WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 10, "Terra Firma, Part 2," now streaming on CBS All Access.
"Georgiou was the wall I crashed into over and over. She was a tormentor, but a truth teller. She was a mirror who I needed, like a mother almost. Like a sister almost. I loved her, and hated her. Sometimes both at the same time. More than anything, she was my friend. She was the most unexpected of gifts, and I will miss the hell out of her."
Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) solemnly speaks these words at the end of "Terra Firma, Part 2." She and the rest of the crew are raising a glass to Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), who by the end of the episode has departed the Discovery universe to parts unknown. But Michael's words are a great summary of the former Terran emperor's growth, which is on full display over the course of Star Trek: Discovery's latest episode, "Terra Firma, Part 2."
The episode picks up immediately from its last part, with Georgiou and the audience still thrown back across time and space to the Mirror Universe. Mirror Michael has been captured and subdued by her adopted mother for her treason against the empire. But Georgiou has opted to take a different path than in the past, sparing her life.
Maintaining that status, though, is easier said than done. Michael begs for a proper death, spitting at her mother that the emperor has not delivered on the promises of spoils she made. She makes mention of a coalition of allies forming against her, including the Klingons, Romulans, and Andorians. Despite this news, and even the encouragement of Captain Tilly (Mary Wiseman), Georgiou doesn't break a sweat. She merely throws Michael in the agonizer, adamant she will bring her daughter back to her side.
After the credits (which are upside-down and in blue to reflect the Mirror Universe), there's a montage of Michael's months of torture. As she refuses food, she receives bad news when Detmer (Emily Coutts) informs her that her co-conspirator and lover Lorca has disappeared and is not coming for her. Georgiou also shows a surprising amount of heart, as she reflects on quieting Michael's night terrors as a girl and promising to bring that light to her once more.
It's for these two reasons that Michael kneels to Georgiou, seemingly finally broken. To show her loyalty, she assassinates her fellow conspirators, cleansing the ship of Lorca's influence. She also reveals one of Lorca's pseudonyms, which should help the Terrans find him and execute him. In turn, Georgiou shows she listened to her daughter's intel, having sabotaged the coalition to keep them firmly in power.
In Georgiou's quarters, her servant, Saru (Doug Jones), resigns, declaring vahar'ai (a condition that results in a sort of evolution for Kelpiens) will be coming soon and with it his death. But she reveals the truth about the condition, even telling the story of the Prime Universe Saru to show that Kelpiens can go on to do magnificent things. Saru is able to finally discern that Georgiou is not from this universe and encourages her to go back to her home. But she insists she is home and living the future she sought.
Discovery heads to Rysa to intercept Duggan (Daniel Kash), one of Lorca's lieutenants. They beam him into the brig, and he warns Georgiou to not trust Michael. His statement proves immediately true, as Michael and several officers kill him and Georgiou's men, holding the emperor at phaser point. Michael reveals her coming around was a charade, and she wants to kill her mother to "save the empire." Luckily, Tilly and a post-vahar'ai Saru burst in to dispatch of the others, as mother and daughter go one-on-one. Regretfully, Georgiou realizes there's only one course this series of events could take. She kills Michael before she herself dies, cradled in Saru's arms.
While Georgiou's eyes close in the Mirror Universe, they open in the Prime Universe. It's only been a minute of real time on the snow planet of Dannus V, as Michael and mysterious stranger Carl (Paul Guilfoyle) watch her. Having passed through in more ways than one, Carl reveals the truth about everything. With that, he shows his true form as a "Guardian of Forever," a mysterious construct of space and time from the famous The Original Series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever." During the Temporal Wars, all sides attempted to weaponize Carl, causing him to go into hiding.
Georgiou was not actually sent back in time to the Mirror Universe. Rather, she was being "weighed," given a moral test to see how much she has changed. And though she failed in not saving Michael's life, her attempt to do so showed she has the capacity and promise to save many others. He creates a portal, encouraging her to go back to a time when the Mirror and Prime Universes were closer together. While that would save her life, curing the medical malady that was tearing her apart, it also means saying goodbye to Michael and the Discovery.
It is here, then, that Michael and Georgiou must say goodbye. The Terran goes back on one of her first exchanges with Michael, thanking her for giving her a new life in the Prime Universe. In return, Michael tells her that she is "her" Philippa, implying she is far from just a substitute for her Prime Universe mentor. Before leaving, Georgiou advises Michael to look to the captain's chair, musing she is capable of more than she thinks. The two women salute each other, and Georgiou heads off to parts unknown.
Fittingly in a mirror of the first "Terra Prime" episode, we now go back to the U.S.S. Discovery to close things out. Adira (Blu Del Barrio) and Stamets (Anthony Rapp) are struggling to hack a crashed Kelpien ship, and it doesn't help that they have to deal with an irate and candy-fueled Jett Reno (Tig Notaro). But Book (David Ajala) surprisingly comes to the rescue, making good on Saru's words last episode to prove himself useful. He provides the group with a subspace range extender via the Emerald Chain, getting the crew what they need.
Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr), however, is less happy about the means that were used to get the intel. He chastises Book for using tech from their enemies, but Saru surprisingly defends the courier. In private, Vance has a different matter for the captain, tipping off his suspicions that he withheld information about the ship initially due to their Kelpien inhabitants. Saru denies the accusation, but it's clear to the audience that seeing his people has caused him to break rank from the Federation.
Book greets Michael, who falls into his arm in sadness. They join the rest of the crew, who gather a "funeral" for the Terran. They eulogize her in various ways, talking up her lack of tact, punishing honesty, and redefinition of the word "badass." Michael finishes the speeches with the passage listed above, talking about the complicated duality of their relationship, and the constant surprises that came with her.
Though it was unclear in the middle of the two-part episode why Star Trek: Discovery elected to take an intermission in the Mirror Universe, it's now become clear by the end. "Terra Firma" was first and foremost a send-off to a main character. It highlights how much Georgiou's temperament and tactics have changed upon crossing over to the Prime Universe, and how the resulting person is not set for the Mirror or Prime Universe, but seemingly another one entirely. And it finally answers a long-held question about Georgiou's presence on Discovery, paving the way for the Michelle Yeoh-led Section 31 spinoff that is eventually coming. Until that time comes, though, we send Philippa Georgiou off with a nod and Terran salute.
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. New episodes of Season 3 air on Thursdays.