WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery’s Series Finale, “Life, Itself”
Summary
The series finale ofStar Trek: Discovery, “Life, Itself”, finally makesStar Trek: Short Treksseason 1, episode 2, “Calypso”, matter 6 years after its initial release. Written by Kyle Jarrow and Michelle Paradise, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi,Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale, includes an epilogue set decades after the primary events ofStar Trek: Discoveryseason 5. Admiral Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) commands the final mission of the USS Discovery’s sentient computer, Zora (Annabelle Wallis). Zora’s mission is classified, butBurnham’s instructions to wait and the code word"Craft"directly reference the enigmaticShort Treksepisode “Calypso”, which raised several questions about Discovery’s ultimate fate.
Streaming just prior to the release ofStar Trek: Discoveryseason 2,Short Treksseason 1, episode 2, “Calypso”, features disillusioned soldier Craft (Aldis Hodge) and Zora, who wouldn’t exist untilDiscoveryseason 3, falling in love 1000 years in the future. “Calypso” hinted atDiscoveryseason 2’s time travel and A.I. themes, but was otherwise disconnected fromStar Trekcanon.Discoveryseason 3’s forward time jump seemed to indicate that “Calypso” would remain a standalone storythat glimpsed aStar Trektimelinethat could have been, but would never happen, due toDiscovery’s writers changing course. Surprisingly,Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale made it work.
Star Trek: Discovery’s “Calypso” Short Trek & Finale Epilogue Reveal Explained
Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale epilogue puts the pieces in place for Star Trek: Short Treks “Calypso” to happen in the future.
“Calypso” Short Trek Finally Makes Sense In Star Trek: Discovery’s Finale
Zora’s Future After Star Trek: Discovery Was Inevitable
Star Trek: Discoveryfinally makes “Calypso” make sense, after theStar Trek:Short Treksepisode seemed to be forgotten, by tyingDiscovery’s series finale epilogue directly to Zora’s future.Zora’s existence inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 3 indicates that “Calypso” is genuinely inDiscovery’s future,especially with storylines confirming Zora’s personhood that echo Craft’s eventual belief, but afterDiscoveryseason 3, the loose thread dangles overStar Trek: Discovery, begging to be picked up. Speaking onThe Ready Room,Star Trek: Discoveryshowrunner Michelle Paradise explains working with executive producer Alex Kurtzmann to include the “Calypso” connection inDiscovery’s finale:
“That was something that Alex and I had talked about for quite some time. I wasn’t actually on the show when they did the “Calypso” short. He always felt – and I did too, once I came on board – that you have to make that connection. You can’t leave the hanging threads on a show like this. And so when we were able to come back and do the coda, it was 100% we have to find a way to tie it in.”
The USS Discovery’s time of active service is at an end, but Zora is both sentient and inextricable from Discovery’s computer, so she can’t be decommissioned in a conventional way. Instead,Zora is assigned the unique mission of ensuring that the events of “Calypso” come to pass in a thousand years' time, in a Red Directive mission fromtime agent Dr. Kovich(David Cronenberg), who knows what must happen in the future. Because Zora was part of the Sphere data for 100,000 years before being integrated with the USS Discovery, 1000 years is only a fraction of Zora’s potentially immortal existence, making Zora the perfect agent for this mission.
In theStar Trek: Discoveryseries finale epilogue, the USS Discovery is retrofitted back into its original 23rd century design, with reattached warp nacelles and the “A” scrubbed from the registry number on Discovery’s hull, to match Discovery’s appearance in “Calypso”.
Why Zora’s Final Star Trek: Discovery Mission Is So Important
Zora Continues Captain Burnham’s Legacy In Discovery’s Future
Instead of leaving theStar Trek: Short Treksepisode “Calypso” behind as an artifact of a forgotten timeline,Star Trek: Discoveryensures that “Calypso” remains part ofStar Trek’s future, so there must be an important reason for Zora’s finalStar Trek: Discoverymission. Captain Burnham was able to rebuild a broken 32nd century Federation with 23rd century ideals that prove to the post-Burn galaxy that connection was possible.Zora’s mission in the 42nd century is like Burnham’s in the 32nd, because Craft’s enemies in the war are the V’draysh, formerly known as the Federation, and Zora, like Burnham, is a Federation citizen from another time capable of showing Craft kindness.
InStar Trek: Discoveryseason 5, episode 4, “Face the Strange”, Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) find Zora playing archived 20th century music after the USS Discovery has been abandoned in an alternate future timeline, just as Zora does inStar Trek: Short Treks"Calypso".
The encounter between Zora and Craft may be a necessary flap of butterfly wings that leads to enduring peace or a rebuilt Federation in the 42nd century. Zora’s highest objective inStar Trek: Discoveryis protecting theUSS Discovery crew. Craft becomes Discovery’s sole crew member, soZora protects Craft, reminding Craft of what love is. With a healed heart, Craft departs to return to the wife and child that Craft has been away from for ten years, and brings the soft light of Zora’s Federation-inspired connections back to his people. With that inevitable ripple effect,Star Trek: Discoveryfinally makesStar Trek: Short Treks"Calypso" matter.
