‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reveals the Red Angel’s Identity

Tonight’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery reveals, after weeks of speculation, who the Red Angel is. The Red Angel has been at the center of the plot of Discovery‘s second season. The season began with the USS Discovery being hailed by the USS Enterprise. The Enterprise was on a mission to investigate seven unexplained red signals that appeared throughout the galaxy, which revealed that these signals were somehow connected to a mysterious figure known as the Red Angel who appeared to Spock and Michael Burnham. The Red Angel seems to be guiding, even assisting Discovery on its journey. Now we know who the Red Angel is.

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season Two, Episode 10, “The Red Angel.” The episode can be found on CBS All Access.

In last week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery, Lt. Cmdr. Airiam was corrupted by Control, an artificial intelligence developed by Section 31 that gained sentience. The Discovery crew realized that it is Control who sent weapons from the future back in time to destroy all biological life in the galaxy, as Spock saw in his visions.

Airiam sacrificed herself to stop Control from gaining the information it desired to further evolve. With her last words, she told Michael Burnham to find Project Daedalus. In tonight’s episode, Tilly discovers a file left in Airiam’s memory titled Project Daedalus. The file contains a bio-scan for the Red Angel. That bio-scan matches Burnham’s, and Dr. Culber confirms its authenticity.

Capt. Leland reveals that Section 31 learned about time-travel technology the Klingons were working on. They sabotaged it, stole it, and began working on their own time-travel suit, the Red Angel. Believing that the Red Angel is Burnham from the future using that suit, Discovery teams with Section 31 to lay a trap. Spock realizes that the Red Angel appears whenever Burnham’s life is in danger. They use Burnham as bait to lure the Red Angel out with plans to use Section 31 technology to trap it in this time.

It works as planned, though Burnham almost dies in the process. But the figure that steps out of the suit isn’t Burnham, but her mother. Leland earlier revealed to Burnham that her parents worked for Section 31 on the Red Angel project. That’s why they were where they were when the Klingons attacked. It seems at least one of them may have been able to use the Red Angel to escape death.

What do you think of the Red Angel reveal? Let us know in the comments. New Star Trek: Discovery episodes become available to stream Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS All Access.