In what continues to feel like a fresh start for Star Trek Discovery, episode 4: Forget Me Not, carried on the fine form of Season 3. *Warning: Some Spoilers Lie Ahead!*
After watching this episode, one of the things that was apparent is that it actually felt like a proper Star Trek episode. Previous seasons have been off in the weeds doing something else, sort of ok, but not Star Trek and sometimes just damaging the central ideas. Here though, we have a solid story that references known canon, does something relatable with it and moves along the bigger arc.
At the centre of ‘Forget Me Not’ is Adira (Blu del Barrio), the new addition to Discovery from Earth, who it was revealed last week had a Trill symbiont inside her. This is highly unusual, as humans have not been known to be able to carry them successfully. At least long term, despite Riker managing it for a short period! Unfortunately, this means that the memories of Starfleet Admiral Senna Tal, a previous host, have not been readily accessible by Adira and she only has flashes of his knowledge. To try to figure this out, Discovery decides to travel to Trill seeking assistance.

Once they arrive at Trill, we learn that their people were decimated during the burn, and available hosts are limited, so they are excited to meet her. When they discover that Adira is the host, they are aghast, as a Human being so is unthinkable, so refuse to help. This means that Michael (Soniqua Martin Green) and Adira have to take matters into their own hands, with the help of Guardian Xi (Andreas Apergis), who looks after the Symbionts. Here they attempt to reconnect Adira with Tal’s memories.

What is great here is that Forget Me Not references and links the show naturally with past appearances of Trill in canon and does not muck about with it like they have with other things. There is no equivalent to wildly different looking Klingons or anything. The sacred pool is remarkably like how it appears in DS9’s ‘Equilibrium’ and similarly, the process seems very in keeping with what Dax experiences.
While it is a little dubious that Discovery somehow manages to stumble across the only Human/Trill combination and then potentially saves their whole race, it hangs together well enough to be satisfying. It wouldn’t be the first time though that Federation ‘saviour’ complex has driven things forward and pushed concerns about how unlikely it was from writers’ minds though. There is a common recurrence of the Federation’s lofty and sometimes arrogant view, and it is recognised, by both viewers and sometimes in narrative. We can live with it.

That aside, it was nice to get back to a more familiar dynamic and plot that we know works for Star Trek. Michael took on a sort of Kirk/Sisko mantle here, guiding Adira, who could turn out to be quite an interesting character. Happily, the focus is on character and treating everything as being as completely normal as possible. There has been much made about the fact that Del Barrio is non-binary, but in the actual show it does not really feature. While the actor uses they/them pronouns in real life, in Forget Me Not she/her pronouns are used, which was a surprise, but apparently planned.
Either way, we know that Star Trek has represented similar identities in the past, especially with the Trill, the genderless Bynars, and TNG’s Soren (The Outcast – s5e17), so we know it should be handled in an acceptable fashion.

The main thing here is that the character, and their love interest Gray (Ian Alexander) are interesting characters and there is no ‘stunt casting’. For instance, the fact that Alexander is trans is never mentioned, and Gray stands on his own two feet as a Trill character. How they explore this in the future should be intriguing.

Elsewhere, there is some other great character development, as Saru (Doug Jones) tries to find a solution to the crew’s stress levels. Although his initial idea does end with Stamets (Anthony Rapp) at odds with both Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Detmer (Emily Coutts), it at least brings some of the frustrations to the surface. Ultimately, the solution comes from an unlikely source, which raises some questions, but ones which should only make things more intriguing if handled correctly.
So far this season, things have turned out quite well, and we are much more on firm Star Trek Ground. Forget Me Not gave us some familiar canon references, but also moved things along a bit, so bridged the gap between our old favourites and this new beginning well. After a couple of years of being dissatisfied with Discovery, It has become enjoyable again.