Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s intergalactic treasure hunt has all the cinematic thrills we’ve come to expect, but suffers from big pacing issues.

Star Trek: Discovery returns for one last dance that occasionally feels as if the show has two left feet. It’s worth mentioning that Discovery season 5 wasn’t originally written as the final outing for Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew. An epilogue was written and shot after filming on Discovery season 5 was completed to provide proper closure. While there’s no sense of those reshoots impacting the first four episodes available for review, there are some attempts to tie up character arcs that feel quite clunky in their execution.

The final season of Star Trek: Discovery sends Burnham and the crew on the hunt for the “greatest treasure in the known universe” that links its 32nd century setting with the wider Star Trek timeline. Frustratingly, this epic quest often has to vie for attention with a focus on the interpersonal relationships of Burnham and the crew, which creates some pacing issues. At times, it feels like the impressive action sequences in Discovery have to pause so that characters can discuss their feelings. Thankfully, Discovery‘s new additions, Callum Keith Rennie, Elias Toufexis and Eve Harlow brilliantly shake things up.

Star Trek: Discovery returns in April for season 5, and here is the premiere date for every episode of Disco’s final season.

Star Trek: Discovery’s New Cast Members Make Season 5 Fly

Captain Rayner (Rennie) is the standout new character in season 5. Rayner’s gruff professionalism is hilariously at odds with the family atmosphere that Burnham has cultivated aboard the USS Discovery. Rayner is, therefore, the perfect foil for Burnham, and keeps the rest of the Discovery crew on their toes in season 5, too. Rayner also has some great scenes with the returning Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and reformed grump, Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), to whom Rayner quickly endears himself.

The addition of Captain Rayner recalls how Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced Ensign Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) to shake up the dynamics aboard the USS Enterprise. Like Ro, Rayner is a welcome addition to the crew of Discovery that breaks up their over-familiarity and adds some much-needed urgency to their Red Directive mission. Rayner isn’t the only thing in Discovery season 5 that reminds us of TNG. After all, it’s no secret that Discovery season 5 has a TNG connection via the 800 year-old Romulan science vessel that triggers this season’s intergalactic treasure hunt.

The treasure hunt brings us to Moll (Harlow) and L’ak (Toufexis), who are villains unlike any that Captain Burnham has faced before. Essentially an intergalactic Bonnie and Clyde, Moll and L’ak are refreshingly driven by their own self-interest. After two seasons of galaxy-threatening powers, it’s refreshing that it’s Moll and L’ak’s selfishness and criminality that could drastically change the shape of the Star Trek universe. Moll and L’ak’s single-minded focus on their goal makes them compelling and unpredictable villains, making them difficult for Burnham — and us as viewers — to second guess.

Discovery’s Treasure Hunt Is Breathtakingly Stunning, But Poorly Paced

From Burnham surfing the hull of a starship at warp to the desert chase sequence, season 5 has some of the most cinematic action sequences in the modern franchise. In these sequences, Discovery more than lives up to its promise of doing an Indiana Jones movie in space. Frustratingly, the series can’t let some of these action sequences play out in full. For example, a thrilling set-piece in which Book and Burnham evade a terrifying monster is butchered by frequent cutaways to other characters discussing their relationships; these scenes could’ve waited until after Book and Burnham had solved their predicament.

It’s a minor complaint, but speaks to a larger problem with the pacing of Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The USS Discovery is supposed to be in a race against time to locate treasure, but there’s a surprising amount of downtime. At one point, Burnham blames Starfleet bureaucracy for delaying their search, and you start to wish that the younger, more maverick Michael Burnham would emerge, defying orders and moving things along. Part of the issue with pacing is the spore drive, providing the crew with instantaneous travel to where they need to be, completely undermining any sense of urgency.

In its most frustrating moments, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 feels like the most cinematic and thrilling Star Trek movie stretched to breaking point across 10 hours. In its best moments, however, the series reminds us how it revitalized Star Trek for the modern era. Discovery is a show that has a lot of heart, and it’s the most stunning and cinematic of all the modern Trek shows. Despite some flaws, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is a testament to that, and feels like a fitting summation of everything that has come to define the show since its premiere.