Posing as ‘Captain Georgiou,’ the Terran Emperor leads Discovery towards an incredible mission to save the Federation from extinction during the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. Image credit: Russ Martin / CBS.

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Ends With A Recipe For Principled Extinction: Season 1, Episode 15 Recap

The season finale gets the one thing Star Trek is famous for — ethics — completely wrong.

Life is full of dilemmas whose solutions seem paradoxical. To obtain peace, you must prepare for war. Law and order are required for a free society. And that when you are facing the prospect of an enemy who is hellbent on your demise, you must forego your pacifist ideals and fight back. The Federation was built on the ideals of peace, but finds itself immersed in a war that it’s losing, and losing badly. Ships, starbases, and even entire planets have been wiped out in the war with the Klingons. Closest to home, Earth faces imminent destruction. How, then, should the Federation and Discovery proceed to try and literally save the world? The season finale of Star Trek: Discovery, “Will You Take My Hand?” offers an extraordinarily unsatisfactory answer.

You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, but what tactics and consequences are a bridge too far to ensure your own survival? Star Trek: Discovery has some strong opinions on the matter. Image credit: Russ Martin/CBS © 2017 CBS Interactive.

Recap: With Georgiou in charge, the bridge is being run very differently: militaristically, with the intent to strike a deadly blow at the heart of the Klingon Empire. The bridge officers are…