Choose Your Pain

Poor Ripper, the reluctant mycelial network navigator is showing signs of depression and stress and Michael Burnham is very concerned about him. Meanwhile Starfleet command is building more spore-drives and they want more Tardigrades to power the fleet with instant travel. Captain Lorca is ordered to reign in the use of the drive to prevent its secrets falling into the hands of the dreaded Klingons. Which is reasonable considering how bad Starfleet security seems to be at the moment because Captain Lorca is easily captured by the Klingons as he’s shuttling back to his ship from a meeting with top brass at a Starbase. Of course the captain’s abduction means that the discovery now has to jump multiple times further harming ripper and setting Burnham and acting captain Saru on a trajectory of disagreement which leads to lots of difficulty and strife. Enter Harry Mudd, who is witty and banal all at once, and seemingly working with the Klingons to get secrets out of Lorca. on the D7 prison ship, we also meet Ash Tyler, a mysterious but sympathetic lieutenant who lost his captain and crew in the battle at the binary stars and has somehow managed to survive over 6 months of Klingon torgure. Everyone has to choose their pain in this episode of Star Trek Discovery and ultimately we find Lorca escaping with Ash tyler and through some fancy thinking on Saru’s behalf, back on the discovery with his new sidekick. L’rell is deformed and Harry Mudd promises to return. The highlight of the episode comes in a very Star Trek inspired moment when Saru surrenders to Burnham’s logic/requests (once he’s rescued his captain) and they release the Tardigrade, only after she gives him Captain Georgiou telescope, of course. And we end on a very strange and spooky note after Stamets and Culbert have an endearing moment as a couple. Is it Mirror Mirror, more Alice in Wonderland Stuff? What are your thoughts?