Thursday, October 22, 2020

Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 3 Episode 2 (Far From Home)

So, here we are, 930 years from everything that the crew of the Discovery knows and loves.  In the third-season premiere, Michael Burnham found herself isolated from the rest of the crew.  What’s important, of course, is that Control didn’t get the information from The Sphere.  But she had no idea what  happened to the actual ship.

In the second episode, we have some good news:  The ship did, in fact, make it safely to the 32nd Century or thereabouts.  The bad news is that the ship has crashed on a barely inhabited planet called, simply, The Colony.  As far as names go, I suppose it’s better than The Planet, but just barely.

It kind of makes sense, seeing that The Federation and Starfleet are distant memories.  It’s been over a hundred years since either really had any pull.  Thus, there aren’t a lot of people left to do anything official, like naming planets or protecting remote outposts.  This isn’t to say that everyone is without hope.  Some still believe.

So, Saru, now in command of the Discovery, has to get the ship up and running again, which won’t be easy.  He has to win the trust of the locals, who are under the thumb of a really bad guy named Zareh.  Zareh destroyed anything that would make the colonists self-sufficient.  Saru steps up and agrees to help the colonists, since that’s what Starfleet does.

It’s sort of like The Seven Samurai, minus a few samurai.  Unfortunately, he and Tilly are outgunned.  That’s where Philippa Georgiou comes in handy.  She takes them out, alternate-universe style, and saves the day.

To this end, I’m getting tired of Georgiou.  She’s basically a one-trick pony.  She comes across as pouty and passive-aggressive.  Well, mostly aggressive, but there is some forced attempt at humor.  Either way, she’s that one person that always lets you know how they do it back home.  Saru has to remind her he doesn’t care how they do it back in her universe.  That’s not how our Starfleet works.

At least Discovery does actually get free.  We get that cliché moment where a ship is bearing down on them and Saru assumes all is lost only to find out that it’s actually Burnham helping them out.  (In case you’re wondering, it’s not like you won’t see it coming.)  It’s revealed that Burnham has been looking for them for a year.

I would take this to mean that she has a much better idea of what The Burn is and what to do about it.  I’m not sure if this is going to be done via flashback or exposition.  I’m not a huge fan of either, but I suppose there aren’t too many other options.  She had an entire year.  It would be a waste if she didn’t learn anything.

 

IMDb page

 

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