'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 3 Episode 4: Has Control found a way to corrupt Kayla Detmer in 32nd century?
The 'Discovery' crew is slowly piecing themselves back together after jumping almost a millenium into the future. The physical injuries have healed but the trauma of it all is overwhelming, and that clearly seems to be the case with Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Kayla Detmer (Emily Coutts).
After being separated from the rest of team, Michael Burnham (Sonequa J Martin) manages to reunite with them... a year later. The wormhole pushed Discovery to their breaking point and Saru (Doug Jones) along with the crew had to execute a crash-landing that left them with several injuries. Thanks to Detmer, the ship executed a perfect thermal roll with no casualties. This earned her much admiration and praise, but somehow nothing seems to be sitting well with Detmer.
In the previous episode, she seemed distracted and disoriented. Moreover, this sudden detachment almost lands the crew in further trouble, she is not able to execute a proper take-off from parisitic ice. This could have had disastrous results. Initially, the first explanation that came to mind was that she had received a brutal bump on the head and was taking time to recover, even though she got the all-clear from the sickbay. But nothing is so easy in 'Discovery'. In the latest episode, during a team lunch, Detmer and Stamets have a battle of words, and she definitely doesn't seem like herself. She seems emphatic that people should know that she landed Discovery and saved them all. She seems bitter, almost. This causes much friction at the table, and Stamets leaves furious.
Another probable explanation is, Detmer has a small fragment of Control AI in her cybernetic implants. For those who might have forgotten, Control was the AI from Season 2 who was keen on wiping out human life. Discovery joined hands with the Enterprise to eliminate Control, but it's quite possible the AI has found a way to the 32nd century. It infects machinery, as we know. This had led to the death of Airiam, in the earlier season. Detmer might not know what's happening with her, as she is more human, but the corruption could be working its way through her. This is just going to lead to further chaos in this new world, if it's the case.
'Star Trek: Discovery' streams on CBS-All Access, every Thursday.