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Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 6 Review: Dark Forces Abound

This week's fourth season episode Paramount+'s Star Trek: Discovery "Stormy Weather" deals with an ominous dark force that threatens the crew and it's a race against time to escape its clutches. Specifically the U.S.S. Discovery went into a subspace rift created by the Dark Matter Anomaly only to find themselves trapped within it, testing the very limits of the ship's core systems from its corrosive elements.

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 4, Episode 6 Review Into Darkness
Pictured: Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Doug Jones as Saru of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/Paramount+ © 2021 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.

While it fits within the framework of the Dark Matter Anomaly that's beyond standard Federation analysis, it actually feels like a non-serial Star Trek episode where the ship finds itself on a mission of survival rather than one of the standard exploration. Capt. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is in full-on crisis management mode as they try to find some way out of their predicament. Without the use of their conventional sensors, they have to rely on some serious outside-of-the-box thinking (but don't they always?).

How Ian Alexander's Gray Tal and Annabelle Wallis' Zora Shine on Star Trek: Discovery

That very line shifts the spotlight to Gray (Ian Alexander), who becomes the unsung hero of the episode, and conveniently enough, Book (David Ajala), who's able to combine his abilities with his grief to conjure a figure from his past. The true unexpected star is Zora (Annabelle Wallis), the AI that was integrated into Discovery's computer and acts as its own sentient lifeform in what could best be described as the true next step in AI evolution well beyond Brent Spiner's Data from Picard and Next Generation. Directed by Jonathan Frakes and written by Anne Cofell Saunders and Brandon Schultz, the series does an exemplary job exhibiting the poise and stoicism of the cast, with special mention going out to Martin-Green, Alexander, Willis, and Anthony Rapp (Stamets). Now before we go, here's a featurette focusing on Frakes's life within the "Star Trek" universe behind the camera (with 23 episodes and counting)- and don't forget that Star Trek: Discovery streams new fourth season episodes on Thursdays:

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 6 "Stormy Weather"

Star Trek: Discovery: Season 4, Episode 6 Review Into Darkness
Review by Tom Chang

9/10
Directed by Jonathan Frakes and written by Anne Cofell Saunders & Brandon Schultz, Paramount+'s Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 Episode 6 "Stormy Weather" does an exemplary job exhibiting the poise & stoicism of the cast, with special mention going to Sonequa Martin-Green, Ian Alexander, Annabelle Willis, and Anthony Rapp.
Credits

Director
Jonathan Frakes

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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I'm a follower of pop culture from gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV for over 30 years. I grew up reading magazines like Starlog, Mad, and Fangoria. As a writer for over 10 years, Star Wars was the first sci-fi franchise I fell in love with. I'm a nerd-of-all-trades.
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