As stated in DIS: “Mirrors”, an erigah is a Breen blood bounty.

The ship holding Moll and L’ak’s shuttle in a tractor beam is the USS Locherer (NCC-325062), a Merian-class starship first seen in DIS: “Jinaal” and named after the late J.P. Locherer, who was a cinematographer on the show.

Burnham identifies subspace frequency Epsilon 19 as a courier channel and that “special offer” is a courier distress code. With her is Commander Nhan, a Barzan who journeyed with Discovery from the 23rd Century but subsequently transferred to Federation Security in the 32nd. She was last seen in DIS: “Rubicon”.

Nhan refers to what happened between her and Book at their last encounter, when she argued for destroying his ship to prevent him using the isolytic weapon she mentioned. So there’s a bit of awkward history there.

A sa-te kru cat is a Vulcan species, a large predator similar to the le-matya. It was mentioned in the novel Vulcan’s Forge, but this is its first on-screen mention.

Given the Breen first appeared in DS9, there are plenty of back references to the series.

Culber says that there’s some evidence Breen are capable of “somatic cell” regeneration in extreme cold. This tracks with reports that the Breen homeworld had a freezing climate (DS9: “Til Death Do Us Part”) and that they wore refrigeration suits (DS9: “The Changing Face of Evil”). I’m not sure why Culber needs to distinguish “somatic cell”, since that is really any other cell in the body aside from sperm and egg cells, but I guess it sounds medically cool.

Breen Dreadnoughts (Rezeth Destroyers) are ships from Star Trek Online. As we see later, the 32nd Century version is much bigger.

The Breen used to be a Confederacy in the 24th Century (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”) but somewhere along the way it’s become an Imperium. There are six primarchs vying for the throne in the wake of the emperor’s death.

Rayner talks about the last time the Breen entered Federation space. With Vance saying that Starfleet was caught flat-footed, this is probably referring to the Breen sneak attack on Earth during the Dominion War which heavily damaged Starfleet Headquarters and San Francisco (“The Changing Face of Evil”). Tilly’s later remark about the Breen “destroying an entire city” may also refer to this.

Using thoron emitters and duranium shadows to fool enemy sensors is a reference to DS9: “Emissary”, when the station used such a tactic to block sensors and make themselves appear better armed than they were. In DS9: “The Way of the Warrior”, the Changeling Martok believed the station was pulling the same trick, but that time he proved to be wrong. The Romulan saying “Never turn your back on a Breen” is from DS9: “By Inferno’s Light”.

The yellow alert symbols are the same design as the “Alert: Condition Red” indicators dating back to ST II, albeit in yellow. The USS Mitchell (NCC-325027), another Merian-class starship, is named after the late Kenneth Mitchell, who played Kol, Kol-sha and Aurellio in DIS. She was last mentioned in DIS: “Coming Home”.

L’ak is Primarch Ruhn’s nephew and carries within him the genetic code of the Yod-Thot, “they who rule”. He is also a direct descendant of the emperor and Ruhn cannot claim the throne without him.

One of Reno’s former jobs was as a bartender - the closed captioning says “Ashalon IV”, but it might be a misspelling of “ Aschelan IV”. Aschelan V was a planet which housed a Cardassian fuel depot (DS9: “Dreadnought”). She refers to a cocktail named “Seven of Limes”, which is an obvious pun on Seven of Nine, although Reno may not know the name’s provenance given that she left for the future about a century before Annika Hansen was assimilated.

A “Code One Alpha” is probably related to or the same as the 23rd-24th Century “Code One Alpha Zero” which is an emergency condition ordered when there is an attack (ST 2009) or a distress call (TNG: “Relics”).

Kellerun was, for a time, used as a Breen forward base by Primarch Tahal. Since Rayner was there, it must have been relatively recent, although to be fair we don’t know how long Kellerun live.

Reno remarks that the hunt “sounds like something out of a holodeck adventure for the littles.” She may be referring to The Littles, a series of children’s adventure novels featuring a family of tiny humanoids with mice-like faces and tails that were written between 1967 and 2003 by John Peterson. There was also an animated series that ran for 3 seasons between 1983 and 1985. Or I’m overthinking and she’s just talking about kids in general.

Rayner says Tahal named her ship the Tau Ceti after a lethal viper with a slow acting venom. Tau Ceti, is of course, the name of a star 12 light years away from Earth and has been mentioned many times in Star Trek.

Bopak III was an uninhabited planet (at least in 2372) in the Gamma Quadrant and the location for the events of DS9: “Hippocratic Oath”.

Tricordrazine is a stimulant apparently derived from cordrazine (TOS: “The City on the Edge of Forever”) and appeared in several TNG episodes, including TNG: “Ethics” and “Shades of Grey”.

The Badlands is an area of space in proximity to Cardassia and Bajor (and DS9), known for its violent plasma storms (DS9: “The Maquis”). Both the Bajoran Resistance and the Maquis used it as a staging area to hide from enemy patrols during their respective conflicts. In 2371, while pursuing a Maquis ship there, the USS Voyager was hurled across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant by an alien force (VOY: “Caretaker”).

Written by: M. Raven Metzner

Directed by: Jon Dudkowski

• Doctor Kovich gives Burnham a list of the five scientists who had the task of researching the Progenitor technology, three of whom we’ve already learned about. The remaining two are a Denobulan, Hitoroshi Kreel, and a Betazoid named Marina DeRex. The first Betazoid we were introduced to in Trek was TNG’s Deanna Troi, played by Marina Sirtis.

• The opening sequence now shows the third map piece being added to the whole.

• Burnham gives Tilly a rundown of what she learned about the pre-warp Halem’nite language. It was established in the series premiere, “The Vulcan Hello”, that Burnham’s expertise is xenoanthropology.

    • The episode is named for the whistlespeak that the Halem’nites use to communicate over long distances. This mode of communication is used briefly early in the episode, and never again, including during the climax that relies upon a child communicating with their father.

• When Burnham and Tilly beam down to Halem’no, they arrive with markings on their foreheads to appear as Halem’nites. Starfleet officers being surgically altered to blend in with the locals during an away mission goes back to “The Enterprise Incident” when Captain Kirk was disguised as a Romulan, but this is the first time we’ve seen those alterations be applied mid-transport.

• “Turns out you have a perfectly typical, healthy, and rather handsome human brain.” Doctor Culber’s body was recreated out of mycelial network fungus matter in “Saints of Imperfection”.

• “I’m the queen of endurance.” In “Point of Light”, Tilly, with some help from a jahSepp inhabiting her body, set a course record running a half-marathon through the corridors of the USS Discovery.

• The weather tower control board features Denobulan script, first seen in “Stigma”.

• It is revealed that the winner of the Journey of the Mother Compeer gets sacrificed to the gods in order to bring the rain.

    • There are a few examples of sentient beings being ritually sacrificed in Trek, though most are talked about as something done in the past, such as on live sacrifices to Molar on “Qo’noS” being mentioned in “Will You Take My Hand?”, or the inhabitants of the planet featured in the VOY episode, “Muse” having replaced live sacrifice with theatrical plays.

    • We saw that Kelpiens culture viewed their being taken by the Ba’ul as a sort of ritual sacrifice in “The Brightest Star”.

    • In “Life Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”, the Majalans regularly sacrifice a child referred to as the ”First Servant” to a slow and painful death to maintain the technology which enabled their civilization.

• The walls of the weather tower’s vacuum chamber are made of solid tritanium, and apparently too dense to allow for a transporter lock. The hulls and bulkheads of many Federation starships including the Discovery and the USS Enterprise D were made of tritanium, but did not impede transporter functions.

• Burnham makes the decision to disregard the prime directive as opposed to letting Tilly and Ravah die. Kirk frequently ignored the prime directive to save lives, such as in “The Return of the Archons”, “A Taste of Armageddon”, and “The Apple”. Even Picard violated the prime directive in “Justice” to save the life of Wesley Crusher, and “Who Watches the Watchers” to prevent the Mintakans from worshiping him as a deity.

    • The punishment for violating the prime directive is apparently a significant amount of paperwork. In “Bread and Circuses” it is stated that Starfleet officers swear to die before violating the prime directive.

• The handle Ohvahz uses to open the sacrificial vacuum chamber functions very similarly to 24th century manual access clamps, such as the ones seen in “Star Trek: First Contact” and the LDS episode, “First First Contact”.

The whales Gracie and George were stated to have wandered into San Francisco as calves. Outside of feeding events which can include the famous bubble nets, humpback whale pods usually consist of a lone mother and calf (or calves) pairing with a trailing "escort" male. Humpbacks are one of the few mammals that can be nursing and still get pregnant. So anyway, the implication seems to be that if they were both calves and coming in the same time as a pod, they must have been orphaned from their mother and part of the same family group. Therefore, when its later revealed that Gracie is pregnant this one question comes to mind:

"Was the pregnancy a product of incest?"

No wonder they were originally going to be called Adam and Evie.

So, the plot in season five of Disco is hunting down clues left behind by scientists who uncovered the technology left behind by a precursor race of alien beings who panspermiad their genetics all over the galaxy, resulting in all your favourite humanoids, like humans, Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians, as seen in the TNG episode, "The Chase".

And the antagonists of the season are not actually the tragically dumb young lovers, Moll and L'ak, but instead appear to be the Breen. We've learned Breen are, as Captain William Shaw might say, goo people. Or at least they're semi-transparent so long as they're within the confines of their refrigeration suit. If L'ak is any indication they can take a more solid, humanoid form, but the Breen appear to prefer to be Sour Patch Kids.

I'm going to speculate that we will learn that the Breen are not actually one of the species who resulted from the Progenitors seeding the galaxy, and as such the Progenitor technology is of limited use for them.

I've known for years that Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics for Theme from Star Trek so that he could receive 50% of the royalties, but it never occurred to me that I should try and find out what those lyrics were. However, the lyrics did come up recently in a nerdy trivia show I watch, "Uhm, Actually", and now that I know them, I thought it important to share.

Beyond the rim of the star-light

My love is wand'ring in star-flight

I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches

Love, strange love a star woman teaches.

I know his journey ends never

His star trek will go on forever.

But tell him

While he wanders his starry sea

Remember, remember me.

From user Uniderth on Trek BBS

The USS Locherer, a Merian-class starship, was first seen in DIS: “Jinaal”. It is named after the late JP Locherer, who was a cinematographer on DIS before he passed in 2022.

Kovich says he likes the feel of paper. A similar preference for “old-fashioned” books over electronic versions was exhibited by attorney Samuel T. Cogley in TOS: “Court Martial”. Fanon has often held that it was Cogley who passed on his love of physical books to Kirk, who from then on, as Spock noted in ST II, had a fondness for antiques.

Culber’s abuela is of course a simulation, since the real one would have died nearly a millennium before. The use of holograms as grief alleviation therapy was also in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, invented by Tony Stark as seen in Captain America: Civil War. Reflecting current events, people have been trying to AI to recreate the personalities of deceased loved ones.

The list of names are: Jinaal Bix (Trill, “Jinaal”), Carmen Cho (Terran, “Mirrors”), Vellek (Romulan, “Red Directive”), and the two not yet encountered Marina Derex (Betazoid) and Hitoroshi Kreel (Denobulan).

Silver iodide is indeed used in cloud seeding in order to encourage precipitation. Atmospheric extraction is also a very old method of getting water dating back as far back as the Incas. In science fiction, it’s probably best represented by the moisture farms on Tattooine in the Star Wars movies.

Halem’no has a pre-warp and pre-industrial civilization, so the Prime Directive applies. A discussion about whether or not Kreel already violated the PD by putting up the towers in the first place is beyond the scope of these annotations, but I’m looking forward to reading the discussions.

Whistled languages are rare, but exist on Earth, in various cultures. Michael’s enthusiasm for it speaks of her primary training as a xenoanthropologist (DIS: “The Vulcan Hello”).

Subcutaneous transponders date all the way back to the 22nd Century, first appearing in TOS: “Patterns of Force”. Subdermal communicators/transponders also appeared in ENT: “Stratagem”, TNG: “Who Watches the Watchers” and VOY: “Workforce”. This the first appearance of retinal tricorders.

The Halem’nite “sound cure” may look mystical and exotic, but they’re actually just using Tibetan singing bowls, albeit with a more intense effect.

Tilly is using a simplified Newton’s First Law (or the principle of inertia) as a mantra: a body in motion remains in motion in straight line, a body at rest remains at rest - unless acted on by an external force.

Tritanium is a super-hard metal first mentioned in TOS: “Obsession”, being 21.4 times as hard as diamond. In TNG: “The Arsenal of Freedom” Riker claimed that melting tritanium was beyond 24th Century technology. The metal routinely shows up in hulls, walls, tools, ammunition, etc. so while it may not be able to melt, it can certainly be fabricated with.

Culber uses the “they” pronoun to refer to Ravah.

Culber introduces Book to his abuela’s mofongo con pollo al ajillo. Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish made from plantains mashed with fat. This variation is served with chicken (pollo) with an oil infused with garlic and guajillo chile (al ajillo).

Just had a thought while watching TNG.

In “Code of Honour,” the episode begins as stardate 41235.25. Then, after Natasha is captured, Picard voices that “one whole day” has gone by and the stardate is 41235.32. Does this mean one day in TNG is equal to 0.07 (stardate)? Or do the last 5 numbers have no meaning at all?

I know it’s a widely discussed issue in this community. Maybe I’m on the completely wrong track and maybe there is another consensus. But I thought it would spark conversation. Cheers!

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Written by: Kenneth Lin & Brandon Schultz

Directed by: Chris Byrne

Note: Episode 5x07, "Erigah," was released in some regions, presumably by accident, hours ago. If this hasn't been fixed by now, and you are able to watch "Erigah," please don't post spoilers from that episode in this thread. We will create an episode discussion post for that episode once we're confident it has been properly released globally.

• The episode title references the mirror universe, a dark reflection of the familiar reality of Star Trek where humans, or Terrans as they’re more commonly called there, evolved to be more sensitive to light, resulting in everyone tending more towards malevolence, and barbarism, and queer coded villainy. Other episodes involving the mirror universe that reference mirrors, include:

    • “MIrror, Mirror”

    • “Through the Looking Glass”

    • “Shattered Mirror”

    • “In a Mirror, Darkly”

    • “In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II”

• Despite not being Starfleet, Book apparently keeps a personal log. He records the stardate as 866282.9.

    • Other non-Starfleet personnel whom we know kept logs include: Neelix, Seven of Nine, and T’Pring.

• The digital ”Federation Watch List” wanted poster for Moll shows the emblems of:

    • Starfleet

    • Ni’Var

    • United Earth

    • Trill

    • Fernginar

    • Risa

    • Hornish

    • Orion

    • Andoria

    • We also see Orion and Andorian files on Moll, including Orion and Andorian script, first seen in “Borderland” and “The Andorian Incident” respectively.

• Rayner suggests to Burnham that the mission into the wormhole is too dangerous for the ship’s captain to take themselves. Picard says it’s a general policy in “Time’s Arrow” that the captain does not join away teams, and in “Star Trek Nemesis” Data sites a specific regulation. However, no captain we’ve seen other than Picard really observes this regulation.

• On the other side of the wormhole, Burnham and Book find the ISS Enterprise. The ship’s only other appearance was in “Mirror, Mirror”. For this episode, the Constitution-class appearance seen in both DIS and SNW is used for the ship, and redressed SNW sets are used for the interior.

    • In “Despite Yourself”, a wireframe model of the Constitution-class USS Defiant was displayed aboard the USS Discovery; at that time the ship had been in Terran Empire custody for over a 100 years, and appeared to have some alterations to both the nacelle pylons, and the bridge, but apparently when the Terrans got around to building their own Constitution-class, they opted for a configuration closer to the original.

• It was established in “Die Trying” that ”Crossing between universes has been impossible for centuries.”

• ”That was my brother’s station, aboard the USS Enterprise*.”* Burnham was raised by Sarek after the apparent death of her parents, as established in “The Vulcan Hello”.

    • ”I’m sure he was just as ruthless as the rest of them.” We learned in “Crossover” that mirror universe Spock became High Chancellor of the Terran Empire, after being inspired by Kirk in “Mirror, Mirror” and instituted major societal reforms, making the Empire more peaceful, resulting in it being conquered and enslaved by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.

    • Book finds a plaque with the story of the mirror Enterprise claiming that they escaped to the prime universe after the High Chancellor was killed for attempting to institute reforms. Presumably this still refers to mirror Spock, though he’s not mentioned by name.

    • Burnham and Book assume the ”Kelpien slave turned rebel leader” who helped the mirror Enterprise escape was mirror Saru, whom we saw in “The Wolf Inside”.

• Burnham find a plush doll of a mirror universe Gorn. Mirror Gorn, of course, also abduct members of other species to use as host bodies/food on their breeding planets, but in the Terran Empire that is considered to be a cuddly trait.

• Moll and L’ak created multiple holographic duplicates of themselves to stymie Book and Burnham. The Doctor did something similar in “Renaissance Man” by filling the holodock with copies of himself to escape Tuvok.

• We learn that L’ak is a Breen, a species whom we the audience have not previously seen outside of their refrigeration suits.

    • In “‘Til Death Do Us Part” Worf claimed that no one had seen a Breen outside their suits and lived. Though in “Indiscretion”, three seasons earlier, Kira and Dukat did incapacitate some Breen and steal their uniforms to use as disguises, so Worf’s claims are about as accurate as usual.

• In flashback we see a station operated and populated by Breen. Though their helmets no longer resemble something a character might wear during a War in the Stars, the asymmetric design of their refrigeration suits is inspired by what we saw in DS9.

• We learn through the flashbacks that Moll was saving latinum to be able to afford to set herself up on a colony in the gamma quadrant that she had never been to, but was described to her by Cleveland Booker as being the perfect home. In the season four episode, “The Galactic Barrier” we saw Tarka’s flashbacks to his developing a relationship with Oros, and their mutual obsession with finding a way to an alternate universe that was supposed to be a paradise.

• Unlike what we’ve seen of the Enterprise in DIS and SNW, it’s mirror counterpart has been upgraded with the same system aboard the USS Discovery A that belches gouts of fire into the bridge whenever it encounters a bit of turbulence.

• During a scuffle with Burnham, L’ak ends up stabbing himself, an advanced fighting technique usually only attempted by the most feared Klingon warriors, such as Kozak in “The House of Quark”, the Torchbearer in “The Vulcan Hello”, and most recently Dak’Rah in “Under the Cloak of War”. L’ak has not quite yet mastered the move though, as he lived.

• We learn that L’ak “Carries the genetic code of the Yod-Thot. Those that rule.” In DS9, Thot was a rank held by Breen flag officers.

• Book asks Burnham if she wants to give Pike’s catchphrase, “Hit it,” but she declines. Presumably Book looked up the catchphrases used by various captains of the Enterprise at some point.

• Detmer and Owosekun get to head a team to fly the mirror Enterprise back to Federation HQ. Rhys, whom it has been established twice this season in “Jinaal” and “Face the Strange” loves the Constitution-class more than any other ship, punches a bulkhead when he hears the news.

• A gormagander is a colloquial referred to as a space whale, and they were introduced in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”.

• Doctor Culber mentions having died, which he did when Ash Tyler snapped his neck in “Despite Yourself”, his resurrection in “Saints of Imperfection”, and then hosting the Jinaal personality in “Jinaal”.

• The episode was dedicated to Allan “Red” Marceta, a set dresser who passed away in 2022.

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The title of the episode, of course, pretty much telegraphs which parallel universe we’re likely to have elements of this week. The Mirror Universe was a major part of Season 1 of DIS, and the Mirror Philippa Georgiou was a supporting character through the first 3 seasons.

The Stardate is 866282.9. I’ve said this a lot, but the new Stardate system baffles me. By TNG reckoning the 866000s should be 3189, but they confirmed it was 3191 in DIS: “Jinaal”, so how it’s calculated now is anyone’s guess.

Book browses through Moll’s records - the first one is from the Federation, the third from Andor. I don’t recognize the logo or alien script from the second one, although it vaguely reminds me of Alienese from Futurama.

Burnham quotes from a Kellerun (Rayner’s species) classic, The Ballad of Krul, “Serve it without a grum of osikod.” From context it probably means not to sugarcoat whatever is said next, with “grum” as a quantity and “osikod” either as a flavoring ingredient, or a word meaning deception, i.e. “without an ounce of bullshit.”

Book makes reference to charging impulse capacitant cells and then releasing the energy into the drive coils. Impulse engines, although limited to sublight operations, have had warp driver coils as part of their design in various eras. In the 22nd Century, according to the USS Enterprise Haynes Manual, the NX-01 used the inertial mass-altering capabilities of a warp field to increase the apparent mass of ejected propellant to achieve greater thrust. In SNW: “Memento Mori”, there is a reference to only half impulse speed being achievable with one warp nacelle damaged. The TNG Technical Manual says that as of the mid-24th Century and the designing of the Ambassador-class, driver coils were built into impulse engines to lower the inertial mass of the ship so that even at sublight the ship would be easier to push.

Book is aware of the Mirror Universe, since he recognizes the ISS prefix (as opposed to USS) for Empire ships. And we see it is the ISS Enterprise, last seen in TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”.

Michael says that crossing between universes has been “impossible for centuries”. This is a stronger statement from from what Kovich said in DIS: “Die Trying”, when he stated that the MU and the Prime Universe had been drifting apart ever since Georgiou crossed over (back in the 23rd Century), and there hadn’t been a crossover between the two for 500 years. While it’s debated, I’m of the school of thought that Georgiou did cross universes (and time) during DIS: “Terra Firma” thanks to the Guardian of Forever. And in that same episode, Kovich related the tale of Yor, a Time Soldier, from the 2379 of the Kelvin Timeline to the 30th Century of the Prime Timeline.

Cardassian voles are rapidly breeding pests that are attracted to energy fields. They are native to Cardassia Prime and first mentioned in DS9, but have made appearances in ENT and also DIS Season 1. DS9 once suffered an infestation of voles.

A graviton pulse was used to seal up a subspace rupture in TNG: “Schisms”. While the idea is to use it to stop the antimatter reactions making the aperture pulse, the 43.7% chance of implosion sealing it forever makes sense with what it was used for in “Schisms”.

The bridge of the ISS Enterprise uses the same set as SNW, but with the Empire logos and a ISS dedication plaque as part of the redress. Michael wants to use the sensors to track quantum signatures from “our universe”. It was established in TNG: “Parallels” that every possible universe has a unique quantum signature as does its inhabitants.

Michael mentions her mirror counterpart and how she must have died before ISS Enterprise was trapped. The exact disposition of Mirror Michael is unclear. in DIS Season 1 she was lost in a shuttle accident and Prime Michael posed as her. In the licensed comic book Succession, (co-written by novel and series writer Kirsten Beyer) it was revealed that Mirror Michael had survived and managed to ascend to the throne, but she was in turn killed by Mirror Airiam. In DIS: “Terra Firma”, Mirror Michael finally makes an on-screen appearance. Mirror Georgiou and her fight and kill each other before Georgiou is returned to the 32nd Century, so it depends on whether you believe Georgiou was actually traveling in time or not or whether she was in the actual MU or not. In any event, Prime Michael is unaware of the events of the comic or Mirror Georgiou’s time/space travel.

Michael looks at her adoptive brother Spock’s station - or at least where it would be on the Prime Enterprise. Despite Michael’s assumption, Mirror Spock was not exactly “as ruthless as the rest”. As Prime Kirk described him in TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”, he was a man of integrity “in both universes”. Sadly, it would be Mirror Spock’s reforms towards peace that would lead to the Empire being toppled by a Klingon-Cardassian alliance.

The intermix chamber is where the matter/antimatter reaction of the warp core takes place. In TNG times, the entire warp core assembly consists of the intermix chamber plus the matter and antimatter injectors and tubes which is what is jettisoned when they order the warp core to be ejected (VOY: “Day of Honor”, et al.).

The plaque in the transporter room indicates Tartarus Base on Stardate 32336.6 - by TNG reckoning that would correspond with 2355, but who knows how the Terrans measured stardates? In any case, since they’re using the SNW sets, the ship itself is apparently showcasing mid-23rd Century levels of technology. Oddly, for a plaque apparently put up by dissidents, it says "Long Live The Empire". Tartarus Prime was mentioned as a planet with high temperatures in the novel The Rings of Time.

The Terran High Chancellor making reforms might be referring to Spock, who was said to have risen to be Commander-in-Chief of the Empire (DS9: “Crossover”). Mirror Saru was a Kelpien slave in the MU experienced by Georgiou in DIS: “Terra Firma” but was saved by her and consequently went on to save a lot of lives. If the plaque was put up in 2355, then these events would have taken place about 97 years after Mirror Saru was saved by Georgiou and about 88 years after Mirror Spock met Prime Kirk. We don't really know how long Kelpiens naturally live, but Su'Kal (the one who caused the Burn) lived to be over 120 years old, so it's possible.

Interestingly, there are holoemitters in Sickbay, which seem to indicate later-24th Century technology (i.e. the EMH of VOY). Of course, this is all assuming tech levels are consistent across universes. I have many questions.

An Erigah is a Breen blood bounty, and we have a fan theory confirmed: L’ak is indeed a member of the mysterious Breen that have never been seen unmasked on screen. In the Litverse, the Breen are actually a society rather than a single race, consisting of six species, none of whom match L’ak’s description.

In the flashback, the Breen Moll meets wear similar uniforms (although the helmets don’t have the pronounced “beak”) and speak the same unintelligible language from their appearances in DS9. The Breen also carry what must be a 32nd Century version of the neural truncheons they had in DS9, which acted like cattle prods.

Moll identifies L’ak as the “Primarch’s nephew”. Coincidentally, in DS9: “The Adversary” the leader of the Tzenkethi Coalition in the 24th Century is known as the “Autarch”.

When L’ak first removes his helmet, his skin and skull are almost transparent, reminding me of how the Gallamites were described with transparent skulls and brains twice the size of humans (DS9: “The Maquis, Part 1”). It seems that Breen skulls and skin get more opaque with exposure.

Callor V was previously mentioned in DIS: “Jinaal”. Rubindium is used in communications tech, first mentioned in TOS: “Patterns of Force” and subsequently in DIS: “Far from Home”. There is also a similar-sounding element called rubidium (VOY: “Think Tank”).

The Emerald Chain, an organized crime concern, was the central antagonist in Season 3, but are shattered by the end of it, so that dates the start of Moll and L’ak’s relationship to 3189.

Booker’s planet Kwejian was destroyed by the DMA in Season 4, in case anyone forgot, leaving him the last of his species.

The Primarch says L’ak carries the genetic code of the Yod-Thot, “They who Rule”. In DS9, “Thot” denoted a high rank (the script for DS9: “Strange Bedfellows” describes Thot Gor as a Breen general). As a side note, the Klingon word yoD means “shield”.

So Breen have “two faces”, one transparent and one not. Hopefully we can get some backstory to explain why this is, and why the non-transparent face is viewed with disdain. The weapon the Primarch materializes is a sleeker version of the 24th Century Breen rifle.

We see L’ak apparently bleeding, although the fluid isn’t red. In DS9: “In Purgatory’s Shadow”, Bashir says Breen don’t have blood, although how he knows this for sure is not explained. While this could be misinformation, some Earth invertebrates have circulatory systems that contain, not blood, but hemolymph, a fluid that carries carbohydrates, lipds, amino acides, hormones, etc. through the body. The Breen could be similar.

Rhys’s suggestion seems odd at first blush - don’t photon torpedoes already have antimatter in them? Then you realize his idea is to replace the matter in the torpedoes with antimatter as well, adding more antimatter to the aperture reactions. I’m still trying to figure out why hexagonal.

Michael comments that “hit it,” sounds weird and sticks with her own “let’s fly.” Of course, “hit it” was Pike’s catchphrase to go to warp.

I’m going to leave the question of how Stamets is able to recognize that it’s the ISS Enterprise from this distance unanswered. The setting and ending of the episode was kind of spoiled if you had paid attention to the Season 5 trailers anyway.

The face off between the ISS Enterprise and the refit Discovery reminds me of a similar face off between the USS Enterprise and Discovery at the end of Season 1 (DIS: “Will You Take My Hand?”).

Michael used the tractor beam earlier to signal 3-4-1-4, a reference to The Ballad of Krul Section 4, Verse 7 where Krul calls to his war brother for rescue with a drumbeat using that pattern.

I’m still kind of bummed we didn’t see any Tzenkethi despite being in their space. Which kind of makes me wonder what their status is in the 32nd Century.

Culber refers to his death and resurrection in Season 1 (DIS: “Despite Yourself” and “Saints of Imperfection”, respectively).

We find out that the MU refugees did make it to the PU, and one of them, Dr Cho, became a Branch Admiral in Starfleet. Presumably the trauma of existing in a different universe wasn’t as severe because there was no time travel involved, unlike Yor or Mirror Georgiou, who crossed universes and had a centuries-long gap.

The Branch Admiral rank was detailed in the FASA Star Trek RPG’s TNG Officer’s Manual, and was a new rank to extend Admiral’s rank and privileges to non-Command division positions like the Starfleet Surgeon General, or other divisions like Security or Engineering, or the Inspector General’s Office. This was to give them the requisite authority to carry out their policies.

Since Cho was a part of Jinaal’s group, which existed during the Dominion War (2373-2375), that makes the Starfleet. Presumably the trauma of existing in a different universe wasn’t as severe because there was no time travel involved, unlike Yor or Mirror Georgiouears old, assuming she was commissioned at the same time as her Prime counterpart, in 2245. Which leaves the question of why the tech is the same despite nearly a century apart up in the air, since they apparently added holoemitters. Maybe the show should have used the Enterprise-D sets from PIC Season 3. The Enterprise-D was commissioned between 2362 and 2364 (sources vary), so that’s actually a closer date.

The dedication at the end is to Allan Roy “Red” Marceta, who was a lead set dresser on DIS. He passed away in 2022.

Written by: Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco

Directed by: Jen McGowan

Happy 51st birthday, dear Star Trek! This supercut contains footage from all 13 Star Trek feature films as well as all SIX live action television shows (yes,...

• The arms merchant whom we see Moll and L’ak dealing with appears to be an Annari, who were introduced in the VOY episode, “Nightingale”, which I mention only because I believe it is the first time we’ve seen a member of Delta Quadrant species in DIS, though not the first mention.

    • The weapon he acquired for them is a Krenim “chronophage,” or time bug, which presumably would have originated in the Krenim Imperium, also in the Delta Quadrant, as seen in “Year of Hell” and “Year of Hell, Part II”. In those episodes, the Krenim also had a weapon that manipulated time.

    • Rayner establishes that the time bugs are left over from the Temporal War, which was mentioned in “That Hope Is You, Part 1” as being the reason time travel is outlawed in the 32nd century.

• The Emerald Chain were the antagonist organization of season three of DIS.

• We see that the time bug is what Moll put on Adira’s uniform sleeve at the end of the previous episode, “Jinaal”.

• Burnham appears to keep either a copy of the Vulcan Kir’Shara or a similar artifact in her ready room.

• The opening credits sequence has changed to include both the parts of the key that the Discovery crew have secured being inserted into the ring.

• Burnham and Rayner find themselves being transported between multiple points in the USS Discovery’s existence.

    • The Discovery following Burnham in the Red Angel suit to the future in “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”.

    • The construction of Discovery apparently in drydock in San Francisco. The first time we saw a starship being constructed at a ground facility was the Kelvin timeline USS Enterprise.

    • Stardate 1051.8, which was the stardate Burnham recorded in her log in “Such Sweet Sorrow” at the beginning of the episode when they’re preparing to abandon Discovery and destroy it, somewhat before the battle with Control depicted here begins. That battle was in “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”.

    • Stardate 865422.4. Not a stardate previously given, but apparently during the Emerald Chain attack on Discovery in “There Is A Tide…”

    • 27 years in the future.

    • Some point after Discovery arrives in the 32nd century in “Far From Home”, but before the retrofit in “Scavengers”.

    • After Burnham becomes captain in “That Hope is You, Part 2”, but before the destruction of Kwejian in “Kobayashi Maru”.

    • Season one between “Context is For Kings” and “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For the Lamb’s Cry”.

• The hardhat worn by the technician working aboard the Discovery during construction has the 23rd century symbol for Starfleet’s operations division on it.

• ”Well, he lives outside of time because of his tardigrade DNA.” Obviously. Stamets spliced the DNA of the giant tardigrade with his own in “Choose Your Pain”, and we learned that allowed him to exist outside normal spacetime in the time loop episode, “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”.

• The Temporal Prime Directive was first mentioned in “Future’s End, Part II”.

• Zora is listening to a rendition of “Que Sera, Sera”.

• ”Are you stuck in a time loop now right now, Stamets?” He’s not, but Stamets was the only one aware of being stuck in a time loop in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad”.

• Burnham runs into her younger self. Other characters have met iterations of themselves via time travel in:

    • “Yesteryear” - Spock

    • “Time Squared” - Picard

    • “Firstborn” - Alexander

    • “Visionary” - O’Brien

    • “Children of Time” - Odo; the Dax symbiont

    • “Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night” - Kira

    • “Time’s Orphan” - Molly

    • “Relativity” - Seven of Nine

    • “Endgame” - Janeway

    • “E²” - T’Pol

    • 2009’s “Star Trek” - Spock

    • “A Quality of Mercy” - Pike

• It’s Airiam! From Star Trek! Despite Airiam’s appearance here taking place during season one, it is Airiam’s season two actor, Hannah Cheesman, under the prosthetics.

• It’s Bryce! From Star Trek! Ronnie Rowe Jr. reprises the role he played in seasons one, two and three, before leaving the regular cast, and appearing in only four episodes of season four.

• Burnham demonstrates her familiarity with Owo by mentioning the operations officer joined Starfleet because she wasn’t able to prevent a childhood friend’s death, something Owo told Saru in “Stormy Weather”.

• Burnham convinces Airiam she’s genuine by telling Airiam she sacrifices her life to save everyone else in “Project Daedalus”, an act that none of the rest of the crew believe Airiam would perform.

• ”You love ships, you love the Crossfield.” “Who doesn’t?” Buddy….

• Rayner has to stick a chroniton stabilizer into a field of accelerated time protecting the time bug with his bare hand for some reason, causing the appendage to age rapidly. Picard accidentally stuck his hand in “Timescape”.