STAR TREK: DISCOVERY
SEASON 3, EPISODE 3

People of Earth

Series: Star Trek: Discovery - (2017 - 2024)
Season: 3
Episode #: 3
Original Airdate: October 29th, 2020

Writer(s): Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt
Director(s): Jonathan Frakes

Guest Stars
Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou
Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal
Christopher Heyerdahl as Wen
Adil Hussain as Aditya Sahil
Phumzile Sitole as Captain Ndoye
Kenneth Welsh as Admiral Senna Tal

Co-Stars
Emily Coutts as Lt. Keyla Detmer
Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Gen Rhys
Oyin Oladejo as Lt. Joann Owosekun
Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Lt. R.A. Bryce
Sara Mitich as Lt. Nilsson
Fode Bangoura as the Alien Merchant
Shawn Campbell as the Supervising Inspector
Riley Gilchrist as an Andorian Regulator
Xavier Lopez as a Passing Crew Member
Fabio Tassone as the Voice of Book's Ship Computer
David Benjamin Tomlinson as Ltjg. Linus (the Saurian)

Uncredited Guest Stars
Leeu as Grudge
Pamela Mars as a Discovery Bridge Crewmember
Alain Moussi as the Training Hologram

Stardate: 865211.3

Synopsis

Michael Burnham chronicles the event of the past year where she reveals that dilithium reserves dried up 700 years after Discovery’s departure, the galaxy failed to develop an alternative warp-capable propulsion system, and The Burn ultimately brought the Federation to its knees when it caused all ships with active warp cores to detonate.

Working as a courier while attempting to investigate The Burn’s cause, Burnham indicates she has experienced a great deal of personal growth in the time leading up to Discovery’s arrival in the future. Later on Discovery, after a joyously tearful reunion between Burnham and her crew-turned-family, she briefs everyone on The Burn and the millions who died, divulging that she located a transmission sent by an Admiral Senna Tal which invites those who still believe in the Federation to visit Earth.

Burnham selflessly expresses her support for Saru to officially take over as Discovery’s new captain. Saru takes the center seat with grace and authority. In a private moment with Burnham, Tilly mourns the personnel that Discovery lost and ponders the lives her family pursued once she was gone. The best friends manage to establish a new universal constant (“Cake is eternal”) as they reconnect and reminisce.

[ Screencap Index ]

Elsewhere, Georgiou welcomes Booker aboard with the demeanor of a parent scrutinizing their child’s new partner, and Burnham convinces the courier to join Discovery on its spore jump to Earth. Saru voices doubts about trusting Book, yet he shows faith in his friend by agreeing to let the Nautilus to dock in Discovery’s main hangar so that it can cloak the Starfleet vessel’s valuable dilithium supply. The move pays off, as Captain Ndoye of the United Earth Defense Force greets the crew with suspicion once they arrive home.

Concealing Discovery’s true origins, Saru reacts with surprise when Ndoye beams an inspection team over to ensure that the ship is not a threat. Burnham reflects on her past adventures with Book and Grudge while she works to disguise the courier as a Starfleet lieutenant. Always the astute observer, Georgiou recognizes that Michael’s time in the 32nd century has changed the science officer more than her colleagues realize.

Ndoye informs Saru that dilithium raiders plague local space before disclosing a painful truth: Earth is no longer a part of the Federation. The notion that Earth, one of the organization’s founding members and Starfleet’s longtime headquarters, no longer counts itself among the coalition that Captain Jonathan Archer helped to forge in the 22nd century is staggering. Meanwhile, Stamets and Tilly deal with Ndoye’s inspectors and are introduced to Adira, a brilliant 16-year-old with an inquisitive mind.

Red alert! Wen, a raider whose appearance resembles a mechanical insect, demands that Discovery hand over its dilithium. Ndoye readies for combat, but Saru stresses diplomacy. Burnham recruits Book for an unauthorized mission that reminds them of a previous scrape on Donatu VII. The pair meet up with Grudge and depart on Book’s ship to offer Wen their dilithium. Discovery intercepts the torpedoes that the United Earth Defence Force fire at Burnham, who ends up diffusing the situation by capturing Wen.

Saru and Burnham bring Ndoye and Wen together, where we learn that the helmeted raider is actually a human from a research colony on Titan that split from Earth a hundred years before. After Wen explains the truth behind his raids, Saru brokers a truce between the two parties, harboring a new period of peace. In Engineering, Stamets learns that Adira hopes to join Discovery. The astromycologist gains the inspector’s trust by telling the teenager all about the spore drive and the ship’s expedition through time. Despite being human, Adira is Senna Tal, having been joined with the admiral’s Trill symbiont.

Saru decks out his ready room with Captain Georgiou’s telescope and Burnham formally accepts the Kelpien’s offer for her to be his Number One. Tilly and the bridge crew pay a heartfelt visit to a tree on the former grounds of Starfleet Academy in San Francisco while the Discovery readies for its search of the new location of the Federation.

  

Posters courtesy of Laz Marquez

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