A lot both happens (and doesn’t happen) in the appropriately titled “Lagrange Point”, an episode that moves the season’s plot forward… without really moving anywhere at all. It’s a fascinating and well-executed example of a show not spinning its wheels, but levitating in place, carefully setting things up for a season — and series — finale showdown.
 
We open on a Federation Headquarters that is positively buzzing with the news of Primarch Ruhn’s death and the fact that Primarch Tahal intends to absorb Ruhn’s people into her own faction, probably forcefully. This means she’s unknowingly on her way to the location of the Progenitor’s technology, which is a problem. HQ sends this information on to Discovery, still undergoing emergency repairs — and Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) orders a jump now, even if the landing isn’t going to be perfect.
 

Perfect it is not, the ship materializing far too close to not one but two enormous primordial black holes. After Tilly (Mary Wiseman) does some quick calculations the ship stabilizes and is no longer in danger of falling into the singularity. There are two things about this scene I want to mention, starting with the incredibly gorgeous visual of it. Wow! The semi-translucent cloaked Discovery maneuvering with those glowing black holes in the background is one of the most memorable and beautiful space shots of the whole season for me — and maybe even the whole series. The effects crew has done a standout job this season, and this scene is no exception to the high quality of their work.

The other thing is the way in which Tilly arrives at the solution to their predicament. I’ve criticized the show in the past for leaning heavily on 32nd century technology to do the solving such that the human characters seem almost extraneous, and Tilly’s actions in this scene are the perfect example of what I’ve been wanting the show to do instead. She splutters and stumbles — not because she’s flustered or nervous — but because she is someone whose brain is going into overdrive with the amount of information it’s trying to process.

This is a person who is thinking, really hard and really fast and about a lot. And she’s doing it herself because she’s smart and capable and Star Trek is about, among other things, smart capable people doing science. It’s great to see again.

With the ship stabilized, they quickly find the Progenitor’s technology, suspended in a Lagrange point (one of several points of gravitational equilibrium between two large orbiting bodies where an object can “float” instead of falling into one or the other). Or, they find something surrounding the Progenitor’s technology, a rather unremarkable looking cylinder with a keyhole where the completed puzzle fits. As one more layer of protection, the five scientists built a box around it.

Before Discovery can bring it aboard, Ruhn’s – now Moll’s – dreadnought swoops in and grabs it. Not knowing that Discovery is nearby, they stick around to examine it, which gives a small team from Discovery a chance to sneak aboard and steal it back. They’ll fly a small shuttle through a gap in the dreadnought’s shields and then the two teams will beam aboard; Burnham and Book (David Ajala) are one team, and Adira (Blu del Barrio) and Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) make up the other.

Easily disguised as Breen thanks to the fact that, well, it’s pretty easy to disguise yourself as a member of a group that spends all their time fully covered head to toe, Book and Burnham head to the shuttlebay to prepare the cylinder for a beam out while Adira and Rhys head to the bridge to disable the shields.

The decision to use what I’m going to call “Tony Stark cam” to give us a view of our heroes while they’re stuck in those Breen helmets for most of the episode makes total sense. Even with it, we still spend a lot of time looking at nearly identical Breen (and “Breen”) as they walk around and go about their business. Unfortunately, the end result doesn’t always look so great.

The views of Book and Burnham look alright, the edges of their faces blurred or dimmed a little to provide a less stark contrast to the black void that they loom out of, but oof, then we get to Adira. There’s almost a mime-like quality to their scenes, and at one point we even see a clear glimpse of the black stocking cap they wore while filming.

The trek from the beam-in point to the shuttle bay takes Burnham and Book a while, giving them plenty of opportunities to bark insults and commands at Breen rightly confused by their presence, and also to get stuck in a lot more chit chat than I was expecting from such a gruff people. The Breen’s repeated “Hey you going to the BBQ this weekend?” — or the Breen version of it anyway — is a way for the episode to inject a little humor, but it also provides an interesting contrast with the strict authoritarian temperament we’ve seen.

It’s honestly a little shocking that shooting the breeze with your coworkers while on duty is okay in a society that’s also okay with shooting your coworkers while on duty, but I kind of like it. Maintain a strict social hierarchy on penalty of death, but also feel free to get flirty and invite the new guy to your oil bath, no biggie.

This beneath the surface casualness also shows up in the way Moll (Eve Harlow) and her unnamed Breen counterpart examine the cylinder. After opening it up, they find an ominous and entirely unidentifiable glow inside. Someone’s going to need to get a little closer to examine it, so Moll tells her Breen friend to step right up. He immediately passes this job off to another guy who passes it off to another guy who gets sucked into the glow — it’s a transdimensional portal — and disappears. It’s subtle, but there’s a humor in this that makes me want to know more about how Breen are behind the scenes.

In an effort to stop — or at least slow down — Tahal as she makes her way to Discovery and Moll’s dreadnought and to show the nervous planets near Breen space that the Federation is on the job, President Rillak (Chelah Horsdal), T’Rina (Tara Rosling), and Saru  (Doug Jones) decide to send just a single shuttle to intercept her and hopefully force a diplomatic conversation. Or get blown to smithereens, both seem equally possible. Saru volunteers, as the ambassador to the aforementioned worlds and also as a former crewmember of Discovery.

As Saru prepares to depart, he shares a lovely scene with T’Rina. We’ve seen plenty of examples of Vulcans in relationships before, and especially so in relationships with members of other species. That said, T’Rina and Saru have felt fresh since the moment they first made respectful eyes at each other, and this scene has helped me finally figure out why.

It is so nice to see a Vulcan who has the emotional maturity not to pretend they’re above the emotions inherent in a relationship (especially one with a non-Vulcan whose emotional needs are going to be different than a Vulcan’s). Sarek with both Amanda and Perrin, T’Pol with Trip, even Strange New Worlds’ Spock with Chapel, they’re all heavily occupied with staying as stoic as possible around their partner — Spock’s weird fabrication of human dating mannerisms aside, which in a way proves my point in its artificiality.

All of this makes sense, these people are Vulcan! But sometimes it’s a little much; there’s restrained and then there’s repulsed. T’Rina’s characterization has managed to find a good middle ground; she still feels very Vulcan, she’s simply not so cold about it. Perhaps it’s because she’s a Vulcan of Ni’Var who lives alongside more emotionally open Romulans or maybe it’s just how she is, but it’s really illuminating to see that a Vulcan relationship can include open but still appropriately subdued affection.

Back aboard the dreadnought, Burnham and Book also take the time to have a conversation about their relationship (as Discovery is wont to do), with Burnham imparting some of what she learned in her mindscape about herself and her feelings and fears. On one hand — and she does acknowledge this — Michael, this is the worst possible time for you to talk! But it really is a conversation that needs to happen and at this stage there isn’t any other opportunity within the episode for it to take place. So be it.

Burnham and Book get to the shuttlebay, though not without a fight as their disguises aren’t good enough to fool an entry scan — while up on the bridge, Adira and Rhys are ready to bring down the shields. But Burnham needs a little more time to deal with a forcefield the Breen have erected around the cylinder, so Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) decides to give it to her in the boldest way possible: by revealing Discovery and telling Moll that Tahal is on her way.

The reveal works in that it gives Burnham the time she needs, but Moll doesn’t buy Rayner’s offer of shelter from Tahal (which is fine, she wasn’t really supposed to). Unfortunately, Burnham and Book get caught before they can beam themselves and the cylinder back to Discovery.

Here’s where things start to move fast. Adira and Rhys? Gone, they beam back to Discovery. Rayner? He’s a wild one and we love him for it, and that’s why he’s A-OK with the plan that Burnham, in code, tells him over an open comm — ram the whole damn ship through the dreadnought’s shuttle bay forcefield and get the cylinder that way. Full speed ahead into a relentless salvo from the dreadnought, and coming in at just the correct angle, they manage to pierce the field and fly completely into the other ship. It’s badass. Rayner is badass for doing it. Burnham is badass for coming up with it.

It’s also a move that telegraphs itself to anyone in the shuttle bay, which gives Moll a chance to figure out what they’re doing and act. Reactivating the portal, she jumps through, and Burnham knows that she has to follow. With one last look at Book, she’s gone.

Unfortunately, Discovery doesn’t quite catch the cylinder as it’s blown into space by the shuttle bay’s decompression, and the cylinder itself quickly decompresses, leaving the entrance to the portal exposed and sitting in space, with no way to know where it leads or what’s on the other side.

Rayner has spent this entire episode resolutely refusing to sit in the captain’s chair, instead stalking around the bridge like a caged animal. I’ve noted this quirk in previous reviews, and it turns out the characters themselves have also started to take notice. Tilly, in her hand-picked capacity as acting first officer, tries to coax Rayner into the chair at one point, offering words of support that he does indeed belong in that chair.

She’s not wrong in her read of the situation, but unfortunately for her she’s talking to the one guy on the ship who doesn’t go for that whole “talking about your feelings” thing. “I chose you to be my first officer because you’re smart and I trust you and if we were stuck in a foxhole together I wouldn’t kill you… unless, that is, you give me more of that warm and fuzzy stuff that I don’t need.”

If that seems like it would be Rayner’s best line in the episode, just you wait. Seeing the predicament they’re in, with Burnham gone who knows where through a transdimensional portal and Tahal on the way, Rayner digs deep into his collection of old Earth sayings and pulls out the most iconic of them all. From Apollo 13 (among many other missions) White Team Flight Director Gene Kranz’s mouth to Rayner’s, failure is not an option.

And with that, he finally allows himself to sit in the captain’s chair.

I really like Rayner. As individual components of the season go, his inclusion is the best decision the writers and producers have made. He brings such a welcomed, necessary dash of acid to the flavor of the show, one that doesn’t contradict or overpower the established emotional tone of the show with its presence, but highlights and enhances it. Without some contrast, Discovery can become stagnant at times, even stifling, and Rayner provides that contrast while still respecting show’s established storytelling priorities.

Also, he’s funny! What I’m trying to say here is that I have a fully-developed crush on him at this point, and that if anything happens to him in the finale I will be very, very unhappy about it. Let the grumpy guy survive for once, instead of sacrificing himself so the not-grumpy people can live. Grumpy guys deserve the chance for a future as well. This has been a message from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Grumpy Guys.

(I have not seen the finale as of the time of this writing, so truly, I have no idea what his fate will be. I just know TV loves to kill a grumpy guy.)

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Hello to Commander Lorna Jemison (Zahra Bentham) at the conn! A nice nod to NASA astronaut, medical doctor, and Next Generation cameo alum Dr. Mae Jemison, who appeared in “Second Chances.”
• This week’s entry into the annals of strange beaming is Adira walking through the corridors to Discovery’s shuttle bay while chatting with Culber and Stamets… and then beaming themselves to their destination instead of continuing the walk. Huh. Maybe they just like to beam!
• Regarding Book distracting the Breen guard while Burnham brings down the forcefield around the cylinder, I’m just going to say it: I’m over the “Ha ha awkward gay flirtation” trope. It’s common, I get it, but it feels out of place in Star Trek in 2024, and especially Discovery.

So, where does that portal lead? What is the Progenitor’s technology, how does it work, and what does it really mean for the future of the Federation and the galaxy as a whole?

Discovery has saved all the biggest questions for its series finale, along with (hopefully) a wedding, a showdown with the Breen, closure for Moll and L’ak, and also the conclusion of Culber’s existential awakening (since it didn’t come up in “Lagrange Point”). And, of course, a goodbye to the characters and the series as a whole.

Next week is going to be packed!

Star Trek: Discovery’s five-season run concludes on May 30 with “Life, Itself.”