Synopsis: In ‘Rubicon’ Captain Burnham and the U.S.S. Discovery race to stop Book and Ruon Tarka from launching a rogue plan that could inadvertently endanger the galaxy.
The Story
Having tried to get Book and Tarka to back down in last week’s episode. Captain Burnham continues on her mission to try and stop them from destroying the DMA. But knowing how close Burnham is to Book. Starfleet has put Cmdr. Nhan is in place as security to help Burnham stop Book and Tarka. As Discovery arrives at the site of the DMA we get a standoff between Captain Burnham and Book as neither one is going to back down and neither one will use lethal force. What ensues is a game of cat and mouse as Discovery and Book’s ship dance around committing to a finishing blow. Burnham is forced into making an impossible decision should she fail to persuade Book and Tarka to back down on their plans. But she isn’t counting on how unstable Tarka is with his obsession to exploit the DMA’s power source.
Acting
Rachael Ancheril makes a welcome return as Cmdr. Nhan. A character that I have missed since her decision to leave the series in season 3. In this episode, Nhan is in place to make sure that Burnham’s feelings for Book do not compromise the mission. This makes for some interesting scenes between Ancheril and Sonequa Martin-Green. Burnham has to argue a case for saving Book and Tarka if at all possible. This makes for some rather edgy scenes as Nhan takes exception to the fact that Book fires on discovery.
We also get strong performances from David Ajala and Shawn Doyle as we begin to see some of the cracks in Book and Tarka’s relationship as it becomes clear they are not on the same page.
Overall
A fairly solid episode in which we see Tarka’s actions increase the stakes for next week’s installment as it looks like Starfleet will have a more difficult time in making first contact with 10C.
- Story9.5
- Acting9.8
- CGI & Stunts10
- Incidental Music9.7
