Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time” is another genre exploration for the series. There’s action, adventure, and even a bit of horror! One thing that Star Trek does well is play with genre, so let’s dig into that and more in my review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time.”
Action-Adventure-Inspired Storytelling
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time” gives audiences an action-adventure episode that gives flavors of both The Mummy and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. These alien “hitchhikers,” grave robbers, and puzzles to solve to safely navigate the palace/tomb/lab/prison/etc are all nods to The Mummy. Similarly, the puzzles, also the “leap of faith” that our crew must take, look an awful lot like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Every time our crew took a wrong turn, it was all I could do not to shout, “You chose…poorly…” at the TV. These visual cues give viewers an idea of what to expect, but each also has a particular Star Trek flavor. The idea of a multi-dimensional room adds a bit of sci-fi to an otherwise fantasy, magical adventure episode. Plus the scary creatures in this episode amp up the horror in a sci-fi way. More on that in a moment.
MORE: Read our Strange New Worlds season 3 reviews—Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4.
Mysterious Creatures
The mysterious creatures, aka evil “hitchhikers,” in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time,” are quite eerie. First of all, anything that happens with anyone’s eyes grosses me out. Ensign Gamble has been so sweet and charming all season, it’s hard not to love him. Seeing something terrible like this happen to him is devastating! But further, these evil hitchhikers have something to do with the Gorn. Batel’s reaction, plus what Spock saw in both his mindmeld with Batel in “Shuttle to Kenfori” and in that chamber, have all signs pointing to the Gorn. The what and how of this remain to be seen. Do you have thoughts? Sound off in the comments section!
Pelia’s Insights
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time” gives us more Pelia than we’ve had in a long time. She’s delightful in this episode. Pelia delivers these excellent monologues, conveying the horror of what she’s experiencing and sensing from the evil hitchhikers, while also showing that she’s a bit of a showboat. I can’t blame her, as I’ve been known to do the same on occasion, but her constant checking if that was a good “take” undercuts how the audience is to interpret these beings. Are they truly that evil, or is she doing a take for the camera? Fortunately, we’re getting confirmation of their sinister intent otherwise. The shaking screen showing the stats of the pattern buffer entity tells us that we’re not done yet with these creatures.
MORE: Check out our interviews with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, and Melissa Navia!
Final Thoughts
Overall, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time” is a solid adventure episode that is setting things up that will hopefully be tied up by season’s end. I’m not sure what to expect here, but I’m enjoying the mystery. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I feel like what I’m getting thus far in the season is only a little bit of #MORETEGAS, and in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time,” it’s Beto Ortegas, not Erica. No shade towards Beto, as I think he’s a great character and wonderfully charming, but come on. Seriously? Give the people what they have been demanding for the past 3 years: #MORETEGAS!
What did you think of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 episode 5 “Through the Lens of Time”? Leave me a comment and let’s talk Trek.
The next episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will air on August 14, 2025, on Paramount+.
