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

[zar]

The Mirror Thing is amusing for being unintentionally self-defeating: it has already been established that future mirrors simply are like that - the mirror image can be 3D, made to rotate, linger and for all we know dance polka out of synch with the thing being mirrored.

I assumed the Mirror Thing was just for us. I mean it's not like we're going to have Stamets say "Hey Captain, my mirror is doing this weird thing." Kind of like the reflection of Benny Russell in the window in Far Beyond the Stars... it wasn't actually there, right?

 

[Jadeb]

It has obviously done something to Stamets (something that will be explored in future episodes) and I'm sure that whatever it is will result in the spore technology being abandoned.

I think this is a flaw with the setup and writing of the show. We know the spore drive is doomed, know Harry Mudd is in no real danger, know they will have an ethical conflict over the space bear, can reasonably expect that the space bear would end up getting freed, have a good suspicion Voq is Tyler, know Burnham is going to redeem herself. I feel like I see stuff coming from a mile off, and that's not good. As much as modern serialized drama is an influence, there are still a lot of the old Trek chains in place. (Kirk and Spock aren't going to die this week.)

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Or maybe that'll be shown in upcoming episodes? We haven't really even seen what the sacrifice is exactly at this point, much less time for other characters to react to it.

It could be that they are playing a longer game, but with so many people thinking that the crew isn't show enough camaraderie or the characters not developing quickly, here was a missed opportunity.

 

[zar]

Worse is including a Captain (our dear recently departed Phillipa) who is hardly "great". She lead a two man away team with an officer who had just mutinied and started a war! Not what I'd call great!

What she did in the pilot was neither great nor terrible. But it's implied that she was "great" in her long career before that. "Do you know why Sarek asked me to take you on? I was a human who had seen a life of loss, but still chose hope." And there seem to be medals in her ready room.

 

[cultcross]

So, exactly how many people does he have to kill, torture, manipulate and or simply outright treat cruely to get that title?

He blew up his ship to, in essence, euthanise his crew to avoid capture, torture and painful execution. Not morally dissimilar from Picard in First Contact shooting a crewman rather than let him be assimilated. Not sure I'd have made the same call, but it's not 'irredeemably evil'.
Not sure he's tortured anyone that we know of. If you're referring to the tardigrade, it seems that issue only came up the chain of command after he had left the ship (quite why, I'm not sure on). We don't know at this stage what his reaction would have been.
Manipulation? Well, he's lied to Harry Mudd who was double crossing him, and played a tape of crying kids to get his crew to work harder to save those kids. He's certainly good at getting what he wants as Captain done. Not sure that's evil per se. Who is he treating cruelly?

 

[Seven of Five]

An easy 9 this week. Better than last week that's for sure.

I loved seeing Archer (and April et al) on the viewscreen showing the most successful captains. It also made me think of him again when Lorca was captured by the Klingons.

Rainn WIlson was an inspired choice to play Mudd, and brought much needed levity to the show.

 

[Roald]

Wow this was soooo good...... I always had faith (of the heart ) for this show, but this is exceeding my expectations....! Love the storylines and the fact that I feel so sad that 47 minutes pass by too damn quickly is a good sign..!
Was actually moved when Ripper was set free and man, was Mudd NAILED! Loved the little things like his insect..! Also you can see that the crew chemistry is forming..! Great Trek!

 

[137th Gebirg]

Where was Garth on that list of Captains?

Others have speculated that this was intended to be a direct slap at Alec Peters, the guy who tried to make a profit off the Trek IP by crowdfunding millions of dollars for the failed "Axanar" fan film and got sucked into a legal battle with CBS & Paramount over it. He was going to be Garth in that film and played Garth in its prequel, "Prelude to Axanar". At the risk of incurring the wrath of the canon gods, I suspect he was not included in that list for that reason.

 

[The Habs Fan]

I think this is a flaw with the setup and writing of the show. We know the spore drive is doomed, know Harry Mudd is in no real danger, know they will have an ethical conflict over the space bear, can reasonably expect that the space bear would end up getting freed, have a good suspicion Voq is Tyler, know Burnham is going to redeem herself. I feel like I see stuff coming from a mile off, and that's not good. As much as modern serialized drama is an influence, there are still a lot of the old Trek chains in place. (Kirk and Spock aren't going to die this week.)

I think we need to reserve judgment until the entire first season has aired before we can say things are predictable.

It might also be because of it being released as one episode per week. It's nice to allow a week for discussion but that discussion might end up predicting things that happen. Whereas binge-ing a show in one night doesn't allow you to think of possible theories quite as much since you'll find out the next episode anyway.

 

[137th Gebirg]

"The universe...so vast, so complex, so magnific--they want me to pay four extra bucks for no commercials and then there's COMMERCIALS?!"

It's called "product placement". Far more insidious and subsersive.

 

[GulBahana]

Many people here seem to like this a lot more than I do. That's good. I can see what they are trying to do but I still don't care about the characters.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Loved the Toothbrushing Duo. Truth be told, I kept praying -- don't french kiss, don't french kiss! But a hug would've been okay by me. In the end, very well done. Those two have had GREAT chemistry from their first scene. Please don't get rid of Culber, TPTB?!

Frenching after brushing is gross. You have to get that settle a bit. I wish they had regular kissed though. I really loved their dynamic.

 

[Mr Awe]

It's getting harder with each episode to say this series belongs to the prime timeline.

Actually, I was thinking the exact opposite. It's getting easier and easier. With all the callbacks it leads easily into TOS. Seeing the younger Harry Mudd drove this home. We see how he is before he shows up on TOS. But, lots of other things too. Keep in mind, this is a visual refreshing but the story points fit in with the Prime timeline.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I'm sure this probably marks me as a bad person but I hadn't noticed how much Tilly fills out her uniform.

Don't know. Am I a bad person for liking it?

 

[Longinus]

That's an... interesting reading of the text.

How? He kills his own crew because he believes believes that being captured is 'worse than death.' That is pretty absurd belief, even though they're doing their best to depict Klingons as total monsters in this show. Kirk escaped being captured by the Klingons several times and Lorca himself escapes just moments later. Perhaps his crew would have preferred to take their chances on Rura Penthe or something?

And even if he sincerely beliefs in the utter horribleness of being imprisons by Klingons, then that makes his subsequent actions worse. He leaves Mudd behind! He is a Starfleet officer who leaves a civilian and presumably Federation citizen in conditions which he believes to be worse than death. And not out of necessity but out of spite.

But apparently everyone else is loving this total monster and cheering for him, so I guess I'm totally out of touch with the fanbase.

 

[Long Syntax]

Don't know. Am I a bad person for liking it?

Hey, there's someone for everyone. The fact that she fills our her uniform is a minor point to how annoying she is.

 

[MarsWeeps]

Another beauty shot...

 

[Long Syntax]

He leaves Mudd behind! He is a Starfleet officer who leaves a civilian and presumably Federation citizen in conditions which he believes to be worse than death. And not out of necessity but out of spite.

He actually went up a couple of points (in my estimation) for that move. Harry f'd him and Lt. Tyler over, in fact Harry would have been happy to have either of them killed.

Bravo Lorca!

 

[ITDUDE]

Indeed. Fun fact: the enormous plane that carried the Buran is still operated by Ukraine today.

For sure. The AN-225 Mria

Funny enough the plane is more famous for being so huge than the shuttle it was meant to carry

 

[Mr Awe]

The fanwank was strong with this one. The list of captains bit made me want to vomit. Seems the only criteria for being a 'great' Captain is being on TV. And with the odd exception, commanding the Enterprise.

You got it backwards. It's not that appearing on TV will make them be a great captain but rather they only make TV series about the great captains!

I did like the list. Nice call back but didn't really require knowledge on the viewers part. You got the gist of what Saru was doing even if you didn't recognize the names. Just a nice extra for those of us who know.