• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x05 - "Choose Your Pain"

Rate the episode...


  • Total voters
    333
Everyone has a different idea as to what Star Trek is. There is no right or wrong answer. What is wrong is insisting that Star Trek is something when it clearly has been proven in past series that it's not (I'm not saying you're doing this, but some people are). Star Trek has had main characters do worse things than Lorca. It has had episodes that equal the dark and grittiness we are seeing so far.

This. Star Trek is many things to many people. Hence why there is so much fan fiction set during the dominion war.

But seriously what Lorca did is small potatoes to say Captain Janeway making an alliance with the borg so she could get 140 people home within 75 years. We saw the morality of that decisions voiced by chakotay and ignored by Janeway. And in hope and fear see saw what an impact that had on other delta quadrant civilisations. Or that time she almost allowed a starfleet officer to be killed by an antimatter dolphin to get information. Then there was that time sisko went around poisoning maquis planets and that other time he was an accessory to the assassination of a foreign dignitary.
 
That's why I'm more annoyed at the episode itself:
Had it shown Lorca in a situation of distress and mistrust, maybe even panick, I could have understand his decision better and excuse it. But as it was, him being portrayed as still his normal self, and following on his gut decision, it was just wrong.

But that's not Lorca. He *is* a cold, calculating asshole. And I do understand fully your problem with it vis a vis Trek. But like I said, at THIS point, I'm willing to wait to see where his character arc goes.
 
But that's not Lorca. He *is* a cold, calculating asshole. And I do understand fully your problem with it vis a vis Trek. But like I said, at THIS point, I'm willing to wait to see where his character arc goes.

You know who's a cold, calculating asshole? Captain Jellico.
You know who's one of my favourite Star Trek Captains? Captain Jellico.
Because he's an asshole Captain done right.

Lorca is just a war criminal.
 
Do you really want to attempt an escape from a prison WITH a collaborator?! That's not the road to success.

"I know you're working with our enemies but, shoot, want to join us in our prison escape? Here's all the details!"

That would've been moronic.
Lorca didn't have to leave him behind. He also didn't need to inform him of his plan.

You know if it was a matter of trust the whole three of them had equal reason not to rely on each other. Mudd being an informer, Tyler a possible spy and Lorca having just admitted to not being a.. team player. Tyler didn't seem to mind hooking up with a Captain who killed his crew. I wouldn't trust someone like that as far as I could throw them.
 
This. Calling people horrible, or questioning their morals and making statements insinuating that fans of discovery are akin to trump supporters (as I've seen posters do in other threads), because they like a different tv show than you is pretty uncalled for. Insulting people is not a good way to get people to understand your point of view. Just take it down a notch.

We aren't talking about real people, they are fictional characters. People like fictional characters be they heroes or villain or somewhere in between for any number of reasons. Someone liking Lorca doesn't make them any more morally bankrupt than someone liking Picard makes them morally superior.

FFS, stop being so personally affronted that people are enjoying a tv show that you aren't.
Well said!

The accusations against posters who are interested in the characters are particularly detrimental to the otherwise civil discussions that are taking place. It's as if the accusers are trying to shut down discussion about their criticisms. Ironic.
 
You know who's a cold, calculating asshole? Captain Jellico.
You know who's one of my favourite Star Trek Captains? Captain Jellico.
Because he's an asshole Captain done right.

Lorca is just a war criminal.

How exactly is he a war criminal?
 
For those who look down on Lorca for leaving Harry behind (and NOT killing him), I wonder how they feel about this little nugget from ST III:

"I...have HAD...enough of YOU!"

Why is it right for Kirk to KILL Kruge, but not right for Lorca to simply leave Harry behind and NOT kill him?
Have you even seen that film? WTF?

People have often complained about how in some Star Trek episodes the morals are depicted in heavy handed and preachy fashion. Apparently that is needed, as some people seem to completely misread the episode/film if that is not done. 'Chain of Command' and now this.

Kirk tried to save Kruge a few seconds earlier, even though Kruge had killed his son. The thing you mention only happens when instead of accepting the help Kruge still tries to kill Kirk. Kirk is understandably fed up, but killing Kruge at that point is pure self defence, he did absolutely everything he could to resolve the thing without killing Kruge.
 
You know who's a cold, calculating asshole? Captain Jellico.
You know who's one of my favourite Star Trek Captains? Captain Jellico.
Because he's an asshole Captain done right.

Lorca is just a war criminal.
Jellico wasn't an arsehole, he just expected people to do their jobs, follow orders and wear a uniform instead of their pyjamas on the bridge. I mean the fact his ready room was plastered with his son's drawings says a lot about what he would be like off duty.
 
How exactly is he a war criminal?

By, uh, not following the rules of engagement? By, uh, imprisoning civilians in enemy torture cells (he shut down the door in front of Mudd)? By, uh, killing HIS OWN SUBORDINATES? The ones who's life's he's sworn to protect?
 
Lorca didn't have to leave him behind. He also didn't need to inform him of his plan.

Ok, so Lorca should inform Mudd the collaborator of their plan (in general). Okaaaay. That doesn't work either. "Don't tell your masters that we're escaping!" Riiiight.

Given that Mudd is a collaborator, Lorca did the right thing by not telling him of the plan and not bringing him along.
 
Last edited:
By, uh, not following the rules of engagement? By, uh, imprisoning civilians in enemy torture cells (he shut down the door in front of Mudd)? By, uh, killing HIS OWN SUBORDINATES?

One, you don't yet know (as I wrote before) exactly WHAT happened to that ship and to him. So you're making an assumption on that storyline. Two, Mudd was ALREADY in a prison (one of his own making to an extent)... and while I agree that he should have left the door ajar, I doubt that would have helped Mudd in any real way.

I think you're overreacting with the "war criminal" stuff, to be honest. He's obviously a WARTIME captain, just like Churchill was a wartime PM and did some incredibly heinous things on the side.
 
Who's saying that?

I'm saying that STD is not a very good TV series. It's a bog-standard, undistinguished time-killer of the kind that the CBS network specializes in: CSI, Blue Bloods, Scorpion, Hawaii Five-O, take your pick. The corporation craps this stuff out.
And I'm sure they're laughing all the way to the bank thanks to the haters who follow it religiously! :guffaw:

What better scenario for them? They get the people who love it and those who hate it watching every week, hanging on to every detail!
 
Last edited:
Ok, so Lorca should inform Mudd the collaborator of their plan (in general). Okaaaay. That doesn't work either. "Don't your masters that we're escaping!" Riiiight.

Given that Mudd is a collaborator, Lorca did the right thing by not telling him of the plan and not bringing him along.

Again: Mudd wasn't a traitor. He only collaborated with his captors in so far to evade torture and death. He had a listening device. In a cell that most likely was bugged anyway. That's pretty understandable and forgivable for a fucking civilian.
 
By, uh, not following the rules of engagement? By, uh, imprisoning civilians in enemy torture cells (he shut down the door in front of Mudd)? By, uh, killing HIS OWN SUBORDINATES? The ones who's life's he's sworn to protect?

Auto-destruct was used as a plot device on every single Trek series other than ENT. IIRC, in most of those cases no one was running for the escape pods either.

The only weird thing that Lorca did, by the standards of a Starfleet captain, is surviving his ship and crew. We don't know the reason for that yet, but there could be a perfectly "honorable" explanation.
 
^ Harry willingly chose his fellow prisoners for torture and eventual death. That's betrayal (of his fellow prisoners) and collaboration (with the torturers).

No, it is not. He did that to not get tortured himself. That's pretty much what anybody would do after a time to survive. Real life examples are plenty. Nobody punishes POW's for questionable actions during their improsenment afterwards. That's just what people do. People really don't want to be tortured.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top