Star Trek: Discovery (3×02) Far From Home Review

For our review of the last episode of Star Trek: Discovery, click here.

Synopsis: After the U.S.S. Discovery crash-lands on a strange planet, the crew finds themselves racing against time to repair their ship. Meanwhile, Saru and Tilly embark on a perilous first-contact mission in hopes of finding Burnham. (IMDb)

Far From Home acts as the second-half of the third season premiere which shows us what is happening with the rest of the crew of the USS Discovery as they have been thrust 930 years into the future. It picks up at the events of the finale as the crew is thrown through the wormhole and crash lands on a planet that also isn’t Terralysium. Here they are forced to survive, fix the ship and hopefully find their lost crewmate along the way.

Unlike the first episode, this one is able to bounce between characters rather than be forced to rely on one to carry it. However, that is absolutely necessary as Burnham exudes a different level of charisma and complexity that hasn’t been seen from anyone else on the ship making it harder to follow any of them on a solo adventure. Again, we are treated to sublime landscapes of remote shooting in Iceland paired with the charm of characters we missed the week before. However, it all feels a little short on its delivery.

The planet-of-the-week story which brings the crew to The Colony feels mundane and unexciting capped off by the forgetful one-note villain Zareh played by Jake Weber. It is nice to see the wholesome interactions of Saru and Tilly as they venture off on their own, but the rest of the story surrounding them feels forced and full of questionable holes. Why is Emperor Georgiou so fixed on finding Burnham when her behaviour up until this point has been entirely self-motivated? Why was the subplot revolving around the remaining crewmembers a fix the ship problem marred with injuries rather than them contemplating the current state of the world outside them? An interesting sociopolitical debate showing their different stances on the hypothetical future could’ve been a very Trekky discussion, but instead it was focused on a drawn out and overused trope subplot.

Thankfully, the episode ends with Burnham arriving to reconnect with her old crewmates and making sure the ensemble is together going forward. The only issue? It took her a full year to find the Discovery meaning she’s been alone in the future for a long time with a ton of stories (and hopefully flashbacks) that will be shown throughout. Will that have changed her personality since the last time her crewmates saw her? That is yet to be seen.

The question remains: what will Discovery do in a post-Federation universe?

Captain’s Log

• Is there some force that took over the Federation’s territories after it lost influence?
• What is Georgiou’s plan?
• What happened during The Burn?

What did you think of Far From Home? Was it a good second-half to the premiere? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips