WHY WE LIKE IT: The Burnham-Book partnership-rivalry. Owosekun gets to be cool.
WHY WE DON'T: THAT'S how you bring back Changelings?
REVIEW: Book and Tarka are AWOL and after illegal isolytic weapons, refusing the accept the Federation assembly's decision to try a diplomatic option before trying to destroy the DMA (and a large part of space in the process). It doesn't take long for Book to see that Tarka's terrible partner and a liar, but he feels justified because billions of lives are at stake. Because of her personal connection to one of the fugitives, Burnham is benched by the president. But this has to be Burnham vs. Booker, so Admiral Vance orders her to loophole the hell out of the situation, while the rest of the crew work on the over-arching problem and cater to their subplots. Most are thus sidelined, but it's totally worth it for the attention given to Burnham and, surprise, Owosekun.
The loophole: To get star charts of the region near the Galactic Barrier, Burnham chooses the same broker she thinks Booker will use to get isolynium. The location is a dank casino barge, i.e. the 32nd-Century's equivalent of a riverboat (the exterior's cool). Haz Mazaro is a showy alien who reminds me of the musical theater demon in Buffy, and he'll give each of them what they want, for a price. And paying that price makes up the bulk of the action for both duos. It's a race for who manages it first to gain control of the isolynium, and because of their connection, they end up helping each other at the finish line, which creates another complication.
Book and Tarka agree to hunt down a cheater in the casino who turns out to be a Changeling. I'm not a big fan of this, as this was too important a DS9 species for them to return as if the Link is not a concern, with no more explanation. I'm ready to call this one guy a lower-case changeling, because we don't even see the trademark golden liquid, it's dusty instead. So watch your language, Disco. Meanwhile, Burnham and Owosekun raise the money by hustling an ultimate fighting ring. Owo loses fights until the odds are against her and then DESTROYS her opponent. It's extremely cool, and Burnham is quite funny playing her eventually cocky manager. It's Owo's idea too.
Haz being as honest as they come in the world of couriers and that, reaches out to a couple more buyers, and forces the four of them to play "Leonian poker" for the whole kit and caboodle. New stakes: The two other players are known outlaws who want to recreate the Emerald Chain with themselves at the top, so Book and Burnham agree to work together to take them out before facing one another. That first part of the game is a lot of fun, with our two heroes sending each other all sorts of signals and trash talking the opposition. Sonequa Martin-Green's comic ability comes in handy here, the better to contrast with the much more emotional duel to come. It eventually comes down to Booker choosing his ill-advised mission or his relationship to Michael. She asks him to end it (the former), he agrees to end it (the latter). He goes all in, and wins. Or loses, depending on how you want to see it. It's a powerful scene and there's never been a more exciting break-up, especially after seeing how WELL they work together. In terms of the poker, Burnham knew Booker would win (and therefore, the emotional appeal), so she put a tracker on the isolynium. It's not over.
In the wings, Owosekun proves herself even more by drawing Tarka out of his shell and partway getting his story out of him. Knowing what comes next, his contention that his loss is greater than we can imagine rings hollow. But not to him. His massive ego makes his loss greater than anyone's from HIS perspective, so it's definitely in character (just maybe not playing fair with the audience). Throw in the revelation that the DMA mines the Ten-C's necessary "boromite" and we're well launched into the back end of the season, now knowing that 1) they will surely see Book and Tarka's destruction of a vital resource as an act of war, and 2) if that's just mining equipment, what are their weapons like?
LESSON: There's more than one way to pronounced Major. Apparently.
REWATCHABILITY - High: Discovery comes back from its Prodigy hiatus with a real bang. So much to love in this one.
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