore, and as soon as he gets his hands on anything remotely close to what he’s supposed to get, he basically goes back on everything he said.
They’re on this mission because of the funeral at the beginning of the episode, where she makes it very clear that she’s out to get L’ak back. The line from the funeral: “The power we seek created life. In the words of someone who saw that power, it can also renew life. That is why we need to find it, to restore the Scion.”
The Scion. The actual heir to the Emperor. So literally everyone who’s actually a loyalist Breen, this is what they want. This commander guy isn’t doing that.
The Test Was Whether She Could Be Straight With Herself
Inside, Burnham first tries to find the thing. She uses her own skills to try to find it. Then she realizes the entire place is a maze, so she’s got to use some math to help herself through the maze. When she finally gets to the middle of it, she finds out she still hasn’t succeeded. That’s not what it’s been about.
So she sits down, and she’s angry at first. He tells her she’s got to figure it out. The lights are going out in the place. She guesses correctly that that means her time is running out, but she’s not being told how much time she has, she’s not being told anything about where the thing is, and she’s not being told what her test is.
So she begins to resign herself to her fate. And it’s in that moment that she has a conversation with the interface. The interface is essentially saying, talk, what’s going on? And she does, because, well, obviously it has Book’s face for a reason. She goes through all this hard stuff to finally come out the other side: she’s afraid of things. She’s struggling for other people’s approval, and with the weight of her mission. It’s all these very honest, raw emotions.
That’s when she says, before I die, can you at least tell me what the test was? And he goes, no need. You passed. Turns all the lights on. And you’re like, what?
Because apparently that’s it. To have a power like this, you have to be able to look inward and be honest with yourself, regardless of what you find. You have to be someone who can say, I can live with the decisions I make, or I can’t live with the decisions I make. You have to be able to be straight with yourself.
And I was like, okay. Lesson learned. I like that.
This Is the Right Way to Use a Star Trek Trope
This was a very good Star Trek episode. This is a good way to use Star Trek tropes.
And now we come back full circle to where I started, because this is why I’m frustrated with the season. I feel like there was a better way to do those two episodes that would’ve been more in line with the series’ ethos of being chapters of a book. Every season is a book in the Discovery adventures, and you know what I mean.
I feel like this was a perfect example. There have been tons of wonderful episodes that have played with this very kind of concept, where you’re in someone’s head. The Next Generation did it. The original series did it. DS9 did it. Voyager did it. Everyone has done one. So to me, this was a nice, original spin on the concept.
Could Burnham have been a little less dramatic? Perhaps. But I think ultimately they’re trying to bring us back to some sort of reconciliation between her and Booker, and that’s fine. If that’s where they’re going, I’m okay with going on the trip with you.
The Oath, the Explosion, and Moll’s Challenge
At the end of the day, she gets the clue. Then the Breen threaten to destroy the archive, and we’re back to the commander of this particular group of Breen, the Primarch, if you will. He’s about to destroy the archive, and Burnham doesn’t want to see that happen. Who would?
She agrees to give him all the clues together in exchange for a specific kind of Breen oath, a very important type of oath. “A tergun, to spare the archive and all its inhabitants.” “A tergun is a sacred Breen oath. You expect me to swear one with a human?”
And they literally take the time to show everybody on his crew looking at him like, you going to do that? You’re going to do that? He’s like, fine, whatever. He does the thing, because he wants the stuff, because he’s selfish.
He gets what he wants, and then he proceeds to want to destroy Discovery, knowing full well it’ll start a full-scale war with Starfleet.
Burnham’s super smart, and she does a cool little trick. When he fires on the ship, seemingly destroying it, they happen to jump, and at the same time it ignites some warp plasma. So you get this nice explosion, you get debris, you get all the stuff that says they destroyed the ship, when really they’ve jumped to the final location.
Meanwhile, back on the Breen ship, the Primarch turns his weapons on the archive, after having given this hardcore oath to spare them. That’s all Moll needs in order to challenge him. And when she does, she kills him. The officer she’s been talking to is the one who really backs her. And she says, “I will lead us to the Scion and bring him back to life. The true heir of the Empire. Long may he reign.” It becomes this big chant.
The Race to the Finish
When Burnham and Discovery arrive where they’re going, they’re off course a little bit. So now it’s a race.
They scanned the device, so they know where they’re going. Plus, in the mindscape, Burnham got a secret, something the Breen can’t possibly know, and I think that’s really cool.
They have to repair the ship. It’s going to take about 6 hours for the Breen to arrive at maximum warp, which is just shy of the time it’s going to take Discovery to fix their systems in order to get there early. So it’s this whole thing. The adventure continues, and it was a satisfying ending.
The Verdict
Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 8, “Labyrinths,” is an 8 and a half out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
I enjoyed this. This is what I would’ve liked those two prior episodes to have been, in terms of mirroring some stuff. But overall this wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed it a lot.
I’d totally love to hear your take on the situation. Am I reading that right, by the way, that they’re steering Burnham and Book back toward each other? Tell me what you thought in the comments on the video above. The Star Trek: Discovery playlist on the channel has the rest of this season.
