“If Memory Serves” is the 8th episode of the 2nd season of the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery” and follows “Light and Shadows“.

Note. This article contains spoilers about “If Memory Serves”.

While the USS Discovery is still investigating the space rift near the planet Kaminar, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) takes Spock (Ethan Peck) to the planet Talos IV, where the natives help them to clarify the memories connected to the Red Angel.

“If Memory Serves” digs deep into the origins of the Star Trek saga, to the point of starting with some sequences taken from the original pilot episode “The Cage”. This allows for strong interconnections with the new story about Spock and his visions of the Red Angel. It’s an important moment that links the past and present of the saga and in my opinion it was done well.

A positive element of this episode is that we finally start getting some answers to the many questions related to the Red Angel’s storyline. Spock’s mind is confused because his perception of time has become fluid, a sort of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey mode that can be normal for a Time Lord but is problematic for a Vulcan or a human.

The whole part of “If Memory Serves” connected to Talos IV contains a number of elements taken from “The Cage” which even includes the flowers that are among the few life forms still existing on the planet. Among the most important parts there’s Vina (Melissa George) and her new meeting with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) with a convincing performance from the actors who managed to give the impression that there’s history between them.

For the occasion, there’s also a link with the Section 31 subplot where we see a new chapter of the actions of Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) to sabotage Captain Leland (Alan van Sprang). At this point, until some precise information on the spinoff announced some time ago will be provided I expect any kind of development of this subplot.

In one of the longest episodes of the season, Spock isn’t the only character trying to regain control of his mind. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) is still trying to find a new stability after his “resurrection” and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) doesn’t know how to help him. His confrontation with Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) seems to have a positive effect but in this episode it seemed to me little more than an interruption of the main plot.

A lot is played on emotions, pushing even more on the main trend existing in the show. In Spock’s case all in all I think that they managed well his story’s development but the ending is yet another twist that radically changes the situation. You can’t say that the “Star Trek: Discovery” producers lack courage and in the second season it seems to me that the plot management is better and the storyline’s connection to the original series makes more sense so I’ll wait for the next episodes before expressing new perplexities.