Warning: Contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 15 'Will You Take My Hand?'.
The final episode of Star Trek: Discovery's first season opens with the Federation on the eve of battle with the Klingons – not too dissimilar to how the series opened, really.
But whereas Michael Burnham's actions in the premiere sent the series down this darker path of war, violence and betrayal, taking its inspiration from Game of Thrones (and building up to several episodes spent reflecting on the consequences of a world built on that violence, in the Mirror Universe), here Discovery proves that it hasn't quite forgotten its Star Trek roots after all.
With the Mirror-verse version of Philippa Georgiou serving as captain of the Discovery on Federation's orders, the opening of 'Will You Take My Hand?' establishes a nice reflection of where we were when we started: Philippa in charge and Michael following orders.
But this is the Terran Emperor we're talking about, so the differences are made abundantly clear too – first in Philippa's quick and ruthless shutdown of any words or actions that humanise their enemy (Qo'nos is not the Klingon homeworld, it's a planet) and second in Michael's distrust in her captain's motives.
Philippa says she's acting to give the Federation a fighting chance in the war they're losing, and the official plan is to beam down to the surface of the Klingon homeworld disguised as "lowlives" – read: arms dealers – and map the surface to help Starfleet prepare for an invasion.
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The real plan, as it turns out, is to destroy the planet, with Mirror Philippa dropping a bomb inside one of Qo'nos' active volcanoes in order to instigate a natural disaster that would wipe out the entire planet and millions of its people.
It's a very Terran course of action but it's Starfleet that gave the order – trapped, as they are, on the losing side of a war it has no hope of winning without taking drastic action and going against everything they stand for in the process.
"We do not have the luxury of principles," comes Admiral Cornwell's defence of the planned genocide and the Michael of the premiere would agree with her, having previously rejected Starfleet's principles in a bid to aid the Shenzhou's survival, starting a war in the process.
But Michael hasn't spent 14 episodes atoning for her actions to repeat the same mistakes now, and Saru and the Discovery stand by her in a true Spartacus moment as she once again threatens a mutiny, this time to ensure the Federation lives up to Starfleet's principles.
Yes, the coming-full-circle of it all is very much on the nose, at times feeling more like the episode was written purely to right the wrongs of the premiere that set this season into motion, and give Michael a ready-made redemption arc in the eyes of the Federation so she doesn't end up straight back in prison when all this is over.
You can't fault the intentions, though, and we've seen Michael wrestle with the lines between humanity, compassion, fear and logic often enough that her response here feels earned and, crucially, true to her character too.
As Tyler declares after Michael reflects on the brutality of her parents' deaths at the hands of the Klingons, she has every reason to hate them, both for that moment and every bit of pain they've caused her since, from killing the Prime Captain Georgiou to, ultimately, taking the Tyler she loved away from her.
But Michael recognises too that Qo'nos is a home, filled with people just living their lives and, having lost her own home, she doesn't want to destroy that, so she finds another way – the Starfleet way, a way that brings peace and avoids conflict.
Related: Star Trek shouldn't say "f**k" – Why Discovery's "darkness" is missing the point
What follows is Discovery getting a jump start on its promise that season two will feel more like classic Trek, with Michael delivering the most optimistic speech in the series so far. The war is over and the problem of the half-human, half-Klingon Tyler has been solved by sending him away with L'Rell to keep the Klingon threat under control, while the remaining crew of the Discovery is being honoured by the Federation (Dr Hugh Culber included – *sob*) and Michael herself has been reinstated as Commander, with a full pardon for her crimes.
"We will not take shortcuts on the path to righteousness," Michael vows as she and the crew of the Discovery promise to uphold Starfleet's mission to continue exploring the galaxy and be the torchbearers that light the way rather than repeat the "bleak times" of war.
The ending message is undoubtedly a segue into the world we've seen in Star Trek: The Original Series, and gives Discovery's position as a prequel new grounding and more merit amidst criticisms that it's been too dark/too technologically advanced/too off-mission to lead into the world Trekkies already know and love.
And the showrunners did say Discovery's connection to The Original Series was going to be a "big discussion" in season two, so just to make that link very clear, the episode ends with the Discovery receiving a distress call from the USS Enterprise itself, helmed by Captain Pike – the original Enterprise captain (sorry Kirk).
You can't get more classic Trek than that.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS in the US and Netflix in the UK.
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