RECAP: 'Discovery''s Crew Puts the Red Angel to the Test

“Perpetual Infinity,” the 11th episode of Star Trek: Discovery's second season, will stream this evening. Before you watch, catch up on Discovery’s most-recent events with this collection of highlights from "The Red Angel.”

Of All The Souls…

The crew bids farewell to Airiam during a touching funeral ceremony that includes Saru singing a song that’s heartbreaking even if neither the characters nor the audience understands a word of Kelpien. Longtime fans, may have caught a fun Easter egg in this funeral scene: it's quite similar to Spock’s elegiac service in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Michael, It’s You

Cornwell meets with Spock, Pike, Burnham and Saru, and wonders aloud how a Section 31 program designed to eliminate threats has become a threat itself. The answer is time travel, which Spock explains is, “The one variable we cannot possibly predict in the future.” Cornwell wants the AI destroyed. Tilly joins the group to reveal that a digital parasite implanted a file — “Project Daedalus” — in Airiam, and adds, “The file also contains a bio-neural signature of the Red Angel. Michael, it’s you.”

Build a Better Mousetrap

Burnham struggles to absorb Tilly’s news. If she is the Red Angel and knew about an impending apocalypse, why not just say so? Perhaps the seven signals are a warning. Maybe Burnham is guiding Starfleet to specific points on some sort of path. But why? Cut to Leland, who arrives aboard the Discovery with Georgiou. They share that 20 years ago, during a temporal arms race with the Klingons, Section 31 created the Red Angel, which now must be captured. “Let’s go build a mousetrap,” Cornwell says.

Remember These Moments

Short but key interactions play out, notably including Leland coming clean to Burnham. Her parents worked for him on Project Daedalus, and their deaths are his fault. Burnham brutally assaults Leland, but then realizes something much worse. Tyler knew all along. And finally, at long last Burnham and Spock make their peace. He accepts her apology, and she breathes a sigh of relief. Spock then tells his sister that she’s the variance, the thing that causes the Red Angel to appear in some instances and not in others.

Laying the Bait

Discovery need not chase the Red Angel. Rather, they can bait it with Burnham. The idea goes against Pike’s oath as captain, but he reluctantly accepts Spock and Burnham’s argument that the Red Angel won’t let her die. Burnham apologizes to Tyler and they kiss. Spock offers encouragement. “It would… be ideal if you survived,” he says, prompting Burnham to reply, “Such a way with words, Spock.”

Mom?

Life support shuts down and a screaming Burnham nears death. Spock, phaser in hand, thwarts Dr. Culber and Georgiou from helping her. Pike orders him to stand down, but he refuses and Burnham expires. The Red Angel arrives and revives her, and begins to emerge from its suit. In an all-time Trek twist, Burnham and the audience slowly discover the unthinkable. The Red Angel is Burnham’s mother.

Global Preview: “Perpetual Infinity”

In “Perpetual Infinity,” Burnham receives the reunion she’s been longing for, but it doesn’t go quite as she imagined. Georgiou and Tyler sense a disturbing change in Leland.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 are also available on the Pluto TV Star Trek channel in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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