As soon as Lorca’s true nature was revealed, the story was inevitably going to quicken its pace.  I’m just a bit surprised that the jaunt into the Mirror Universe is over already, leaving quite a few major holes in the overall continuity tapestry along the way.  And I’m not even talking about the fact that Discovery came back nine months later than they left to a war where the Klingons have gained considerable territory.

But I’ll start there: how does one reconcile the state of play of this war with the idea that things have become little more than a broiling cold war in the space of a decade?  While the idea of Discovery potentially taking a trip back through time to fix the mistake is always on the table, that doesn’t feel like the trajectory of the narrative at this point.  Instead, it seems to be pointing to Empress Georgiou as the architect of the Federation victory.  Or, at least, forcing the familiar detente.

But how do they get Empress Georgiou back to the Mirror Universe?  Or will they kill her off before all is said and done?  It’s getting very messy, which is ironic, since the previous episode set things up rather well for a tidy resolution to all of the apparent continuity issues.  It’s feeling more and more like those who say this will need to be written off as a story told from a particularly biased and inaccurate point of view are the ones with the right idea.

Ultimately, it’s how the writers seem to drop the ball on giving the story a clear sense of direction that disappoints.  I’ve said it before, but if this were a one-season story arc, then the question of the overall point would be moot; it would essentially be the various adventures of different ships in different eras with the same name.  That’s a great concept that allows for different looks and tones season to season, but if the story is going to continue with these characters, then it’s hard to understand what the journey is about.  There’s just something hollow within the execution.

What comes to mind almost immediately is that Lorca’s true goal, the insurrection that he leads, and the resolution to the spore drive crisis should have all been the final three episodes of the season.  It should have been given more scope and depth to make the events really stick and mean something.  The end of this episode would have made for an interesting season finale, at least, and would have also given the writers a bit of time to sit back, rethink a few things, and figure out how to line things up correctly.

That’s not to say this was a horrible episode.  It was visually strong, there were solid performances, and the show continues to be highly entertaining.  It just feels like these episodes could have been hitting out of the park, and instead we received something closer to a highlight reel of the more substantial vision that might have been.