WHY WE LIKE IT: Exciting space combat.
WHY WE DON'T: The trope of the outsider arguing every decision.
REVIEW: This storyline, and this episode most especially, shows how people can love and respect each other and still have conflict. Michael and Book are of course the poster children for this idea, and it's very interesting to see them do space battle ("submarine" tactics have a long history in Trek, of course) because they both absolutely have to succeed, but also need to pull their punches. How does one do that? It's engaging. In both their cases, they also have a ruthless devil on their shoulder calling them out on their biases. Tarka is dangerous, having much too much access to Book's ship and pushing Discovery to the limits of its own ability to pull punches. Unlike Book, he CAN'T accept middle ground because his mission is not Booker's. He doesn't care about stopping the DMA, only about stealing its power source. He can brook no delay or compromise. And he's extremely reckless. We see it first with his programmable matter trap that catches Discovery's shuttle, a system that can't be contravened once activated. We see it later when he does indeed destroy the DMA, potentially starting a war with a powerful new foe, for nothing. The DMA was powered from the other side of the anomaly, and a new device soon takes its place. He's all hubris and corner-cutting. Sounds like a tech billionaire we know (except, y'know, Tarka's actually invented stuff).
On the Discovery side of things, Commander Nhan has returned to play the war hawk who keeps questioning Burnham's soft touch and pushing more final solutions. She's basically the third such character featured this season (if we count Vance who was a problem last season, but still appears), and I'll sound like a broken record when I remind you all that I hate that trope. The twist is that the Michael-Nhan relationship is also one based on love and respect, which gives it a certain edge. Though Nhan left the show on good terms, and it makes sense for all the people from the past to stick together and see themselves as a family, I remembered her relationship to the crew as more contentious than this. Now it's all hugs and smiles, and another reasonable person to find middle ground with (I'm surprised the title wasn't Middle Ground given how often the term is used). The thing about this trope is that while it creates conflict, the audience knows their captain is usually in the right and will find a way to do what they must without someone harping about orders or necessities. It's a dramatic device to stage the moral dilemma, I get it, and that's better than some versions of the story that simply use it to juice up the tension on the bridge. In the end, Michael puts her life on the line, betting everything on her faith in Book. She just fails to take how clever and desperate Tarka is.
The "friends at odds" element also shows up in the rest of the crew, who need to be reminded several times that while they may have differing opinions on Booker's righteousness, they should keep them for off-duty hours and not let them interfere with their orders. It's fine the first time, but when the often interchangeable Rhys and Bryce get into it while piloting the secret mission to board Book's ship, I felt it went too far. That was REALLY not the time to have this debate. Also connected to the theme is Saru getting dating advice from Dr. Culber and deciding to perhaps find "middle ground" with President T'Rina. At least SOME of this I consider over-egged the pudding.
In terms of the longer arc, we've done away with "the DMA could move at any time" and replaced it with a countdown. The ticking clock is set at a week, and Discovery will have exactly that to contact the 10-C and put a stop to their deadly strip mining. That's if they even want to talk to us now. More middle ground to be found, then.
LESSON: When you're too far out on the extremes, the middle ground is impossible to see.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I don't think all the personal conflicts work, but the episode does provide some exciting action as it adds another piece of the larger arc's puzzle.
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