Burnham and Book race to evacuate a group of stranded colonists in the anomaly's path as one of the Federation's brightest scientists comes aboard the U.S.S. Discovery to do high-stakes research with Saru and Stamets.

Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham)
Doug Jones (Captain Saru)
Anthony Rapp (Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets)
Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber)
Tig Notaro (Commander Jett Reno)
David Ajala (Cleveland Booker)

Oded Fehr (Admiral Charles Vance)
David Cronenberg (Dr. Kovich)
Shawn Doyle (Dr. Ruon Tarka)
Michael Greyeyes (Felix)
Annabelle Wallis (Zora)
Sarah Booth (Inmate #3)
Jonathan Goad (Akaali Magistrate)

Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Cmdr. Gen Rhys)
Sara Mitich (Lt. Cmdr. Nilsson)
David Benjamin Tomlinson (Lieutenant Linus)
Orville Cummings (Lieutenant Christopher)
Sochi Fried (Akaali Woman/Patri Doxica)
Sima Sepehri (Lieutenant Adhar)
Alireza Shojaei (Inmate #1)
Aldrin Bundoc (Inmate #2)

• The episode opens with the U.S.S. Janeway and N.S.S. T'Pau scanning the DMA.
  
• The DMA is discovered to be controlled by a central device that uses immense power. It is not a naturally occurring phenomenon.
  
• Ruon Tarka is from Risa ("the pleasure planet").
  
• The "Examples" in the title refer to six prisoners on the Akaali colony, who are serving life sentences for crimes as petty as a starving man who stole food. It was used as a crime detterent during the Emerald Chain days.
  
• Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly) and Blu del Barrio (Adira Tal) do not appear in this episode and their names do not appear in the main title opening credits.
  
• Tig Notaro (Jett Reno) makes her first appearance of the season. Her actor credit also receives an upgrade to the main titles (appearing as "with Tig Notaro" before David Ajala).
  
• The Discovery AI computer, Zora, appears to be developing emotional awareness.