Star Trek: Discovery 3x2 “Far From Home” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The crew of the Discovery winds up in the far future.

review: Honestly, in hindsight I would probably prefer this being the season premiere and “That Hope Is You” coming second. “Hope” is a kinetic, exhilarating episode, against which it’s hard for “Far From Home” to compare. It’s the same basic story with a resolution that’s so abrupt it’s almost disappointing, when the crew finds Burnham on the other side of a mysterious hail. In “Hope” we have no idea when Burnham was going to reunite with them. Here we’re quickly told she waited a year. Unless the third episode glosses over that year, that’s another awkward jump.

And because it becomes so inevitable, it’s just going through the motions, and there’s no single compelling narrative in the whole crew to keep things interesting. There’s a half-hearted Stamets and Culber thing happening (neither character deserves to be eternally relegated only to that relationship, and Stamets in particular is far less interesting when he’s not being a caustic engineer, a glimmer of which we see opposite Reno). Saru butts heads with Georgiou (whose best moment quickly redeems the episode just before the last minute), and encourages Tilly. And this is all kind of odd, since some of the best stuff last season was getting to see this exact crew being brilliant in group settings. 

By the time they’re learning the harsh realities of the far future, there’s a space pirate making things incredibly uncomfortable for them, and Georgiou gets a pitch-perfect comeuppance for him, the first time I personally have found Mirror Georgiou pitch-perfect. I mean, if ever there was a good use for her it was exactly this moment. So there’s that!

criteria analysis:

>franchise - I’m going to say there’s precious little here to interest general fan interest.

>series - It was probably necessary to see how the rest of the crew made it to the far future, certainly, and perhaps the whole experience proves how necessary Burnham is to the series.

>character - Mirror Georgiou in a true shining moment.

>essential - As it plays out? Not especially, it seems.

notable guest-stars:

Michelle Yeoh (Mirror Georgiou)

Tig Notaro (Reno)