Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 4 Review: All Is Possible
Diana Keng
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In the years that I've reviewed Star Trek episodes, I've tried to channel my inner Vulcan in parsing the narrative and character developments in logical ways, with a focus on examining the themes they've sought to explore.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 4 is the first episode of any Trek series to evoke a purely emotional response that challenges me to put into words.
In short, as the credits ran, I found myself crying, and it was an incredibly confusing reaction because I wasn't sad or grieving. It wasn't a short cry, but, ultimately, it was a necessary one, and it gave me pause as I approached this review.
This season has introduced strong themes of rebuilding, healing, and change. Much of that is happening in the context of grief and trauma.
Most obviously, Book has been dealing with the destruction of Kwejian. His scenes with Dr. Culber are intense with bottled-up anger and resentment.
He is the ideal patient, though, never refusing to try whatever Culber suggests. And, when he hits his frustration point, he doesn't walk away; he expresses it.
It does feel like a very long session, mind you. Even though Culber jokes he'll be at it a "long-ass time," it actually seems like they spend the better part of the day together in that room.
While they aren't able to heal Book's grief in one session, they take two very significant steps forward.
First, Book realizes that healing from this loss will look and feel different than what he's done before because the very thing he used to heal in the past is what he's grieving the loss of now -- his homeworld.
Kwejian was one of the most beautiful places in the known galaxy. Its loss is devastating, profound. And you won't heal the way you would've before. You will never feel of kwethlumkwe again.
Culber
Second, he recognizes that his powers of empathy could allow him to help Dr. Culber as the doctor takes on the role of ship's counselor.
That second step indicates a readiness to move on. For Book to be able to reach out means that he's starting to let go of the pain of his trauma. It means he sees himself as part of the living world again.
If Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 2 focused on commitment, and Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 3 explored the idea of new paths, we see here the very classic Trek theme of uniting for a common goal.
Culber and Book may prove to be Discovery's mental health superstars. At the very least, they are equipped to be and willing to support each other, recognizing that emotional weight can be the most draining.
You weigh questions of politics. I weigh questions of place, purpose. With such uncertainty as we are all experiencing, I'm finding it much more challenging than I had anticipated.
Saru
On Ni'Var, the powers which Rillak and T'Rina serve are at odds with each other, as well as the goal the two presidents share.
Through a pretty clever, if sneaky, scheme, the leaders put Burnham and Saru into the drivers' seats to solve the problems caused by the delegates.
I'd like to know the logical path T'Rina took to choose subterfuge over open debate with her own people.
Of course, the Vulcan purists have shown that their fanaticism doesn't allow for dissent, so T'Rina's choice could very well have been the most logical one.
T'Rina: Ni'Var has endured without the Federation for a century. We will continue to do so.
Burnham: Madam President, there is a difference between enduring and thriving.
Ni'Var's absence in the Federation has been a critical piece to rebuilding since Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 7.
Since Vulcans were the first to make contact with Earth, the alliance between the planets is both symbolically and strategically important.
Rillak continues to play her cards close. It was pretty satisfying to watch Burnham call her on the manipulative tactics used to have Saru and Burnham propose the third-party oversight committee.
That's not to say that Rillak will stop being a political animal. She's formidable in her confidence and, so far, hasn't been wrong about much.
I doubt that Burnham's going to find working with her gets any easier with time. In some ways, she's getting a dose of what Saru had to deal with on earlier adventures with her.
With Ni'Var officially a part of the Federation again, we can hope that they'll make more progress in analyzing the DMA. After all, despite this respite from chasing the anomaly, it is still a going concern.
How great is it to see Dr. Kovich back on screen? It still blows my mind that David Cronenberg is now Trek canon.
He's a lot more approachable greeting Tilly and Adira than he was interrogating Georgiou, but maybe that is a given, considering the contrasting contexts.
When Discovery first arrived, no one here trusted you. It wasn't just that you were in a nine-hundred-and-thirty-year-old starship and had never heard of the Burn. It was the way you carried yourself, like you grew up in a world that believes anything is possible. Quite frankly, it stung.
Kovich
It is still a little surprising he's in charge of training the cadets. Unless he sees it as a good psychological longitudinal study on the training of young people raised in the post-Burn era.
And talk about relevance. His comment about how the cadets don't know how to interact with other species or new environments because they've spent their lives in Burn-imposed isolation hit this mother of COVID lockdown kids right in the feels.
Cadets Harral, Sacha, and Gorev are the perfect cross-section of cadets for Tilly's mission-gone-wrong.
And while this aspect of the adventure felt a little like Discovery-does-Lower-Decks, the stakes are understandably high even before their shuttle is knocked off-course and they crash land.
Like it or not, their initial distrust of each other is probably a very realistic sample of how other cadets in the newly-reformed Starfleet Academy are getting along.
If Starfleet is going to thrive again, there will need to be a lot of communication and empathy skills built into the Academy's curriculum. With programmable matter and holo-tech, I'd assume they could simulate some pretty intense role-playing scenarios.
Even Adira's presence on the team provides an example of a team member who feels they don't need training. In Adira's case, they are highly adept and advanced in the technology, but, as Tilly points out -- echoing Gray's pep talk -- Adira could improve at working with others.
I had to laugh at Harral's assumption that their crash was a simulated test of their abilities. It's what I was suspecting too.
And while life and death situations aren't usually the recommended team-building environments, they did find the time between being chased by an ice monster and being trapped by quick-ice to share their backstories and provide affirmations.
I continue to marvel at this show's ability to ramp up the tension. Intellectually, I knew that Tilly would survive the excursion, but I'll admit to holding my breath on her transport.
And that brings us to Tilly. And, most likely, the root cause of my little meltdown.
I've always liked Tilly, but she never stood out for me the way Mirror Georgiou did or how Reno does. Her amazing Killy Tilly scenes demonstrated exactly how un-military-minded she is.
That being said, she's been the quiet heart of the crew, willing to speak truth to power or good friends even when it's been difficult.
And the trauma she carried over from Season 3 was some of the hardest to watch.
For a Starfleet officer whose only goal has been to become a captain, losing the ship to an enemy the first time she's left in command has to be a devastating and scarring experience.
Watching her feel aimless and uncertain while sustaining more trauma as the anomaly destroyed the space station and killed the commander she'd made a connection with has been layers and layers of painful emotion and depressing weight.
Culber: It might be a good idea to clear your mind before you make any choices.
Tilly: That is exactly the problem. My mind doesn't clear.
Despite her determinedly optimistic approach and her openness to trying new experiences, we could see Tilly's anxiety winding tighter and tighter as the season progressed.
So much of that perceived pressure is a credit to Mary Wiseman's performance. As Tilly, we never doubt the sincerity of a confession or the authenticity of an observation. She lives a life without filter much of the time.
Tilly has survived the crazy life of a Discovery crew member without becoming hardened to the universe. And I, for one, appreciated the humor she could infuse, inadvertently at times, into a strained situation.
While Tilly was clearly mentoring Adira for much of the start of this season, they are two very different officers.
I think I might have actually made some friends today. I wish I knew how to do it without nearly getting eaten by a blob.
Adira
I do not doubt that Tilly will thrive as an educator and trainer at the Academy. In fact, I LOVE this path for her as it means she'll work with individuals approaching new experiences every day in every way.
And I'm relieved that she did not choose the Qowat Milat way.
So, I'm not sad about her departure from Discovery. I don't grieve her absence on the bridge or in Engineering. I am ecstatic that her healing is taking her on such a positive and hopeful journey.
After reflection, I realized that my tears were cathartic.
After a month of living in a zone of unpredictability, with no definitive answers for the DMA, no one and nothing to hold accountable for Kwejian, no real repercussions for J'Vani's killing, no clear path forward for Book or Ni'Var or Tilly, we have closure.
It doesn't close the book on Tilly (heh, see what I did there?), but it does provide Discovery with an inside woman on the Academy and all the bright young minds there.
Wouldn't it be just perfect if one of her cadets holds the key to solving the DMA?
Yes, it leaves Burnham without a bestie. Yes, the mess hall will be a little less cheerful. Yes, Reno and Stamets will have to rely on Adira to snap them out of their intellectual hamster wheels. Hoo, boy.
I also think Saru will feel Tilly's absence deeply. Good hearts recognize each other, and those two learned a lot from each other.
T'Rina: Is trust of another's commitment to a shared goal enough despite the scars of history?
Saru: Trust is a journey.
Well, there you go, readers. Probably my least analytical Star Trek review ever. And yet, incredibly wordy for all that.
Did this one leave you feeling a little off-kilter? Or was it a worthwhile adventure?
Will you be looking for Tilly to reappear? Will Adira pick up the torch?
Will Culber have to schedule holo therapy sessions to check in on her?
Beam your thoughts into the comments below. LLAP!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
