Summary
“Such Sweet Sorrow” provides many tearful goodbyes as the finale looms tantalisingly close.
This Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Episode 13 Recap for the episode titled “Such Sweet Sorrow” contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
It’s time to say goodbye. But in “Such Sweet Sorrow” the crew of the Discovery isn’t just saying goodbye to their beloved vessel, but also to each other, to the current timeline, and to God-knows-what-else. It’s basically an entire episode of goodbyes, one that burns mawkish sentimentality for fuel, and trades in a good bit — perhaps too much — scientific mumbo-jumbo to keep things on-brand.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]This is where things get a bit complicated, so try and keep up.[/su_pullquote]
You’ll recall that last week’s episode resulted in the evacuation of the Discovery and its planned destruction, so this week opens with everyone bungling onto the Enterprise to watch the fireworks. The self-destruct predictably fails, so the next idea is to torpedo the thing, but wait! Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) touches the time crystal and is treated to a vision of Leland (Alan Van Sprang) massacring the entire bridge crew, and figures out that nuking the Discovery will incontrovertibly lead to that future. Plus the sphere data has merged with the ship anyway, meaning that it’ll raise its shields if things kick off. (The Discovery has impenetrable shields now? Haven’t they been breached multiple times throughout both seasons?) Thus, a new plan is needed.
[su_pullquote align=”left”]On the new agenda is building another Daedalus Suit that only Michael can wear because she’s the best.[/su_pullquote]
This is where things get a bit complicated, so try and keep up. On the new agenda is building another Daedalus Suit that only Michael can wear because her mitochondrial DNA makes her the only one compatible with it she’s the best, using the time crystal to open a wormhole, and then flinging Michael and the Discovery into the future. Michael’s initial plan is to leave Discovery there and rubber-band back, but that won’t work because there’s only enough power for a one-way trip. The science for this excursion is brought to you by Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po (Yadira Guevara-Prip), the sassy teenage tech-genius queen of the planet Xahea who was introduced during Tilly’s (Mary Wiseman) Short Treks episode.
With this explained, Michael sets about saying her farewells. She tearfully thanks Sarek (James Frain) and Amanda (Mia Kirshner) for taking her in, and thanks the bridge crew for providing her with the best moments of her life. But that bridge crew aren’t just willing to let her go alone, so a bunch of them — all of whom get sappy montages as they say goodbye to their loved ones — decide to go with her aboard the Discovery. Those who remain, meanwhile, need to fight off Control for long enough that Michael can yank her Scooby Gang into the future. “Such Sweet Sorrow” was an episode in which nothing much happened, but it also set up a finale in which virtually anything can happen, so we mustn’t grumble. The end is near.
