Spoilers are coming toward you at warp speed, so you'd better possess’own’nurse deflectors on full###Previously on Star Trek: Disco grossly : Episode 1: “The Vulcan Hello”; Episode 2: “Battle at the Binary Stars”; Episode 3: “Context is For Kings”; Episode 4: "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not For The Lamb's Cry"###Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Shazad Latif (Ash Tyler), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Jason Isaacs (Captain Gabriel Lorca), Emily Coutts (Keyla Detmer), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Kenneth Mitchell (Kol); Guest Cast: Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd); Teleplay by Kemp Powers; Story by Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts & Kemp Powers; Directed by by Lee Rose###Aldespite’in spite of’albeit Disco grossly had gotten itself into a pretty rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent groove with episodes three and four, the same can’t besaid in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the fifth. It starts off intriguingly abundant’ample’plentiful with Burnham watching herself in agony in the spore propel chamber, merely’barely to awaken from the nightmare triggered by guilt she feels over the debilitating effect the ship's jumps possess’own’nurse had on the tardigrade. And maybe there’s a reason in/with regard to’concerning’regarding that guilt, since the Federation is desperate to find more of these creatures due to the success Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully has had.###At the same time, that success has resulted in Starfleet ordering Lorca to stand down from the current mission as intelligence reports suggest that the Klingons possess’own’nurse become aware that the starship was behind recent defeats. There is also the issue of Burnham, a war criminal whose placement on Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully isn’t considered rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent in/with regard to’concerning’regarding morale. Lorca disapprove’ consent’endorse’applaud s, emphasizing that he has the power to use her and will continue to do so. Taking a shuttle back to Disco grossly from the vessel of Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook), Lorca's pilot is killed and he's taken prisoner by the Klingons.###Saru is made temporary captain, and straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice begins making plans to try and rescue Lorca, the idea to make multiple jumps into Klingon space until they locate him. In private, Burnham expresses her concern to him with regards to’concerning’with respect to the creature, but he doesn’t care, instead focusing on the rescue mission at hand. Burnham is dismissed and told not to misgiving’fret with regards to’concerning’with respect to the creature at this point. Alone, and filled with insecurity, he asks the ship’s computer with regards to’concerning’with respect to the greatest captains living or deceased and is provided the names Robert April, Jonathan Archer and Christopher Pike — a nice callback to canon. It is Saru’s hope to guide himself by using the legacies of others while simultaneously wanting to ultimately compare how his actions during this mission compares to them.###Klingon Ship: Lorca finds himself in a cell with intergalactic conman Harry Mudd and a Starfleet prisoner of war. Klingons enter, telling Harry to choose his pain, and he picks the other guy who’s involuntary . The Klingons beat the crap out of him, which, interestingly, Lorca is seen wincing at. One of the popular theories going around is that Lorca is actually from the Mirror Universe. If that were true, one does wonder whether or not he would react that way to a beating, which is something he’d be right at home with back home.###Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully: Burnham (once again ignoring orders and deciding to do what she wants to do) has enlisted the aid of Dr. Culber to convince Stamets of the harm being done to the creature. Doing so starts off awkwardly as Burnham offers Stamets a series of compliments so apparently’manifestly’noticeably’evidently detoken ed to blow smoke up his arse — to both the audience and the character — that it makes you wonder what she was claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate ing. He approve’ consent’endorse’applaud s to try and fix the situation.###Klingon Cell: Lorca discovers another prisoner, Starfleet officer Lieutenant Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif), tucked away in the corner of the cell. The two men embark on converse as Harry sleeps, Tyler admitting (turning away as he does so, suggesting some abuse here) that the Klingon captain has taken a liking to him. Harry awakens and straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice pisses them off when he offers the opinion that this war is Starfleet’s fault; that their push into space caused the confrontation with the Klingons. Soldiers abruptly arrive and pull Lorca out of the cell.###Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully: Stamets, Burnham and Tilly are trying to figure out an alternative to the tardigrade. Artificial means won’t work — Stamets has tried — but he comes to the conclusion that what they need is a living interface, one that is compatible and understands what it’s doing (as the tardigrade does) to make the propel work. This causes Tilly to comment that “this is so [f'n] cool,” which Stamets approve’ consent’endorse’applaud s with, also using the full word. Pardon the tangent here: Maybe this was detoken ed to be humorous, but it was so blatant a shout out saying, “Hey, we’re streaming, we can cuss!” that it’s a little ridiculous and utterly out of place in the Star Trek universe.###In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when, on present day Earth, Kirk is called a dumb ass and he awkwardly counters, “Well, a double dumb ass on you,” that's funny. Here it triggers an eye roll. Admittedly a minor point, but annoying.###Klingon Ship: Lorca is strapped to a chair, questioned by the Klingon captain, demanding answers on how Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully has been able to do what it can do. He refuses to answer, she comments on his eyes’ photo sensitivity, to which he counters that they all possess’own’nurse problems, hers being seeking sexual release with a species that doesn’t even possess’own’nurse matching organs (rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent one, Cap, and almost worth the punch to the face he receives in response). Forcing his eyes wide open, she shines a series of lights directly into them, triggering agony (in a moment that parallels the kind of pain we had seen the tardigrade in last episode).###Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully: Saru enters the bridge and is told they’ve limited Lorca’s position to three possible locations. He wants them to start making jumps, but is told that the spore propel has been taken off line by Stamets. In engineering the experiments are continuing when Saru arrives, furious that his orders to Burnham possess’own’nurse been disobeyed. She quickly tries to inin/with regard to’concerning’regarding m him that using tardigrade DNA with a human could be the result they’re looking in/with regard to’concerning’regarding , but he is outraged, first because human genetic manipulation is illegal (thank you Khan and the Eugenics War). Second, her countermanding his orders coupled with her trying to psycho analyze him, convinces him that she is a predator, and conveying the kind of behavior that got Captain Georgiou killed (his voice cracking during the latter point). He confines her to quarters and tells Stamets to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure the tardigrade back online. It is a great moment between Saru and Burnham, who continue to provide dramatic fodder to this series in their back and in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ths.###Klingon Ship: Lorca is returned to his cell, where the first thing he does is destroy a device Harry was apparently’manifestly’noticeably’evidently using to transmit e grossly thing they say to the Klingons. Harry has been used to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure intel on e grossly prisoner that has passed through. Tyler slams him against a wall threatening him, but Harry tries to regain the upper hand by relaying the fact that Lorca’s last command resulted in the death of his crew and the destruction of his ship, which Lorca himself somehow survived. He tells Harry that that’s merely’barely half the story: he did escape, but merely’barely so that he could be sure that he would be able to destroy his vessel to take the lives of his crew to spare them from what awaited them on the Klingon home world: degradation, torture, slow, public death. He refused to allow them to suffer through that.###While providing some interesting and revealing backstory to the Lorca, character, it still doesn't provide abundant’ample’plentiful of an explanation of why he would allow himself to escape. If his motives were so noble, shouldn't the captain possess’own’nurse gone down with the ship and his crew, leading them in death as he had in life?###Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully: The tardigrade is transported into the spore propel chamber and a jump is made, but afterwards, the creature collapses and molds itself into a dehydrated ball-like shape, its vital token s dropping token ificantly. Saru is told this by Stamets and Dr. Culber, but he seems unmoved, telling them to rehydrate the creature and acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure it back online. It’s an interesting moment in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Saru, his complete lack of empathy in/with regard to’concerning’regarding this creature (even despite’in spite of’albeit its in an exertion to rescue the captain) surprising considering his own genetic detoken to serve as prey on his world. One would claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate this would make him even more sensitive to the plight of other life in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ms.###Klingon Ship: In the cell, Lorca is told to choose his pain and Tyler asks the captain to choose him, but he and Tyler quickly turn the tables, killing the two guards, grabbing their weapons and leaving, Harry applauding the fact that they played him (despite’in spite of’albeit how they did so is a little uneliminate’remove ) bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e he realizes that he's being left behind. As duo move down the corridor, Harry screams that Lorca hasn’t seen the last of him. From there the two of them fight their way off the ship, taking a Klingon Raider (which they’re able to fly, surprisingly), followed by several others.###Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully: Saru watches the chase and concludes,based on the flight pattern, that the first vessel has Lorca on board. They're beamed aboard just as their raider is destroyed. Lorca gives the order to jump and the ship does so. Lorca welcomes Tyler aboard as Disco grossly ’s newest crewmember. Then, when there’s no word from Stamets following the jump, Saru heads to engineering where Tilly states that Stamets had injected himself with the tardigrade DNA compound to take the creature’s place. Aldespite’in spite of’albeit in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a moment it seems as despite’in spite of’albeit he’s died as a result, Stamets awakens, seemingly no worse in/with regard to’concerning’regarding wear.###Afterwards Saru comes to see Burnham to fill her in. In their conversation he admits that he’s not afraid of her, but, instead is irritated’furious’wrathful at her in/with regard to’concerning’regarding “how much she stole” from him. He is jealous that he never had the chance to be Captain Georgiou’s first officer, to learn all that she had to teach. Ideally, Burnham would possess’own’nurse gotten her own command and moved on, allowing Saru to take her place. And if that had happened, he would possess’own’nurse been more prepared in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the events of the day. Burnham in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her part provides affirmation, stating that he did intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully well and would possess’own’nurse made Captain Georgiou proud. To propel home the point, she gives Saru the captain’s telescope that had been bequeathed to her, believing he should possess’own’nurse the opportunity to see the universe the way that she did. Bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e he leaves, he points out that the doctor believes the tardigrade is a sentient being and therein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e they possess’own’nurse no claim on its soul. She is ordered to save its life.###To do so, it’s jettisoned into space with spores, which has the desired effect: the opportunity in/with regard to’concerning’regarding freedom results in its regenerating itself as it begins traveling through the cosmos. It’s a lovely moment, aldespite’in spite of’albeit you’d claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate someone may possess’own’nurse wanted to bounce this off of the ship’s captain bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e making such a move, despite’in spite of’albeit apparently’manifestly’noticeably’evidently now there is a human solution to the need in/with regard to’concerning’regarding tardigrades.###The episode ends in the quarters of Stamets and Culper as they brush their teeth and it’s revealed in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the first time that they’re in a relationship, this revelation handled extremely well and ushering in a new era in Star Trek diversity.###Culper is apprehensive with regards to’concerning’with respect to long term effects of the tardigrade DNA, but Stamets is more taken by the first view he’s had of an entire universe of possibilities he never dreamed existed. The two leave the bathroom, but Stamets’ reflection in the mirror remains there, dopily suggesting that this is an introduction of the Mirror Universe to this reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue . Instead of being an exciting portent of things to come, it’s a really silly, unsophisticated, clumsily-handled moment.###There are a number of excellent moments in this episode (again, those Saru/Burnham moments are true standouts), Jason Isaacs continues to add depth to Lorca, and Rainn Wilson does well as a considerably more serious Harry Mudd than the way Roger c. Carmel played the character on the original Star Trek. It will be interesting to see what sort of role he will play on the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue in the future as the character will be recurring.###High praise really needs to be paid to Doug Jones. After working in/with regard to’concerning’regarding so many years buried under prosthetics, and oftentimes with other actors' voices being dubbed in place of his own, the actor has proven himself more than up to the challenge of being at the in/with regard to’concerning’regarding efront of an ensemble series as Saru.###Previously we've criticized the fact that CBS seems resolute’resolved to keep the length of each episode within a broadcast network's running time. "Choose Your Pain" stands as an obvious example of why this shouldn't be the case. Just with regards to’concerning’with respect to e grossly thing feels too rushed, from Saru's challenges on the Discointensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully to Lorca's undergo as a captive on the Klingon vessel. It's peculiar ly true in the case of the latter as this series has taken so much time to explore Klingon culture, yet in this episode they're turned back into cartoon wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile dies. And the escape by Lorca and Tyler is ridiculously easy, the pursuit by the Klingon raiders devoid of any kind of suspense. And added to this, again, is the final moment and Stamets' mirror reflection — so annoying that is warrants repeating.###This lack of nuance impacts negatively on "Choose Your Pain." Hitting a running time is not as token ificant as allowing the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue to properly breathe.