The Big Picture
The USS Discovery embarks on a red directive mission with ties to Star Trek lore, focusing on the Progenitors’ technology.
New faces join the crew on a mission to uncover an artifact related to the Progenitors in the
Next Generation
era.
The technology to create life poses a powerful threat if misused, as Moll and L’ak aim to sell the artifact to the highest bidder.
The first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 are finally available on Paramount+, putting Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery back on the boldly going business. This time, they’re not going another 800 years into the future, but instead, their mission has a connection to another time: the Star Trek: The Next Generation era. Back then, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) once led the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on a mission that uncovered the secrets of life itself as we know it. It may have been a one-episode story, but it’s now getting the proper arc it deserves; the time has finally come to learn the secrets of the Progenitors.
Star Trek: Discovery
Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk’s Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.
Release Date September 24, 2017
Main Genre Sci-Fi
Seasons 5
The Discovery Is Given a Red Directive Mission by Dr. Kovich
The final season of Discovery starts off with its foot on the door, with ties to past Star Trek lore and the return of Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg), which always means business for the Discovery crew. This time, his mission is so important that it interrupts a Starfleet event, but can’t be disclosed because it’s a red directive (a mission of a highly classified and dangerous nature that takes precedence over all other tasks). Captain Burnham doesn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from her crew, but since the Discovery is the only ship that can take this mission thanks to its spore drive, she accepts it.
The secretive mission introduces some new faces to Discovery, including couriers, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), as well as U.S.S. Antares Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie). The mission was to retrieve an artifact from a Romulan science ship that had been adrift for 800 years, but Moll and L’ak beat them to it, then take the artifact to the planet, Q’mau, where the synthetic antique dealer, Fred (J. Adam Brown), opens it up and reveals a diary written by the Romulan scientist, Vellek (Michael Copeman). Even though Moll and L’ak have escaped Starfleet in Q’mau, Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) helps officer Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) obtain information on Vellek.
As it turns out, Vellek was once part of a group that—under the leadership of Captain Jean-Luc Picard—attempted to solve the mystery of the planet Vilmor II. There, they found out about a race of humanoid aliens known only as the Progenitors, who have created life in its humanoid form and are the common link between all present humanoid species in the galaxy. The Discovery’s mission, however, isn’t about the Progenitors themselves, but rather about the technology they used to do what they did.
The Progenitors’ Story Comes From a Single Episode in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’
Season 6, Episode 20 of The Next Generation, “The Chase,” is one of the wildest in the entire series. For the first time ever, a Star Trek episode shows Humans, Klingons, Romulans, and more together in the same scene. That’s all thanks to one of the most interesting plots in the franchise, which sees these races coming together to discover the secret of their common origin. Unfortunately, The Next Generation didn’t carry on with this plotline, but Discovery is finally giving it the sequence it deserves.
“The Chase” starts off with Captain Picard meeting his old mentor, Professor Galen (Norman Lloyd), aboard the Enterprise-D. The scholar is there to recruit Picard for a long-term mission that will result in the most important scientific discovery of their time, but Picard can’t give up his post on Starfleet. Picard decides to take the Enterprise-D and finish what Galen started. He begins by analyzing the data his mentor had gathered (large blocks of numbers laid out in a sort of sequence). Following this trail, he eventually discovers that the numbers are actually a DNA sequence. On the planet, Loren III, Picard intervenes and mediates their conflict upon learning that both of them are there for the same reason the Enterpreise-D is, calling for them to analyze the combined DNA strands they have. They learn that those are all part of a puzzle, with each sequence complementing one another, but that there are still missing pieces.
The Enterprise-D follows the Cardassians to Vilmor II with the Klingon emissary on board, and they find out the planet has lichen growing on the dried-up ocean floor. Discreetly, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) inserts all the DNA samples they now have onto her tricorder, which then projects the recording of a humanoid woman (Salome Jens). Thankfully, everyone stops arguing to listen to the projection, as the woman explains that she belonged to a race of ancient aliens from 4.5 billion years earlier. Her species eventually came to terms with their extinction, but they sowed pieces of their own DNA on many planets where life could grow across the galaxy as a way of ensuring a lasting legacy. Their intention was for all those future species to come together upon discovering their shared ancestry. Cardassians and Klingons immediately resume their bickering, unable to accept that they have anything in common. Later, Picard ponders with the Romulans that one day, in the future, perhaps all species will learn to coexist for the sake of their shared ancestry.
Where Does This Leave Captain Burnham and the Discovery Crew?
The race of ancient humanoids is never named onscreen, but they are referred to as the Progenitors from then on. With Discovery finally finishing this loose thread in Star Trek lore, it’s important to ponder that the Progenitors must have used powerful tech to sow their DNA across the galaxy, which is what the overall plot of the season is going to be. The technology to create life is powerful by definition, and can be used for terrible things if it falls in the wrong hands. Right now, Moll and L’ak have the diary, but they’re unwilling to cooperate with the Federation after a failed negotiation attempt by Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala). However, they’re looking to sell the diary to the highest bidder.
After the events of the first part of the season premiere, “Red Directive,” Captain Rayner has been discharged from his command of the U.S.S. Antares. As sad as it is to see an officer of 30-plus years being discharged, it’s also very serendipitous, as Captain Burnham is in need of a new number one for the Discovery as Saru (Doug Jones) is about to take a new diplomatic post for the Federation. During their chase on Q’mau, Rayner mentions that he has history chasing Moll and L’ak, which will surely come in handy. Also, Book finds out he has a past connection to Moll that makes them all but family, which is another potential lead to finding her.
Star Trek: Discovery is available to watch on Paramount+ in the U.S.
Watch on Paramount+