Review

This is an episode that tries to do too much at once and would've benefited from fewer plot threads that were fleshed out more. The weakest links are May and the sphere. The May story could've been delayed for another episode. The sphere story could've been cut entirely. A better version of this episode would've cut those plot threads and instead constructed a simpler, more reflective story centering on Saru's sudden illness (which really didn't need a sci-fi plot device in order to present itself) while they're en route catching up to Spock. They could've used the content from the Short Trek episode The Brightest Star here instead making a story that intercuts between the crew trying to save Saru and Saru telling his friends the whole story about what Kaminar was like and how he escaped. This would've given the narrative a useful reason to show us Saru's backstory instead of just lazily having Saru hint at the details in dialog. It also would've eliminated the need for the Short Trek episode, creating a tighter, more focused narrative.

A still better episode would also have dispensed with this nonsense about Saru nearly outright refusing medical treatment, which seemed quite out of character. Saru is a person who left an anti-intellectual planet to live with people for whom—as Burnham put it in New Eden—science is their religion. Someone like that wouldn't just uncritically accept the inevitability of death. He would fight it as long as possible. He would rely on Federation medical science to deliver him from the fate the rest of his people so blindly accept. The contradictions in his characterization are made even more apparent by his newfound resolve at the end of the episode as aired to return to Kaminar to go tell his people their religion is wrong. And as for Saru's fear being "gone" now, didn't we do that already? What ever happened to him losing his fear in Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum? Maybe all this incoherence was inevitable given the idiotic premise of having a species whose superpower is somehow having the ability to "sense the coming of death" to begin with.

Another strikingly weak piece of plotting was the numerous logical leaps that Saru and Burnham engage in to assign motivations to the sphere at various times. Almost every conclusion they draw is based on zero evidence amounting to little more than wild guesses. The narrative then validating their unscientific hunches as somehow in the spirit of Star Trek is frankly offensive. Yes, it's a nice message that not all alien life is necessarily a threat or at least not everything that causes damage is outright malicious in intent, but that message has to be earned, not sledgehammered through the plot.

There are some endearing things in this story though. Pike's further remarks about holo-communicators do further canon repair validating a common fan rationalization that the technology came in and out of fashion over the next century, guided mainly by personal tastes of individuals. The universal translator malfunction scene is a highlight not just of the episode, but of the entire series so far. And the earlier universal translator failure with Linus was a nice touch too, though it would be nice if they would stop making frankly racist jokes about him for comedic effect. Using Linus as a way to do body humor jokes is really not that different from making fun of Worf's forehead ridges or Dax's spots. They gotta cut this stuff out.

Reno's and Stamets' interplay was also surprisingly good. Their sniping and sneering at each other was actually effective for once. Though their debate about whether the spore drive is a clean source of propulsion while warp drive is dirty was pretty incoherent too. We already knew that the spore drive risked destroying whole universes or something, so Stamets' forceful defense of it seemed odd. Then only a little bit later May reminds us that the spore drive damages the entire mycelial network. Also, gee it sure would've been nice if she had just come out said "hey you're hurting my people" a couple episodes ago so they could work together on a mutually agreed upon solution, huh? Anyway maybe we'll finally be rid of the spore drive forever soon since everyone is super duper sure finally that it has unacceptable tradeoffs now. Maybe this time. Maybe. Just in time for May to abduct Tilly into a Stranger Things-style cliffhanger, dragging Star Trek down into the muddy waters of cheesy paranormal science fiction storytelling. Though perhaps that fits with their emphasis on body humor and pulpy comic book tones.