Star Trek Discovery Episode 5 (Review)

In this informal YouTube review, the host discusses Star Trek: Discovery episode 5, declaring it the best episode of the season so far. He praises the pacing and storytelling, focusing on Captain Lorca’s abduction by the Klingons and the use of spore‑drive technology. The review delves into Harry Mudd’s cameo (played by Ryan Wilson), providing background on the character’s original series history and his role as a survivor feeding information to the Klingons. The host examines Saru’s temporary promotion to captain, his evolving relationship with Commander Burnham, and the symbolic heirloom exchange. He also covers the Tardigrade (“Ripper”) experiment, Burnham’s discovery that human DNA can navigate the spore drive, and a mysterious scene where a scientist appears duplicated in a mirror. The reviewer speculates on future plot directions, especially regarding Harry Mudd and the spore‑drive’s dangers, and reflects on the series’ creative shift after Bryan Fuller’s early‑season involvement, noting an unexpected improvement in quality. He ends by inviting viewers to comment, like, and subscribe.
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Hey you, welcome back to the channel. And guys, today I want to talk about Star Trek Discovery as we moved here into episode 5. And guys, uh, I gotta say, so far this has been for me the best episode of the season. I like the pacing of it, I like what was covered, and, uh, um I just like the, the story we got here, um, you know. And of course, we got this story mostly about Captain Lorca being taken prisoner, uh, by the Klingons. And, uh, that's been kind of my fear, I think, with this series as I gravitate more to Captain Lorca, uh, you know, when the show was primarily from the perspective of Commander Burnham. And I mean, some of her story is getting, you know, better. I am a lot more attached to her than I was when it started, but I keep drifting over to Captain Lorca. Everything that's, you know, you know, his story— he's such a, you know, such a great actor, but everything around his story, what's going on with him, always interesting to me. But, you know, obviously he has this meeting, looks like, at a starbase. En route back from the starbase, he's actually abducted by the Klingons. And the Klingons, their intel, they're quite aware of what's going on with Captain Lorca. They figured out that how is it possible for him to be in certain sectors instantaneously? That would be impossible for a starship vessel. Of course, we know Captain Lorca is using the spore technology to make his jumps across the galaxy. And this is what this meeting was all about. With the admirals and this board to discuss the dangers of the best weapon in the fleet putting itself at such risk. Of course, Captain Lorca disagrees. He believes it's more effective, they get more edge with it in commission, with it being used. But at this point, Starfleet saying it's too dangerous, so we get his abduction on the way back from this meeting. And in the prison, we finally get Ryan Wilson as Harry Mudd. And I liked Ryan Wilson's, uh, you know, portrayal. I like how he did it with Harry Mudd. He didn't, uh, I didn't— he didn't overact it, he didn't overdo it. And I thought that was fun. I like the elements of, uh, Harry Mudd. And I found this interesting. This is just a A quick tidbit for original Star Trek fans who know about Harry Mudd. If you remember from many of the series, Harry Mudd has a wife named Stella, I believe. At this point, he can't— when we get to meet Harry Mudd in the Original Series, he can't stand Stella. He's trying to get away from Stella. But as we get to see, you know, in the kind of, if you will, prequel to the Hairy Mud story, he's very much in love with Stella. He's basically gotten himself in a lot of problems trying to afford Stella. Stella's a very expensive woman, as he details. And so he's, you know, become this pirate and various things, committed these crimes, tried to afford his wife, and it hasn't worked out quite well for him. But I just found that quite interesting that later in life he's doing all he can get away from Stella. Um, so, you know, of course we get Harry Mudd being Harry Mudd. You know, Harry Mudd was never trusted in the original series. Uh, you know, his, uh, his— he's a survivor. He's, uh, going to take care of himself first. And of course we get to learn he's feeding the Klingons information, uh, you know, in the prison cells. That's how he survived so long. And, and the Klingons have caught on that Of course, Captain Lorca is somehow using this technology that they can't seem to stop. And I just liked the whole story here. It was very entertaining to me. Like I said, it was the best episode. Seemed like I didn't really have a problem too much with any of how it ran and how the story was done. And, uh, you know, unlike a lot of the other episodes that I found kind of distracting, kind of just putting information in, didn't have to be there, this I felt all the information we received, um, uh, was necessary and, uh, you know, fed to us how we needed. And of course Saru, uh, because of, uh, Captain Lorca's abduction, is now the captain. And him and Commander Burnham They kind of have their back and forth, but they get to a place finally where they're more cooperative to one another, where Saru explains the fact that he felt the opportunities with Captain Georgiou had been stolen from him. And of course, we got to see her give him a very special heirloom from Captain Georgie's family, a important family heirloom. And it was passed on to Commander Burnham. She passes it on to Saru. And I think they kind of put a lid on their differences in that moment, which was very interesting. We also got a lot to do with the Tardigen, what they called the Ripper. And I thought that was really cool at the end, how the Ripper finally, they let him free and he kind of just warps off himself through space. You know, that he was free from that containment. So I'm not quite sure why he didn't just do that in the beginning when he was on that ship attacking the Klingons. Maybe it's something I missed, but I didn't quite get that, you know, understood. But what was very interesting is during experiments on the Tardigen, Commander Burnham had figured out that, you know, basically human DNA could be used as well to control the spore jump technology to act as a navigator. And they weren't sure of the dangers, but our lieutenant here at the head of research, and his name escapes me for some reason, I had learned it, but I'm hoping as the show goes on, I'll really get these— get everybody's names down. But, uh, he's, uh, the, the, the, you know, the head of the scientific department dealing with the Spore technology here. He, uh, you know, of course we got to see him take the risk himself. He takes the risk, he's able to jump with this technology, and, uh, we get this very, very strange scene at the end where he walks away and it's a version of him standing in the mirror, almost like he split himself in half, created another version of himself either in another dimension or existing simultaneously in the same dimension. And I'm not exactly sure what they're gonna do with that, what that means, but it will be interesting to see. It did spark my interest. Really like this episode. I liked everything I got with Harry Mudd. We seem to have a new crew member as well who was taken off that ship, and he looks like he's going to be a valuable addition to the Discovery crew. As Harry Mudd said, we haven't seen the last of Harry Mudd. He looks like he's gonna meet up with them again, do some antics, you know, as we've seen in the earlier trailers with Harry Mudd. He seemed to be speaking to Burnham about hurry up, something's going boom. So I don't know if Harry Mudd's gonna be the head of whatever this is, trying to seek revenge on the Discovery, or I don't know if it's just gonna be another scenario. Maybe they're involved in what with the Klingons and somehow Harry Mudd gets in the mix, but will be interesting to see. Again, guys, best episode so far. Uh, we're now episode 5, still quite a bit to go, quite a bit to go, about 12 more episodes. That's given Discovery a lot of time, uh, to make improvements. Uh, you know, this episode I thought did a great job. Uh, so I'm kind of looking at it really now from starting now from episode 5 onwards. And so, uh, guys, tell me if Star Trek Discovery is getting a little bit more, uh, better for you, a little bit more entertaining for you. I'm starting to like it a lot better now that they moved past the first few episodes. What is kind of concerning for me though is, uh, initially, uh, Bryan Fuller was involved, I believe, with the first 2 episodes. Was it the first 2 or 3 episodes, and, uh, um, he then left. And, uh, but it, you know, it's seeming to me, uh, in a great, in a great way. I didn't care much for episode 3, kind of liked episode 4, liked episode 5, uh, did kind of like the first episode. But I'm kind of surprised. I would have thought it would have went different. I would have thought the Bryan Fuller episodes, he was involved with would have been my favorites, and then it would have kind of been a decline. But actually, it seems to be getting better. And I don't know if maybe because that has to do with creative involvement, maybe when you don't have to go through so many channels, things can get better. But I thought it would get worse. It's actually, for me, getting better. Guys, tell me what you think, uh, if you're gonna stick around to the complete season. Guys, if you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe. And until next time, Take care.
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