Choose Your Pain

I have fond memories of Harry Mudd from ST-TOS. Rainn Wilson is probably one of the better choices for the role and I am hard pressed to think of someone that would have been better. He delivers on the cowardly scoundrel as I remember and love

I have seen other reviews that don't like the direction they are going but this isn't the kinder gentler Captain Picard years. This is war and real war isn't pretty or moral, something they often forgot in the previous series.

That being said Star Trek was always meant to be hopeful for the future and this is missing that hope. That may also be why ST Enterprise didn't last as long as the others.

Enjoying the series so far. I've heard the criticisms about whether this is Trek or not. I think it is. I have a friend who posits that the characters are actually in the Mirror Universe and are evil. No, there's no evil unless you're talking the evils of war and what humans, any of us, would do in a similar circumstance.

To say there's no precedence for these characters' behaviors is not to understand a few episodes across the Trek universe that were considered classics: DS9's "In the Pale Moonlight" where Sisko looks the other way while Garak assassinates the Romulan Senator Vreenak under false pretenses to bring the Romulans into the war with the Dominion. DS9, where Nog lost his leg, surrounded by Star Fleet officers who had the months-long task of holding their position against impossible odds -- those weren't your typical "Roddenberry" types. "Yesterday's Enterprise" where they were at war with the Klingons. Is anyone seeing a pattern here?

When Quark rightly spoke the following (paraphrased): Federation (Roddenberry) ideals are fine while your belly is full. Take that away and you really see who people are. Discovery is showing humanity for all it's worth...the good and the bad...in times of FREAKING WAR! That's real. That's appropriate.

I'll bet if Roddenberry were alive today, he would be onboard. Hey, even his son is.

If there had been an episode in any of the previous Treks where some character spoke a throwaway line that "there's only been one instance of mutiny in the history of Starfleet", I think the same critics would be onboard then.

And in spite of all this criticism, last eve's episode was a paean to so much Star Trek lore it was delicious...and to setup conflict via the tardigrade and resolve that same conflict in glorious "Roddenberry" fashion at the end was a beautiful thing. It's far more compelling to be in a dark place to eventually get to that Federation ideal we love so much...that's the conflict...that's the struggle...that's the tension. That's GOOD writing! It will make getting to that Utopia all the more sweet when it comes.

So, people, be realistic. Be reasonable. There's little more human than what was depicted in this episode. Chill out!

OK so they used language on this episode that boldly went where not Star Trek characters had gone before! I don't know about anyone else, but I almost fainted. LOL!

I get the show does not quite follow the usual Star Trek formula and it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but maybe it is time to break from the script a little and give a fresh feel to the franchise.

I too am willing to give it a little more time to find it's footing. It still has potential.

Lorca is captured by the Klingons.

I enjoyed this one for main plot involving the tardigrade, one good cameo and some of the character moments.

I thought the parts of story that takes place on Discovery were great and enjoyed it as I would any episode of Star Trek. It has a pretty positive resolution and some quite selfless character moments, particularly from one character, that fits right into the Trek moral code. It also has a quite traditional Trek moment of a character with a bit of self doubt stepping up to assume command. The Lorca sub-plot was a bit silly at times, but it did feature a strong cameo from a character we first met in the original series which I quite liked.

There were some moments of lazy writing with very exposition heavy dialogue dumped on some scenes. The resolution to the Klingon imprisonment feels way too easy to be plausible. The final scene felt a bit like it was done for no other reason than to show the world that two characters are in a romantic relationship and to make a point of how diverse the franchise has become.

I do agree with other reviewers on the point of the bad language and violence becoming excessive. I know that's what war is all about and it builds fear around the Klingons as an antagonist, but as someone who enjoyed Trek as a child, this now rules out Discovery as something I can watch with my children until they become age appropriate, which is unfortunate. If it's all for the sake of selling the product to a new type of audience, it's a bit of a sellout.

All performances were great, especially Doug Jones, Jason Issacs and Rainn Wilson. Visuals and effects were excellent as always.

If it was not for the two rapid use of the four letter word I would say this was the most traditional Trek like episode of Discovery.

Captain Lorca is travelling on a shuttle without much of an escort and is captured by the Klingons and tortured. They easily find out his eyes do not like bright lights. In the Klingon ship he encounters the untrustworthy Harry Mudd and Lt Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) who been imprisoned in the ship for six months.

Saru is now tasked to locate and rescue Lorca but feels threatened by Burnham and he needs the ship working at full speed. This means the Tardigrade needs to function properly. Burnham realises that the Tardigrade is in pain and may even die if it has to continue propelling the ship.

Stamets who so far has appeared to be a bit of an arrogant douchebag actually gets some character development as he too shows concern about the Tardigrade but also makes a significant move in advancing the spore propulsion system. Stamets also has a close relationship with the ship's doctor despite their differences of opinion.

Saru is also different from the first episode where he appeared more to be the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz. Here as acting captain he is willing to breach Starfleet rules and even hurt a sentient being to rescue a Lorca. However did he ever think the state of the ship and Starfleet if the Tardigrade died?

Shazad Latif whose name has been on the titles from the first episode finally joins the cast but given he has survived torture for six months, was a favourite of the female Klingon on the ship, the audience certainly has to doubt his loyalties.