Synopsis: The Breen confronts the U.S.S. Discovery and Federation Headquarters.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what Carl (C. G.) Jung would call a cultural complex.
In “Erigah,” the U.S.S. Discovery returns to Federation Headquarters to retrieve a refrigeration unit that Dr. Hugh Culber believes will help L’ak heal himself. Not long after the ship jumps back a Breen dreadnought arrives and demands that Malinne (Moll) Ravel and L’ak be handed over to them. President T’Rina negotiates on behalf of the Federation, and the Breen agree to give her an hour to consider their demands. Commander Rayner believes that there is no negotiating with the Breen and T’Rina calls him xenophobic. Yet Captain Michael Burnham comes to Rayner later to ask about his knowledge of Breen succession. Burnham also speaks with L’ak and guesses that Primarch Ruhn needs him because he is the direct descendent of the dead emperor. After L’ak dies, T’Rina does allow Moll to go with Primarch Ruhn and Discovery heads for the destination where the last clue led them, the Eternal Gallery and Archive.
In this episode, the feeling that Rayner shares about the Breen can be seen as an illustration of an individual that shares a cultural complex. After checking more deeply into Rayner’s background, Burnham learns that his homeworld was used as an outpost by the Breen. Rayner tells her that he is the only member of his family that survived the Breen occupation. An individual knows that one is in the throes of a feeling-toned complex when one cannot help but act in a certain way when they are triggered. Here the complex that Rayner feels can be said to have been felt by his whole community because of the occupation. When Burnham thanks him for his courage in telling her his truth, this can be seen as acknowledging that someone outside a society that is in the midst of a cultural complex cannot truly know their feelings, but that they can listen and let them know that they have value.
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