WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 12, "Species Ten-C," streaming now on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 has largely eschewed having a conventional primary antagonist in favor of a literal force of nature providing much of the season's conflict in the form of a dark matter anomaly cutting a devastating path across the galaxy. Captain Michael Burnham and her crew eventually discovered that the anomaly was created by a civilization existing outside of the galaxy, dubbed Species 10-C, and set out to dissuade them from using it. However, as Discovery Season 4 reaches its penultimate episode, a betrayal has revealed an antagonist, but neither the betrayal nor the enemy comes as much of a surprise.

The Federation's plans to make peaceful first contact with Species 10-C to defuse the situation were not embraced by everyone in the galaxy. After losing his home planet, Kwejian, to the anomaly, Cleveland "Book" Booker vowed to destroy it at all costs, joined by the smug scientist Ruon Tarka. Tarka privately revealed that he was originally from an alternate dimension and wanted to use the anomaly's power source to return to his own world. This led Book and Tarka to join forces and go rogue in their plan to destroy the anomaly, but Tarka has revealed himself as willing to risk anyone in his way to get his coveted power source, betraying Book and launching a plan that could doom Species 10-C and the Discovery.

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The problem is that Tarka's betrayal is something audiences could've seen coming a mile away, especially in the preceding several episodes. Every step of the way, Tarka would do whatever he wanted, ranging from firing his experimental device to destroy the anomaly to taking Commander Jett Reno hostage on board Book's vessel. When Reno presents Book with evidence that Tarka's next strategy to acquire the anomaly's power source would likely destroy the Discovery and Species 10-C, Tarka simply responds by overpowering Book and imprisoning him on his own ship.

Previously in Discovery Season 4, there are two extended sequences that attempt to humanize Tarka and provide additional justification for why he would go to such extreme, reckless lengths to turn against the Federation regarding their handling of the anomaly. In addition to the revelation that he hails from another dimension, Tarka reveals he lost his only friend while enslaved by the Emerald Chain and is trying to reunite with him. These more sympathetic sides to the character are, of course, undercut by Tarka following these vulnerable moments by going against Book, making his betrayal all the more inevitable.

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Tarka is now being pursued by Discovery and Book to stop him from enacting his master plan, with only hours remaining before the anomaly consumes Earth. While Book didn't anticipate Tarka being so destructively selfish, he did help Tarka move into position, with Tarka quietly using Book all along to advance his own agenda. In a season that reminds Starfleet about its own ideals and message of hope, Tarka stands as the duplicitous, self-centered antithesis that Book should have seen coming as he made his own deal with the devil.

The lack of a conventional primary antagonist was an interesting way for Discovery Season 4 to unfold, but the progression of Tarka to become the final opponent for Burnham and Book was not only well-telegraphed but immensely frustrating that Burnham and Book couldn't see this betrayal coming all along. Tarka is an opponent that didn't start out as someone willing to sacrifice everyone to accommodate his selfish ends but, with Species 10-C revealed to be relatively peaceful, the season needed one last conflict to escalate the stakes in the season finale and Tarka comes closest to fitting the bill. There's just that unshakeable feeling, though, that Tarka was always destined to break bad, if he wasn't already bad the whole time.

To see Tarka become Season 4's main antagonist, Star Trek: Discovery releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

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