After two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery’s third season, it is safe to say we are at the ne plus ultra of personal satisfaction.

“Far From Home” is a superb homage to the Western genre, with swinging bar doors, futuristic jangling spurs and old-fashioned shootouts, and is a gratifying partner to “That Hope Is You, Part 1,” which opened the season focusing on Michael Burnham’s arrival in the 32nd century.

In “Far From Home,” that focus shifts not-only to the crew of the USS Discovery, which has crash landed on a strange icy planet after their time jump, but more notably to Acting Captain Saru (Doug Jones), who permeates the episode with what can now only be described as an assured confidence – something he’s been working toward since day one of Discovery.

From start to finish, Saru is in unwavering control. He expertly guides the crew through the paces in “safely” landing the ship. He quickly gets everyone focused on their individual roles in repairing the Discovery. He navigates the locals by getting the help he needs to fix the ship’s communication system. He balances the anarchistic sensibilities of Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) to his benefit.

In short, he makes the right decisions, at the right time, with no hesitation.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the pivotal scene early in the episode when he and Tilly are exploring their new surroundings in an effort to forge repairs. In back-to-back moments of perfect leadership, Ensign Tilly (Mary Wiseman) catches herself rambling nervously, and Saru perfectly supports her by calmly encouraging that she “keep talking,” knowing that she was dissecting their situation perfectly and providing valuable information.

(She realizes that the “odd and strange” world they are exploring is not what is out of place, it’s Discovery that is out of place. And they are the ones that will need to adjust.)

A moment later, she questions why he chose her for this mission, and he responds with an ode to Discovery, the series that brought Trek back to television after a 12-year hiatus and is now resetting itself here in Season 3. “We are introducing ourselves to the future. You, Ensign Tilly, are a wonderful first impression.” Such. Good. Writing.

Through all of Saru’s confidence and decisiveness, he makes sure the Federation ethos that has guided his life is a part of everything — even as he is slowly piecing together the fact that the Federation as they know it is no more. From the start he tells the crew they are privy to certain events that may impact any society in which they interact, so in other words, the prime directive is in effect. And then he makes it clear that “we will not abandon what we believe.”

By the end of the episode, Saru has navigated a couple of tricky negotiations, bettered a fun Western villain played with restrained vitality by Zareh (guest star Jake Weber), and unleashed his evolved Kelpien super powers by whipping out a few blistering shots of his neck spikes to help win a classic quick draw shoot ‘em up.

Additionally, he has been validated by a “true believer” named Kal (Jonathan Koensgen), a Coridan miner who knows what the Federation is and stands far — even in the face of its apparent demise in the 32nd century. He immediately recognizes Saru and Tilly’s Starfleet chops and knows they will help them, saying “It’s a part of them. How they are.”

Kal pays the ultimate price in assisting Discovery when Zareh kills him early on, but the other miners learn through his sacrifice that what Kal had never stopped talking about was indeed true: “We were apart of the Federation no matter what.” And ironically it is Zareh himself who says that following The Burn, “We’re all adrift together.”

That is something Saru knows in every decision he is making. And as much as this episode is Saru’s shining moment, showing once and for all he is ready to take command of Discovery — it is also the new pinnacle of Doug Jones’ incredible portrayal of the steadfast Kelpian.

Jones is a wonder — somehow vaulting the popular character into a new stratosphere through his physical and emotive performance. After two years of questions and evolution and doubts, Saru is now a leader on par with the captain’s names that he searched for guidance from way back in “Choose Your Pain” – Robert April, Jonathan Archer, Matthew Decker, Philippa Georgiou and Christopher Pike.

Unlike Saru, though, the crew of Discovery is not doing well. They’ve given up a lot to be in their current position, and what they’ve given up is never coming back. Lt. Keyla Detmer (Emily Coutts) is not herself after hitting her head while landing the ship. She goes to sickbay looking for help, but when Dr. Pollard (Raven Dauda) tells her she is fine, it’s not what she wants to hear.

She is not fine, but her injuries are apparently psychological, not physical, and she is struggling to deal with it. Her focus is waning at critical times and it seems she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Elsewhere, Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) is recovering from the injuries he received during Discovery’s great 23rd century escape in “Such Sweet Sorrow” and jumps back into duty against the orders of Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz). He is paired with Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) for some “witty repertoire” reminiscent of their original tit-for-tat in “An Obol for Charon,” and the dynamic between the duo is amusingly on point as she pushes him to admit he is not exactly bringing his A-game.

The pair eventually complete the necessary repairs to get the ship up and running, but not before Reno gives the most recent Star Trek series a hilarious shoutout with hazmat Gene (“I’ve already forgotten that.”) performing a Lower Decks-style clean-up as he scrubs the spore chamber of Leland’s remains.

Elsewhere, new series regular Commander Nhan (Rachael Ancheril) seems to be at peace with her decision to join Discovery’s jump to the future, poignantly explaining to Georgiou that she is on the ship to honor Airiam, “a science office who paid the price of a soldier… a life for a life.”

It was Nhan, of course, who jettisoned Airiam into space back in “Project Daedalus,” and that sacrifice is a reminder that everyone on the crew has given up something to stay with Discovery.

Like the first episode, “Far From Home” was written by Michelle Paradise, Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, who takes full advantage of the amazing scenery provided by the production team’s Icelandic location shoot.

The supernal vistas in Iceland enhance everything happening on the planet surface and add to the motion picture level qualities that this series is known for.

Other Observations

• The Coridans — or Coridanites — seen in the bar are a call back to a species first referenced in the classic Original Series episode “Journey to Babel,” and seen a couple of times (in different forms) in Star Trek: Enterprise. Coridan was known to be rich in dilithium, so it is interesting to see them represented after learning about The Burn.
   
• Saru’s neck spikes were first seen in “The Sound of Thunder,” an evolutionary trait that replaced his threat ganglia after he passed the vahar’ai.
   
• In what might be a fun meta preview of the Section 31 series currently in development, Georgiou mentions that Section 31 would have begged her to take over sooner or later, but since “bureaucracy is where fun goes to die,” she prefers jumping from universe to universe. Having now been a part of three distinct universes in Discovery — the mirror universe, the 23rd century, and the 32nd century — who knows where she might end up when the Section 31 series finally comes together.

• Zaheh references the V’draysh, a syncope of the word Federation through time first introduced in the Short Trek “Calypso.” 
   
• According to Tilly, the Discovery has arrived in the 32nd century with 88 crew members.
   
• The icy planet with the artificial decagon pockets of atmosphere is known as “The Colony,” and the Discovery’s crash landing on a glacier in the episode’s opening moments harkens back to the classic Star Trek: Voyager episode “Timeless.”
   
• Stamets is seen recuperating in what is basically a cellular regeneration chamber that, of course, harkens back to Dr. Elias Giger from “In the Cards” — though Stamets’ chamber didn’t seem to have any entertainment features.
   
• During their walk from Discovery, a pair of tiny 21st century humans can be spotted in the far distance, hiking around the Icelandic landscape. (Whoops!)

• In addition to “Hazmat,” Reno utilizes three additional nicknames in the episode, all aimed at Stamets: Sunshine, Cranky-pants and Bobcat.
   
• Rest in pieces, Captain Pike’s wonderful rustic conference table.
   
• The Star Trek: Discovery opening credits have been updated to fully reflect the new series logo — an erroneous ‘halfway’ version which originally appeared in the “That Hope Is You, Part 1” credits, has been fixed as well on CBS All Access and Netflix’s streaming version of 301.
   
• The new 32nd century tech featured in “Far From Home” includes programmable matter, personal transporters, new phaser designs and an artificial atmosphere with “a giant hunk of planet hanging there in the sky.”
   
• Michael Burnham arrived in the year 3188 in “That Hope Is You, Part 1,” the Discovery and crew arrives one year later — continuing the series into 3189 starting with this episode.

All of the above leads to an emotional climax with the Discovery struggling to eradicate itself from the parasitic ice encompassing the ship. Just as all hope seems lost, a blue tractor beam grabs hold of the ship and Michael Burnham reveals herself to the crew telling them she has been searching for them for a year.

Their relief is palpable — even Georgiou’s — and the reintroduction of Burnham to Discovery is reminiscent of her original introduction to the ship in “Context Is For Kings,” when it saved her by ensnaring her in a tractor beam to pull her to safety from an incapacitated shuttle.

It’s a perfect, symbolic culmination of a fun and successful, two-episode reset for the show in the 32nd century. Of course, now the big question is what comes next? Let us know your thoughts on how the crew will move forward from here in the comments below!

Star Trek: Discovery returns for the third episode of the season, “People of Earth,” on October 29 exclusively on CBS All Access (USA) and CTV Sci Fi Channel (Canada); episode then arrives October 30 on Netflix for all other global regions.