Star Trek: Discovery 3.5 Review: Ups And Downs From Die Trying

They're going to do this for the whole season, aren't they?

One thing that has been made clear is that a mystery works while it remains interesting. The Burn is running the risk of becoming annoying, and it is not handled particularly well in this episode. In the beginning, Admiral Vance refuses to discuss the Burn with Saru and Burnham as 'he is not at liberty to discuss intel'. Frustrating, but fair enough.

At the close of the episode, once Discovery has proved its worth and things have relaxed a little, Vance changes his story to having many theories but no real clue as to what caused the Burn.

The central mystery for the season now seems to be what caused this cataclysm, and yet in over 100 years, Starfleet hasn't been able to narrow it down. While that may be explained away with resource issues, it really just feels as though the season will tumble toward a giant 'reveal' later in the show - one that would want to be very good to pay off.

As it stands, the Burn is getting old, fast.