There’s a lot to like about “Choose to Live,” but my personal favorite moment is toward the very end, when Vance and Burnham discuss the final disposition of the episode’s antagonist. Oded Fehr is simply brilliant here, aided by a superb script by Terri Hughes Burton, providing a canny and clever analogy that reminds Burnham—and the viewers—that there’s a bigger picture beyond the titular ship and its concerns.
Indeed, that theme—of characters thinking primarily of their own issues and missing the bigger picture—runs throughout the episode.
This episode sees the triumphant return of the Qowat Milat in general and Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham in particular. It’s never bad to see Sohn, and the Qowat Milat is one of the best creations of this era of Trek. In this case, Jvini, one of the Qowat Milat, has hired some mercenaries to help her steal some dilithium from Starfleet. On one of her theft runs on the U.S.S. Credence, a Starfleet officer is killed. (Points to the theft scene, in which the Credence first officer makes a very good showing of defending his ship before being killed.)
Ni’Var wishes to track down Jvini, but the Federation isn’t willing to let outsiders hunt a fugitive who murdered a Starfleet officer. Presidents Rillak and T’Rina agree to a joint operation between Starfleet and the Qowat Milat.
Buy the Book


Until the Last of Me
Making things so much more interesting is that the person the Qowat Milat has sent after Jvini is Gabrielle. And Jvini was her mentor when she joined the Qowat Milat. On the one hand, we have two conflicts of interest here, as Gabrielle is probably the last person who should be chasing Jvini, and it’s not the best idea to have mère et fille working together, either, but hey, television. And part of how Rillak sells the notion is her trust that the Burnhams can work well together.
Gabrielle’s belief is that Jvini has taken on a lost cause, which is what the Qowat Milat do. This belief turns out to be accurate. Burnham, Tilly, Gabrielle, and another Qowat Milat take Book’s ship to the dilithium—which has a tracker on it, as Starfleet has learned from the prior thefts—only to be ambushed by Jvini and her mercenaries, who kill the other Qowat Milat.
Eventually, we find out what the lost cause is: the moon the dilithium is on isn’t a moon at all, but a ship, filled with beings who are in cryogenic sleep for a journey from their no-longer-habitable homeworld. Said beings also have latinum in their bodies, so they have been attacked by crypt robbers. After driving off one set of such robbers, Jvini took on the cause to protect them. She asked for dilithium, but while the Federation is giving it away, they’re only doing to so to governments and organizations, not individual people, and Jvini couldn’t ask on behalf of the aliens because that would reveal their existence to more crypt robbers.
The odd thing is that the ship has arrived at its destination. Jvini stole the dilithium in case the anomaly comes toward them. But the aliens should’ve come out of cryosleep. In true Star Trek fashion, Burnham offers a compassionate solution: to find out why the cryogenic chambers aren’t working and fix them—which she does (while Jvini has a sword at Gabrielle’s neck). In the end, the aliens are awakened and get to settle their new home, they get to keep the dilithium, in case they need to make a break for it to get away from the anomaly, and Jvini is taken into custody.

This leads to the great conversation I mentioned at the beginning. Rillak remands Jvini to Ni’Var’s custody. Neither Burnham nor Vance are particularly happy with this—Fehr’s body language especially makes his displeasure clear—and after Jvini is taken away, Burnham calls Rillak out.
I love every nanosecond of this scene, mainly because contrary to the clichés of television in general (and Star Trek in particular), it isn’t a case of the admiral and the politician being assholes and our hero being the only decent person. Burnham is correct in that there should be justice for the Credence first officer, especially for his partner and children. But when she mentions those family members, Rillak makes it clear that she knows he has a family, identifying the children by name before Burnham can. (She likely sent them a condolence call.) But she has to think of the greater good, and turning the Ni’Var citizen over to Ni’Var for justice will do the most good, especially if Ni’Var is to join the Federation. T’Rina comes out directly and says early in the episode that Ni’Var is working toward that goal, and they’re too valuable a world to lose.
(One thing nobody points out is that Ni’Var is half-Vulcan, but also half-Romulan, and given that, I don’t think there’s any doubt that justice will be meted out, possibly in a much nastier manner than the Federation would provide thanks to what is likely a mix of Vulcan logic and Romulan ruthlessness.)
After Rillak leaves, Vance points out that they’re very much like an orchestra. Burnham is the first violin, out in the open, performing solos. Vance is the percussion, keeping things steady. Rillak is the conductor, and her job is to make sure the entire symphony is playing right—neither Vance nor Burnham have to worry about the cellos or the woodwinds or the brass. It’s a brilliant analogy, but an accurate one. (Also a long one, which Burnham calls Vance on; his reply is that he’s paid by the letter…)
And it’s refreshing. I’m glad they’re not falling back on making the non-main characters into assholes to show how noble Burnham is—but they’re not making Burnham out to be an idiot, either. As I said, Burnham is completely right in her annoyance with Jvini not receiving justice from the Federation that she attacked. But Rillak is right to think of the good this does with relations with Ni’Var. Vance also points out that the entire mission was predicated on asking Ni’Var to trust the Federation, so it would be churlish to then not trust them in return.
Speaking of Ni’Var, Burnham has to take Book’s ship because Discovery is off to Ni’Var so Stamets can consult with their science council on the anomaly, which he thinks might be a primordial wormhole. The problem with his theory is that the anomaly has four of the five characteristics of such a phenomenon, but he can’t detect any tachyons. The Ni’Var council confirm that his theory doesn’t hold up based on the evidence, but there’s one thing that might confirm it: an eyewitness account.
The only one they have is Book, who goes along with Stamets mainly because he wants to help find out more about this thing that destroyed his home. T’Rina offers a mind-meld to see if he saw something he doesn’t remember that might indicate tachyons. Stamets can’t stand the notion of making Book relive Kwejian’s destruction, but Book accedes.

(Interestingly, T’Rina comes out and suggests the mind-meld. In the past, as established when the mind-meld was first seen in the original series’ “Dagger of the Mind,” Vulcan protocol would never permit someone to offer a mind-meld, only accept the suggestion from someone else, but this isn’t Vulcan, this is Ni’Var, and I totally can see the Romulan influence on not being so hidebound with regard to mind-melds.)
Here, it’s Stamets who is so focused on his own issue, he misses the bigger picture for Book: he needs closure. While he doesn’t see the indications of tachyons when T’Rina mind-melds with him, he does see his nephew looking at him with love right before he left the planet. He knew that Book loved him, and that gives him a measure of peace he didn’t have before.
In addition to these storylines, we also have two people who are untethered a bit from reality, one psychologically, one literally. The former is Tilly, who feels adrift in this future. Saru suggests her for the away mission as the tactical officer to accompany Burnham and the Qowat Milat. Burnham rightly doesn’t see Tilly as a tac officer, but Saru counters that the other three people on the mission have that angle pretty well covered. But Tilly has a way about her that Saru thinks might be useful on the mission, and he’s mostly right.
The latter is Gray, who finally gets an android body. A notion that the original series posited thrice (“Return to Tomorrow,” “I, Mudd,” and “What are Little Girls Made Of?“), and which has previously been used on TNG (“The Schizoid Man“) and Picard (“Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2“), is once again seen here, combining with the Trill ability to extract a past host body’s personality, as seen on DS9 (“Facets” and “Field of Fire“) to give Gray new life. There’s some tiresome artificial suspense when the procedure doesn’t take right away, with Adira devastated by no longer being able to see and hear Gray, but the end result, with Gray hugging everyone, is very sweet.
As I said last week, I really like that Discovery is embracing the notion of consequences, that enjoyment at least partly borne if having just finished a Voyager Rewatch and being constantly frustrated by that show’s chronic inability to even acknowledge the concept of consequences. And I’m loving the different pieces that are moving into place regarding the rebuilding of the Federation, and both Chelah Horsdal as Rillak and especially the great Tara Rosling as T’Rina do superbly in showing how these two presidents are navigating the different needs of their nations.
Keith R.A. DeCandido is also reviving “4-Color to 35-Millimeter: The Great Superhero Movie Rewatch” for year’s end, looking back at Black Widow, The Suicide Squad, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Eternals. Look for it on Wednesdays here on Tor.com.
This is the second really excellent episode in a row, and I think Discovery has finally found itself the way TNG did in its third and fourth seasons. It was great to step back from the overdone hyper-cinematic action and do some deep dives into the characters, and all of it was very potent and well-handled. It was moving to see Gray finally getting his wish to connect with the world again, and it was lovely to see how the bond Stamets and Book formed last week has continued, with Stamets being sensitive and considerate to Book’s feelings throughout. It’s interesting how Stamets started out as this aloof, prickly character but has emerged as one of the most caring people in the cast, although he still has elements of both.
I’m not as enamored of the Qowat Milat as Keith is; I find it ridiculous when sci-fi shows set in the far future depict factions that still go around fighting with pointy metal sticks like medieval LARPers (and yes, I include Klingons there). I have a very hard time sympathizing with groups that choose to favor lethal weapons when stun guns are readily available. It’s hypocritical to urge people to “choose to live” when you’re the one choosing to kill. And it’s a bit of a stretch to sympathize with Jvini’s willingness to kill people just because of the theoretical possibility that the anomaly might pass through that system, which is a pretty flimsy excuse for murder given the astronomically low probability of that. It would’ve been stronger if the generation ship actually had been within the anomaly’s path. Still, the generation ship thing made for a nice classic Trek story where adversaries aren’t as evil as they appear and the solution is found by helping people.
I’m also still loving how plausible the science is. All the tech talk about the anomaly was grounded in real physics, and it’s such a refreshing change from the made-up technobabble so common in the later Berman era. And yet the story is far less preoccupied with tech. In the Berman era, Gray’s subplot would’ve focused on the characters trying to concoct some kind of technical solution to identify the problem with Gray’s awakening and push some buttons to bring him back to life. But here, the focus was entirely on what Adira was going through emotionally. Similarly, when Burnham solved the problem with the generation ship’s cryotubes, she never explained what the problem was or how she fixed it; she just said “I found the problem,” and bam, she woke them up.
One false note was using the Discovery corridor sets for the interior of the Federation ship at the beginning. Why would Starfleet still be using those corridor designs 900 years later? I’m also skeptical of the idea that a Trill Guardian can conduct a zhian’tara ritual through holographic telepresence rather than needing physical contact/proximity.
I wonder what’s going on with Tilly. This episode hinted that she’s not satisfied with her current position and might be looking for something new.
One thing that bothered me at the start was that, them putting a tracking device in the dilithium would seem to suggest that they were expecting the dilithium to be taken, maybe even counting on it so that they could track the thieves. So why did this Starfleet officer have to play hero and get himself killed trying to prevent the dilithium from being taken?
The tracker was there because of the possibility of the dilithium being stolen, not the surety of it, and the Credence was making a delivery. Do you really think the commander should’ve stood there and let a theft take place and screw the recipients out of their dilithium without a fight?
If someone tries to steal your car, you still fight back, even if it’s Lojacked……
—-Keith R.A. DeCandido
I also found it odd that the tracker on the dilithium was a visible chip. This is the age of programmable matter! It should’ve been a mist of nanoparticles sprayed on the dilithium. We didn’t actually need to see the tracker; we’d been told it was there.
I also still find it so weird, even after more than a year, that dilithium is bright red now. I used to think it was red, not sure why, but then I realized that it was always portrayed as a faintly pinkish quartz-like crystal instead. And yet here it’s as vividly red as I used to believe it was. Why did they change it?
I’m glad they’re not falling back on making the non-main characters into assholes to show how noble Burnham is—but they’re not making Burnham out to be an idiot, either. As I said, Burnham is completely right in her annoyance with Jvini not receiving justice from the Federation that she attacked. But Rillak is right to think of the good this does with relations with Ni’Var.
I appreciated this most about this episode. Yes, politics did bend the mission and its resolution, but politics also had a lot of good reasons behind it, too. And while Vulcan as a Federation member would be unshakeably honorable in its actions, Ni’Var is not particularly untrustworthy as a potential ally—there’s lots of reasons to think Jvini will be dealt with appropriately (not the least of which that she herself would insist on it).
One note that seemed a bit false to me was Burnham’s hesitancy in trusting Ni’Var to bring Jvini to justice. I mean, she grew up on Vulcan. It’s basically her homeworld. It’s changed, yes, but I’d think she’d still have an affinity for its people and their point of view, as much as she does for Starfleet, and thus would be more comfortable with entrusting Jvini to their justice system.
Meanwhile, it looks to me as if the adoption of the LED projection walls is influencing the set design. Both the generation-ship engine section and the place where the Ni’Var scientists gathered were designed as mid-sized raised platforms surrounded by expansive vistas. It’s like they don’t entirely have faith in their ability to blend the CGI backgrounds with the live-action set and conceal the transition, so they put in physical rims to separate the set from the projection walls. To be fair, in the Academy scene in the first episode, I could tell where the set gave way to the projection, but I was specifically looking for it. And it’s something they could probably conceal better once they get more used to working with the projection walls and adjusting the lighting and so forth.
@@@@@ Krad – (Interestingly, T’Rina comes out and suggests the mind-meld. In the past, as established when the mind-meld was first seen in the original series’ “Dagger of the Mind,” Vulcan protocol would never permit someone to offer a mind-meld, only accept the suggestion from someone else, but this isn’t Vulcan, this is Ni’Var, and I totally can see the Romulan influence on not being so hidebound with regard to mind-melds.)
Requiem for Methuselah – Spock – “Forget”
TMP – Vulcan Master “Spock, give me your thoughts”
TSfS – SAREK “Kirk, I must have your thoughts. May I join your mind?”
@6: I think part of the concern Burnham has is more that she still doesn’t trust the Qowat Milat as well still trying to get a better trust of her Mother too than a distrust of Ni’Var itself seeing as Ni’Var seems to be giving the Qowat Milat a wide berth on their own matters.
This was a great episode, I thought; I thoroughly enjoyed it.
That said…
Where did the mercenaries come from? Where did they go? Do the Qowat Milat just have a bunch of mercenaries they can throw at their lost causes?
I’m wondering if Tilly might leave to become part of new Starfleet Academy show currently being developed. Because show is a bit top heavy with actors – Adira has taken her place.
Re the golem previously used for Picard and now Gray – this type of tech exists and no one else has accessed it since Picard? This kind of tech changes societies. People can live forever. I can’t believe it.
@10/Antipodeanaut: Culber explained last week that the android tech used to resurrect Picard was abandoned when it proved impossible to replicate the process reliably. It was a big gamble to use it on Gray. I do find that implausible, but they did address it.
Your thought about the Academy show is interesting. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that it might be a 32nd-century show.
Implausable is putting it mildly. it works the first time it’s tried, in an emergency situation (Picard was dying) and rarely afterwards? And so, rather than continue to research it, they just throw up their hands and say “Eh, it’s just immortality”?
And now that they’ve got it to work for the first time in centuries, what are the odds that it’ll turn out that there’s some fatal flaw that means it only worked in this case and won’t in any, or few, others?
Also, was it a good idea for the only two people in the known universe that are known to be able to operate the spore drive to not only be iff the ship at the same time but to be together? Discovery is supposed to be Starfleet’s rapid response ship. What happens if an emergency comes up while Stamets and Book are hanging out with the Ni’Varans?
Interesting thought about Tilly headlining the academy spin off. Give Mary Wiseman her own show and give her more room to act. Interesting.
I think part of the problem with Tilly is that the writers don’t really know what to do with her. It seems like her original role was to be a foil to Michael. Michael was set up as raised by Vulcans, super logical, not openly emotional, kind of ruthless sometimes, and Tilly was sort of opposite of that. When they got rid of that art of Michael’s characterization, though, they didn’t really need Tilly to play off her. They did some stuff with her idealism/Stamets’s cynicism, but he’s changed as a character too and is a lot less cynical and bitter now, and, in the first episode, they were doing something like that between her and Adira, with Adira now as gung ho, young, and callow, with Tilly being the now experienced guiding hand. I don’t know how long that’s going to last, though, and if they keep Tilly in the show (and I hope they do, because I really like her), I think they’re going to have to develop her more as a character in her own right, not just as a foil against other characters.
@7 kkozoriz: not to mention: TWOK “remember”. Although technically I guess Spock didn’t ask, he just forced his way in there.
I agree with much of what has been said. I’ve enjoyed the first three episodes of this season exponentially more then any episode of the first two. As has been noted, no one here is a cardboard villain or a hero, there’s a lot of nuance.
Not a fan of Jvini. I don’t care if the entire universe is at stake. Intentionally killing an innocent person to get what you want for another innocent person is immoral. When she saw that first officer wasn’t going to budge, she should have withdrawn. And I kind of wonder what would have happened to had she simply sheathed her pointy thingy and explained what was at stake. Most Federation officers I know would have provided some dilithium.
Also not a fan of the Adira/Gray storyline of late. A lot of angst followed by predictable soulful looks and hugs and affection. Did anyone really think anything else was going to happen? Boring
Agree with Christopher’s statement about how this season is more about deep dives into character development rather than using those characters to segue to endless desperate battles to save the universe. The pace is more relaxed, without plodding.
Any episode that pairs up Martin-Green and Sonja Sohn couldn’t possibly disappoint. Making Gabrielle a Qowat Milat last season was a great way to bring stakes that are both political and personal. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Romulan sect on Picard, but they grew on me thanks to Discovery’s time jump and the ongoing Ni’Var arc.
It’s good that the anomaly mystery plot took a backseat to address the smaller stories. I like to think the show’s grown leaps and bounds in terms of balancing the serialized aspect with the more episodic approach (hard to imagine this is the same show that gave us such a scattershot second season).
It also gives the chance to see these small moments with Adira/Grey and Book/Stamets. There’s a particular maturity to the Book grieving story that to me seems a byproduct of the fact that the Discovery creative staff is currently led by two women, Paradise and Lumet. I certainly don’t recall such a nuanced portrayal of emotional loss before on Trek.