Hmmm, an episode in which I am quite torn about, I really liked some aspects of it and did not agree with some of it. This episode has been said to be very Star Trek-ish but to me the aspects I did not like was a bit off putting.

Episode Synopsis:

On his way to broker a peace deal with two renegade Klingon houses, Sarek is injured when a “logic extremist” attempts to assassinate him. Burnham senses this, and Lorca agrees to help rescue him. Admiral Katrina Cornwell questions this decision and others that Lorca has been making. Burnham enters the nebula in a shuttle with her roommate, Cadet Sylvia Tilly, and Tyler. Burnham attempts to connect with Sarek’s mind, and finds him remembering the time that her application for the Vulcan Expeditionary Group was rejected. Sarek reveals that the VEG would only admit one of his children, and he chose Spock, his half-human son. Spock ultimately chose to join Starfleet, rendering Sarek’s decision futile. Burnham helps Sarek regain consciousness and activate a locator beacon. Lorca and Cornwell sleep together, but she is concerned by his paranoid behavior and plans to have him removed from command of Discovery. With Sarek unable to meet the Klingons, Cornwell takes his place; however, the peace talks are actually a trap, and she is taken captive.

Ok, I cannot stand this long range Vulcan means of communication just because some of Sarek’s katra is with his adopted daughter Michael Burnham. I do not like it as it is more fantasy than science fiction. Other than that the story of Burnham and Sarek is actually good and very interesting. But why would the Vulcans be so racist (alienist) against humans at this stage of their relationship with them? This is 100 years or a bit less after the formation of the Federation. And why paint the Vulcan society in general as such jerks?

Michael who is older than Spock was a good student and cleared her tests to get into The Vulcan Science Academy. But they don’t want both her and later on Sarek’s half-human son in the academy as well. They make him choose and he makes the logical choice – he chooses Spock because atleast he looks more Vulcan and hence will not face too much of a problem. Burhman, being fully human, would be more at home in Starfleet among humans. So he lies to her and Amanda (played by Canadian actress Mia Kirshner) and says that she did not clear the tests. Hence, she is sent to Starfleet.

Now Lorca! We see him being visited by his friend Admiral Cornwell, who is worried about him. They end up in bed – apparently they have been an on-off thing earlier on before she got promoted to Admiral – but while he is asleep she notes a triangular shaped mark or torture remnant on his back and when she touches it, he wakes up with a jolt and pulls his phaser on her. She pushes him away and informs him that she was right about her suspicions of him being too disturbed and not fit to command. As she has to go take Sarek’s position in the peace talks on neutral territory, she puts off informing Starfleet command about Lorca until she gets back. And ofcourse the meeting turns out to be a trap.

Her aids are killed as are the neutral aliens hosting the peace talk by Kol’s men and they take Cornwell as a prisoner. What is in store for her, we don’t know. Are Burnham and Tyler going to have a relationship more than friendship as it looked like at the end of the episode? Is Ash actually Voq? I dunno. I give this episode a 7.5 outta 10!

We finally see one of the main cast members, after 4 episodes, and see an old familiar character albeit played by a different actor as well as a different look. Also, what the heck is up with Stamet’s reflection?

Episode Synopsis:

After a month of successful operations, Lorca is ordered to protect the spore drive until it can be replicated for other Starfleet ships. As he returns to the Discovery, he is taken captive by the Klingons. Burnham has grown concerned with the toll that the drive has taken on Ripper. Along with Stamets’ partner, medical officer Hugh Culbert, Burnham convinces Stamets to find an alternative to run the drive. Lorca is imprisoned with captured Starfleet officer Ash Tyler and human criminal Harry Mudd, and in discussions Lorca reveals that he killed his entire crew during an earlier battle to spare them from the Klingons’ torture, but escaped himself. Lorca is tortured by L’Rell, who wants the secret behind Discovery’s new form of travel, but Lorca and Tyler escape before the Klingons learn anything. For the final jump needed to escape the Klingons, with Lorca and Tyler onboard, Stamets connects to the spore drive himself using Ripper’s DNA. Later, Burnham frees Ripper, while Stamets’ reflection does not walk away from a mirror when he does.

We see a lot of things – Lorca’s back story is very interesting. A captain not going down with his ship and instead is the only one survivor while the rest of his crew is dead? Apparently seeing that the crew would be captured by the Klingons and unable to save them and not wanting them to be tortured by their enemies, he took the decision to blow up the ship. This makes us understand his willingness to win the war at all costs.

Saru shows some character growth and development here. Saru gets his first taste of command when Lorca is captured and he asks the computer to list out the best captains in Starfleet’s history – a list which has Robert April, Phillippa Georgou, Matthew Decker, Christopher Pike and Johnathan Archer – and asks for common characteristics. He wants the computer to analyse his performance and check to see if has common traits. At the end, despite the rescue of Lorca and fellow Starfleet officer / POW Ash Tyler, Saru does not want to know the results from the computer, instead he lets his actions speak for themselves.

That brings us to Ash Tyler, a POW who has been on this Klingon ship for about 6 months. Klingon L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) has taken over as captain of the ship and has taken a liking to him which has eased up his torture. And when I say liking – yeah, she is using him as a sex slave! Lorca meets Ash as well as Harry Mudd, who was captured while trying to escape his debtors. I think this Mudd is interesting; he has been a snitch for the Klingons and thus has been so far almost bruise free while other prisoners get beaten. He has a creature named Stewart who he has trained to steal food as well.

Lorca and Ash are able to escape, after Lorca has had a torture session, beat up and kill a few Klingons. When Ash is alone, L’Rell comes to find him and asks him how he could leave her after what they have been through. It’s a threat more than a lover’s lament and the look on Ash’s face says it all. Lorca shoots at her but it hits a beam and sparks ricochet off it onto her face, giving her a massive burn. She yells him pain as Lorca and Ash make their way to some shuttles and escape to be picked up by the Discovery, evading chasing Klingons.

The poor tortured Tardigrade is being put through the wringer and Burnham is feeling empathy for it. She questions usage of the spore drive, which is hurting the creature so much. At one point it shrivels and shrinks down and Stamets uses it’s dna on himself and connects himself to the spore drive making the rescue of Lorca and Ash possible. And what the heck happens to him? After seeing him and his partner, Dr. Hugh Culber, are in their quarters brushing their teeth in the bathroom and while Stamets says he is fine, after he walks away we see his reflection still in the reflection with a sinister smile and then it walks away. What the hell?

Is this a foreshadowing of the mirror universe? Does the Discovery’s work with the spore drive cause the mirror universe to connect with us from time to time? We don’t know. Only time will tell. Also, is Ash a Klingon spy? Talks have been around that he is actually Voq, who has undergone surgery at a genetic level to disguise himself as a human. As wonderfully unique as that would be, it does not seem feasible and will have a lot more questions. I give the episode an 8.5 outta 10!