Star Trek: Discovery 3.3 Review - Ups And Downs From People Of Earth

The latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery has dropped and thankfully it has continued this season's trend of high quality and good writing. The audience are introduced to several new characters, though one is clearly going to play a larger role in the season as a whole. The episode also highlights where the Federation is politically and there are some surprises in store for the crew.

The episode is not perfect. There is some clunky dialogue and a few scenes that could have done with a bit more padding. There is also a curious choice toward the end of the episode that was a bit odd overall.

However, episode three of this season is a strong story with a fine set of performances. There is an overriding sense of hope in the air, something that had been badly missing from the first season and was really starting to take hold in the second. It is also, though clearly part of the larger arc of the season, a relatively light stand alone story, revisiting the planet of the week trope from earlier franchise entries, suggesting a turn away from the so-connected-it-hurts storytelling of earlier Discovery.

Everything about the first scene of the episode is a depiction of what Star Trek is about. It is family. It is hope. It is joy. The scene with each of the crew coming together, Tilly running to embrace Michael, is a moment that swings straight for the heart and fails to let go.

It's perfect. The pure warmth that radiates through this scene shows that Discovery has, finally, found its feet. It proves that the show was absolutely correct to split the crew and send them to the future, as they do need a guide for the future (who better than Burnham now?) and they need that excitement, that warmth and that family feeling to come through.

Even Georgiou gets in on it - even if from a distance.

It is a fantastic start to the episode, one that pays off splitting them all over the first two episodes easily.