Reminder: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season Finale “Will You Take My Hand?” Debuts Tonight

| February 11, 2018 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 49 comments so far

Star Trek: Discovery debuts its 15th and final episode of the season tonight, Qo’noS here we come!

Episode 14 recap

After Trek posted a video recap featuring Anthony Rapp and Sonequa Martin-Green reminding where the show left off.

Episode 15 Preview: “Will You Take My Hand?”

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 1, Episode 15

With Georgiou at the helm of the plan to end the Klingon war once and for all, the U.S.S. Discovery crew struggles to fathom and tolerate her hostile tactics. Memories of past hardships are rekindled within Burnham.

The episode will be available in the US on CBS All Access at 8:30 pm ET (5:30 PT). In Canada it airs on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT).  And it will be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday at 8 am BST.

CBS teaser (full promo not released)

Netflix promo trailer (for those outside USA/Canada)

Episode clip from NY Post – L’Rell versus Emperor Georgiou

Photos

A new photo from the finale was revealed yesterday by Mary Chieffo on Twitter.

Mary Chieffo as L’Rell, back in her armor

More photos

Cast members will be live tweeting finale

Followed by ‘After Trek’ episode 14

The fourteenth episode of the Discovery after-show After Trek streams on CBS All Access tonight at 9:30 pm ET. Actor’s Sonequa Martin-Green and Anthony Rapp will be in house, while co-creator Alex Kurtzman, and show-runners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg will be joining the discussion from LA. 

After Trek also airs on Space in Canada at midnight ET and will be available on Netflix later in the week.

What say you?

TrekMovie will be posting a full review of “Will You Take My Hand?” later. But you don’t have to wait to offer your views in the comments below.

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I’ve been thinking the last few days of how nice it’s been going into a new episode without any really clear sense of what’s going to happen for a change (after all the predicted twists the last several weeks).

More than anything, I just want it to be emotionally satisfying, be true to the characters’ arcs, and most of all BE EPIC!

That said, I hope the Tyler and Georgiou plots are resolved tonight. I really would have trouble buying Georgiou’s redemption, given that she was Emperor of the MU–someone in theory who’s just as ruthless and cunning, and probably more so, than MU Lorca. I hope PU Lorca makes an appearance (though I really doubt it–I don’t see Isaacs as interested in a long term run, and I don’t see how they bring him back. Keep in mind too that PU Lorca doesn’t necessarily know anyone on Discovery, so he wouldn’t have the emotional connection we might assume). I still think the “tether” metaphor might make an appearance tonight.

My one bold (and hopelessly inaccurate) prediction–I think they might actually kill off Michael in a sacrificial act of redemption. Her character’s been through so much emotionally–it might be her, and not Tyler, who redeems themselves finally. Plus, the “finality” of her conversation with Sarek (and might explain why Spock never mentions a sister). Plus, the only truly *shocking* death to me at this point, one worthy of a season finale, would be either her or Saru. Plus, Sonequa’s on ‘After Trek’ . . .

Holden, you have excellent theories. My take is a bit different:

_ We know that this episode ends in “Peace” from the statue tweet so with L’Rell in armor, it’s pretty clear that she is going to be instrumental in ending the War.
– I’m pretty sure that her “lover” Ash is going to be involved, perhaps as a human-Klingon go-between.
_ Let’s remember that Cornwell is Lethe so she may be the one who is responsible for a massacre (so that she can a decade later be “wiped” of her criminal past.)
– I am quite sure that they wouldn’t have gone through the whole plotline about Culber being alive in the mycelial network and then have Mirror!Lorca fall into the core and NOT come back. He will be back, alright… maybe only in this episode or maybe not until S2. I will also place a (small) bet that at some point Mirror!Lorca and Prime!Lorca are going to meet face to face.
– The mycelial network will die. Again, it may survive tonight but will surely die in S2. I can’t see any alternative to that. It’s the only way to eliminate it from canon. Why make a non-canon superwarp process available 10 years before Jim Kirk and make it alive? Because it has to kick the myecelial bucket.
– The chances of Michael dying are zero. She will continue being the key character in S2.
– Similarly Saru’s death is highly unlikely. He has become a favorite character to a significant proportion of Disco viewers.
– Georgiou I’m not sure about. I doubt she will be sitting in the captain’s chair in S2 but I wouldn’t put it past the producers. She is a great actress and she has an equally great character so I don’t think we’ll see the last of her.

… but we’ll see!

P.S. Disco’s going to be exploring more in S2 so probably they will be out looking for something necessary to keep the Fed/Klingon peace (or to keep the network alive) rather than lost in space a la Voyager. I can surely see L’Rell tagging along for that ride too. Furthermore, both the Prime!Buran and the Mirror!Discovery disappearances are far too pat and “off screen”, so I like to believe that we will see not only more about Prime!Lorca but also more of the great, the fantastic, the amazing, the vicious, the savage CAPTAIN KILLY! :)

Agreed on the death of the Myecelial network. I haven’t been as focused on preserving every aspect of canon as some fellow fans have been, but that seems like a big plot hole if left unresolved. I’m less sold on the idea that that’s the way to bring back Lorca, particularly if it is destroyed (though I see your point). I thought him disintegrating into the core–after having been fatally stabbed–was just a lot of delicious irony. Wouldn’t PU Lorca have to discover it as well in order to use it to come back? The hint seemed to be concerning Tilly somehow (the spore on her shoulder moment). I’d love to see Isaacs back–maybe I’m skeptical that the actor’s really interested in a longterm commitment (if he comes back for only one or two episodes, that strikes me as something they’d try a season or two down the road, but not now).

L’Rell will definitely play a part in the peace process. They’ve been pushing hard the idea that the war is destroying her vision of a unified Klingon Empire, which is where this season probably needs to end.

We will see. I really look forward to continuing this conversation after the show airs tonight!

Yes, I agree that Isaacs is not likely to return as a regular but then again, he is somewhat in demand and likely will be more in demand now. However, Look Away, Hotel Mumbai, and London Fields have all finished up shooting and there is nothing new announced. As to the spore on Tilly I’m sure it is key to something… but it’s unsure exactly what. It could be:

– Mirror!Lorca’s “katra”
– Culber’s “katra”
– Something that “Gary Mitchell”s her.
– A piece of Ripper poop

:)

I think you’re right about Georgiou, it stretches credibility to redeem her. I’d be surprised if we don’t see Isaacs in the finale though as he’s the shows main villain. Also just looking at Kenneth Mitchell’s twitter feed he really seems to have ramped up his Discovery tweets/retweet’s and I think that’s because he’s in the finale, so I’m sticking with a timeline reset as my most plausible theory.

I’ll also add a bold and hopelessly inaccurate theory into the mix. Tyler’s big sacrifice is to be surgically altered to look like his original appearance and he is doomed to live out his life as Voq for the good of Federation-Klingon relations. Even if this doesn’t happen (which I don’t really think it will) I still suspect that the picture of L’Rell is from a scene with Tyler.

Great catch with Mitchell’s twitter feed, if that’s true! Yes, I agree the time travel reset would be the cleanest and most obvious way to go–which is why I hope they don’t! There’s echoes here for me of the MU Lorca rumor twist, which I was also in denial about for similar reasons (But if they go back to the start–what do they do with MU Lorca who is still in command of Discovery then? Maybe they go back to the moment MU Lorca entered the PU? And how do we reconcile the other parallel characters–like Saru on both the Shinzou and the Discovery? A great cliffhanger would be Georgiou’s Discovery going back in time and facing off with Lorca’s Discovery! j/k)

I’ve thought about the other parallel characters and it’s problematic to say the least. Not so much if they just travel back in time to the point that they entered the MU but it’s difficult if they go back earlier like to the point in time that Mirror and PU Lorca swapped over. It’s for this reason I’ve postulated that the show really is going to be an anthology series and the crew sacrifice themselves Enterprise C style. Of course they could still go down this route and make up some meaningless technobabble to wrap it up in way that still allows a season 2 but that would seem like a cop out. I’m not an Avid Twitter user but I just had a browse of his feed. He does appear to have still posted Discovery promo tweets but he seems to have gone into overdrive in the last week. Haha I seem to remember them doing that cliffhanger in Red Dwarf so I wouldn’t rule it out!

And too where would the time travel reset leave LRell and Voq/Tyler, as well as the hints that this will be an episode about “peace” with the Klingons? (also, I just noticed Mitchell was included in the crew shot posted today. Maybe that supports your theory? Or it could all just be one big celebration of the finale).

I guess one possibility would be that the Discovery is thrown to some random future point in space/time after resetting the timeline and both characters essentially become/remain part of the crew. Also that’s why I’ve half posited Tyler may have to become Voq again and alongside L’Rell attempt to unify the Klingons and steer them along a more peaceful path.

Is anyone else already having trouble accessing CBS All Access today?

Whenever I am feeling blue and think to myself ‘why must I live this life?’, I watch Star Trek, and then I don’t feel so bad.

Despite my initial hopes, this season has instead stirred my cynicism about the show, its writers and their objectives. I won’t belabor you with most of my quibbles as they’ve been stated in varied comments by others throughout the season.

That said, I expect absolutely zero resolution with anything in this first season finale. Relying on the patterns and tropes seen thus far, I fully expect the show’s close to have more loose ends than the fringe on a flapper’s skirt.

Why? Because this show is being relied upon to drive subscriptions to CBS All Access and one of the most trite philosophies in the book is “cliffhangers = viewers.” My expectation is various story lines left open to try and intrigue as many different type viewers as possible, if not opening new ones with the same intent.

Oh, and lots of violence, bloodshed and explosions.

I honestly do have my fears regarding some of these issues. The show has been over plotted at times. And there will *definitely* be a massive cliffhanger at the end to ensure folks come back for season two. But it may or may not work. Who knows? I’m still optimistic they will still resolve most of the storylines from season one tonight in generally satisfying ways.

Hear, hear, on the overplotting. There were enough plots and subplots thrown at the viewers at warp speed to easily fill up 3 seasons. My pet peeves show no sign of abating for S2:

– The gratuitous sex, nudity and F-bombs which only exist to give the show a “cool GoT factor”
– The ridiculously dark space scenes where you can’t tell what the ships even are
– The juvenile “it’s been 5 minutes, let’s blow up something else”
– The obvious “the first few eps were Fuller’s, and the rest of the season were the new showrunners”
– The pushing out of the way of all reason: Yes, Arne Darvin could have easily been “surgically modified” from TOS Klingons but to change Voq to Ash is anatomically absurd and unbelievable. Also, when did a mind meld become interstellar FaceTime?

For me, too, its not just the number of twists, but how most of them don’t seem to work well. I absolutely agree with your criticisms of the Voq/Tyler twist. Not so much the twist itself, as the absurd way in which they seemed to go about it. Also, I didn’t like the MU Lorca twist, just because it seemed like such a one-dimensional waste of someone who was shaping up to be one of the more interesting and complex characters in recent Trek history (but we find out now that was all just smoke and mirrors and SOP misdirection). And I really don’t like the MU Georgiou is now Captain twist. That was really my “WTF” moment with this show.

But, like I said, I’m optimistic that there still might be some resolutions tonight that somehow better explain, or contextualize, or justify why these specific choices were made. (Maybe Voq’s literal physiology will play a crucial role in the peace process with the Klingons in a way that Tyler’s body couldn’t, for example?) I’ve said all along I will wait until the finale to make final judgments on season one.

I seriously can’t understand some people when they make comments like this. It’s almost like you haven’t caught up with modern television format (and I’m honestly not just saying that to be rude) but after saying over and over that the structure of the show is more in-line with Game of Thrones and other modern series why would you think that everything would be tied up in a bow? There’s a season 2, things can be carried over after 15 episodes. Starfleet has gone through a war, it ended in unconventional terms so that means the Federation is smaller. It opens the door for a lot of things. If you see changes and downgraded tech, you begin to get your answer. You begin to see Starfleet shift. That’s what you can do with modern television.

It’s because they want THEIR Trek the way it is in their own minds. They don’t understand that tv has changed since the 60s… since the 80s… it is ever changing. They can’t adapt to modern television format.

So that’s me off Twitter for most of tomorrow then. I wonder if it’s possible to extract a chronological listing of Tweets from the gang to download and read along as we Netflix scum watch? One that omits all the “I love you/love the show/wish to engage in procreational activities with you” replies from the great unwashed?

🤞 please be good

The Mirror Universe has ruined this season- the question is, will the show be able to recover? We ended up with Mirror Lorca, because someone (Kurtzman pehaps, maybe under pressure from CBS) decided Fuller’s notion of a morally questionable, wartime captain was too risky, and could alienate Star Trek fans. Thus the cop-out reveal- “just kidding, he’s a James Bond villain from Mirrorverse” – thereby trivializing this supposedly important period of Federation-Klingon relations. The writers tried to justify to themselves that they could salvage this by making timely sociopolitical commentary on Trumpism or fascism. But here’s the thing – the Terran Empire isn’t really fascist – fascism entails total domination by one political party or regime. In the Terran Empire, you assassinate your superiors to advance yourself – if you tried that in fascism, you would be executed because it would encourage individual autonomy and chaos. Yes, there are attempted coups in authoritarian regimes – but that’s at the top of the food chain; it’s not allowed to happen among the rank and file. I supposed we could posit a fascist state wherein anyone could murder whomever they wanted, but that would be a failed fascist state, not a functioning one.

Crucial point – ALL PREVIOUS STAR TREK WRITERS REALIZED THIS. Jerome Bixby said his idea of the Mirror Enterprise was a PIRATE SHIP (granted, the producers made the Nazi reference of the salute, but also maintained the pirate theme, as seen in the sashes and daggers). Ira Behr and Manny Coto understood the campy nature of the Mirrorverse and that it was not suited for incisive social commentary, and treated it as such. The writers of Disco Trek don’t seem to understand this, or were under pressure from above to dumb things down. They also fail to substantively develop the Mirrorverse, despite spending 4 episodes there. Worth noting is that the idea of a parallel universe with evil doubles is a badly shopworn cliche in the annals of sci-fi and fantasy. It was a commonplace idea in the 1950s when Bixby wrote his parallel story ‘One Way Street.’ In 2018, it is nearly impossible for the premise of meeting your evil moustached doppelganger to rise above the ridiculous or parodic. One of the only successful recent examples is Lynch’s Twin Peaks, which is treated as pure surrealism. Thus Disco Trek’s treatment of the Mirrorverse gives us a hackneyed concept devoid of serious political insight which serves to cheapen the epochal clash of Klingon and Federation. (Note: I don’t mean to diminish the episode, “Mirror Mirror,” which was a fine hour of television by the standards of 1967, and still entertains today.)

One thing I gotta say……….Sarek can rock a leather coat like nobody’s business. I’m almost…….*green* with envy.

*ducks and runs*

I will be very disappointed if the season ends with a time travel reset button. That is really lazy story telling that was abused in the other series. I want to see the characters live with and adapt to their choices and circumstances. Not see it all wiped away as if all of it never happened.

if there’s a season 2 then it won’t be a full reset and if it turns out that they are sticking to Fuller’s premise of an anthology series it won’t matter that it’s a hard reset because you wouldn’t have saw them live with it in any case.

So far…

This is what the Klingon war should have been all along.

We are starfleet! redemption arc complete! LLAP 🖖 BRAVO

wow that ending! what a beautiful shot and ship!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I’m giddy as a child!!!

lol ending music 😍

I am floating amongst the stars. What a beautiful tribute!

OMG… Spoilers below!
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Some random thoughts in no particular order:

1. I literally have goosebumps at the ending. Both for the Enterprise appearance as well as the TOS theme over the credits.
2. Mixed feelings about the Enterprise… It seemed to be about 90% consistent with the original, but with just enough differences to confirm we are in a visual reboot. I can live with that, but am in the camp that would have preferred more visual continuity to the original series. There were some similarities to the refit from TMP, especially with the nacelle pylons. Maybe the intent is to only be a visual reboot for TOS, and not necessarily everything else?
3. I’m surprised this wasn’t an extended episode. I’m glad they didn’t use a reset button, but the war story was wrapped up way too quickly. If they were determined to keep it to 45 minutes, I could have done without some of the Orion camp scenes, although a high Tilly was nice comic relief.
4. Clint Howard as Balok! Well, not exactly, but still a fun connection to TOS.
5. Pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of Ash. The twist with him going with L’Rell was surprising to me. Also, I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of Georgiou either.
6. Who is the new captain? Maybe Garth of Izar?
7. Interesting that they are looking for a non-human interface to the spore drive. I assumed this would somehow be classified and never spoken of again.

It will be hard to wait until early 2019 to see what direction they take things in Season 2!

Calling it now: The new Captain will be “Number One” from Pike’s Enterprise.

Spoiler alert

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The ship they’ve showed at the end is similar to that from the first ST movie. In this regard, we can rule out any 1966-type Connies as relates to the Enterprise (though not the Defiant).

There is much to be deduced from that sense. A great deal.

yes, the end parts of the nacelle is similair to the st2009 design, but it looks more similair to the TOS Enterprise from the 60s with a visual update. Seems Pike needs a hand, I wonder with what?

Just a beautiful ship. I love it. And it is so great that the producers and writers care about detail. I consider this a masterpiece.

Captain Pike — we finally get to see you in your prime!

It’s much closer to Gabriel Koerner’s Enterprise that he created right before the 2009 film was released.

I rewound and looked at it again and again you know what’s ironic? It looks less like the refit and more like a hybrid between the NX01 refit and the version in TOS. And to be honest with you, I’m ok with it. Expecting to see A LOT of complaining here tomorrow from many purists but I had the biggest grin on my face.

Yeah, I don’t really understand what happened there. The war’s over because L’Rell is holding them all hostage, essentially? Does the bomb go off if they assassinate her? And the Federation is still susceptible to a fatal Klingon attack at pretty much any time?

Cool to see an updated Enterprise, I guess — but none of the “Starfleet values, Hooray!” stuff felt earned.

Yes. L’Rell and Voq have the power. They are on top in a fractured precursor to the Klingon Empire.

The Klingons worship strength. L’Rell and Voq have it. It’s an interesting beginning.

Everyone is happy, war is over. T’Kuvma, Voq and L’Rell get their 24 houses unified

Do they, though? It was just all so sloppy.

It didn’t feel “earned,” for sure. But it actually felt like a really nice change of pace.

I just about cried. Enterprise is beautiful.

Me too!

Spoiler

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Emperor Georgiou lives to conquer another day. Interesting!

Well that was pretty dramatically unsatisfying. After a season of a war we barely see I guess it’s only fitting that the resolution would be similarly low key. Once again I think the episode was undone by its short running time; things were just introduced and rushed way too quickly. I also thought the tone of the episode was really odd considering the stakes; the attempts at humor felt forced and awkward.

I get that the point of the episode was to bring us back to the ideals of the Federation but the execution was really sloppy. Cornwell and Sarek were easily swayed to desperation and just as easily swayed out of it. It made the scene at Federation HQ at the end feel unearned.

It’s not surprising to see Akiva Goldsman’s name on the writer’s and director’s screen; it has all the hallmarks of his sloppy style and I was kind of worried about this episode the minute I discovered he was so involved with it.

The reveal of the NCC-1701 and the classic Alexander Courage theme were great but it’s also kind of telling that a callback to the old show was, for me at least, the highlight. I wonder if it was the plan all along to show the ship or if it was a late addition.

For a season finale, this was incredibly tame and forgettable.

Agreed. And I don’t think a lot of it would have worked at all without the distractions from the easter eggs.

I’m a little troubled to realize how easily we can be bamboozled by nostalgia. I got a little teary with the score and the ship, ridiculously. It’s just a CGI ship.

SPOILER: Another ship is approaching. . . .

“It’s the Enterprise.”

OMG, she looks so gorgeous!!!!

she’s what i wanted in the 2009 film

Awesome episode! Very happy to see the Enterprise at the end! I did not expect that! Only thing I would have liked is if it was an extended episode. Oh, and maybe see a few hairy Klingons… only to shut the complainers up.