Star Trek: Discovery Episode 3.7 Review: Ups And Downs From Unification III

5. SB-19 And The Vulcan Withdrawal From The Federation (UP)

Star Trek Discovery Trina
CBS

Once Burnham and Tilly have identified SB-19 as having something to do with the Burn (supposedly), Burnham and Saru take this information to Admiral Vance. He reveals that SB-19 was a study conducted by Ni'Var, formerly Vulcan, and that they felt the SB-19 experiment was the cause of the Burn itself.

SB-19 was a project that, it is revealed, they flagged as potentially dangerous, but that the Federation ordered them to continue with anyway. Once the Burn occured, they felt that they were responsible, even if the Federation had forced their hand.

This speaks to a running thread in this series - what exactly is wrong with the Federation? We now know that three of the founding members - Earth, Andor and Vulcan - have all left. In Calypso, we learned of the V'drayash (mentioned again by Zareh in Far From Home), which has been confirmed by Michael Chabon to be the Federation.

Starfleet are hiding in plain sight, and have at least semi-diplomatic communication with the former members, which begs the question: what's going on? What's wrong? What have they sunk to for these founders to turn their backs on the organisation? And, is the current form of Starfleet really something that the Discovery wants to be a part of?

Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"