Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x04 - "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry"

[Nerys Myk]

Two ships can, and one was destroyed. You know where this is going. Eventually they will rationalize not using spore travel anymore. I mean, unless they are tying spores into the TNG gel pacs in some way.

Since it's destroyed it falls in the can't territory and dodgy as well.
Of course there will be a reason the SporeDrive isn't the travel mode of choice going forward. Not sure why anyone would think otherwise. The show isn't about making the SporeDrive the new drive system any more than the Ultimate Computer was about a new computer system. The M-5 and The SporeDrive are there to move the plot not to change the Trek Universe.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

The SporeDrive are there to move the plot not to change the Trek Universe.

But we're Trek fans, thus we must nitpick.

 

[Nerys Myk]

But we're Trek fans, thus we must nitpick.

It's our way.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

But we're Trek fans, thus we must nitpick.

It is the will of Landru, for the good of the Body.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I...must...NITPICK!!!

 

[OpenMaw]

It is the will of Landru, for the good of the Body.

Landry is d- Oh, Landru. ...Spoilers.

 

[gblews]

These bonds don't seem to be an important part of the writing. Lorca and Landry had a military operational connection but she's dead now.

Lorca and Landry also had a personal relationship as they planned to spend "some time together" in either episode 3 or early in 4.

 

[cultcross]

He was speaking about the tardigrade.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd like to think that Landry was just bullshitting Burnham with that comment about Lorca not caring who you are, but what you can do for him.

Because if it was serious, then Lorca is not a captain I'd ever want to serve under. You can't be a good crewmember if your CO doesn't give a shit about you and would probably abandon you or leave you behind at the earliest opportunity. No wonder there's a morale problem on Discovery!

 

[cultcross]

I'd like to think that Landry was just bullshitting Burnham with that comment about Lorca not caring who you are, but what you can do for him.

Because if it was serious, then Lorca is not a captain I'd ever want to serve under. You can't be a good crewmember if your CO doesn't give a shit about you and would probably abandon you or leave you behind at the earliest opportunity. No wonder there's a morale problem on Discovery!

I wouldn't necessarily trust Landry's take on, well, anyone. I think what we saw in this episode was her projecting her values into others.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Then it's fortunate indeed that Landry didn't live long enough to become a captain herself...

That said, given Lorca's actions up to this point, I'm not entirely sure she's wrong about this.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Then it's fortunate indeed that Landry didn't live long enough to become a captain herself...

Agreed. Very glad she bought the farm in the most karmic way possible in exchange for her abject, unprofessional stupidity. One less idiot in the mix to get everyone killed in the event of a tough situation. Makes me wonder how someone so reckless and stupid like that could make it as far as she has, then I remember real life and all the same kinds of dumb-asses I've met in my many travels who are still alive despite their best efforts to the contrary.

 

[Refuge]

I...must...NITPICK!!!

The mustard, it will be the new blue of the future. Gold bands at the wrist.

 

[cultcross]

That said, given Lorca's actions up to this point, I'm not entirely sure she's wrong about this.

In what way? So far we've seen Lorca
- hire Burnham because he wants someone who thinks outside the box and can/will challenge him.
- test Burnham's abilities somewhat surreptitiously
- push his crew in a battle drill
- demand better progress on the shroom drive.
- assign Burnham to study the tardigrade and it's connection to the shroom drive (anything more came from Landry herself).
- use a distress call piped shipwide to boost his crew's desire to help the colony
- use said drive to defend the colony
None of it seems out of the ordinary for a Starfleet Captain, really, and certainly somewhat short of an unfeeling megalomaniac. The whole 'push Scotty to fix the engines in time for x deadline' thing is old old Starfleet Captain stuff. I think the dark, mysterious angle is largely from what others have said about him - Stamets and Landry in particular. I'd be interested in learning Saru's take on him, because I can't imagine from what we've seen of him so far he'd be that keen on a Captain he saw as a danger, a liability, or a rule breaker.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Agreed. This is wartime. If I were on a ship, knowing how Lorca is a student of warfare, I don't think there's any other vessel in the fleet I would want to be on.

I certainly wouldn't want to be on Prime-Pike's Enterprise right now, with him whining about sending people on landing parties and "deciding who lives and who dies". Well, shit, dude, that's only the primary thing a Captain needs to know how to do in order for his/her ship to survive! Grumpy fucker...time to retire.

 

[Refuge]

Lorca 'hired' a criminal.

Lorca stood there like Doctor Evil as an alien life form slammed into its pen.

Starfleet needs to aim higher.

 

[Ometiklan]

Strongly disagree, as this is definitely not that kind of show. The main reason is, Lorca isn't the kind of character who could reasonably offer Burnham a shot at (Genuine) redemption, and this is a deliberate choice by the writers. Saru hints at this in his reaction to Burnham's little experiment in the lab when he says "I was wrong. You'll fit in perfectly here!" This is Saru indirectly referencing the fact that Discovery is being captained by a sociopath whose intentions are far from honorable. So Unless Burnham is planning on leapfrogging the entire chain of command and/or leading yet another mutiny (it IS kind of her thing, but still) "rising through the ranks" just isn't how this is going to work.

Really, Burnham has as much a shot at being captain of the Discovery as James Bond has at replacing M. She's not that kind of character, and this is not that kind of show.

You are right that Lorca is not offering redemption to Burnham, at least not in his eyes. He believes she was correct in her thinking and her attempt to implement that thinking. Through his actions she might end up finding redemption for herself (likely) and in the eyes of Starfleet (possibly) - I think this is clearly the intent of the writers. But that is not Lorca's purpose, his is purely practical use of Burnham to win the war.

Additionally, I don't think Saru was painting Lorca as a sociopath, but rather simply as an uncaring pragmatist.

Finally, I do think that Burnham will be returned to a rank within Starfleet with the possibility of moving up. How soon that might happen, I have no idea, but there has to be a regulation in the book somewhere that allows for this in time of war (in the preview for next week, Lorca quotes the regulation that allows him to conscript Burnham in the first place).

...
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that L'Rell says Voq must win the war to unite the Klingon Empire. We think we know from TOS that the Empire is united at that time. But we also expect our "heroes" to win. Assuming that it is united, I wonder how it comes about that the Empire is united (in victory?) but our heroes also succeed. Maybe a political solution, or each side claiming victory for the consumption of the masses, or something that leads into the "cold war" of TOS without actual victory? It will be interesting finding out.

 

[Fateor]

The thing that gets me about all this ponderous makeup is that both Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page are heavily involved in the makeup design and execution. For anyone who regularly watches the show "Face Off" where those two guys serve as judges along with Ve Neill (another top-shelf industry makeup artist), everyone knows they regularly crush people who do the same exact shit with their makeup designs on that show. The cumbersome mask-like quality, the muddy, monochrome paint jobs...all of it! How either of them let the Klingons get designed like this is...mystifying, to say the least.

Not that mystifying.

The directors had a vision of what they wanted the Klingons to look like, so the makeup artists were forced to follow through with it. We saw the same thing a couple seasons ago in Face//Off when they had the contestants do a mini-movie for the finale with the directors having them re-do the makeup till they were happy.

 

[OpenMaw]

Lorca 'hired' a criminal.

You mean Burnham? Lorca very well could be good at reading between the lines.

Lorca stood there like Doctor Evil as an alien life form slammed into its pen.

He stood in front of the pen with a sense of curiosity. There was nothing maniacal about his presence.

 

[Refuge]

You mean Burnham? Lorca very well could be good at reading between the lines.



He stood in front of the pen with a sense of curiosity. There was nothing maniacal about his presence.

I swear I saw him twirling his moustache and fondling his ganglia.