'Star Trek: Discovery' recap: 'Despite Yourself'

Star Trek: Discovery returns in "Despite Yourself" with the Discovery crew figuring out where they are and how to survive.

On the midseason finale of Star Trek: Discovery, Stamets used the spore drive to get the Discovery to safety after a battle with Klingon forces. Unfortunately, something went wrong and the crew discover they are completely lost.

“Despite Yourself” picks up right where the last episode ended, with the Discovery in an unknown area of space with debris surrounding the ship. Lorca questions where they are and wonders about the wreckage. Saru says they are in the correct location, but everything else seems wrong. A Vulcan cruiser appears and when the Discovery tries to hail them, the Vulcan powers their weapons. Lorca tells them to raise shields and the Vulcans attack. Discovery returns fire and gets help from the Cooper, who mentions rouge Vulcans. The crew is confused and Lorca calls to ask about Stamets. Tilly answers, saying he is unresponsive, so the spore drive is not an option. Saru discovers the Vulcan cruiser and the Cooper have different quantum signatures. When Michael says it is an impossibility, Lorca counters that perhaps they are in a different universe.

Lorca tells Michael and Saru his alternative universe theory and how the spore drive might have transported them to another universe. Michael says if that is true, they cannot get the decloaking algorithm back to Starfleet to help fight the Klingons. Michael suggests looking at the spore drive logs. Lorca says they must focus on surviving and finding a way home.

In medical, Stamets mutters and is unresponsive when Tilly asks questions. Stamets talks about a castle and shoves his partner. Tilly tells Culber she hoped to jog Stamets memory and apologizes to him for keeping the side effects a secret. Lorca arrives and he and Culber argue over Stamets. Lorca orders Culber to hand Stamets over to another doctor.

Meanwhile, Tyler explores the wreckage looking for a data core so the Discovery can get information about the universe. Tyler starts having flashbacks and suffers a PTSD episode. Michael tries to calm him down while Lorca wonders why Tyler is having trouble flying. Tyler finds a the data core. He notes the dead bodies on board are a Vulcan and an Andorian, which surprises the crew as the ship is Klingon.

After he get back, Tyler goes to L’Rell and questions her again. She replies she will tell him everything if he opens the cell, so he does. She gets close and he grabs her neck and she speaks Klingon. Tyler replies in Klingon to the prayer, but when L’Rell asks for his name he goes back to normal. L’Rell says something went wrong as the prayer should have worked, mentioning he has too names. Tyler panics and pushes her back in the cell, running away.

Michael finds Tyler in the cafeteria and asks him what happened during his mission. He tells her about his flashbacks and Michael tells him to tell Lorca. He wants to wait until they are back home and Michael agrees to give him time after he promises to tell her if he is having trouble. Michael leaves to answer a call to engineering. Tyler blacks out for a moment and discovers he broke his glass.

In engineering, Tilly shows Michael the data core, which is Klingon but has a Vulcan source. The two talk about Stamets, believing he will get better. Later, Michael tells Lorca, Saru, Tilly and Tyler that the data proves they are in another universe. Michael also notes many ships and people appear to exist in both this universe and their own. In this universe, the Federation and Starfleet do not exist. Instead there is the xenophobic Terran Empire. Ruled by a “faceless Emperor,” the Terran Empire is a government that is the complete opposite of the Federation. The Terran Empire has a hatred of the “other,” and the aliens have united against them to fight. Lorca is called to the bridge as the Discovery is hailed by the Cooper.

Saru believes they switched places with the mirror Discovery and the crew works on getting information about the Discovery in this universe. Michael stops Lorca from answering the Cooper’s call because he is not the Captain. Tilly is surprised to see her own face when Michael pulls the screen up to display Captain Sylvia Tilly. She answers the voice call and awkwardly attempts to fool the Cooper. She makes Lorca pretend to be her engineer and he uses a fake Scottish accent when Michael tells him to be careful because they do not know who he is in this universe. Lorca tells Saru to get the crew prepared and tells them they must pretend to be the mirror universe versions of themselves.

Michael coaches Tilly, telling her mirror Tilly’s background and that she came into power by murder. The crew changes the Discovery to have Terran images and replicates new uniforms. Michael goes to Lorca and tells him she found their information. Mirror Lorca is accused of killing mirror Michael, who is believed dead. Both were Captains of their previous ships and mirror Lorca attempted to overthrow the Emperor. Mirror Michael was sent to stop him and her ship was destroyed. The Emperor attacked Lorca’s ship later, but after there is no more data. The two talk and Lorca mentions a plan.

Lorca tells Saru and Tyler about the USS Defiant, saying it somehow got to the mirror universe as well, but obviously not by a spore drive. He believes if they found out how, the Discovery can find a way home. Lorca wants the two of them to pose as their mirror selves, claiming mirror Michael survived and found mirror Lorca. Lorca tells Tyler he will pose as Michael’s guard.

Tyler goes to Culber asking him to find out if the Klingons did anything to him and Culber agrees to run some scans even though Tyler passed all his tests before. Culber goes to check on Stamets after he yells. He kisses him and Stamets returns for a moment, telling his partner “be careful, the enemy is here” before returning to his non responsive state.

Michael gives Tilly a pep talk and gets her ready to face the Shenzhou. Michael says the Terran strength is a lie because they are always fearful. Tilly calls the Shenzhou and Michael is surprised to see Connor, one of her former crew who died in battle. Tilly tells Connor she found a shuttle with a surprise inside. Michael brings a bloodied Lorca out. She tells Connor to bring the Shenzhou to them and after some strong words from Tilly, he agrees.

Tyler arrives in medical and Culber explains he ran deeper tests and found out the Klingons did do medical procedures. He also mentions science about overlaying personalities and says Tyler has been transformed. Tyler gets angry when Culber says he cannot go on the mission. Tyler hears Klingon speech and then snaps Culber’s neck.

The Shenzhou appears and the group goes to the transporter room. Lorca tells Michael and Tyler to do whatever they must to complete their mission. They arrive on the Shenzhou and Michael makes sure she is in charge of Lorca and they take him to the torture area.

In the elevator, Connor tells Michael about his ascent to Captain, saying the Emperor approved. Connor says the crew is not afraid of him enough, not like with Michael. He then attacks Michael and the two fight. In the end she uses his knife and stabs him in the stomach. The elevator opens and Connor’s body falls out. The crew applauds and Michael tells them to take care of the body. She sits in the Captain’s chair and echoes the crew’s “long live the empire.”

Later, Michael goes to her room and finds Tyler. The two discuss the day and she mentions she had no time to look for the files. Tyler says no matter what happens or what they do, she will be protected. The two embrace and begin making out on the bed. Meanwhile, Lorca is being tortured in the brig.

I am very excited about the mirror universe! I guessed back in “Lethe” we might see the mirror verse due to that foreshadowing with Stamets in the mirror. This show has had a lot of foreshadowing, including Tyler. It has been clear from the beginning that he is not who he said.  I am disappointed in the show for killing Culber. That said, the showrunners tell Buzzfeed we will see Culber again, so I am cautiously hopeful.

I absolutely loved Tilly in this episode, and Michael helping her friend was great as well. I wonder if Stamets can see the future. He talked about the not going to the castle/palace so I wonder if some of our characters will go to the Emperor's palace. Speaking of the Emperor, I am leaning towards it being Georgiou because that would be another blow to Michael. Lastly it is pretty cool this episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes, better known by fans as Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

New Star Trek: Discovery episodes are released on Sunday nights at 8:30 pm on CBS All Access for the US, while Canadians can watch at 8 pm on Space. Various countries can watch new episodes Mondays on Netflix.