With the fifth episode of Season 3, we get our second truly "strange new world" of the season. Yay! And there was much rejoicing.
Through the Lens of Time is my second favorite episode so far, just behind the premiere. It builds on an intriguing premise and, thanks to some clever visual effects, gives us a setting that's both satisfying and puzzling for an away team to investigate.
That's where this episode shines: it leans into the classic Star Trek formula; an away team encountering a mysterious environment, and it does this very well! Even the long-standing TOS "red shirt" trope gets a fresh twist here, and I'm fully on board with it.
Where the episode falters is in the details. The meta, film-within-the-story elements don't land for me; it feels forced rather than clever, and I'm not sure why the writers keep returning to this device throughout the series. Likewise, the time-warp material never gels, coming across more as contrived coincidence than inventive storytelling. Too often, characters are shuffled into place simply because the plot demands it. That kind of backward construction can work if it's either brilliant or if the dialogue is so engaging that science is an afterthought. Here it's neither, leaving the episode as a whole feeling above average, but not as epic as is should.
Five episodes into the third season, I still feel like Strange New Worlds is working with first season level scripts. Fortunately, the talented cast and their on-screen chemistry, combined with consistently strong production values and effects, keep the show afloat. At this stage, though, what the series really needs is a leap in top-tier writing. That's both encouraging, because the potential is there, and a little disappointing, given how far along we are in the show's run.
