Your "Saints of Imperfection" Primer

“Saints of Imperfection,” episode five of Star Trek: Discovery's sophomore season, will stream tonight. And StarTrek.com is here to get you ready for it with Four Highlights from "An Obol for Charon" and a preview of “Saints of Imperfection.”

Welcome, Number One

Number One (Rebecca Romijn) makes her long-awaited Discovery debut, transporting aboard the ship with information about Spock. And it’s not great news. Starfleet has classified the case at the highest priority level. However, Number One has her ways and, as she puts it, “I’m not letting him go without a fight.” Oh, and did we mention that Number One likes a good cheeseburger?

A Different Kind of Web

The Discovery and her crew are immobilized/trapped by a sphere, caught as if in a spider’s web. Weird things start to happen, like the universal translator going on the fritz and everyone on the bridge suddenly speaking different languages.  Death for everyone on the ship seems likely. Only, it turns out the sphere means no harm. It’s a 100,000-year-old entity – a dying entity -- that collected a nearly infinite amount of details about everything it’s seen and experienced. “Its final act was to save us,” Burnham observes, “so we could tell its story.” Captain Pike notes that Federation scientists will be studying that story for centuries to come.

Ground Control to Ensign Tilly

Just when Tilly thought May was gone for good, the mycelial entity attaches to her. The situation forces Stamets and Reno, who initially butt heads upon meeting, to team up to save Tilly. That process includes lots of guessing, a bit of bickering, a mind trip or two, a few scares, plus some… David Bowie. Only, in the end, Tilly is in a much, much worse place: inside the entity.

So Long, Saru?

Saru is dying. He’s afflicted with a terminal illness experienced by Kelpiens before they’re culled. Burnham is desperate to save him, but there’s nothing to be done -- or is there? Saru and Burnham’s friendship deepens through all this, and Saru, believing he’s on the verge of death, compels Burnham to promise she will make peace with Spock. He also asks her to cut off his threat ganglia. She agrees to both, though his threat ganglia come off on their own, leaving Saru feeling “power.”

Preview: “Saints of Imperfection”

In episode five, “Saints of Imperfection,” Burnham and the crew navigate a dangerous alien landscape in a race against time to save Tilly’s life, but Stamets is not at all prepared for what they find in the process. Section 31 is assigned to help track down Spock, much to Pike’s dismay.

Star Trek: Discovery streams exclusively on CBS All Access in the United States and is distributed concurrently by CBS Studios International on Netflix in 188 countries and in Canada on Bell Media’s Space Channel and OTT service Crave.