Star Trek Discovery Season 3: Everything You Need To Know

While attempting to intercept a shuttle Spock has allegedly stolen, Discovery encounters a massive, eons old, entity – the Sphere – which, in a dying act, transfers its memory into the ship's main computer.

Despite the detour, Discovery catches up with Spock's shuttle only to find that Emperor Georgiou is piloting it. Georgiou reveals that she's now part of Section 31, Starfleet's sketchy secret intelligence bureau, and that Section 31 is also trying to find Spock. Captain Pike agrees to coordinate efforts and Section 31 stations a liaison aboard Discovery, Ash Tyler.

There's obviously a lot of awkwardness between Michael and both of these new Section 31 recruits, but they actually prove to be valuable allies. Michael is able to retrieve a mentally distraught Spock, help him recover, and learn new information about the unfolding mystery: The Red Angel is a time traveler who has appeared twice when Michael was in danger, and who has contacted Spock to deliver a terrifying vision of a future in which machines have destroyed all sentient life.

With Spock now a part of the crew, it's soon discovered that the Red Angel is a version of Michael who has come backward in time, though nobody can understand what she's up to. So, Michael, Georgiou, and Spock set in motion a plan to capture the Angel by putting Michael's life in danger – if the Angel really is Michael, she'll have to come rescue her past self.

The Angel does in fact show up to rescue Michael, but it's not Michael who's in the Red Angel suit, it's her mother.