Star Trek: Discovery – Season 3 episode guide

Season 3, it can be argued, is where Star Trek: Discovery probably should have begun: After all, both Deep Space Nine and Voyager wasted little time to explore whoe new quadrants of the galaxy – in Voyager's case, about 20 minutes – so why take so long to get to treading truly new ground for the Star Trek franchise? On the other hand, without Discovery, why'd never have gotten Strange New Worlds nor the introduction of Captain/Emperor Philippa Georgiou and thus the upcoming Section 31…

Discovery season 3 is set an exciting 900 years beyond The Original Series in the wild 32^nd century. Sure, Star Trek has given us glimpses into the furthest temporal reaches of its universe before: The Enterprise-J was seen by Captain Archer in Enterprise season 3, Voyager’s EMH benefitted from 29^th-century holographic emitter technology and Lower Decks showed us a historical perspective on a certain TNG/DS9 Starfleet member.

But not for decades (in real-time) has Star Trek presented us with such a fascinating array of new technologies, starships and the like: The programmable matter and personal transporters are as interesting to 20s audiences as were holodecks and badge communicators in the 80s. Beyond this, we get nearly a millennium’s worth of sociopolitical change, from Vulcans and Romulans living together to the return of rampant capitalism (and not the cute, vice-based sort favored by the Ferengi, either).

Best of all, in a bleak future with the Federation on its knees, the Discovery crew ultimately comes to represent the optimism of the past, in a meta sense that of The Original Series (as well as, to some extent, The Next Generation and Voyager), as a force for good in a galaxy gone mad. For the first time, a Discovery season has Trek fans wanting more of a new vision…

Star Trek: Discovery episode guide – Season 3

1. That Hope Is You, part 1. Michael Burnham emerges from the season 2-concluding wormhole into the year 3188 (approximate stardate 864711), collides with a courier ship piloted by one Cleveland “Book” Booker, crash lands on an alien planet, gets dosed with some serious ecstasy-like truth-telling drugs, kciks butt in a number of firefights, helps save a member of an endangered interplanetary species and finally finds at least one representative of the Federation. Needless to say, this is perhaps the single most action-packed episode in all of ST lore. ****
2. Far From Home. The Discovery emerges from the season 2-concluding wormhole and lands in generally intact condition on the surface of a mostly uninhabited planet. The crew gets to work on repairing bodily injuries and damage to the ship while racing against the onslaught of parasitic ice which is slowly encasing the ship as the external temperature drops with night’s approach. Saru and Ensign Tilly venture out to a nearby mining settlement wherein they attempt to exchange dilithium for spare parts. Zareh, an exploitative courier, seeks to steal Discovery’s dilithium but Georgiou comes to the rescue, kicking ass and taking names. Burnham and Book show up to free Discovery from the gnarly ice. ****
3. People of Earth. Discovery’s precious dilithium is stashed aboard Book’s ship, which in turn is stasthed aboard Discovery. After picking up a signal from one Admiral Senna Tal from Earth, Discovery sets course for the familiar planet. Upon arrival, the crew learns that the now very paranoid and militant Earth is no longer home to Starfleet HQ and that Admiral Tal was a Trill whose implant survived in not exactly ideal circumstances within the Earthling Adira. ***
4. Forget Me Not. In an effort to communicate with and/or access the memories of the Tal symbiote, Discovery travels to the Trill homeworld. There, Adira is shunned by most but eventually wins over one “guardian” to assist in the process. ***
5. Die Trying. Tal’s memories get Discovery to the hidden Starfleet HQ. Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Adm. Charles Vance is quite skeptical about the crew’s story or abilities to function 900 years into their future. Saru and the Discovery crew earns trust when they help solve a blight by retrieving resources from a seed archive that only their ship’s spore drive can reach. ***
6. Scavengers. Discovery gets an upgrade to 32^nd-century technology but is nevertheless stuck in spacedock. Burnham, meanwhile, receives a 3-week-old message saying that he’d retrieved a black box from a Starfleet ship annihilated in The Burn. Burnham and Georgiou take Book’s ship to rescue him, much to Vance’s dismay. ***
7. Unification III. A titular and spiritual sequel to the TNG season 5 episodes guest-starring Spock (We even get a Nimoy sample from part II!) that also nicely ties in events key to Star Trek (2009) and Picard. This particular reunification may refer to either internal politics of the planet Ni’Var (née Vulcan), to whom Burnham et al appeal in hopes of solving the mystery of The Burn, or the possibility of Ni’Var rejoining the Federation. In either case, this episode has some great alien-cultural stuff as well as some courtroom drama. ****
8. The Sanctuary. Discovery travels to Book’s home planet of Kwejian, which is under biological attak perpetuated by the Emerald Chain, a capitalistic power headed up by Orions and Andorians. Under orders not to engage the Federation enemy, Discovery cannot help but interfere to save a civilization. ***
9. Terra Firma, part 1. Georgiou is slowly being torn apart due to her travels across universes and through time. Discovery’s computer advises she travel to Dannus V, an apparently uninhabited planet, for assistance. Once on the surface, Michael and Georgiou have a Beckettesque experience with a guy named Carl, who entreats Georgiou to enter his freestanding doorway, which leads into her own familiar Mirror Universe. ***
10. Terra Firma, part 2. As did Kirk back in the day and Burnham a couple seasons ago, Georgiou finds herself attempting to change the mindlessly bloodthirsty ways of the Terran Empire. She gets limited results, but does manage to escape with her life back into the Prime Universe and, soon thereafter, to a spacetime in which she can safely exist, i.e. the series Star Trek: Section 31…. ***
11. Su’Kal. Discovery finds a derelict Kelpian starship within a radioactive nebula which may also have been the original source of The Burn. Indeed, an entire planet is hidden within, housing the ship which is home to the titular character, a Kelpian whose entire education has been supplied by holograms. Book goes in for a rescue mission but Saru and Dr. Culber refuse to leave Su’Kal; Adira, who has stowed away on Book’s ship, joins them on the surface while Burnham is beamed aboard. Unfortunately, Book arrives back at Discovery just in time to see it disappear, now in command of Emerald Syndicate leader Osyraa and her new lackey Zareh.  ***
12. There Is a Tide. Using Discovery as cover, Osyraa gains entrance to Federation HQ, where she … proposes a peace treaty to Vance. Meanwhile, the Discovery crew gets to work at overthrowing the pirate takeover of the ship. ****
13. That Hope Is You, part 2. Silly title aside, this episode puts Discovery viewers at the edge of their seat from the go and keeps them there until the new captain takes over. The on-board crew manages to halt the Discovery while in warp and Burnahm takes out Osyraa. With Book’s emphatic assistance, Discovery returns to the nebula, where Saru, Culber and Adira manage to convince Su’Kal to overcome his fear and leave the ship he’s always called home. Saru returns to Kaminar, but the rest of the Discovery is tasked with the mission of reassembling the Federation through dilithium supply. And they get neat new uniforms, too…

Now, as the woman said, let’s fly!