'Star Trek: Discovery' Review: "The Wolf Inside" Is A Thrilling, Stressful Hour Of 'Trek'

The mirror verse is so stressful! I sweated throughout the entirety of the latest Star Trek: Discovery episode, "The Wolf Inside." I don't even know where to begin, so let's just start with the best part of the episode, which was also, wildly enough, the least stressful.

However, she's back as an evil emperor. Of course, this was teased during the midseason premiere — who else could the emperor be except the kindest person in the Prime Universe? But she still looks and sounds awesome and it's just so good to have Michelle Yeoh back!

I know saving her reveal for the end of this episode was done for a reason — to keep us tuned in for the next installment — but doggonit, if this isn't one of those times where I feel like railing at CBS once again for not putting the entire season on streaming at one time. I need to know what's going to happen right now! CBS is turning me into Veruca Salt!

I just wish there was a way for Georgiou Prime to come back. I still miss her and her calm, guiding hand.

This week's title, of course, references Voq's full awakening inside Tyler. The Mirror Verse has done a lot of bad to our friends, and Tyler's no exception. Even though L'Rell's presence affected Tyler ever since the end of the first half of the season, seeing Mirror Voq — now a resistance leader for all non-humankind — has fully brought Voq out of his shell and into the forefront.

This is also the part of the review where I dive back into the world of Tyler/Michael shipping. Just like with Stamets and Culber's story, I don't think Michael and Tyler's story is over just yet. Well, actually, I know it's not, since Shazad Latif confirmed as much to SyFy's Swapna Krishna.

"This four-way love triangle in three bodies, basically," he said. "It's L'Rell and Sonequa [Martin-Green] and Tyler. That's gotta come to a head. The solving of the Culber case, all this kinda stuff. Some people don't know, how are people gonna react to it? It's a culmination of everything and it's going to be very exciting to watch."

Of course, he knows more than we do, and he's certainly not going to divulge it to us any time soon. But allow me to make a hypothesis. I don't think the writers would have had Tyler say Michael was his tether for no reason. I think Michael still is very much is tether; the problem is that Tyler's going to have to get strong enough to fight against the other person inside him. While it is paramount that the Starfleet doctors do what they can to save him, much of the internal battle is going to have to be fought by Tyler himself. It seems like the human side of him is already fighting back, at least if the preview for next week is anything to go by.

However, while Michael is a tether for Tyler, L'Rell is a tether for Voq. As we know, Voq only started waking up after he was in L'Rell's presence. What's interesting is that both Tyler and Voq are both the passive parties in their relationships. I'm not saying either one is less "manly," as it were; in fact, I find it more endearing that they have the capacity to defer to the women in their lives for guidance. But I will say this: whoever Tyler is at the moment, he'll have to choose who he wants to be in the future. One future has L'Rell and Klingon domination, the other has Michael and a peaceful Federation of Planets. L'Rell and Michael can't make this decision for him — he's going to have to choose.

I was on the edge of my seat watching a very plucky Tilly use her smarts to help Stamets get back to full capacity. Even Saru was surprised, which must say a lot about how she's viewed on the ship. But when it seems like she's failed, Stamets starts showing signs of life. Is it life beyond life? I'm not entirely sure, since it seemed like the medics couldn't get Stamets' heart to beat again. But regardless, a new wrinkle has been added to Stamets' curious journey, since he has found himself inside the mycelial network, with his Terran counterpart impatiently waiting for him, ready to get to work. What's the work? Does it just include repairing Stamets' body and clearing his name from Culber's murder, or does it include righting everything wrong that's happened in both the Prime and Mirror Universes?

If the latter's the case, what does this entail for everyone? Would everything be reset back to zero? Could Georgiou come back? Would Michael and a fully-human Tyler be back together? I have no clue, but the possibilities boggle the mind.

Most importantly, would the two Stamets be able to bring Culber back from the dead? I certainly hope this is true.

Design-wise, Andorians are one of my most-favorite aliens in Star Trek. The blue skin/white hair combo is just so graphic, and their whole look is so eye-catching. I personally feel like Andorians should be used more in Star Trek, at least as often as the Klingons and Vulcans. Even rarer are appearances by Tellarites. Amazingly, this episode treated us to appearances from both. I hope this episode is just the beginning of us seeing more of them throughout this season and beyond.

I was so sad seeing Saru reduced to a slave without a name. What was really interesting, though, was seeing how much more take-charge Prime Saru is, even though he's considered meek compared to his human counterparts. Mirror Saru, on the other hand, is completely devoid of self-assurance, and seeing Saru like this, coupled with how attentive he was to Michael, made me say "Oh poor soul!" and "Someone save Saru!" to my television. The only overlap between this Saru and our Prime Saru is both will not hesitate to save someone's life. Mirror Saru jumped into action without thinking once Voq tried to kill Michael, and I think that valor will break down Michael's defenses a bit. As she told a battered Lorca, she has to confide in someone in this god-forsaken universe. At first, I thought her new confidant would become Lorca, but now I think it'll become Mirror Saru. If anyone can keep a secret, it has to be him.

Or, it could be Sarek. It would appear the rebels didn't make it off the base in time — the Emperor blew them up, a task Michael was supposed to have done. But in the event they're still alive, Sarek could become part of Michael's new support system. Remember, he's the only one who can see she comes from an alternate universe. Even though he didn't use those words when speaking to Mirror Voq, he's got to piece it all together. Heck, he saw himself in her mind! Also, big ups to the hair department calling back to Mirror Goatee Spock with Sarek's goatee. Nice touch.