9 Ups & 1 Down From Star Trek: Discovery 5.8 — Labyrinths

Okay, so we are getting a little worried at this point, and Seán will have this covered too. This week, once more, there was sadly no Detmer, Owosekun, and no Saru. This is only really a DOWN because, as the season and series draws to a close at an alarmingly fast pace, there's so little time left for us to spend with each of these characters who we've followed from the very beginning. Of course, no one knew in 2022 that season five would be the last, so we certainly can't and don't blame anyone for a lack of planning only possible in hindsight (or with one of those Krenim chronophages).

We do know via TrekMovie and a Tweet that Saru actor Doug Jones missed out on the most recent set of episodes — four to now eight (Face the Strange, in fact, re-used footage from season three) — because he was then busy promoting the film Hocus Pocus 2. For Detmer actor Emily Coutts, and Owosekun actor Oyin Oladejo, however, we haven't had any official confirmation as to their absence from the show.

In universe, of course, both Owosekun and Detmer were tasked by Captain Burnham to fly the ISS Enterprise back to Federation HQ at the end of Mirrors. We haven't seen or heard from them or the ship again. Whilst we certainly don't mean to disparage Owosekun or Detmer's replacements on the bridge — Commanders Asha and Jemison (a wonderful reference there too), we need closure for these long-serving characters. We have also yet to attend the wedding of Saru and T'Rina. I certainly wouldn't want to be planning that amongst all the galactic goings-on!