Star Trek: Discovery’s Moll & L’ak Could Never Find Season 5’s Treasure On Their Own

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Summary Star Trek: Discovery's Season 5 plot reveals the intricate web surrounding Progenitors' technology and the dark future it could lead to.

Moll and L'ak's reckless pursuit of the Progenitors' treasure puts them at odds with ethical challenges crafted by scientists.

The Breen pose a threat to obtaining the technology, with or without Moll and L'ak's involvement in Star Trek: Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's renegade lovers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) would never have been able to find the Progenitors' technology on their own. Discovery's fifth and final season finds Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery embarking on an intergalactic treasure hunt for technology the Progenitors used to create humanoid life. After Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) found a message from the Progenitors in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Chase," the United Federation of Planets assembled a team of scientists to study the Progenitors' life-giving technology.

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After one of the 24th-century team of Progentors' scientists was killed, the five remaining researchers scattered clues across the galaxy that would lead to the Progenitors' treasure. Because of the sheer power of this technology, only someone who could pass certain tests of character would be able to find and assemble the clues. As revealed in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors," L'ak is Breen, and turned his back on his people by falling in love and running away with Moll. Because of this, L'ak and Moll have an Erigah, or Breen blood bounty, on their heads. L'ak and Moll desperately hope they can trade the Progenitors' technology for their freedom.

Related Star Trek: Discovery’s 5 TNG Progenitors Scientists & Clues Meanings Explained Star Trek: Discovery revealed the five scientists who hid clues to the Progenitors' treasure, and they all have links to Star Trek's legacy.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Proves Moll & L’ak Could Never Find The Progenitors’ Treasure

The five scientists took steps to ensure those like Moll & L'ak couldn't find the treasure.

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People like Moll and L'ak are the very reason why the five scientists ensured that the Progenitors' technology would be so difficult to find. Moll and L'ak have no interest in using the technology responsibly or even ensuring that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands; it's merely a means to an end for L'ak and Moll's desire for freedom. Moll and L'ak have already proven that they are willing to do whatever it takes to find the technology, meaning they likely would have failed the tests put in place to hide the clues. The Trill Jinaal (Wilson Cruz) certainly would not have given up his clue to Moll and L'ak.

Moll and L'ak are clever, though, and have found ways to keep up with the progress Captain Burnham and the USS Discovery have made in their search. Without Discovery, Moll and L'ak would likely have been thwarted by the second clue that was located on Trill. Although L'ak and Moll did locate the third Progentors' clue on the Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise in interdimensional space, it's hard to see how the couriers could have located the fourth clue on Halem'no the way Burnham and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) did. The final clue has yet to be revealed, but the five scientists went to great lengths to keep the Progenitors' technology out of the wrong hands, so the final test will likely be the hardest one yet.

Finding the Progenitors' clues has involved tests of ethics, morality, and character by the five scientists, which Moll and L'ak would have been challenged to pass.

How Star Trek: Discovery’s Dark Breen Future Could Have Happened

If Moll & L'ak couldn't find the Progenitors' tech, then how would the Breen get it?

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Whether or not Moll and L'ak were able to find the Progenitors' treasure, the dark future glimpsed in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange" could still have happened. When the USS Discovery was trapped in a time loop, Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) saw one possible future where the Breen had destroyed the Federation and killed the USS Discovery's crew. But this raises the question of how the Breen acquired the Progenitors' technology. If Moll and L'ak got stuck in their search, they could have recruited someone else to help them, who would have been able to pass the tests and acquire the clues.

It's also possible that the Breen would have intervened sooner, and found a way to take the clues by force. The Breen clearly have a formidable army and access to advanced technology, so they likely could have found a way to get their hands on the treasure. The Breen could have killed Moll and L'ak and found an alternative way to get to the Progenitors' technology. Without the Federation's involvement, other couriers and bounty hunters could have gotten involved, as well, and found ways to get past the tests of character. However it would have played out, Captain Burnham and her crew must make sure Star Trek: Discovery's dark Breen future will never happen.

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