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

[indranee]

I realized this morning that we may have "buried the lead" on the scene with Stamets and the doctor brushing their teeth. We were so distracted by "sonic toothbrush" and "openly gay couple" and "creepy reflection" that unless I missed it, we haven't discussed the fact that *apparently* Discovery allows couples to bunk together.

I say "apparently" because it has also occurred to me that we still don't actually know they're a couple. Perhaps they've just become close, fast friends because they room together? And perhaps... Starfleet requires that gay people bunk together so as not to make "straight" people uncomfortable? Yeah - I don't want to think that would be the case, either, but who the heck knows with this series so far? For all we know, gay rights were set way back during the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, and they're just now getting back to more or less where we are now.

Trust me, they're "together". And even if we didn't "know" this from the cast and the crew (back during Comic Con, and other interviews, esp with Anthony Rapp, etc), it took only one little snarky interchange between Culber and Stamets in an earlier episode (maybe Ep2? I'd have to check) about how Stamets has problems with "feelings" for me to know the what's the what here.

The bigger question in my mind right now is just WHO IS THE CMO?! Culber said something about the CMO and the Andorian surgery. So who is the CMO? Are we going to meet him or her? Is this not a regular character, then? Is this person going to be in the captain's meetings (as in all the other series)? Is the person going to be offed to make way for Culber to become CMO?!

Inquiring minds wanna know

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Trust me, they're "together". And even if we didn't "know" this from the cast and the crew (back during Comic Con, and other interviews, esp with Anthony Rapp, etc), it took only one little snarky interchange between Culber and Stamets in an earlier episode (maybe Ep2? I'd have to check) about how Stamets has problems with "feelings" for me to know the what's the what here.

The bigger question in my mind right now is just WHO IS THE CMO?! Culber said something about the CMO and the Andorian surgery. So who is the CMO? Are we going to meet him or her? Is this not a regular character, then? Is this person going to be in the captain's meetings (as in all the other series)? Is the person going to be offed to make way for Culber to become CMO?!

Inquiring minds wanna know

It would be funny if never seeing the CMO became a running joke, like how morn was a chatterbox off screen.

Seriously though, my guess is the CMO is going to die probably offscreen and culber will become CMO

 

[indranee]

She is the main character, everything revolves around her and her choices. She may be dull, but she is the focus of the show.

In theory.

As time goes by and the dullness of the character continues unmitigated despite valiant attempts by TPTB to "make her better", the truth will emerge and this will become more and more an ensemble cast simply because there are AT LEAST THREE OTHER actors who inhabit their characters with better results.

 

[indranee]

under that logic the klingons are the main characters because they are the nexus of everything thats happened.

she didnt start the war... didnt stop the war.. didnt necesitate the spore drive... didnt research or invent it... she has a shared hand in fixing it with two other crew members but the one who really stepped up was stamets... had little to do with lorcas rescue.

doesnt seem like she is the nexus of anything. in faft shes been rather inconsequential in comparison to other crew members.

I think the only reason she's still the "main character" is because she's still the protagonist. Spock was the true protagonist of TOS, btw, not Kirk. Anyway, if Michael Burnham turns out to be a well-written protagonist, then she will go from a "faux-vulcan with deeply-felt inner conflicts and an electra complex" to a somewhat well-adjusted human woman who succeeds at what she's doing in order to help this show/story find its core.

But we know better. That will never happen because this show is about failure of intent and a darkness of spirit that's manifest right from episode one.

Don't get me wrong: I like this show so far, but I still don't know where the writers are going to take it in its present form w/o radically altering/correcting its direction and premise.

 

[cultcross]

The bigger question in my mind right now is just WHO IS THE CMO?! Culber said something about the CMO and the Andorian surgery. So who is the CMO? Are we going to meet him or her? Is this not a regular character, then? Is this person going to be in the captain's meetings (as in all the other series)? Is the person going to be offed to make way for Culber to become CMO?!

I think the show is deliberately not doing the "heads of department = the main cast" thing, so they're keeping them in the background.

Have we actually had it canonically confirmed that Stamets is chief engineer? He's definitely in charge of the spore drive and the area it's in, but what would he know about fixing the ship other than that? He's a fungus scientist...

 

[indranee]

I think the show is deliberately not doing the "heads of department = the main cast" thing, so they're keeping them in the background.

Have we actually had it canonically confirmed that Stamets is chief engineer? He's definitely in charge of the spore drive and the area it's in, but what would he know about fixing the ship other than that? He's a fungus scientist...

I'd have to see Choose Your Pain again but I thought there was something about a confirmation of that fact in that ep. I might be wrong.

 

[Mach5]

Chief engineer? An "astro-mycologist" / silvershirt?

 

[cultcross]

Maybe it's just more literal than in past shows, he's the chief of the engines. Not any tech problem the ship may encounter. A non com is running around in the background doing that.

 

[USS Triumphant]

The bigger question in my mind right now is just WHO IS THE CMO?! Culber said something about the CMO and the Andorian surgery. So who is the CMO?

Shatner.

It would be funny if never seeing the CMO became a running joke, like how morn was a chatterbox off screen.

Or like Chef from "Enterprise" - which was also rumored to be a role held for a Shatner guest spot (up until the "love letter to the fans" ).

 

[USS Triumphant]

Maybe it's just more literal than in past shows, he's the chief of the engines. Not any tech problem the ship may encounter. A non com is running around in the background doing that.

And/or perhaps he's a lot better with the other tech than we've seen so far, and astro-mycologist is just ONE of his hats.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

Shatner.

Or like Chef from "Enterprise" - which was also rumored to be a role held for a Shatner guest spot (up until the "love letter to the fans" ).

Shatner needs to show up as the CMO. Denny Crane M.D

 

[BillJ]

Maybe it's just more literal than in past shows, he's the chief of the engines. Not any tech problem the ship may encounter. A non com is running around in the background doing that.

Or his file was reworked to make it not seem odd a biological scientist was working as an engineer. Chief Engineer is essentially his cover.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Or his file was reworked to make it not seem odd a biological scientist was working as an engineer. Chief Engineer is essentially his cover.

I like this explanation a lot. One would think his cover would be reflected in his uniform, though.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

The vibe I got was totally confirmed by subtleties and body language that they are in fact together.

 

[Mr. Nova]

Th


The new Klingon Mazda 323?

And the Klingon Raider is the Mazda Miata...

 

[Mr. Nova]

I noticed that at no point did Lorca actually identify himself to Mudd but then Mudd seems to know exactly who he is later on when giving the spiel about the Buran. I figured Lorca just said his name to mudd offscreen or something but maybe that was a clue to the audience that they actually know each other.

Hmmm this just raises more questions for me to rack my brain over

I think that's the point.

 

[GeekUSACarl]

I like this explanation a lot. One would think his cover would be reflected in his uniform, though.

I think since he designed the drive that's propelling the ship he probably has crossover skills and education that lends him to also being an engineer.

I mean if he can use microbiology to design and invent an interstellar propulsion drive I doubt he has a hard time maintaining an already existing drive. A lot of work as a chief anything has a lot to do with delegation and organizing shifts and maintenance schedules anyway. I don't think anything sneaky is happening here.

 

[Tuskin38]

Chief engineer? An "astro-mycologist" / silvershirt?

It is apparently a mistake.

https://twitter.com/karterhol/status/920419206843076608
https://twitter.com/karterhol/status/920419431703912448

 

[Rahul]

I don't think SMG's version of Burnham is particularyl "dull". In fact, I think she's quite a good actress. For example compared to Zoe Saldana. Saldana looks more like a traditional female lead. But I think Zoe doesn't actually add a lot to the material she's given with her performances. With her, it's usually just the words on the page she delivers. But I see her performances in Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy or Columbiana as quite interchangeable, even though these should be very different persons.

SMG on the other hand, IMO, adds to the material, a lot, - most of the time. I think her performance is actually quite comparable to Duncan O'Neil as Nick Locarno/early Tom Paris, only in female. And she does that really nice! I think the only problems with her performance were very early on, when she tried to channel the "Vulcan" role in the scene where Sarek brought her to the ship). That was a role that clearly didn't fit her. But since then?

I think how she performs her redemption arc - as someone she portrays as a person very calm on the outside, but as visibly in emotional turmoil on the inside, is quite noticeable a very good performance, especially considering for something that has to be delivered on a weekly basis, as a lead in a television series, who is in almost every scene until now.

I think she is one of the highlights of this show, and together with Doug Jones' very physical and Anthony Rapps' very understated, calm performances, they make even the more shoddier material in the scripts work on the screen. Really, the acting in this series is IMO top-notch and one of the better ones in all of Trek.

 

[Longinus]

I think she is one of the highlights of this show, and together with Doug Jones' very physical and Anthony Rapps' very understated, calm performances, they make even the more shoddier material in the scripts work on the screen. Really, the acting in this series is IMO top-notch and one of the better ones in all of Trek.

Absolutely agreed. IMHO, this show is pretty shitty writing kept afloat by decent visuals and great actors.