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

Fans wondering what’s happened to the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery didn’t have to wait long this season. Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 2, “Far From Home,” reveals their fate alongside a high-stakes mission. 

Unlike the season premiere, which leaned into a lighter, hopeful tone, this episode presents a grimmer storyline that further examines the consequences of the Federation’s untimely demise. 

From the start, the episode builds tension as the Discovery crew crash lands onto an unknown planet and faces injuries and ship damage. Olatunde Osunsanmi, who also directed the premiere, does a great job capturing the chaos and fear of the ship’s initial crash as well as the aftermath through shaky and quick cutting camerawork reminiscent of a disaster movie.

But instead of being a bottle episode focused on the aftermath, the episode quickly becomes a quest similar to Burnham’s in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 1, “That Hope is You, Part 1.”  Commander Saru (Doug Jones) and Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) are forced to venture outside the ship in order to secure rubindium to repair the ship. 

Unlike Burnham, who receives the shocking news in a relatively direct manner, Saru and Tilly learn about the Federation’s collapse the hard way after encountering some miners in a rundown settlement called The Colony. They must try to understand what happened to the Federation while also defending their lives. 

The premiere doesn’t exactly paint a rosy picture of the future, but “Far From Home” takes it one step further just to show how dire things are in the absence of the Federation. 

Like in the premiere, there is also a hopeful figure who believes in the Federation on this episode, a miner named Kal (Jonathan Koensgen). But unlike Sahil from the last episode, who seems isolated from danger, Kal and his fellow miners are truly out of options.

Saru articulates early on the episode the risk Discovery brings to the future, with the knowledge of what could have been. However, he fails to anticipate the risk of his rigid adherence to Federation protocols in a world without a Federation. 

Tilly and Saru’s confrontation with the evil courier exploiting this planet, Zareh (Jake Weber), shows that Discovery saving the future won’t be as easy as simply showing up. In fact, Saru proudly clinging to his ideals almost leads to their demise. 

It’s Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) who saves them in the end by breaking protocols. Georgiou sees this future for what it is: the lawless Wild West.

Some fans and critics dinged the earlier seasons of Star Trek: Discovery for being too dark, the opposite of what has come to be expected of the Star Trek universe. But the darkness on this episode serves the valuable purpose of giving a full picture of what the crew is up against and how they must adapt. 

However, the episode is not all doom and gloom. Although Kal does not survive to see his hopes of the Federation saving the day, they do manage to liberate The Colony from the nefarious Zareh.

The Colony learns from Saru’s display of integrity and morality; instead of executing Zareh, they release him into the night filled with other dangers to let him reap what he sowed. 

And as always, Yeoh steals every scene she’s part of as the deliciously shameless Georgiou with her cutting one-liners. Take this burn against Tilly, for example:

Georgiou: She has as much psychic dominance as a kitten.

Although she’s no longer a villain, Georgiou isn’t ready to give up operating in the gray areas, either. This puts her at odds with Saru.

The scene where Tilly points out Georgiou still has bits of pieces of Leland’s body on her shoes and she responds nonchalantly is a great example of just how different her character is from the rest of the crew. 

She eventually ends up following Saru’s orders on this episode, but it will be interesting to see whether this obedience sticks or the writers decide she’s better served as an agent of chaos in this new future. 

Unfortunately for viewers, some of the side plots woven throughout this episode are less effective, feeling unnecessary in the context of the larger story. 

The well-intentioned but antagonistic dynamic of Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) feels played out from last season. The scene’s purpose is to show him coming to terms with his injuries, but it lacks emotional weight, feeling forced and hollow.

Another plot thread left dangling is the focus on Lt. Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) throughout the episode. While it’s implied she is suffering from PTSD, since her physical examination clears her, it never goes beyond implied.

Layering in some ringing noise and spaced-out close-ups is the absolute minimum the show could do to explore this idea. Hopefully, her trauma gets explored with more nuance on future episodes. 

Finally, after all the tension and stress of the episode, both the viewer and crew are given some sweet relief at the end. Discovery makes contact with Burnham — and finds out that it’s been a year since she landed in the future. 

Just like the premiere, this episode manages to offer both a contained adventure while seeding new questions and new possibilities for the rest of the season. With the Discovery crew reuniting with this future Burnham, there’s no telling what could be next. And that’s a very exciting place to be.

Other Thoughts

• Will we actually get to see what happened to Burnham over the past year in flashbacks, or will the show just gloss over it? 
• If Burnham is presumably leading the entirety of what’s left of the Federation now, that would leave the captain’s chair completely open for Saru. And as we see in this episode, he’s earned it. While all the characters in this show have shown growth, Saru’s character arc has been one of the most inspiring. 
• I’m starting to believe the internet theories that Grudge isn’t a real cat but an alien species. Because if she is a cat, she would have definitely tried to get in Burnham’s way during her video call with the crew.

 

What did you think of this episode of Star Trek: Discovery? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Star Trek: Discovery airs Thursdays on CBS All Access.

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