Star Trek: Discovery's first two seasons primarily focused on a single story, with Season 1 exploring the Mirror Universe and Season 2 looking at the search for the red burst signals. This made the series stand apart from previous Star Trek shows, which were all largely episodic in nature. However, while this focus on an overarching narrative carried over into Discovery Season 3, it did so to a different extent, as the series was much more like classic Trek in its most recent outing.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 began by moving the series' entire cast to the far future. In the 32nd century, Michael Burnham and the rest of her crew found a universe that had gone through a terrible ordeal, a cataclysmic event known as the Burn. As a direct result of this catastrophe, the Federation was no longer the unified front it once was. The organization was now much smaller, and plenty of planets were no longer a part of it, including Earth and Vulcan.
Throughout the season, the Discovery's crew had to find the Federation's remnants and then help the organization with a ship unlike any other in the fleet. And that is pretty much as far as the season's overarching story went. There was no villain that haunted the crew from the start of the season to its end, and there was no end-of-the-universe scenario.
This time around, there were more self-contained episodes and two-parters. There was a villain, of course, in the form of the Emerald Chain and their leader, Osyraa, but she had the makings of a more classic Star Trek threat that would have been right at home in one of the franchise's cinematic outings.
What's more, plenty of episodes opted to focus on characters rather than action. This time around, Discovery fleshed out the crew of the titular ship more than ever before. However, that's not all. Several episodes also focused on something far more crucial to Star Trek: diplomatic relations. Burnham and the rest of her crew mended fences with plenty of planets. For example, the crew helped the United Earth Defense Force achieve peace with its perceived enemy, Wen. And Burnham even put herself on the line to help bring the Vulcans and Romulans back into the fold during an extended trial. Plenty of these developments felt like they came right out of Star Trek: The Next Generation, or any other classic series. This new style will also seemingly carry over into Discovery Season 4, meaning those changes are here to stay.
Discovery Season 3 was still full of spectacle, but it was much different. It focused less on space battles and more on the spiritual and diplomatic side of the franchise, which are a big part of why fans are so fond of Star Trek. So in venturing where no series had gone before, Discovery Season 3 simultaneously brought the show closer to its roots.
Streaming on CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Commander Saru, Anthony Rapp as Lt. Commander Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber, David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Ian Alexander as Gray, Tig Notaro as Chief Engineer Reno and Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou.