RECAP: Time is of the Essence

The 12th episode of Star Trek: Discovery's sophomore season, "Through the Valley of Shadows," will stream tonight. In advance of it, StarTrek.com is here to catch you up on the major twists and turns from "Perpetual Infinity."

Burnham flashes back to childhood memories with her parents, Gabrielle (Sonja Sohn) and Mike (Kenric Green, the real-life husband of Sonequa Martin-Green). We hear Gabrielle and Mike reference her first jump and glimpse an image of the Red Angel suit, all just before the Klingons arrive. A shocked Burnham discovers her mother has been sucked hundreds of times into a future, "with no signs of life anywhere." Later, Gabrielle impatiently tells Pike she knows nothing about the seven signals and insists that the sphere archive be deleted in order to defeat the AI.

Control appears to Leland as Burnham, Pike, and Saru while sharing with Leland its plans for him. No one, the AI argues, will question Starfleet's chain of command, and though assuming human form can be tricky, Leland's willingness to "operate from several different truths simultaneously" makes him ideal. The AI morphs into Leland and declares to the real Leland, in Borg-like tones, "Struggle is... pointless." He orders Tyler to secure the sphere data as an increasingly suspicious Georgiou stands by.

Michael and Gabrielle come face to face, but Mom deems the reunion meaningless; she's focused on the bigger picture. Pike, Stamets, Michael, Spock, and Tyler realize that destroying the sphere data is the wrong approach. The new plan: drop the data into the Red Angel suit and jettison it past Gabrielle's anchor point. Perpetual infinity. Dark matter can be used to save Gabrielle.

Gabrielle asks Georgiou to take care of Michael. Georgiou suggests that perhaps one day Gabrielle can do so herself, but Gabrielle replies that Control considers her "an unacceptable risk to the larger mission." Déjà vu! Gabrielle then argues against Discovery's scheme to separate her from the suit and keep her in current space-time, as it means no one can safeguard the data if the plan fails. "I am not losing you again," Michael tells her mother, who finally, tearfully, expresses her love and pride for Michael.

I'll Find You, Mom

Looking mighty cybernetic, Leland stabs Tyler, attacks Michael, and fights Georgiou mano a mano. All the while, the Section 31 ship downloads the data. Michael has to let her mother go (and does) but Leland escapes with 54 percent of the sphere data. Attempting to console Michael, Spock says, "What we do now, here, in this moment, has the power to determine the future.... All of history can change with our next move."

Global Preview: "Through the Valley of Shadows"

In "Through the Valley of Shadows" a fourth signal leads the U.S.S. Discovery to an insular world, where Pike is forced to make a life-changing choice. Burnham and Spock investigate a Section 31 ship gone rogue, leading to a discovery with catastrophic consequences.

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.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.