Warning: Spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 7 – “…But To Connect”.

Zora( Annabelle Wallis) fulfilled Star Trek’s core mission in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 just as Data( Brent Spiner) did on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Zora was introduced in the Short Trek episode “Calypso” but Star Trek: Discovery seasons 2 and 3 set up her start-up from the merger of the 100,000 -year-old Sphere Data with the USS Discovery’s computers. Zora came online as her feminine self in Star Trek: Discovery season 3 and she chose the call “Zora” in season 4. However, the facts of the case that the Discovery’s A.I. was sentient and developed feelings was understandably worrisome to Captain Michael Burnham( Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew.

The android Lt. Commander Data’s privileges as a sentient lifeform was set up in the classic TNG season 2 chapter, “The Measure of a Man.” One of the most wonderful episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Measure of a Man” saw Data put on trial because Starfleet wanted to classify the android as its asset. Captain Jean-Luc Picard( Patrick Stewart) defended Data in the hearing and they prevailed, with the USS Enterprise-D’s Activity Officer’s right to self-determination determined for all time. Picard’s stirring argument unforgettably declared that “Starfleet’s mission is to seek out new animation. Well, there[ Data] sits.” More than an excellent TNG episode, “The Measure of a Man” was also a potent tale that Starfleet ruling against Data’s titles likens its future use of androids as bondage, which Guinan( Whoopi Goldberg ) cured Picard realize.

Related: Did Discovery Reveal 32 nd Century Enterprise (& Change Star Trek Canon )?

Star Trek: Discovery season 4, occurrence 7, “…But To Connect, ” was, basically, its own version of “The Measure of a Man” with Zora’s right to exist on the line. In the impres chapter, Zora refused to turn over the coordinates to Species 10 -C, the creators of the Dark Matter Anomaly AKA the DMA. This raised the Discovery’s crew’s dreads about the dangers Zora constitutes to the starship and everyone aboard. Dr. Kovich( David Cronenberg) joined Saru( Doug Jones ), Commander Paul Stamets( Anthony Rapp ), Dr. Hugh Culber( Wilson Cruz ), Adira Tal( Blu del Barrio ), and Gray Tal( Ian Alexander) to debate what Zora has become and what to do about her. In the end, Kovich determined that Zora is a new lifeform and has the right to choose her own predestination, just as Picard preached for Data 800 years prior.

Star Trek: Discovery’s solution to allay Stamets’ vindicated fears that Zora could go rogue in an instant and kill everyone aboard the starship was also clever. Stamets have recommended that Zora join Starfleet as a Specialist, the same status Michael Burnham held in Star Trek: Discovery season 1. This lane, Zora would swear an oath to Starfleet and be subject to the same chain of command as every other officer aboard Discovery. It redefined what a Starfleet Officer can be since Zora is an A.I. and her “body” is, mostly, the USS Discovery. Stamets’ tidy fix to the Zora problem amply constructed the sentient computer a part of the Discovery’s crew, just as Data was on TNG‘s Enterprise. Although, “…But To Connect” skirted around the other problematic edition that Zora can see, hear, and record everything and everyone on the ship, even the crew’s private and intimate minutes, which Data would never do.

Star Trek’s operation is to seek out brand-new life and Zora was there as a brand-new lifeform all along. It’s gratifying how much of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 thus far has downplayed the series’ trademark serialized war in favor of narrations that highlighting moral and ethical quandaries that echo Star Trek: The Next Generation’s best occurrences. Zora’s transformation was seeded throughout the last few seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and her Data-like episode that measured Zora’s claims, “…But To Connect, ” was satisfying, if not quite at the same level as “The Measure of a Man.” Zora has obviously been built up to be a key player in Star Trek: Discovery and now that Zora has fulfilled Star Trek’s core assignment, the Discovery’s passionate A.I. will likely play a key role against the DMA in the second half of Star Trek: Discovery season 4.

Next: Discovery’s Zora Fixes Data’s Star Trek Generations Story

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 returns February 10, 2022, on Paramount +.

Read more: screenrant.com