WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 7, "... But to Connect," streaming now on Paramount+.
Seven episodes in, and Star Trek: Discovery has closed out 2021 by going on a midseason break for its fourth season, leaving the crew of the USS Discovery and Starfleet at a precarious crossroads. The season has followed Captain Michael Burnham officially take command of the Discovery as the United Federation of Planets steadily rebuilds from a cataclysmic incident known as the Burn. This rebirth is threatened by the emergence of a dark matter anomaly, consuming all matter as it erratically moves across the galaxy, with the Federation divided on how best to deal with this crisis.
Here's a quick recap of the massive cliffhanger Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 left its characters going into its midseason break, why the season is taking a hiatus, when Discovery Season 4 returns and a look back on the last time Star Trek: Discovery took a midseason break.
Where Star Trek: Discovery's Season 4 Midseason Finale Left Its Crew
While Starfleet has added more and more starships capable of warp speed once again, the Discovery still led the charge in the organization's rebuilding efforts thanks to its unique perspective after warping over 900 years into the future and possessing the powerful Spore Drive. This led to it engaging the anomaly on multiple occasions, with Cleveland "Book" Booker particularly motivated towards destroying it after it consumed his home planet, Kwejian.
Upon learning that the anomaly was artificially created by an unknown entity from outside of the galaxy, the Federation was divided on how to proceed. While Burnham successfully convinced the Federation to pursue making first contact with those responsible in creating the anomaly rather than react with military might, Book and a figure from an alternate universe, Ruon Tarka, set out with an experimental device and utilized illegal weapons technology to destroy the anomaly without Starfleet's authority.
Why Star Trek: Discovery Is Taking a Midseason Break and When Will it Return?
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 began in the midst of Star Trek's latest animated series Star Trek: Prodigy, with Discovery Season 4 premiering the same day as Prodigy's own midseason finale. With that in mind, Discovery's release window was filled by the remaining episodes of Prodigy Season 1 in the interim. With Prodigy Season 1 consisting of ten episodes in all and five episodes remaining, this means Prodigy Season 1 is slated to end on Feb. 3. Following Prodigy's season finale, Discovery Season 4 will return to wrap up its own season run on Thursday, Feb. 10.
What Happened the Last Time Star Trek: Discovery Took a Midseason Break
This is not the first time Star Trek: Discovery has taken a midseason break, with its inaugural season taking a two-month hiatus from November 2017 to January 2018. The Season 1 midseason break ended with the Discovery using its Spore Drive to enter the Mirror Universe, where it found itself targeted by the Terran Empire and doppelgänger of Philippa Georgiou that would shape the second half of the season.
This midseason break saw the entire trajectory of Discovery Season 1 shift from its focus on the Federation-Klingon War while revealing its main character, Gabriel Lorca, was from the Mirror Universe all along. While Discovery Season 4's second half may not see quite a radical shift in story arcs when it returns in February, the season should shift from the Discovery reacting to the anomaly and trying to better understand to it one racing against time to stop Book while contacting those responsible for creating the anomaly in the first place.
Developed for television by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 returns Feb. 10 on Paramount+.