Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 – “Face The Strange”
The biggest shock of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4’s time travel was seeing Specialist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) from Star Trek: Discovery season 1 again, and how much Michael has changed. Written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, “Face the Strange,” was a thrilling time travel adventure that sent Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) into key moments of the USS Discovery’s past and possible future. And what Burnham dreaded came to pass: facing her younger self.
In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, “Face the Strange,” the villainous Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) smuggled a Krenim Chronophage, or a Time Bug, aboard the USS Discovery. The Time Bug trapped Discovery in a series of loops, sending the starship uncontrollably hurtling through time. However, Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner were able to operate independently in the time loops, and Stamets was also spared because his tardigrade DNA allows him to live outside of space-time. The Discovery trio went about destroying the Time Bug, but Burnham had to reveal herself to Discovery’s bridge crew to save the ship. Further, Michael had to literally contend with herself from Star Trek: Discovery season 1.
Captain Burnham confronting Specialist Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was as shocking for her as it was for the viewers at home. The contrast between both Michaels, who were 5 years of age and 935 years apart after the USS Discovery time traveled to the 32nd century, was stunning. Captain Burnham is physically different from Specialist Burnham, not just because her hair is longer, and she wears a Starfleet Captain’s uniform. There is a warmth and compassion to Captain Burnham that is absent from her younger self, who was just weeks removed from the biggest mistake of her life.
At the point in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 that Captain Burnham arrived at, Specialist Michael Burnham was still mired in guilt and sorrow for her mutiny that ignited the Klingon War and led to the death of her mentor, Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Michael was resigned to spend the rest of her life in prison, and Discovery season 1’s Burnham does not believe she deserves to be in Starfleet. The younger Michael’s appearance is harsher than Captain Burnham’s, and she is more prone to judgment and not looking before leaping into action. Captain Burnham beat Specialist Burnham in hand-to-hand combat because she was more centered and in control of herself, but also filled with empathy for the younger Michael.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 is a powerful reminder that Michael Burnham is the most evolved Captain ever in Star Trek. By comparison to some of her peers, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) did not change very much as he aged, except for facing his own regrets. Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in Star Trek: Prodigy is essentially the same as when she was the USS Voyager’s Captain, just with a higher rank. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) isn’t as stern as he was when he was Captain of the USS Enterprise-D, but Jean-Luc never had to overcome the obstacles to the Captain’s chair that Michael Burnham did.
Seeing Star Trek: Discovery season 1’s Specialist Michael Burnham again is a stark reminder of how far Burnham has come. By Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Captain Burnham is confidently at peace with herself, has reconciled her gravest mistakes, and has proven her worth by saving the galaxy multiple times. Burnham has also known true love with Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), and she has the friendship and support of her found family, the crew of the USS Discovery. Specialist Michael Burnham is only at the start of her long, hard road to redemption, and becoming Captain Michael Burnham is her destiny in Star Trek: Discovery. It was incredibly touching for Michael to see how much she has changed for the better.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+