Star Trek Discovery - Episode 5 - Choose Your Pain

I eagerly caught up with the latest Star Trek Discovery this past Thursday night.  It seems the leaky internet was abuzz with something about Star Trek going boldly where it has never gone before.

What could it have been I wondered?

• Inter-species love making?
• Homosexuality on-board ship? (Gasp!)
• Hilarious transporter malfunction?

(Anyone else remember this Mad Magazine classic?  Star Blecch!)

Nope.  None of the above.  It was an F-bomb from Tilly.

It was cool and I laughed.  I think only Tilly could have dropped the first F-bomb in Star Trek history.   True to form, she was geeking out over advanced physics and super dense mathematics.  

Was I shocked that Star Trek finally went there?  Nooo.  It was spontaneous and sweet.  Should they do it every week?  I hope not.  But if it's from Tilly, then bombs away.  

Anything else that was "F-ing" cool from this episode?

Harcourt Fenton Mudd!  That's cool!

He may be even more slimy and diabolical that the original version  (Played with aplomb by Roger C. Carmel)

Carmel's Mudd was a little pervy mixed in with some profound narcissism and a good measure of venality.  Rainn Wilson's Mudd was definitely treacherous with a heavy dash of deceit and a good measure of venality.  He's put himself to good use for the Klingons but he is clearly their prisoner.  No doubt we will see him again.  But will he be acting of his own accord or still a tool of the Klingon Empire?

We may as well touch on the two other characters we met aboard the Klingon prison ship. 

 


I'm sorry to say I didn't catch the name of the Klingon captain that held Lorca prisoner.  Let's just say she has a "thing" for humans.  When we last saw her she was left severely injured to the face and screaming in pain.  No doubt we'll be seeing her again and she'll driven by her taste for humans and her thirst for revenge.  Yum.

Crewman Ash Tyler finally made it on the show after only appearing in the credits.  The last time I saw actor Shazad Latif was in "Penny Dreadful" where he played Dr. Henry Jekyll.  His Jekyll was driven and sadistic and let's hope Tyler is a little of both.

Why?  Because he knows Lorca's big bad secret revealed when they were both held prisoner aboard the Klingon vessel.  That secret being Lorca deliberately sacrificed his previous crew rather than have them suffer under the hands of the Klingons.  Wow, my hero.  Tyler should use this info to move right up the ladder of the Discovery crew.  Hmm, I think there is an opening as chief of security.  Of course, Mudd knows this secret too and no doubt he'll find a way to use it in the future.  (Our badly burned Klingon captain will be appraised of this info too.  This should be juicy.)

 
 
Does Admiral Cornwell (Actress Jayne Brook, damn, she was in Gattaca!) know the secret too?  She did refer to Lorca as pretty much his only friend.  Does that mean she is keeping his secret?  Does it mean they are keeping a secret of their own?  (Ahem, wink, wink.)  




The Coolest Thing of Them All

 



 What was this!!!???

Pictured above is the second reflection of Stamets before it too walked away.  We all saw it.  Stamets lingered before the mirror before we saw him leave to join his partner Dr. Colber.  Then, we saw his reflection again before it too departed.

Two reflections.  The second without something to mirror.

Pretty cool.

The first thing I thought of was the classic STOS episode, "Mirror, Mirror".  In that episode Kirk, Uhura and McCoy end up in an alternate universe where the Federation is an evil empire and all their doppelgangers are malevolent.

I don't really get that vibe here.  There didn't seem to be anything malevolent about the second reflection.  (No evil goatee.)  But something is clearly amiss.

As I had hoped in my previous blog post.  Burnham releases Ripper the Tartigrade as Stamets chose to use himself to help navigate the Spore Drive  (I guess we can start with the, "He's a Fungi" at parties jokes.)  This apparently has repercussions as seen by the bizarre second reflection.

I see the reflection as some sort of "Temporal Shadow".

To me, Stamets has left behind another version of himself that exists out of time with his original self.  How that can be picked up in a mirror I am not sure.  Perhaps the energy itself of the second version is left behind but the frequency of which can't be picked up in our existence.  At least not by the human eye.

So why did we see it in the mirror?  That could have been just for us as the viewing audience.  It should remain unseen by the Discovery crew.  Will it remain unfelt?

Doubt it!

That "Temporal Shadow" should linger on and definitely make its presence felt aboard the ship.  No doubt it will have a deleterious effect on Stamets himself.  Perhaps Dr. Colber will be first to pick up on it.

The only thing left we have to ask is this "Shadow" sentient or is it just a mere energy reflection?  Even if it isn't sentient that doesn't mean it isn't reflecting whatever Stamets does and reproducing his actions a few moments later.

That should have interesting repercussions in Engineering. 

Star Trek is on again tonight as I finish this post.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post sooner this next time around.  If I'm late I'll just blame it on my Temporal Shadow.  

Live long and prosper!