Star Trek: Discovery - The Sanctuary Review

DIS "The Sanctuary"

"The Sanctuary" continues the Orion-Andorian Emerald Chain syndicate's animus toward Discovery, reinforcing the old science fiction maxim: If you need a villain, when in doubt, use space pirates! Just as the titular sanctuary refers to the ecosystem of Book's home planet Kwejian, threatened by harvest-eating locusts, the episode's ecosystem is also not in perfect balance.

The B and C plots (respectively Georgiou's deteriorating condition and Adira's work on the latest Burn data) are largely transitional, by design lacking a sense of closure. So it falls to the A plot to make the episode unique. But the episode struggles to give its main storyline a strong identity, beyond "this planet has wood tech!" It has high emotional stakes for Book, returning to his world and the brother he feels has sold out their principles, but I'm not sure those stakes translate to the audience. 

The Discovery side of the main plot puts some paprika on the sandwich. We see Tilly in action as First Officer, playing bad cop (then ultimately, of course, good cop) to Andorian asylum-seeker Ryn. Saru workshops a "Captain catchphrase", raising everyone's eyebrows in the process (he considers Pike's "hit it". And never forget Lorca's "...go"). And in a contrast to Star Trek's vintage space extrapolation of submarine tactics, Detmer uses Book's ship for a strafing run on Emerald Chain boss Osyraa's flagship.

Georgiou's condition makes her even spikier than usual, and then literally spikier than usual in the face area. Meanwhile, Adira makes clear their preference for "they"/"their" pronouns. To its credit, the show doesn't explicitly tie this in as 100% part and parcel of the Trill experience. For one thing, the actor Blu del Barrio uses they. But at the same time, it seems like many joined Trill might go by they, fitting with the sort of gender fluidity that has animated Trill storytelling since The Next Generation.

The episode continues mining the emotionally rich baseline of this season. But the main plot doesn't have a particularly strong identity or hook. All things are in transition. And if the next time trailer is any indication, Michelle Yeoh might be on her way off the show (no!), in time to wait for her own spinoff (oh!). 6/10.