Star Trek: Discovery gets right to the Qowat Milat action in “Choose to Live,” but it doesn’t stop there when it comes to exploring what that now-familiar phrase can mean for the various members of the USS Discovery crew.

While making a dilithium delivery run, the USS Credence is boarded by Qowat Milat intruders who steal the ship’s haul… killing a Starfleet officer in the process. Word quickly gets back to Federation and Ni’Var leadership, both groups keen to apprehend this not-necessarily rogue — but at least misbehaving — member of the Romulan sect.

In the interest of galactic diplomacy, a joint mission to apprehend the misfit is proposed, lead by Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Lieutenant Tilly (Mary Wiseman), but partnered with a pair of Qowat Milat sisters, one of whom is Burnham’s mother Gabrielle (Sonja Sohn).

I always welcome the return of Sonja Sohn to Discovery, especially after her character found a place among the Qowat Milat in the 32nd century. I continue to find the dynamic between Gabrielle and Michael to be fascinating; they’re mother and daughter, yes, but at this point in their lives they function together much more as respected colleagues than as family.

“Unification III” delved much deeper into their challenging mother-daughter dynamic, and it’s nice to see that while their relationship continues not to be a particular warm one, it no longer seems to be a painful one for Michael. Learning to accept that the most absolutely candid version of a loved one is someone who isn’t particularly loving must be difficult even for someone who grew up on Vulcan.

After tracking the stolen dilithium to a seemingly lifeless moon using Book’s borrowed ship, they begin explore a large internal cavern, but not before they’re ambushed by J’Vini (Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves), the renegade Qowat Milat. Gabrielle’s companion is killed, but the group presses forward to find what appears to be an enormous and ancient underground mausoleum — finding signs of grave robbery and the corpse of an unknown alien — but nothing that would explain J’Vini’s interest in the crypt.

Following the tracker’s signal they eventually find an engine platform and realize the entire moon is actually a dormant ship; they quickly plan to lure J’Vini out by having Tilly sabotage the engine (and then hang around alone as bait.) Though she’s still outnumbered three to one, J’Vini still gets the drop on our group — and we also learn that she was the Qowat Milat nun who rescued Gabrielle after the human landed in the 32nd century.

While holding Gabrielle at knifepoint, a tense J’Vini explains what’s going on: those dusty ‘crypts’ are actually cryochambers which malfunctioned eons ago, leaving the occupants — an alien race called Abronians — in stasis far longer than intended. An Abronian who was awoken by “grave” robbers used his dying moments to reach out telepathically to J’Vini, calling for help and cementing an oath to protect the ship and its inhabitants.

As for why she was stealing dilithium, she wanted to be able to move the moon/ship in case the massive gravitation anomaly showed up — because at present, the Federation apparently won’t give dilithium to individuals, only governments.

J’Vini’s need to maintain secrecy about the Abronians makes at least some sense after we learn that their bodies contain large traces of latinum, which — combined with their helplessness while in cryostasis — makes them attractive targets for particularly heartless scavengers.

What doesn’t make a lot of sense to me is why she would continue to be as rigid as she is once Burnham offers to repair the computer that controls the malfunctioning cryo units. Giving Burnham the ultimatum that she has only as long as it takes Tilly to repair the engines — not a whole lot of time — seems more likely to ensure failure than success.

Even if taking on a lost cause is more about protecting something during its death throes than actually thinking a solution can be found, being overly restrictive about a solution when one presents itself seems antithetical to the purpose of the oath, no?

Regardless, Burnham and Tilly are successful in their repairs, we briefly get to see streams of smaller Abronian ships flying toward the planet the moon-ship is orbiting (though we don’t learn anything more about the species). J’Vini’s oath is fulfilled, and she willingly agrees to be taken into custody.

Rewinding a bit, Tilly’s entire reason for being part of this mission — at Saru’s recommendation — stems directly from her desire to try new things, and get out of her comfort zone; as she put it, her comfort zone had become uncomfortable.

Tilly has long had trouble understanding where she fits, and the show has played many times with putting her in situations she doesn’t feel ready or suited for, ostensibly to prove otherwise. In this case, she was surprised to be chosen for the mission but didn’t seem hesitant about it, and other than a small snafu with her sword (and really, who among us wouldn’t play with a sword if handed one?) she was a capable and confident.

Contrast this with Tilly’s stint as Discovery’s first officer last season, which was framed as a positive — a way for Tilly to see her own capabilities — but to me just seemed like a miserably overwhelming experience for her. In “Choose to Live,” Tilly seems to have come a long way from her days as reluctant first officer, and initially I thought this mission might have been a step in the right direction for how she sees herself and her place in Starfleet.

But her discussion with Gabrielle about choosing to live, understanding that paths in life can end, and that people can always choose a new path forward has me wondering if Tilly is still searching.

While all of this is happening, Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Book (David Ajala) take up that invitation to visit the Ni’Var Science Institute while trying to decipher the gravitational anomaly which destroyed Kwejian. Except for one missing thing — tachyons — the data collected in last week’s venture suggest to Stamets that the anomaly may actually be a primordial wormhole, something he says is better described as a “dark matter anomaly” than a gravitational one.

Though he ultimately relents, Stamets isn’t sure about having Book come along; in a moment that adds depth and emotional awareness to Stamets — who can sometimes come across as little more than “constantly grumpy smart guy” — we learn that his hesitance has nothing to do with thinking Book would be an annoyance or an irrelevant participant in the discussion.

Instead, he worries because he “can’t bring these scientists up to speed without a clinical, forensic discussion of [his] loss” and he wants to spare Book the pain of the experience.

Book insists he’ll be okay and the two of them head down to the Ni’Var Science Institute — or, a floating platform above it, I suppose — where Stamets briefs several bored looking Vulcans and Romulans about his hypothesis. Unfortunately, they confirm Stamets’ own concerns that tachyons were not present, firmly concluding that Stamets’ hypothesis about primordial wormholes cannot be correct.

(Seems their minds are just as hard to change as they were back in T’Pol’s day.)

Stamets pushes back on their certainty, and this is when President T’Rina (Tara Rosling) steps in. She points out that tachyons create Cherenkov radiation characterized by a blue glow when they interact with a planet’s atmosphere, and that a mind meld with Book — who saw the anomaly as it neared the planet — would confirm whether or not such a glow was present in the skies above Kwejian when the anomaly hit.

While the scientists had been conferring previously, T’Rina had spoken with Book about his obvious grief and the need to free himself from it instead of suppressing it. The offer of a mind meld, which to Stamets seems like an unnecessarily traumatic thing,, seems to Book like a chance to begin better processing his emotions.

Through the mind meld, T’Rina sees that there wasn’t any Cherenkov radiation present — confusingly, there are some blue streaks in the memory, but I believe those are reflections from Book’s ship lights — while Book has a chance to see his nephew’s face, and the beauty of Kwejian one last time. Scientifically, they may be no closer to understanding what the anomaly is, but this was not a fruitless endeavor as it gave the man a small semblance of peace.

Back aboard Discovery, Book continues to allow himself to remember and think upon memories of Kwejian that had originally been too painful, realizing that he doesn’t want them to fade alongside the grief that eventually will.

The other major event this week takes place in sickbay, as Guardian Xi (Andreas Apergis) returns via hologram to perform a Trill ritual to transfer Gray (Ian Alexander) to his new body — the zhian’tara, first seen in DS9’s “Facets,” an absolutely canon-perfect way to separate the two minds.

Gray’s synthetic body is complete and ready to receive his consciousness, provided he’s aware of and willing to accept the risks involved in the transfer — including the risk of being permanently lost if his consciousness doesn’t ‘stick’ to the new synthetic body.

Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Xi each ask questions about consent  — and his internal emotional state — to which Gray gives full and nuanced answers. But when Adira (Blu del Barrio) acts as a go-between to relay those responses,  they significantly truncate and summarize Gray’s statements. From a production perspective I understand why: the audience already knows Gray’s full answer, and repeating it twice in short succession might sound odd.

But from an in-universe perspective, as well-meaning as Adira may have been, it made me a bit uncomfortable. Given that part of Gray’s purpose as a character is to explore aspects of agency, independence, and self-concept, it seems like an unintentional subversion of all of these to have Adira paraphrase Gray — instead of relaying Gray’s own precise and deliberately-chosen words as an interpreter should.

The zhin’tara removes Gray’s consciousness from Adira, but it’s not immediately apparent if the transfer to his new synth body has worked — leaving Adira with time to kill as they anxiously await Gray’s resurrection. While Gray’s body remains unconscious, Culber takes them to Discovery’s very lush new bar — complete with fireplace! — to unwind and relax.

Despite a few games of darts and some kind words from Culber, Adira simply can’t stay away from Gray’s side, soon returning to sickbay to sit and wait with him. When Gray  eventually does wake up, he finds Adira holding his hand.

“Choose to Live” wraps up as Discovery brings J’Vini back to Federation Headquarters — but much to Burnham’s dismay, the renegade nun won’t be held in Starfleet custody for killing that officer, but instead will be taken back to Ni’Var to face punishment there.

Burnham is surprisingly upset by this turn of events, repeatedly wondering if she’ll be held accountable and worrying that there won’t be justice for the dead Starfleet officer. To be honest, this confused me. What exactly was Burnham hoping for out of Starfleet’s penal system that won’t be served just as well on Ni’Var, or at the direction of the Qowat Milat?

Based on her reaction, either Burnham was secretly pining for the death penalty (not likely), or she thinks Ni’Var is planning to throw a tickertape parade for J’Vini and then set her free (again, unlikely). If anything, the Qowat Milat seem like they’d be frighteningly harsh in their punishments, given their comfort with dispassionately killing people during swordfights.

Regardless of what exactly Burnham was getting at, Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) takes the opportunity to remind her of her role in the “orchestra” that is Starfleet and the Federation. As a starship captain, Burnham may be the solo violinist, but she doesn’t set the tempo — that’s Vance’s job as the percussion — and she doesn’t know everyone else’s part.

It’s President Rillak who serves as the conductor, leading all the musicians so they can perform at their best, while coaxing the most harmonious music out of a diverse group. It’s a somewhat belabored metaphor, but it works.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Cherenkov radiation is very real, responsible for the telltale blue glow of underwater nuclear reactor cores. While tachyons are purely hypothetical, it’s scientifially correct that if they did exist, they’d emit Cherenkov radiation.
   
• “It is difficult to ride two vale beasts with only one set of buttocks,” says Saru, who I have to thank for this incredible Kelpien adage. (I will definitely be using this in the future.)
   
• Book has started wearing his Kwejian amulet again, which contains the sap of a sadly now extinct tree. It’s the same type of amulet that Leto was given moments before Kwejian’s destruction, seemingly symbolizing a rite of passage.
   
• Now that everyone can just beam wherever they want by using the personal transporters built into their tricombadges, the new bar/lounge seems to be built on the bones of the no-longer-needed transporter room standing set.
   
• Like our old friends on Deep Space 9, the new bar on Discovery is manned by a Ferengi and has a Lurian enjoying the facility — this time, though, the Ferengi and Lurian are wearing Starfleet uniforms.

Previous seasons have sometimes felt disjointed to me — with A, B, and C-stories interweaving unrelated events simply because they all had to get time to move the plot forward — but so far, Discovery Season 4 has found ways to carry themes throughout each episode that much more successfully connect each independent storyline.

“Choose to Live” is no different, as Book, Tilly, Adira and Gray each find ways to embrace or accept life with all of its challenges, difficulty, and beauty. So far, this has helped each episode this season feel a little more like a complete, cohesive whole — while still maintaining the serialized storytelling audiences have come to expect from the show.

It’s a nice balance, and I’m glad Star Trek: Discovery has finally found it.