1. With a bang and not a wimper 2. Captain Roberta Ewing steps out of the sonic shower...her lover T'Pel of Vulcan relates a disturbing meditation/dream she had while inhaling Vulcan reef. Cure credits.
The Vulcans did partake in mind altering drugs from time to time. Whatever was growing on Berengaria VII made them see dragons after all.
io9 predicts in their review of "the war within, the war without" that the series is gearing up for another mutiny, this time with burnham and the discovery crew batting against emperor/captain georgiou, cornwell and sarek following the federation's questionable decision to use terran tactics. i haven't found io9's editorial position on discovery to be particularly balanced or consistent and i would be surprised/very annoyed if the series went in this direction. but that's what they're predicting will happen next week.
I could see it going partially in that direction to bring the whole season full circle. Remember Saru wanted to be first officer under Goergio. Now he is. He also said he would protect his captain better then Michael protected hers. I could see a situation where mirror Goergio tries to go too far in her actions and it is Saru this time who mutinies against her for the best of the federation. I could see something like that as a "close the circle" from episode 1 to episode 15.
Time travel to the past is a bit of a cop out, but I can still see it happening. My theory: The plan is for the Discovery to scan Qo'nos from the inside while an away team, for whatever reason, partakes in some undercover mission on the planet surface. Captain Mirror Georgiou is a rogue variable in this entire situation, but I wouldn't believe she would betray or harm Michael. L'Rell certainly has more to do as well as House Mo'Kai with its leader Dennas, and perhaps they attempt (with Captain Mirror Georgiou's gentle persuasion) to pacify the Klingon houses. Their attempt fails (or perhaps L'Rell rats out Discovery) and a Klingon fleet enter Earth's orbit. Things become dire, and Admiral Cornwell and what remains of Starfleet command ponder over the choice to destroy Qo'nos as a last ditch effort to stop the Klingons and end the war. Michael vehemently objects. Captain Mirror Georgiou, a woman of her word, makes the decision to annihilate Qo'nos and attempts executes it. The crew of the Discovery, or perhaps just a stubborn few, mutiny again the Captain, but it's too late and Qo'nos is on the quick path to destruction. The orbiting Klingon fleet, in retaliation, destroys Earth. A last resort, now that both homeworlds have been destroyed, is attempted either in haste by the Discovery crew, or in mutual agreement with the Klingons ("Will You Take Me Hand?"), to travel back in time to avert the war and its devastating casualties. Or not, I dunno.
The only way a time travel reset would work for me is if they spent a great deal of Season 2 with managing the fallout from changing history, and even that would be a hugely risky foundation to build a story arc on. Sadly, I think that, in case of an eventual reset, the creators would rather just cop out, and the war would end up being averted with nobody remembering it at all, or only a few of our heroes (Stamets and, possibly, after that spore landing on her, Tilly) doing so. Please, please don't do that. But Qo'noS being blown up/incinerated in next week's trailer got me really worried.
Especially with the preview of Qo'noS blowing up, I think time travel is a legit possibility. But maybe they go back in time, but fail to prevent the war. With Discovery knowing the algorithm to see past Klingon cloaks this time, the war goes in the Federation's favor, and fewer lives are lost. I wouldn't be surprised if we see T'Kuvma again since he got a big name drop in episode 14.
I think I just had an epiphany and decided it can't end any other way. Somewhere in the middle of the second art or whatever, the Admiral says she has a contingency in place. Then, in the moments leading up to the end, we find our heroes in your typical cliffhanger peril, bat'leths pointed at their necks. Then someone's communicator beeps and crackles and we hear a muffled voice: "Discovery, This is Enterprise calling Please respond ... This Captain Christopher Pike hailing Admiral Cornwell. Please come in." There's a close-up on SM-G's face. She smirks. A hard-cut to black. *For good measure, they toss a few quid in Mickey G's guitar case. And don't lie. You want it too.
True, but the green atmosphere and single moon are some big clues. However, there is a scene in the preview showing a Klingon (with a bit of a Jem'Hadar aesthetic going on) in the MU rebel base from The Wolf Inside Me, so there may be flashbacks/hallucinations (Ash/Voq's?) in the season finale and maybe that planet destruction scene is one of them. Or maybe it is some random planet, who knows.
If only Avery Brooks didn't retire from acting... this whole season could've been tied into Sisko using a holoprogram about Burnham's story to help him decide whether to dirty his hands and enlist Garak's help in bringing the Romulans into the war It would've made at least as much sense as Riker's choice of history in TATV did...
That too. Mirror Georgiou did say, "In my world, Kronos is little more than a blackened mass of dust."