Star Trek: Discovery - Episode 13 Review

As we come to a close on Star Trek: Discovery's first season, the crew's adventure into the mirror universe comes to a close in a final showdown with Gabriel Lorca. While Michael must get the help of Emperor Georgiou, the crew of the USS Discovery hatch a plan to escape their alternate reality once and for all, before Lorca and the Terran Empire destroy the entire multiverse.

While Jason Isaacs has probably been the show's MVP over these first thirteen episodes, I was always uncertain as to where they'd go with him once the storyline reached its natural climax. Lorca really is the villain here, gets to enact his sinister plan, and is murdered. Unless the writers opt for a The Flash-style cop-out, in which our universe's Lorca shows up (a possibility given its been teased previously), this could well be the end of Gabriel Lorca. It's a bit of a shame really, given that we have another two episodes to go. Lorca leaves large shoes to fill-in both as a main character on the show and as a main antagonist. Jason Isaacs constantly steals the show, and the depth given to Lorca as a man intent on fulfilling the ideologies of the Terran Empire makes for a strong villain: he's commanding and threatening, but isn't just evil for the sake of evil. His complexities manifest in his differing ideologies to that of Starfleet, which further fuels their conflict.

Having somewhat overcome his grief, Stammets is able to leap back into action using the spore drive to make for a quick getaway for the Discovery. His emotional arc felt like it had already been resolved in the previous episode, allowing for him to just do his thing and win the day with Tilly's help. Saru's rousing speech to the Discovery crew also made for a strong start to the episode's climax. We as the audience know they'll all survive, but the confidence of Discovery makes their victory all the sweeter when it does happen, and the cliffhanger ending all the more impactful.

Speaking of which, we're still left with some leftover plot-threads. The Klingon War will apparently reach some sort of resolution in this season; Voq and L'Rell are still aboard the USS Discovery, and the situation of Ash Tyler/Voq's mental state has yet to be seen. Now, of course, we also have Emperor Georgiou's (reluctant) rescue by Michael. Given that Michelle Yeoh is still be credited as "special guest star", I somewhat doubt she'll become a lead character once again, but if they were to take that route, it may make for an interesting equilibrium to start Season Two with. Regardless, we have two episodes left to resolve things with, and it should certainly be an interesting ride.

Returning to the episode at hand though, I think it's fair to say that this made for a much better climactic installment than the mid-season finale. The emotional arcs of all the characters had reached their peak, and despite only having one whole episode as the villain, Lorca's story didn't really feel rushed - mostly because his character had been so firmly established throughout the duration of the prior ten episodes (given Lorca didn't appear until Episode 3). There was a real sense of excitement as tension as Michael and the Discovery crew attempted to thwart him, and his battles with the Terran soldiers were very well-handled by the production team. The visual effects, cinematography, direction and music were, as usual, top-notch, while the episode itself made for a fantastic ending to the whole mirror universe storyline. To be honest, this episode was so good that I'd be quite happy to just leave Discovery's first season there for the time being, but I'm certainly intrigued to see where the next couple of episodes go.