‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Should End With Saru And T’Rina’s Wedding

Will the nuptials be Vulcan, Kelpien or something else entirely?

May 26, 2024

We’re almost there, that bittersweet moment when we arrive at the finale of another Star Trek series — this time, Star Trek: Discovery.

Set to stream Thursday, like those which preceded it in the franchise, the Discovery finale both is something I’ve dreaded as I don’t want to have to say, “Goodbye,” but on the other hand, I want to see our crew’s proper send-off.

And while, yes, I want to see how Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew finally acquire the Progenitors’ technology what I really want is a wedding of galactic proportions: the joining of Saru (Doug Jones) and T’Rina (Tara Rosling).

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Their relationship has become such a joyous part of the series and so welcome for these characters.

While conventionally, Discovery is supposed to be about Michael Burnham’s journey, for me it’s always been about Saru.

He is the first Kelpien we’re introduced to. More than that, the empathy he exhibits as a Kelpien, to me, makes Saru the personification of the ethos of Star Trek.

And, as an actor, Doug Jones brought that to life for us, masterfully.

So a happy ending for Saru, in the form of his wedding, is perhaps the perfect way to cap his story.

Since every season of Discovery has involved saving the galaxy somehow, securing the Progenitors’ technology is necessary to end the season but not sufficient to conclude the series.

There has to be something more special than even that.

And that something ought to be Saru and T’Rina’s wedding. The wedding shouldn’t be rushed through. Rather, the final episode ought to build up to it, and let it happen only once everything else is out of the way.

Star Trek has had a rather fraught history with weddings, and they don’t usually end well in the franchise.

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After all, the very first wedding ever seen in Star Trek — the opening scene from the original series episode “Balance of Terror” — ended with literal tears.

And the outcome of Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) wedding in “Amok Time” clearly was less-than-ideal. One only hopes that by contrast, we get through this upcoming ceremony without Captain Burnham being called to fight Saru to the death.

I confess that one reason I’m so looking forward to the Saru/T’Rina union is I would like to see what a successfully completed Vulcan wedding actually looks like.

Even when a Star Trek wedding turns out well, they’ve often been assembled in a slapdash and forgettable way.

Case in point: Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi’s (Marina Sirtis) ceremony in Star Trek: Nemesis.

So little thought was put into it that Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) was written into a cameo in the scene — in Starfleet uniform, no less — despite the fact that the character had given up a career in Starfleet and gone off as a Traveller in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Journey’s End” just a few years before.