Georgiou continues to navigate the Mirror Universe while making different choices -- trying to reform Michael Burnham through mercy, and making an ally of Saru (rather than an appetizer). Her decisions ultimately lead to a reckoning with the mysterious Carl.
There were parts of this episode that did work for me, but also a lot that it didn't. Ultimately, the issue came down to this: the series was saying goodbye to Michelle Yeoh more than it was to Mirror Georgiou.
The Emperor is not a nice person to be around. She's disdainful, unhelpful, rude, and mostly uncaring. Very few characters on the show had a positive relationship with her; many characters had no relationship with her at all. So the idea that anyone outside of Michael Burnham would be sad to see her go rang utterly false to me. Of course, the writers will miss having a character who can toss off a withering barb at any time, and an actress you can always give an exciting fight scene. The audience will no doubt miss those things too. But that's Michelle Yeoh, not Georgiou.
Otherwise, much of what I said about last week's episode applies to this one. This is a weird time in the narrative to pause the ongoing mystery of the Burn (which we're this close to solving!) to indulge in a two-part trip to the Mirror Universe. (Could they not have written this before triangulating the Burn's origin?) It's weirder still to devote so much time to what isn't really the Mirror Universe, but an imagined alternate take on it where actions have even fewer consequences that a normal MU trip.
There were a few creative spices thrown in the meal -- though some of those moments come with unresolved questions of their own. It's a fun bit of fan service to bring back the Guardian of Forever... and yet wasn't part of jumping 900 years into the future supposed to be that Discovery could be less beholden to the original series? It's clever to return Georgiou to the past for her in-development series... but with a means right there to return to their own time, isn't it a little weird that Burnham doesn't try to push hard for the Guardian to send the whole crew back? And surprise: no Lorca! But then why the hell did we talk about him so much? (I understand the real-world answer to why he's not there: they either couldn't get Jason Isaacs back, or didn't want to distract from Georgiou's swan song in that way. But again: why talk Lorca up so much?)
I guess I do excuse some of the indulgences in this episode because it is about saying goodbye to Michelle Yeoh and she has indeed been good for the show. (Though it does seem as though Tig Notaro as Jet Reno can fill some of the same narrative needs.) But I still just wasn't really feeling this particular story at this particular moment in the season. I give "Terra Firma, Part 2" a B-. I'll be eager to get back on track with the next new episode.
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