Chris Connor reviews the fifth episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3…
As it hurtles towards its midpoint, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ third season has lost none of the momentum of the first two seasons following the earlier crew of the USS Enterprise. The fifth episode “Through the Lens of Time”, follows an archaeological expedition led by Christine Chapel and Korby, documented by Ortegas’ brother Beto. Inevitably things don’t go to plan as strange artefacts and lifeforms are unearthed.
A clear inspiration for this episode is Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus with the visual surroundings of the ancient temple that Korby believes may hold the secrets to immortality. As in that film, the crew here find that nothing is at it seems, and the temple is in fact a prison for extra-dimensional beings known as the Vezda.
While much of the action is confined to the temple and the crew stuck there, it makes for compelling viewing. Once again, the show has a successful stab at a horror-themed episode with the Vezda making for a fine addition to the canon of great Star Trek villains. It is left open-ended enough that this may not be the last we see of the parasites, and we may yet learn more of their origin.
Even while self-contained the dangling threads from across the series are given movement here with M’Benga placed at the forefront in addition to the crew on the ground. The events in this episode seem like they will have lasting ramifications for many of the crew. This is a thoroughly entertaining episode in what is proving to be another hit season for Strange New Worlds.
The show has quite the task to keep this level up for the remainder of its run but with this level of invention and balancing thrills, scares, and out and out fun, we’re surely in for quite the ride.
Chris Connor
Originally published August 10, 2025. Updated August 11, 2025.
