WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 5, "Die Trying," now streaming on CBS All Access.
At the end of Star Trek: Discovery's second season, the battle against Control ended with the Discovery heading into the future to defeat the villainous A.I. system. Knowing there would be no coming back from the jump, almost everyone aboard the ship did it for the mission. However, that wasn't exactly the case for Philippa Georgiou, the former Terran Emperor of the Mirror Universe.
While Georgiou is always self-serving, she has grown close to this universe's version of her adopted daughter, Michael Burnham. Still, just why Georgiou decided into the future has remained something of a mystery. Now, in the series' latest episode, "Die Trying," Georgiou shows there is something wrong with her following the time jump.
At the end of "Die Trying," Burnham approaches Georgiou after the ship and its crew have finally been taken in by the Federation. Michael talks to Georgiou, but she doesn't answer. Instead, she is unresponsive, standing immobile like a statue. This lasts for several seconds until finally she snaps to attention. Michael is concerned by the behavior, but Georgiou acts if nothing is wrong. Georgiou then appears confused as she walks away.
What could cause Georgiou to become frozen like this? Well, there are currently two possibilities. On the one hand, it's possible this might be tied to her being from the Mirror Universe. In the episode, the former Emperor meets with a Starfleet officer who interrogates her. Thanks to their scans, he knows she is Terran, and he appears to know a great deal about the Mirror Universe. But what is perhaps most concerning about the parallel reality is that he reveals it's been moving away. The distance between the two universes has been expanding and, perhaps as a result, there hasn't been a crossing from anyone in centuries.
This news concerns Georgiou, and it may be the cause of her issues. Georgiou is from the Terran universe, and in her present, she was close to it. But now, after jumping to the future, her home has grown more distant, meaning she's cut off from it. Therefore, her episode of being unresponsive might relate to the growing distance between her and her home reality. If that ends up being the case, than Georgiou will either have to be sent back to the present, or to the Mirror Universe itself.
However, it's also possible that something else -- or rather someone -- is responsible for Georgiou's condition. After all, the old Starfleet officer who interrogates her, a character who remains unnamed for the time being, is definitely acting suspiciously when talking to Georgiou. And since he shows what appears to be a great fascination for the Terran universe, it's possible he did something to her. What it could be, and for what purpose, we don't yet know. But we're sure there is more to learn about this mysterious character.
Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Commander Saru, Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Ian Alexander as Gray, Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Reno and Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou. New episodes of Season 3 air on Thursdays.