‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Already Delivered the Most Romantic Episode of the Season

Spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery “Saints Of Imperfection” past this point.

Last season when Star Trek: Discovery shockingly killed Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) as part of one of the show’s many game-changing twists, it effectively destroyed one of the rare, stable gay relationships on TV. Culber popped up again before the end of Season 1, and again in Season 2 as part of the show’s mycelial network, a collection of spores that allow nearly instantaneous space travel. Behind the scenes, the showrunners promised that Culber’s death was just the beginning of his journey with life-partner Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), though fans were dubious.

Guess what? We shouldn’t have doubted Discovery, because Culber finally returned, for real this week on “Saints of Imperfection,” the most romantic episode of the season. The tears, as they say, are real.

The actual plot details are a little complicated, but the simple version is that while tracking Ensign Tilly (Mary Wiseman) into the mycelial network, Stamets and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) discover a “monster” has been attacking the spore creatures inside. When they finally catch up to the monster, it’s none other than Culber, half-crazed, bearded and burned nearly to death by the attacking spores. They’re as much a monster to him as he is to them, you see.

What the Discovery crew quickly figures out is that the spore-infested Stamets from last season essentially transported Culber to the network at the moment of his death, with the spores constructing a new body for him in this pocket universe. That creates some complications when they try to return to regular space: a moment that is gut-achingly reminiscent of the Spock/Kirk moment from the end of  Star Trek II hits, as Stamets enters the reaction cube (the device that allows them to jump between universes), but as Culber tries to cross his arm dissolves in the divide.

As a viewer, I was gutted, and you can see the same reaction on Stamets’s face. Naturally they’d never try to give up rescuing Culber, now that they know he’s alive, but spending the rest of the season with the couple in a series of near misses would be agonizing. Instead, we get an even more agonizing moment as Culber gives himself up to the spore network to be burned alive, so Stamets won’t continually search for him.

And then! They figure out how to rescue him, using a “human” avatar of one of the spore creatures, May (Bahia Watson). Though the spores are reticent, they agree to use Culber’s leftover human DNA to reconstitute him on the other side of the divide, basically take his consciousness and transfer it into a completely reconstructed body.

That’s exactly what happens, as Burnham and Stamets look on… Culber appears, naked as the day he was born, clean shaven except for a new haircut (thanks, spores!). Stamets rushes to his side, and holds him tight as we fade to black.

There’s more romance in the episode, from Burnham reuniting with her old flame Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) to Tilly’s intense connection with “May.” But it’s the Culber/Stamets reunion that bumps this episode up on the list of most romantic Star Trek moments of all time.

Even if we (meaning fans) doubted that they’d ever be back together, it’s great news that the show figured out an epic, intensely personal and creative way to bring the duo back together. Beyond Rapp and Cruz being lovely performers who bring gravity, humor and heart to every scene they’re in, as mentioned earlier stable, gay relationships on television are few and far between. I mean, there’s a lack of stable relationships in general, because rocky or fraught relationships are an easier way to create drama. But Culber and Stamets were a beacon for LGBTQ+ romance on television, and having them back on screen — hopefully not just to be torn apart again next episode — is a wonderful statement for a progressive show like Discovery to make.

Just bring back Culber’s goatee, and we’ll be a-okay.

Star Trek: Discovery airs Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c on CBS All Access

Stream Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access