• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 3x02 - "Far From Home"

Rate the episode...


  • Total voters
    207
It was "Self Defense", their lives were in danger.
Fair enough, although considering Book and Burnham were the "criminals" per se (Book was smuggling against the rules of the jurisdiction he was in), I'm not sure how that would legally hold up. I guess Michael had to escape as they were going to kill her though regardless and she was in the dark about what Book was doing.
 
Amazing episode, easily top 10 for Discovery, precisely because it was so ordinary. The show has desperately needed character development/interaction, and Paradise is giving it to us in spades. The characters drive the plot, rather than the characters inhabiting the plot, as so often happened in seasons 1 and 2.

And that A/B plot structure? And telling a complete story while maintaining character serialization? *chef's kiss*
It’s the second time a new showrunner with the initials “MP” has switched the writing on a Star Trek series to emphasize character during its 3rd season. And I’m hoping Disco has the same success with it.
 
They really found an excuse to involve everyone this episode. Even NIlsson (the new character created for Sara Mitich in Season 2 once she developed a makeup allergy) got a couple lines.

The episode would have been so much more enjoyable if it was a bottle episode only taking place on Discovery, focusing on the crew as a whole struggling to fix the ship before nightfall. Particularly because we already had a "defeat the bad guys" plot last week.

I wonder if that was the original intent, because IIRC the decision to have anyone other than SMG film in Iceland came relatively late.
 
This one almost felt like a season opener all over again. And right at the start, I'll admit that I didn't expect Michael to show up so soon, but I'm glad she did at the end. Once again, I felt intrigued by the world-building aspects, especially programmable matter again. Also, while I know many will feel problematic about the V'Draysh getting namedropped due to Calypso not fitting into the continuity, it still sounded alright after we heard Zareh speak the pidgin. I'm no linguist, but it sounded plausibly like a simplified future descendant of English and other local languages. I also liked the automatic transporters at the entrance of the cave too.

Overall, the story felt a bit simplistic and formulaic, and it was no surprise that Georgiou would venture out on her own after her spat with Saru (I do hope she didn't hurt Linus though). I enjoyed seeing her trying to push her weight around, and while Saru prevailed in the end, it looks like their conflict regarding authority will remain a fixture of the season. And of course, despite the bleak situation they've found themselves in, it still ended on a hopeful note with Federation values withstanding the threat of a lawless universe around us. I was kind of expecting the bartender to blame them for Kal's death, and this being subverted was one of the few genuine surprises at the end. Of course, one might argue whether Saru putting Zareh's life in his hands was hopeful naiveté on his part or if he was merely washing his hands, especially given the cruel mercy of sending him out into the ice.

The comparable weakness of the story was compensated for with mainly two things in my eyes: first, the standoff with Zareh was genuinely tense and suspenseful, and it perfectly underscored how out of their element the crew is, especially with him instantly figuring out where they came from and how much of an advantage that gave him. Second, the crew interactions were absolutely lovely; they reminded me of the same thing in Brother. Be it Paul and Hugh's loving bickering, the frenemy banter between Paul and Reno (complete with Gene, poor Gene, he has the worst job in the world, shoveling Leland), Georgiou and Nhan sniping at each other, or even the friendship moment when Owo realized Keyla was absolutely not okay... these were all well acted and made the crew feel so much more like real people. I admit, I had already said the same thing about Season 2's opener, so it might be taken with a grain of salt.

But, the crown jewel of personal moments was still Saru and Tilly's relationship, best exemplified by their discussion on the lake. After Paul's absolutely horrid "use less words" advice (seriously, making someone self-conscious about the very thing that they do when they're nervous, way to go, Paul), Saru truly acted like a commanding officer for her, signaling his acceptance of her nervousness ("Keep talking, ensign"), and being able to politely get her to collect herself. So I'm almost willing to forgive him for not allowing her to say WTF. After how much of a jerk Georgiou was to her, especially considering she was the one making her nervous in the first place, I would've surely let her drop an F-bomb or two. OK, I'm a shameless Tilly fan, I can't help but dedicate an entire paragraph to her.

Best one-liners:
  • "You have some, uh, Leland on your shoes." - gross. Especially after seeing poor Gene.
  • "My partner brought me out of a coma and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
  • "T-shirt has a hyphen." - of course Paul would try to spell it out, and of course Hugh wouldn't let him win. I had to laugh out.
 
I liked the episode for the most part.

Something appears to be going on with Keyla Detmer. Did some entity or Control or time travel damage or possess or infiltrate her eye apparatus device?

Mirror Georgiou is evil but a lot more fun to watch than earnest Federation do gooders. I guess the agonizer booth was good preparation for taking on that band of renegades.

I liked Gene’s clean up on Aisle 5.

I also enjoy Culber and Stamets and Stamets’ banter with Jett Reno.

I hope they will flesh out some of the other characters and it isn’t only the Burnham show. I’d like to find out more about Detmer, Owo, Rhys, Linus, Nilson, the doctor, etc. Hopefully it won’t be the episode they kill them in.
 
Can't say I cared for this week's episode. I used to think Burnham was the weak part of the show and the ensemble was where it was at, but I guess I was wrong. I'd rather watch Burnham and Book wander an empty planet than this. I really, really dislike Emperor Georgeau, and Nahn (sp?) is starting to get on my nerves too. The Stamets and Reno banter I found just snarky and annoying.

Overall I just was bored most of the time.

...As always. But we get no explanation yet why they couldn't have the old stuff in addition, too. They know how to build an Angel Suit. They know how to charge a time crystal. They have the ability to go suck a supernova at their leisure. All they'd need would be a trip to Boreth for a new crystal or sixty, possibly an adventure worth seeing. Although cladding the whole clan in Angel Suits just without the crystal would already be a nice boost...

Timo Saloniemi

Making the Red Angel a set of super armor built in secret by Starfleet was just the worst idea. I'm really curious what the original plan was.
 
Speaking of her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo'noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius, her Instagram is up:

"Zareh was a joke. Little more than a loud dog with his tail between his legs."

If they're still going to do the Section 31 show, please, I hope they do it in the 32nd century. Keep her here. If for nothing more than to keep the way and how she would get back to the 23rd century from the inevitable eye-roll inducing event it would be.

Also, I wonder if that was a slight reveal that The Burn was caused by someone or some group or organization?
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top