Star Trek: Discovery Episode 3.9 Review: Ups And Downs From Terra Firma Part 1

For those of us who have been struggling with Georgiou's arc in season three, Terra Firma part 1 delivers on the wait. While that doesn't excuse how the first eight episodes wasted her, this week's episode truly knocks it out of the part and allows Michelle Yeoh the chance to shows us why she is still here.

This episode takes chances with the narrative, all for the better. There are certainly moments that stand out more than others, yet that is not to say that the rest of the episode doesn't pack a punch. There are plenty of reveals throughout the episode. While not every question is answered, this episode has a much more satisfactory flow to it than several previous ones.

While Georgiou's story dominates Terra Prime part 1, Stamets and Adira get another nice moment together and, very importantly, we discovery the identity of the vessel that sent the distress call, the one that has been seeding the music through time. *spoiler* my theory last week about Calypso seems to have been blown out of the water.

And speaking of Calypso, for the second time this season, the Sphere data in the computer returns to play a pivotal role this week. Read on for our breakdown of the episode!

Again, while the character is called Kovich, David Cronenberg is just too cool a name not to use here. The scene that was teased last week appears in the opening moments of the episode and we don't learn much that we didn't learn in the teaser. However, Culber does discover that there may be a way forward. This is the first use of the Sphere data (other than movie night, which Cronenberg quips about later) this season.

One take away from their discussion of this (which isn't a plot hole, as they may not be aware of this) is that there are at least two other people who may have been in this same situation. First, there is Ambassador Spock. He traveled to the Kelvin universe that was created by Nero. The second is Tasha Yar, who traveled from the future created by the Enterprise-C traveling through the anomaly.

Georgiou has it worse, as the two universes have drifted further and further apart in the intervening years and, as Cronenberg (ok fine, Kovich!) says, all of her molecules are crying out to be home. It is a fascinating challenge thrown down to give Georgiou her new direction.