Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1 – “Red Directive”
Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s premiere episode, “Red Directive”, cuts right to the chase, and it’s fantastic. Discovery has a history of taking time to set up the mysteries at the heart of its season-long arcs, with necessary introductions of new threats that require investigation on the part of Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery. Discovery‘s second, third, and fourth seasons followed a relatively typical formula, with clues doled out throughout the season promising answers to the central questions: Who is the Red Angel? What caused the Burn? Why is the DMA destroying planets?
Each season of Star Trek: Discovery tightens the mystery formula a little more, so the subsequent season manages to top the last. Discovery season 4’s Dark Matter Anomaly story was the series’ best to date, with high stakes for the fate of the galaxy and the relationship between Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), and a signature Star Trek moral dilemma at the center of it all. Promotional material for Star Trek:Discovery season 5 promised that the USS Discovery’s crew would race others in a sprawling search for the “greatest treasure in the galaxy”, so the natural question that premise raises should be “What is the treasure?” But it isn’t.
Unlike previous seasons, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 1, “Red Directive”, answers the season’s mystery right away, instead of dragging clues out throughout the season. The greatest treasure in the galaxy is the technology used by ancient humanoids, now called the Progenitors, to create life, which was then seeded across the galaxy to become all the sentient humanoid species in the Star Trek universe, including humans. With that question out of the way, Discovery can get right into the action, as each member of the USS Discovery crew leans into their strengths to stop adversaries Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) from getting their hands on the first clue.
It’s a great change of pace for Star Trek: Discovery season 5 to just hit the ground running. As Captain Michael Burnham tells the enigmatic Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) near the end of “Red Directive”, Burnham can’t work in the dark, and the same is true for Discovery as a show. Sure, Michael can find workarounds to get the answers, like asking Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) to do some digging into the Federation secret archives, but it’s best when the cards are on the table, and everyone has the same information. Knowing that the target is Progenitor technology from the start means Discovery is no longer strictly a mystery — it’s a chase.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 isn’t just any chase, either; it’s a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 20, “The Chase”, which explains the similarities between Star Trek‘s humanoid species by giving them a common ancestor. Discovery‘s Kovich specifically namedrops Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) when sharing information with Captain Burnham. Starfleet’s archival footage is lifted directly from TNG, with Picard joined by Klingon, Cardassian, and Romulan representatives as they learn about the Progenitors creating life and seeding it across the galaxy. One previously nameless Romulan, Doctor Vellek (Michael Copeman), is highlighted as the brilliant scientist whose work forms the basis of Discovery‘s first clue.
Connecting Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s story directly to a revelation from TNG that was never properly followed up on is a great way to get the audience – especially Star Trek diehards – invested from the start. Dr. Kovich’s crash course in 24th-century history refreshes “The Chase” to get new and old fans alike up to speed, and suggests revisiting the Progenitors fits right in with Discovery‘s deeply overarching themes of unity and hope. Rather than drawing a single mystery out for the entire season, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 looks like it’ll be a fast-paced adventure with individual clues leading to the actual greatest treasure in the galaxy: an amazing Star Trek story.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.