'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 3 Episode 1: 'The Hope is In You' teases another time jump for Burnham and Book
Spoilers for 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 3 Episode 1 'The Hope is In You'
When Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) said she would go into the future, her crew immediately volunteered to go with her. Unfortunately, they were not able to travel together, and though the crew was only moments behind each other while traveling through the wormhole, that short distance can translate to months, years, and even centuries before the USS Discovery reaches the future. For the moment, Burnham is on her own – and the previews for the coming season indicate that it's going to be several years before she's united with her crew.
Both the new title sequence for the show, as well as teases for future episodes show Burnham with significantly longer hair, indicating a major time shift. Not as major as 930 years, of course, but still enough time for her to entrench herself into this new Federation-less future, and more than enough time for being able to guide her crew when they finally join her. She's not alone, as all indications point towards her new ally Book (David Ajala) is by her side as she continues her mission. As to what that mission is, the stakes are high – Burnham is going to be spending her days not trying to get back home, but to re-establish the Federation in the future.
The Federation collapsed after an unexplained disaster known as The Burn exploded most of the universe's dilithium, a compound that's essential for a ship's warp cores, without which interstellar travel becomes a very challenging prospect. Keeping an alliance of planets together across galaxies is no easy feat with travel essentially crippled. However, more than the practical challenges, it was the loss of faith in the Federation that seemed to have caused its collapse. After the Federation was unable to explain just how the universe's dilithium exploded and was unable to promise it wouldn't happen again, people lost all trust in the organization, and it wasn't long before it collapsed.
That was, according to Book, a little over a century ago. Michael Burnham is now trying to understand just how The Burn happened and the century that's passed since makes finding clues that much harder.
The next episode of 'Star Trek: Discovery' releases on CBS All Access on October 22.
