⢠This is the series finale of the âStar Trek: Discoveryâ, the first instalment of what we might consider to be the modern era of Trek.
   ⢠Premiering in 2017, DIS ran for five seasons over the course of seven years.
   ⢠The show has a total of 65 episodes.
⢠The episode title, âLife, Itselfâ is a reference to the 1973 Disney animated classic, âRobin Hoodâ wherein the titular outlaw says the line, âMarian, my darling, I love you more than life itself.â Q transformed captain Picard into a version of the cartoon fox in âQpidâ.
⢠This episodeâs credited director is series executive producer, Olatunde Osunsanmi, who has directed thirteen prior episodes of DIS, and two âShort Treksâ. HIs presence is immediately apparent in the cold open when the first thing we see is the camera rotating upside down. The use of the flame jet emitters in the bridge is also one of his hallmarks.
   ⢠Jonathan Frakes is the uncredited director of the final sequence of the episode, which was done in reshoots after it was announced the series was ending. That means Frakes is now responsible for closing out two Trek series, both DIS and ENT.
⢠I previously speculated that the floating wickets at the end of this seasonâs credit sequence were from the bridge of the Breen dreadnought, but that was incorrect. The interior of the Pregenitor technology features floating wickets as windows into different biomes, and they resemble the ones in the credits much more closely.
⢠We see a dead Breen whose helmet is smashed open and a bunch of green goo is spilled out, perhaps confirming the fan speculation that when a Breen dies while not in its solid form, their body loses cohesion, and that is why Worfâs statement in ââTil Death Do Us Partâ that no one had ever seen a Breen outside of the refrigeration suit remained true, despite Kira and Dukat incapacitating two Breen to steal their suits for disguises in âIndiscretionâ.
⢠The Breen that tackles Burnham is the one who had a tether attached to their suit before attempting to enter the Pregenitor technology in âLagrange Pointâ; you can see the snapped tether still protruding from their back.
⢠Production error: The hurricane force winds are strong enough that Burnham and the Breen whom sheâs fighting are both blown horizontal, but Burnhamâs braids remain hanging down from her shoulders.
⢠The final credits sequence brings back graphics from earlier seasons:
   ⢠The captainâs chair from season one
   ⢠The environmental suit from season one
   ⢠The paired Klingon mekâleths from season one
   ⢠The graphical representation of Zora from season four
   ⢠Bookâs unnamed ship, from season three
   ⢠The flip communicator from season one
   ⢠The Red Angel suit from season two
   ⢠The DMA from season four
   ⢠The badge from season one
⢠The Breen fighters we see have an asymmetrical design with some elements of what we saw from the Breen interceptors in DS9.
⢠âThis is like the avalanche all over again.â Rayner recalls the events of âRed Directiveâ.
⢠âEver since Jinaal, Iâve been trying to figure out what it means. This change inside me, or whatever it is.â Doctor Culber refers to the third episode of this season by its title.
⢠âI know what itâs like to lose somebody who means everything to you. I do. But thankfully, I got him back.â In âWill You Take My Hand?â, Ash Tyler left to support LâRellâs bid to become chancellor. They were reunited in âSaints of Imperfectionâ.
   ⢠Moll does not get Lâak back.
⢠In the interior of Saruâs shuttle, we can see a pathway drive for the first time, though it was mentioned in the season four premiere, âKobayashi Maruâ.
⢠Burnham and Moll locate a cairn. Burnham surmises it is the grave for the sixth scientist, the one whom Jinaal mentioned having died when the group located the Pregentior technology.
⢠âNine. Thatâs the number you need to make a larger triangle.â There are ten triangles on the Pregentior interface when weâre shown an unobstructed close-up. Moll is as good at counting as Lâak was at not stabbing himself.
⢠The USS Discovery A destroys the fleet of Breen fighters pursuing them by using a photon torpedo to ignite a pocket of plasma. In âShadows and Symbolsâ, the IKS Rotarran used an EM pulse to trigger a solar plasma ejection, destroying a Dominion shipyard.
⢠Doctor Culber remembers the resonance frequency of the Pregenitor technology portal from his time as host to Jinaalâs consciousness in âJinaalâ.
⢠âMy species are predators, and I have studied you like prey.â In season one of DIS, the Kelpiens were mentioned repeatedly to be a prey species, and Saru was the lens through which that was presented. It was not until âThe Sound of Thunderâ in season two that Kelpiens were established to have nearly driven the Baâul to extinction thanks to the changes they undergo post-vaharâai.
   ⢠In âDie Tryingâ, the medical hologram Eli claimed that Saru might be the last Kelpien to display biochemical traces of vaharâai.
⢠The Progenitor whom Burnham meets reveals that her people were not actually the originators of the technology, and shares a theory that there was some sort of pre-Progentiors who created it, and them as well. Some sort of Pregenitors, if will.
⢠Apparently the Discovery A can perform a saucer separation. Itâs unclear if this was a feature of the Discovery pre-refit, but in âThe Appleâ Kirk suggested, âDiscard the warp nacelles if you have to,â to Scotty in order for the USS Enterprise to be able to devote as much power as possible to the impulse engines.
⢠The Progenitor causes Burnham to experience four billion years of development in a moment. In âHard Timeâ, OâBrien was implanted with memories of 20 years in prison, and it messed him up pretty badly for the rest of the episode.
⢠âNothing here can bring him back. Iâm so sorry.â Burnham informs Moll that the Pregenitor technology canât be used to bring Lâak back to life. Things that have been used to bring characters back to life in Trek include:
   ⢠Scotty was revived by Nomad after Nomad had killed him in âThe Changelingâ.
   ⢠Spock died in âStar Trek: The Wrath of Khanâ but the Genesis planet, revived his body as an infant, allowing for his katra, which had been transferred to Doctor McCoy, be returned to his now alive body.
   ⢠Worf and Wesley were both killed in a battle with bestial soldiers conjured by Q. Riker resurrects them with his temporary Q powers.
   ⢠Harry Kim had to die in âEmanationsâ to get transported back to the USS Voyager. The Doctor was able to revive him with medicine.
   ⢠Neelix dies in âMortal Coilâ, but is revived with Borg nanoprobes.
   ⢠Kelvin universe Kirk died in âStar Trek Into Darknessâ, but Doctor McCoy was able to filter Khanâs augment blood through a tribble and save him. Or something.
   ⢠Doctor Culberâs neck was snapped by Ash Tyler in âThe Saints of Imperfectionâ, and beings that live in the mycelial network revived him using fungus material from an interdimensional transporter as his new body in âDespite Yourselfâ.
   ⢠Shaxs died aboard an exploding Pakled clumpship in âNo Small Partsâ, but returned in âWeâll Always Have Tom Parisâ with story of having visited the black mountain and fighting three faceless apparitions of his father.
⢠âI realized we already have infinite diversity in infinite combinations.â The IDIC is a Vulcan philosophy first mentioned in âIs There In Truth No Beauty?â so that Gene Roddenberry could sell merch.
⢠Outside Federation HQ there is:
   ⢠An Eisenberg-class starship
   ⢠A Mars-class starship
   ⢠A Saturn-class starship
   ⢠A Merian-class starship
   ⢠A Courage-class starship
⢠Among the trinkets in Kovichâs display are:
   ⢠A Terran knife
   ⢠A type-2 phaser of the sort introduced in season five of TNG
   ⢠A bottle of Chateau Picard dated 2249
   ⢠A VISOR, presumably the one Geordi wore beginning in season two of TNG
   ⢠A baseball; itâs too clean to be Siskoâs so perhaps itâs Româs from âParth Ferengiâs Heart Placeâ
   ⢠Perhaps itâs noteworthy that Kovich does not have any items from the NX-01
⢠Kovich reveals himself to be Daniels, the temporal agent introduced in âCold Frontâ.
   ⢠Kovich says heâs from the USS Enterprise, but the NX-01 did not have the USS designation.
⢠Book had a confrontation with Talaxian pirates. Neelix established in âNon Sequiturâ that Talaxian piracy is mostly cased around the procurement of haircare supplies.
⢠Molly was the endangered trance worm Book rescued from the Emerald Chain in âThat Hope is You, Part 1â.
⢠In Burnham and Bookâs 33rd century home on Sanctuary Four, they have the Tuli wood box in which the Eternal Archive and Galleryâs World Root cuttings were stored in âLabyrinthsâ, and captain Georgiouâs telescope, first seen in âThe Vulcan Helloâ and received by Burnham in âThe Butcherâs Knife Cares Not for the Lambâs Cryâ.
⢠We learn that Burnham has attained the rank of Admiral.
⢠There is a deer-like creature on Sanctuary Four that Burnham calls Alice. Presumably she named the creature for âAliceâs Adventures in Wonderlandâ, a book we learned Amanda Grayson read to her as well as Spock in âContext is for Kingsâ and âOnce Upon a Planetâ.
⢠âI thought youâd be on your way to Crepuscula by now.â The Crepusculans were a pre-warp civilization in âThe Vulcan Helloâ. Georgiou and Burnham visited their world to help mitigate the effects of a drought caused by an industrial accident in nearby space.
⢠âOne, aye,â calls back to âPeople of Earthâ where Book disguised himself as a Starfleet officer.
⢠The shuttle captain Leto picks Burnham up in is UFP-47.
⢠Book has planted the World Root cuttings on Sanctuary Four, and we see several trance worms swimming in a river.
⢠Starfleet HQ now has three of the station/ships in the 33rd century.
⢠We see DOTs working on restoring the USS Discovery to itâs original configuration before the 32nd century refit.
⢠âI did hear a word in passing. âCraft.ââ Zora encounters Craft in âCalypsoâ, according to her, almost 1,000 years after being left in a nebula.
⢠Despite the years that have passed, all the ships we see in attendance for the *Discoveryâ*s last mission are spaceframes weâre familiar with from the 32nd century.
I think Burnham was referencing Book, not Tyler, when she said she knows what itâs like to lose someone but got him back. Book died during the final events of 10C, but they magically zapped him back into existence, if I recall correctly.
I suppose you could interpret it that way, but I just donât see it myself.
Book didnât die, he was transporting out, and the 10C were able to capture his transporter pattern, and then later resolve it.