‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 3 Review: Back to the Future

What’s perhaps most surprising about Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, which finds the crew of the ship stranded in a dark, broken future without the Federation, is how comforting it is. While there’s a lot of danger, bombastic action, and the usual twists and turns that Discovery has made its bread and butter in Seasons 1 and 2, what most characterizes this year’s outing is that it’s classic Trek with a modern sheen. And with that, particularly for die hard fans, comes the sense of calm that tags along with returning the franchise to its old school roots.

Here’s the gist of the season, the first four episodes of which were provided for review. After battling a vicious artificial intelligence called Control (or Leland, if you want to be less formal) that wanted to wipe out all sentient life in the universe, the Discovery decided to hide the precious MacGuffin (called sphere data) Control needed to win in the far future. The plan was to follow Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) as she donned a time suit designed by her mother through a wormhole, and settle down on a tech-free planet called Terralysium.

Obviously, that all goes horribly wrong. At least initially, Burnham and the ship containing a skeleton crew of her friends that followed her 930 years into the future are separated and lost. Soon, they discover that not only is the Federation pretty much gone thanks to a mysterious event called The Burn, that same event essentially destroyed all travel between galaxies, 100 years earlier. Enter the black leather costumes, some serious posturing, and shady characters straight out of a cantina from another Star series.

Given that the first season of Discovery was — incorrectly, I’d argue — criticized for going too dark, and too serial; and Season 2 somewhat the same, with its bearded, mentally damaged Spock (Ethan Peck) and murderous AI rampage, you’d be forgiven from thinking Discovery Season 3 would be a similar trek into darkness. It’s not. If anything, Season 3 is the closest Discovery has gotten to classic Trek adventures, down to the done-in-one visits to planets, solving mysteries through kindness and thoughtfulness, and then moving on to the next.

To be sure, there’s an ongoing plot: you don’t introduce something called “The Burn” and then completely ignore the origins and consequences of this disastrous event. That’s the arc that powers through the first few episodes, and presumably the rest of the season. But in the initial going, it’s more about taking the time to establish the crew of Discovery as the beacon of hope that begins to shine again in a broken universe.

The other theme that weaves through is that most of the universe wants to hope. This isn’t Mirror Universe redux, with its goatees and gleeful eating of crew-mates. This is the main Star Trek universe, and it holds tight to Gene Roddenberry’s ideals of a bright future even in the darkest of times. Not every being the crew encounters is good, of course. There are plenty of villains and opportunists on hand. But in each episode, there’s someone — or ones — who wants to believe in the Federation, and the promise of a unified universe moving forward towards Utopia through science and cooperation. Certainly right now, that seems as pressing as ever. And perhaps it is those real-world circumstances that make Discovery‘s initial episodes such an emotional journey. Seeing steady leadership from de facto captain Saru (Doug Jones) in particular, or group hugs and reunions carries an extra emotional punch, given we don’t have either right now, in real life.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of action. As is consistent with modern Trek, gone are the days of walking the same hallway over and over, or alien planets that look like they’re somewhere on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Part of the season was filmed in Iceland, a first for the series, and the behind the scenes crew makes the most of the strange, rocky environs. The action sequences, too, are fantastically staged as usual, including a season premiere plummet to a planet that literally slams together Burnham and new character Book (David Ajala), leading to an unwilling team-up between the two. Hand-to-hand combat gets its time as well, and three seasons in the production has learned to stand back and let Michelle Yeoh’s devious Philippa Georgiou do her thing.

But ultimately it’s the characters who shine this season, and that hold the show together. The ensemble has hit its groove in Season 3, and everyone gets time in the spotlight. There’s the aforementioned Saru, now in charge of a ragtag crew, who as usual conveys command and kindness in equal measure through layers of makeup. Anthony Rapp’s Paul Stamets and Wilson Cruz’s Hugh Culber are finally back together after a season of angst, and it’s lovely to see; though the best relationship (or at least the most hilarious) is between Stamets and his frenemy Jett Reno (Tig Notaro). Mary Wiseman’s Ensign Sylvia Tilly is always a hilarious delight, but the trauma of being plunged hundreds of years into the future allows her plumb new, emotional depths we haven’t seen before. And even former side characters that weren’t even really named in Season 1 get a time in the sun, from Emily Coutt’s Kayla Detmer (you know, the one with the implants on the side of her face) to fan-fave saurian Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson).

Oh, and then there’s Michael Burnham. Martin-Green has been consistently excellent from the get-go as Burnham, balancing her human nature with a Vulcan upbringing. She’s proven herself to be an actor who puts it all on the table, every episode. She’s a dramatic anchor for the series, the plot hub the series pivots on, and as adept at action as she is at searing emotional scenes. Martin-Green is a star in every sense of the word, and that’s been clear since way back with her time on The Walking Dead. But Season 3 brings something new out of Martin-Green, and Burnham. Without getting too heavily into spoilers, her trip to the future tests her in ways she couldn’t imagine. The Burnham that emerges is something decidedly different, and one that you perhaps wouldn’t expect. Gone is the grim, serious, weight-of-the-world on her shoulders Commander who has had to save the universe multiple times. In one of the later episodes, a character comments that she looks lighter, and that’s the best way to describe it. That pain, that heaviness is still there below the surface; but Burnham has emerged through her baptism by wormhole with a new outlook on life. It’s one that might cause trouble in the long run as she grapples with the new state of the universe. But at least in the early going means that Martin-Green laughs, and smiles, and shows off the incredible charm that makes her the focal point of every scene.

Disco is also, despite the far future time period and overarching mystery of The Burn, far less complicated than Season 2. Thankfully. Though the Sophomore season had its highlights, including the phenomenal season finale and classic Trek crew led by Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Season 2 got overwhelmed with mysteries, and mentions of sphere data, time crystals, rogue AIs and so much more that at times it started to feel like watching a glossary. Season 3 simplifies all of that, and gives us episodes that illuminate new parts of this dark universe while the crew visits old, familiar environs. There are mysteries, but for the most part they’re resolved in the episode, or the next. With nine episodes to go it is possible we’ll get back to the Season 2 mode of a 5-10 minute crew meeting each episode to break down the complicated plot and catch other characters up on what they missed; but hopefully not. As is, the first four episodes feel sleeker and breezier; lighter, like Burnham.

I’ll fully admit that, as a fan of the first season of Discovery, I miss the pedal-to-the-metal, go for broke nature of those episodes. But that said, that sort of breakneck pace might feel exhausting to watch in the current moment. Instead, Season 3 of Discovery is the Star Trek we need right now, the one that feels like comfort food and promises that no matter how grim things get, they’re going to be okay if we all trust each other and work to the top of our intelligence. It may be an impossible goal, but as Roddenberry believed — and as plays out in every episode this season so far — it’s a goal worth working towards anyway.

That in essence is what makes Discovery feel like such a refreshing throwback to classic Trek. Season 1 was about a crew who did not trust each other, fractured by a Captain who kept them in the dark. Season 2 was about how that crew learned to work together and became a family. And Season 3 finds them finally working as a unit, caring for each other and exploring strange new worlds; albeit while stuck nearly a millennium in the future with none of the trappings of the franchise at their disposal. As usual, though, Star Trek needed to head to the future to reconnect with its past.

Star Trek: Discovery airs Thursdays on CBS All Access

Where to watch Star Trek: Discovery