HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
Discovery takes us somewhere entirely new in “The Galactic Barrier,” and I’m thrilled. Yes, Discovery has brought us 900 years into a future very foreign to the Federation we’ve known and loved (assuming you’ve been a fan of Trek as long as I have) most of our lives, but they’ve still stayed mostly in the alpha and beta quadrants and have encountered, more or less, familiar species. Crossing the Galactic Barrier is something unique to Discovery, and frankly, it’s about time. However, the Galactic Barrier is far from the only obstacle the episode seeks to tackle, merely the metaphor made manifest. As they pass through the Barrier, Burnham and Rillak, who have been at odds since the season began, start to find commonalities between them and are therefore able to work together effectively for the first time.
Plot Ahoy!
In broad strokes, Discovery, filled with a diplomatic envoy that includes both Presidents Rillak and T’Rina, approaches the Galactic Barrier, and they have to determine how best to cross the Barrier, which is comprised of energies lethal to the ship’s occupants. They must therefore traverse the Barrier through the medium of bubbles of stable space, hopping between them as necessary. However, just before the Barrier rendered communication impossible, Discovery receives a garbled transmission from Vance who tells them that the DMA will begin menacing both Earth and Ni’Var within the next seventy two hours. Burnham and Rillak argue over whether they should inform the crew and discuss their personal attachments to both Earth and Ni’Var. Eventually, they do pass through the Barrier, and Rillak informs the crew of the new, accelerated timeline for their mission to communicate with Species 10-C. Resolute, the crew turns their attention to their now, increasingly desperate mission.
The episode’s other major plotline concerns Tarka and Book attempting to retrieve programmable anti-matter in order to reinforce the shielding on Book’s ship. They have decided to cross the Barrier as well in order to gain Tarka his power source and allow Book to attempt to destroy the DMA at its source. However, in order to do so, they must travel to the Emerald Chain outpost in which Tarka spent so much time as a prisoner. Book demands that Tarka tell him more about his motives, and Tarka reveals his stories about Oros, the mysterious friend he so desperately wishes to join.
After having spent half a decade in solitary, the Chain allows him to partner with Oros on a project. Initially skeptical of this new roommate, Oros refuses Tarka’s overtures of friendship, but over time, they begin to bond and form a friendship. They take as the symbol of that friendship the Golden Ratio, and finally, Oros reveals to Tarka just what his own special project all this time has been. Oros believes he has found a way not only to move between dimensions but also to target the dimension to which one can travel. He explains to Tarka that his species has a legend about a place they call Kayalise, which is roughly analogous to Terran concepts of Heaven. Tarka scoffs, but Oros has managed several convincing calculations.
Newly convinced, Tarka goes to help him create the interdimensional transporter Oros has been attempting to build. They manage one attempt, theoretically due to a lack of power, before the Emerald Chain comes in to beat both Oros and Tarka bloody. Tarka, the least injured of the pair, manages to wrest the weapon away from the guard. He removes the slave controller and does the same for Oros. He tries to help Oros to his feet, but Oros is in too much pain to move fast enough to make good on this chance for escape. He tells Tarka to go on without him. Guilt-ridden, Tarka confesses to Oros that he told Osyraa about the transporter in exchange for his own freedom, and Oros forgives him. Tarka would remain, but Oros insists that Tarka flee. He does and promises to return for Oros, but when he does, he finds the camp deserted and no sign of Oros. In the present, he tells Book that there was a sudden power surge while he was in hiding that could have been the transporter. He has never found a record of Oros, alive or dead, so he hopes Oros successfully made it to Kayalise.
Booker weighs Tarka’s story and reminds him that none of what happened was Tarka’s fault, which Tarka disputes. Book muses that the story may have allowed him to understand his own father a bit better. He now grasps that his father concluded he could do nothing in the face of the Emerald Chain’s demands, and he therefore chose the option that allowed him to remain alive and relatively free. Tarka, however, remains convinced of his own guilt, but they do retrieve the programmable anti-matter that Tarka had stashed in preparation for their own trip through the Barrier.
The last major development in the story occurs when Saru finally confesses his burgeoning feelings to T’Rina. She does not respond, but he does discover that she has opted to accompany the diplomatic envoy aboard Discovery, making everything terribly awkward. As it happens, potential pre-death love admissions work better when you then don’t have to see the object of your affections in meetings every day.
Analysis
When viewing the Galactic Barrier as a metaphor, it becomes clear that the central theme of this particular episode is pushing through obstacles, and in keeping with the rest of the season, the best way to overcome these barriers is to reach out, find common ground, and form connections with others. For Burnham and Rillak, that involves not only recognizing each other’s respective personhood but also setting respectful boundaries and keeping to them. I do like that the episode makes explicit that one does not have to lose one’s self in order to make the necessary connection. Finding and setting healthy boundaries is just as much a part of creating a solid relationship of any kind, not just a romantic one. Mutual respect leads to a stable working relationship between Rillak and Burnham, and it’s frankly really great that the episode shows us them working out their issues. They’re two very strong-willed women, but they can and do manage to find a way to move past their previous difficulties.
For Tarka, he must make himself vulnerable in a way he has yet to do for anyone all season in order to overcome Book’s objections to his very presence. He offers the story of his friendship with Oros as an olive branch, and it’s very characteristic of Book to demand to know Tarka before continuing with their hare-brained scheme to destroy the DMA. Book then reaches back to Tarka with his own story about his father, and they find their equilibrium.
For Saru, the barrier he overcomes is his own reticence. I have to admit that I really like getting to see Saru reaching out to grasp at something uniquely for himself. The awkwardness with T’Rina leaving him hanging is less entertaining, but in all fairness to her, he has chosen a slightly inconvenient time to make his confession. Still, the humor of the situation provides a very necessary counterpoint to the heaviness of the rest of the episode.
I have no doubt that “The Galactic Barrier” represents the lull before the storm, but the decision to allow the characters a chance to come to terms with most of the attendant issues in order to present a united front to 10-C is a wise one. I do not care for the vague sense that Tarka’s story is designed to make him sympathetic. Tarka’s selfishness has been his defining characteristic, and his guilt over his own actions is likely an outgrowth of same.
As always, I’ll be interested to see where we go from here.
Rating:
3 cups of Earl Grey Tea
Stray Thoughts From the Couch:
- Please note that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this barrier. In TOS, Kirk’s Enterprise encountered the Barrier in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
, “By Any Other Name,” and “Is There in Truth No Beauty.” We’ve even met extra-galactic species before—the Kelvans. However, having a ship cross the Barrier under its own power without significant refitting? That’s unique to Discovery; even in TOS, Kirk returned the Enterprise to its own galaxy rather than explore this new frontier. - I’m having trouble not eye-rolling at programmable anti-matter. Something about the concept just seems ridiculous.
- I still have no sympathy for Tarka, and I’m a little upset that Book seems to have accepted Tarka’s apology.
- Please note that Star Trek: Picard‘s second season has dropped.