Star Trek: Discovery Review: People of Earth (Season 3 Episode 3)
Last week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery leaves off with a lot of questions around Burnham’s year in the future. Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 3, “People of Earth,” answers a few of those questions while still leaving a larger mystery on the table.
It turns out Burnham has been working as a courier the past year, exploring in search of clues to solve what caused the Burn. She’s determined to find out what caused all dilithium to explode, essentially wiping out the Federation.
So after a happy reunion with the crew, it’s down to business. A 12-year old transmission from the Federation indicates a survivor might be waiting for them on Earth and that’s where they head.
The actual mission, to return to Earth and find what’s left of the Federation, ends up feeling less important on the episode. Instead, the episode excels in the personal moments the characters share, mostly featuring Burnham.
They are back together as a crew, but from the start, the episode makes it clear that this is not the Burnham we know from the premiere. We don’t get many specifics, despite an obligatory time-lapse montage, but the episode does a great job showing who Burnham is now through her interactions with the crew.
A hallway encounter with Tilly, who mourns her now-dead family, highlights the distance between Burnham and the crew despite their earlier joyous reunion. Burnham admits she’s had to let them go for a while, and we see throughout the episode what it means for her to find her way back to them.
The most emotional moment of the episode comes when Burnham cedes the captain’s chair to Saru. Even if it does feel like a foregone conclusion, the moment brings tears to your eyes as Saru formally takes on the role.
Burnham: You brought this ship through time. You carried this crew on your shoulders. You are a captain in the truest sense of the word.
Saru allows himself to experience the weight of all he’s been through leading to this moment and enjoy the admiration from his peer Burnham. It’s touching to see him soak it all in before he goes into a rousing speech for the crew that shows off Doug Jones’ monologue capabilities.
The scene also supports the overall message about how Burnham herself has changed. She admits that not only does she not want the chair now, but maybe she never has. It’s Georgiou who later pinpoints the real change the future has provided Burnham.
Burnham goes from living with Vulcans to joining Starfleet. So while she certainly hasn’t been afraid to break the rules in the past, it’s also true she’s never gained real freedom from expectations before, either. This year in the future has given her that.
This episode hints that maybe they’re not just there to remake the future, but to remake themselves if they want. It’s an interesting idea, and one that I’d like to see explored more with other members of the Discovery crew.
You can especially see Burnham’s freedom during her scenes with Book, where she operates with much more ease. They have a shared history now outside of the crew, and it emboldens her to try things differently.
Which all circles back to the mission at hand, where Discovery gets stuck in a conflict between the new United Earth Defense Force, who has prevented them from reaching Earth, and dilithium raiders. Against Saru’s command, Burnham interferes and the misunderstanding between the groups ends up resolved a little too easily.
The episode’s reveal that Earth’s isolationist policies have robbed it of all compassion and forced a suffering group of humans on Titan to become raiders comes off as a little trite after last week’s episode.
Last week on the Colony, we see first-hand the impacts of the Burn on a group of people. This time we just get a lot of talking about it on the Bridge and it would have been helpful to spend more time getting to know these groups outside of this immediate conflict.
And if Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 2, “Far From Home,” established that fixing the future wouldn’t be an easy task for Discovery, and may require working outside of the box, this week undermines that. Diplomacy should work, just maybe not that fast.
The introduction of Adira (Blu del Barrio) provides the one bright spot to the United Earth Defense Force storyline. They are bonded with a Trill symbiont containing the memories of Admiral Tal, the Federation officer who has sent the transmission Burnham finds that leads them to Earth.
In addition to providing a fun challenge for Tilly and Stamets, who call them a “teen genius” with both awe and derision, Adira also appears to be the key to Discovery actually finding the Federation.
Adira also marks the first canon non-binary character for the show, though this has not gotten much on-screen exploration yet.
“People of Earth” ends with a rather blissful scene of the crew exploring the old Starfleet Academy grounds, where even 900 years later a tree they used to study under remains. It endures, and so will they.
Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery is settling nicely into this new future, but still shines brightest when it keeps its focus on the crew. That said, the mystery of the Burn leaves a lot to still explore this season even if some missions, like this one, don’t work as well as others.
Additional Thoughts:
- In this week’s “Grudge Corner,” I’d like to note that Book once again refers to her as a queen when Burnham (rudely) calls her a fat cat. It definitely feels more and more like an actual future plot point and not just a cute nickname.
- Speaking of Book, has anyone else rolled their eyes when Burnham kept referring to him as just a friend? Even Georgiou sees the chemistry! He will definitely be back this season despite leaving at the end of this episode.
- “Cake is eternal.” Preach!
- This has been a very emotional season thus far. This is not a bad thing, but I’m ready for an episode that doesn’t make me cry.
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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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.