[Lorca] needs to face an Admiral/lover who knows he’s a devious, manipulative bastard with PTSD who maneuvered so she’d be taken captive. Then he should have to figure out how to stay in the captain’s chair with her knowing all that and still alive. I like Lorca, but he shouldn’t get away with what he did.
I don't understand your characterization of Lorca here. How can he be accused of "manipulating" Cornwell "so she'd be taken captive"? First, she's an independent being with agency of her own who outranks him, so whether or not she thought taking Sarek's place on the diplomatic mission was a good idea it was entirely her choice, out of Lorca's control. Second, nobody knew that the Klingons' diplomatic overture was a ruse by Kol — not Sarek, not Cornwell, and not Lorca. They all knew it was a risk, of course, but if they'd been sure it was a trap then no one would have gone at all, and Lorca was not privy to any special knowledge on that front.
Yeah, the both the Pahvans and the spores (and for that matter, the space life in the third episode) being blue suggests one of two things. One is that the writers want us to see a connection even if the characters cannot see it. Another is they're lazy idiots who don't say "Hey guys, let's do gold or green this time!"
I prefer to think the former. Admittedly, it may just be a stylistic choice rather than a plot-driven one.
I'm inclined to think a third alternative — that the writers specified nothing about the color of the entities, and it was left entirely up to the visual effects team. Wouldn't be the first time the left hand and the right hand on this show seemed to be operating out of different playbooks. ("D7," anyone?)
And HOW did the admiral escape? Doesn’t really seem like they’re running a tight ship security wise.
Your comment here is by no means the only example, but the range of opinions and speculations on this thread alone about what exactly happened on the Klingon ship, and why and how, make it clear that the episode as depicted was painfully ambiguous. Not "suspenseful" or "intriguing"... just outright
confusing.
I'm not sure whether to blame the writing or the editing or both. I haven't seen the "AfterTrek" others are referring to, but under the circumstances I'm puzzled that the producers would actually
admit to having edited out L'Rell/Cornwell scenes that might have made things clearer.
As a feudal society, rights often depend on rank by defacto if not dejure. L'Rell is high enough to pledge the fealty of her whole house. In fact, that pledge may still be binding even after her execution (which could be a reason for the ceremony, Kol still wants dem ships)
If all of those corpses, prior to their corpsing, were commoners or low level nobility, Kol might just off them because he fears no reprisal even if their deaths were illegal...
Here's the thing, though: we don't actually know whether the Klingons
are "a feudal society," or anything else about their politics, or (if they are one) to what extent it's plausibly analogous to such societies on earth. For all the promise when this show began of complex political intrigue where the Klingons are concerned, so far we've seen basically none of that. We know there are 24 "houses," that there's an Empire that's less than completely united in some way, and that there's an ancient religion focused around Kahless to which one faction is partial. And... that's it. All that is pretty darn superficial, and we've been shown absolutely nothing that delves beneath that surface level, so all we have is speculation. What the houses stand for, how power is derived, how it's allocated, how popular or influential the religion is, what it would mean to "unite," what it means to "remain Klingon," how this brutal culture manages to maintain the tech level it has, and lots of other questions, remain completely up in the air.
When you've got a primary antagonist that has at various times been analogized to the Soviets, the Japanese, the Mongols, the Vikings, feudal Europe, contemporary biker gangs, and ISIS, it's bound to come across as a bit incoherent.
I think again of my comparison to the in-depth political jockeying on shows like
Game of Thrones or
House of Cards, which is a big part of what makes them so compelling. The maneuvering for power on those shows works because we, the viewers,
understand the rules of whatever game is being played. This show had the potential to clarify our understanding of the Klingons and deliver that kind of intrigue. So far, it has completely dropped the ball.
I like
Discovery, but I'd have to say its biggest weakness by far remains its handling of the Klingons.
They haven't quite figured out what sort of show they want this to be. Do they really want to push boundaries or play it safe? Pick one.
Word.
But they've specifically said they want this show to connect up with TOS. I'm willing to bet that, like just about everything else in the show which has made fans cry foul, they have a plan for how the Klingons as seen here tie together with the ones we see in TOS. And that they won't just leave it for us to head-canon.
I envy your sense of confidence about this.
L'Rell left everyone behind on the Sarcophagus Ship when she left with Voq. So she hadn't been back on the ship since Kol took it at the end of that episode. Kol probably killed most/all of the followers of T'Kuvma, and that's the realization she has when she sees the bodies.
That seems like a reasonable interpretation of what we saw. As I said, though, this thread is full of interpretations and speculations. Would've been nice if the episode itself had just made things a little more clear.
