“Let’s hug Hitler” says Star Trek Discovery.

*SPOILERS*

The disjointed recap at the start of “Terra Firma Part 1” serves to illustrate just how many plates “Star Trek: Discovery” has spinning at the moment. The very first scene tells us that the writers aren’t going to focus on any of the plates that matter long-term. Instead, the platter it’s spinning up this week could probably best be described as ‘Sympathy For The Devil”.

It’s a welcome return for David Cronenberg’s enigmatic Kovich as he consults with Doctor Culber about Georgiou’s deteriorating condition. It turns out Georgiou’s suffering from quantum molecular homesickness. As evidence, Kovich cites an individual call Yor who came across from what we know as the Kelvinverse during the ‘Temporal Wars’. Aside from the medical evidence, Lieutenant Commander Yor also proves that whatever sartorial differences existed in the Kelvinverse persisted through the years because he apparently came from 2379 and yet is wearing a uniform which was phased out in 2366 in the Prime universe – which, oddly, is referred to by name here.

It all leads to yet another command briefing where First Officer-In-Name-Only Tilly is conspicuously absent while Burnham, of course, is present and given the final word on whether the mission should proceed. It’s the inverse of the previous week’s discussion where Admiral Vance was reluctant to commit the Discovery to the aid of a planet where thousands of colonists were at risk of dying because of the ship’s strategic value. Only this time, Starfleet Command is only too willing to let their most valuable asset jump to the hind end of nowhere in the slim hope of saving the life of a conspicuously unrepentant genocidal dictator (retired).

“Terra Firma Part 1” isn’t all about saving space-Hitler, though. For one thing, Book wants to join Starfleet (I mean, why wouldn’t you? You can go from ensign to First Officer in the blink of an eye). We also get some much-needed progress on the source of The Burn as Adira Tal suffers a temporary setback before immediately overcoming it and delivering the decryption of the distress call emanating from the source of The Burn. With Burnham down on the planet below, Tilly finally gets to attend a command briefing, but it’s Saru who’s actually filling in for Burnham deciding – against all previous character traits – to act duplicitously and withhold information from Admiral Vance regarding their recent discovery.

Just as The Burn storyline is heating up again, it’s placed firmly on the back burner once more as “Star Trek: Discovery” takes its first proper leap into that most Trekky of Trek tropes, the goofily metaphysical. Before then, there’s a brief farewell scene which will stick long in the throat as Saru and Tilly bid an absurdly fond farewell to their mass murdering bully-in-chief.

There’s a nice poetry to the scenes of Burnham and Georgiou hiking through the snowy tundra, echoing as they do the very first scenes of “The Vulcan Hello” and their trek through the dunes. Their expedition ends as they meet Carl, an impish bowler-hatted man reading a newspaper beside a free-standing door. “Terra Firma Part 1” feels authentically “Star Trek” reaching right back to the original series. And it’s that series which looms large – if you have the will and patience to pause and pore over the Easter Egg references packed into the newspaper – on this episode. Whether or not part II will provide more definitive explanations of Carl and the door remains to be seen but it seems like the writers are really, really wanting you to connect this door to the portal on “The City On The Edge Of Forever”.

There’s a bit of back and forth between Carl, Burnham and Georgiou about whether or not to go through the door (when we all know someone’s going through the door) but in the end, the most surprising thing is that Burnham doesn’t go through at all, only Georgiou makes the trip.

And it’s as Georgiou crosses that threshold and, “Quantum Leap”-style finds herself 900 years in the past, in her old position as Terran Emperor, that this episode also jumps the shark. Why has the series decided to jump back and play Space Nazis again? One the one hand, it looks very much like they’re preparing to write Georgiou out of the series given they’re desperately trying to fill in her backstory and pretend like she’s had a character arc all this time. Unfortunately, the series’ embrace of the Mirror Universe is the “Star Trek” equivalent of there being ‘fine people on both sides’ and the recrudescence of this storyline from season one feels tired and repetitious despite its “Flash Gordon” aesthetic and sub-“Game Of Thrones” shenanigans.

“Terra Firma Part 1” feels like its trying to hard to be inscrutable but unfortunately its at the expense of entertainment and while its fleetingly fun to se all our usual favourites scowling their way through a fascist-flavoured reskin of their usual characters, it’s a novelty which was worn out in season one. Mary Wiseman is as unconvincing as the supposedly ruthless ‘Killy’ as Ensign Tilly is as First Officer, no matter how much she’s flattened her hair and raided Janet Jackson’s back-up dancers’ laundry bin for accessories. There are no surprises at all to be had as the cast dutifully act out the events which were described and discussed in thorough detail during the middle (and middling) episodes of the first season although given how often this episode mentions Lora, you’d be wise to expect an uprising of viewers if he doesn’t show up at some point in the second part of this story.

The uniform/ date mismatch and the coining of a production phrase in dialogue in the early part of this episode are hallmarks of “Star Trek: Discovery”’s sloppy approach to writing and embracing canon that continues to blight this modern era of Trek, so it’s hardly a surprise that they can’t even keep their own continuity straight as it casually kills characters who were established to be alive later on. It all depends on what we’re witnessing. The actual past, an illusion, or something else. Episode two has a lot of explaining to do if it’s to salvage anything from this cosplay catastrophe.