#all aboard the uss trash ship

[porgthespacepenguin]

watching timeless episode 11 and getting mild "death and the maiden" vibes... only it's a date with beer and harry houdini?

Wait do you hear that

oh

oh no

not another trash ship

noooooo

Who am I kidding, I've been low-key shipping those two since the first episode...

Fine. High-key shipping. You happy now?

[stevedonnellyfaith-blog]

Memorial Day (Post 38) 5-28-14

                        Father Jerry has been writing about discernment for the last several months.  Discernment pertains, in a way, to Memorial Day, our commemoration of men and women who died protecting our freedom.  To me the most compelling stories of bravery describe those heroes who like Christ consciously chose to lay down their lives for their fellow service persons.  This type of choice is a form of discernment, but in the cases that I think about on Memorial Day the discernment process usually occurs in accelerated fashion – in some cases instantaneously.

On Memorial Day my son, Nicholas, and I usually watch the movie Blackhawk Down.  Over the years the scenes have become familiar to us. (Note - we have not memorized the entire dialog the way my daughter Abby can recite the lines of Pride and Prejudice.)  To me the most haunting sequence entails the Delta Force sniper team of Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon repeatedly requesting permission for insertion to protect Michael Durant and the crew of Super Six Four from the mob of Somali gunmen converging on the second crash site.  Providing air cover from a relatively safe position aboard an MH-6 Little Bird, Shughart, Gordon and their teammate Brad Hastings repeatedly request to be inserted into the crash site to confront the oncoming horde face to face. Finally their request is granted and they are allowed to enter the battle with no promise and, in fact, little possibility of additional help other than Brad Hastings’ remaining rifle fire from above.

Some Americans would question why the two men soldiers would insist on taking this seemingly foolhardy and ultimately ineffective action.  They might even misperceive Gordon and Shughart’s heroism as macho bravado or stupidity.  Most Americans understand the motivation of these two special operators on a visceral level, but would have trouble verbalizing what we admire about the actions of the two Delta members.  In my view Gordon and Shughart were faced with a question of discernment.  They had to decide who they were and what action was most consistent with how they defined themselves.  Their discernment told them that they were unable to watch the crew of Super Six Four be massacred without taking direct action.  Shooting from a safe position without inserting was something that these two men felt would violate their personal code.  Both men won the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions that day – posthumously as might be expected.

On the much more mundane stage of our daily lives we often face decisions where we too must discern actions consistent with our perception of ourselves.  For instance, as a loving father, faithful husband and a devout Christian, my behavior should be uniformly charitable, merciful and moral. Our country decorates and honors brave servicemen like Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon to make them models for other soldiers to emulate.  In the Catholic Church the ultimate model for our behavior is Jesus Christ and we also learn by studying the actions of all the saints and martyrs who have followed Jesus’ example.

In my naval service I also had the honor of serving with one shipmate, Christopher Woodmansee, who chose to lay down his life for his friends.  MM3 Woodmansee worked in the engineering plant on my first ship the USS Dahlgren (DDG-43), a destroyer that was slightly long of tooth and had been kept around past its expected service life.  Removing older ships from service was delayed during the build up to a 600 ship navy – a strategy to bankrupt the USSR through an arms race it could not afford. Unfortunately through military inertia the Coontz class of destroyers stuck around for several years after the Soviet empire had already crumbled.  The ships were powered by antiquated 1200 pound high pressure steam plants and at 31 years old, not all the piping, connections and components in the engineering spaces remained reliable.  The ships of the Coontz class began to catch fire or have other accidents in domino fashion during the early nineties.

Even though we both worked in Engineering, Petty Officer Woodmansee and I did not interact on a daily basis.  As a mechanic and watch-stander in the Number One Engine Room, Petty Officer Woodmansee spent much of his time turning a wrench, beating on stuff with a hammer or joking with his buddies.  As a junior officer, I stood watches topside, did a lot of paperwork and got yelled at by the senior officers.  In the Navy junior officers often act as piñatas for senior officers because frustrated leaders need someone to yell at and it is bad leadership for officers to yell at enlisted personnel.  Chief Petty Officers are in charge of yelling at enlisted personnel.  When officers yell at enlisted, it makes the chiefs more cranky than usual – that outcome is generally bad for all concerned.

Another bad outcome is when a threaded fastener in a high pressure lube oil system fails catastrophically within an operating steam plant.  When a plug or screw rockets out of a pressurized lube oil system, a stream of oil follows, is atomized by air and generally finds something hot.  The result is a giant fireball.  On February 22, 1992 this is what happened on the upper level of #1 Engine Room of USS Dahlgren where MM3 Christopher Woodmansee, AKA Woody, was standing watch.

In that situation Woody was trained to notify Main Control and to immediately evacuate.  In his split second discernment, MM3 Woodmansee decided that the fire posed a threat to the other men in the engine room.  Instead of leaving, Woody attacked the fire with a 15 pound CO2 bottle; the size of extinguisher that high school goof-offs mess with to earn detention.  A fifteen pound CO2 bottle is an effective tool for extinguishing a trash can blaze, but is not suitable for attacking a large fireball especially when the source of the jetting lube oil remains unsecured.

While Woody died that day, probably of asphyxiation, all but one of his buddies made it to safety. Some might say that Christopher Woodmansee was not a hero and that he had just made a wrong split-second decision. It is my understanding, though, that there was more than one empty CO2 bottle at the feet of Woody’s body.  To me a second extinguisher means that MM3 Woodmansee was not satisfied with attempting the impossible once; Woody went back for a second helping.

With the advent of Facebook service members are able to easily track down people with whom they served. On Veterans Day many of my shipmates change their profile pictures to cruise book photos from a quarter century past. We swap sea stories about things that happened on the ship or in ports of foreign countries that often ended at Captain’s Mast – a shipboard hearing for non-judicial punishment.  Memorial Day stories are different.  For my shipmates, Memorial Day posts always honor Christopher Woodmansee and Sean Bible who both died in a fire in Number One Engine Room over 20 years ago.

For our country, Memorial Day, is a Good Friday-like day where we express our appreciation for those who have given their lives for our freedom.  On Good Friday I think it is also important to remember that Jesus Christ did not die just for the Church; instead He loved us and chose to die for each of us individually.  The same is true of Memorial Day.  While those that died in uniform definitely died for our country, Christ-like many of them also died laying down their lives for the people with whom they served. They professed to be soldiers and sailors and took action consistent with their profession.  We too should seek to always take actions consistent with the Catholic faith that we profess.

[startrek-marysues]

Hai :3. I was just hoping if you could give my OC a review maybe..? Whatever trait you find kind of irksome just point it out and that’ll be great. :D And I apologize in advance- its gonna be a long one. ^_^’

Name: Coreen Sheppard Rowell

Species: Human

Sexuality: Pan

Ship: Formerly the USS Farragut but she was transferred to the USS Enterprise 

Department: Security

Personality: Coreen is a usually quiet and reserved person. She’s the type of person who doesn’t keep to themselves but doesn’t make the first move when it comes to socializing. This sometimes makes tension high or the atmosphere awkward. 

She’s very professional during work and stern- being the Chief of Security and all. Although being stern doesn’t mean that she’s too strict. She’s albeit lenient when it comes to strengthening a person’s weakness during training. Although she’s kind of strict when it comes to the rules, being one to follow the books. She’ll only break the rules when necessary. 

Coreen is laid-back and a lot more sociable with her friends and family but still doesn’t initiate conversations although she’s a good listener as well as advice giver. She knows when to have fun and when to stop.

Bio: Coreen was born and raised in Manchester, England. Her father served in the British Army til he reached the rank of a first star general. Her mother on the other hand is a licensed physician with a PhD. She has no troubles with her parents- she’s actually quite close to them being the only child and all.  Coreen enlisted in the British Army when she was eighteen and served for twelve years. She spent eight years being active the rest as inactive. It took her two years to be once more accustomed to the civilian life. She suffers from PTSD but it had quieted down during those two years. Of course certain things still trigger her PTSD. Coreen was thirty-two when her uncle, Lt. Arnold Sheppard, approached her about joining the Starfleet Academy. She had considered this when she was younger but found it a bit too ambitious then. Coreen accepted and enrolled the next month after thinking it over. She finished in three years and was assigned to the USS Farragut with her uncle.  She stayed aboard the USS Farragut as Security for two years and became a Lieutenant. A year later, USS Enterprise requested a transfer for her to become the Chief of Security there.

Likes: Dogs; Sweet food; Mixing Paint; the smell of a fresh canvas; stargazing; the calm silence Dislikes: Extremely loud/ surprising noises; extremely crowded areas; Unorganized objects; having to give a speech in front of an audience

Thank you so much! And again I’m sorry if I spammed you with a wall of trash.

MOD: Hi, sorry for the VERY late reply! Honestly? I love her. My only nitpick is the part about her father being in the British Army. In the future of Star Trek, Earth is no longer at war with itself, humanity having left war behind them. It has been hundreds of years since WWIII and as far as I know, there weren’t any major wars since then. Earth is nearly a utopia, since humans learned to live in peace with each other. Maybe one of her ancestors fought in the old wars, instead of her father?

[tersyne]

hey babes

so i’m still catching up on everything and i’ve finally caught up on the 100 (after stopping around 3x08)

first of all i’d like to thank everyone in Camp Roan Lives for doing the lord’s work, second i would like to thank everyone aboard the USS Rolarke for doing the lord’s work, third I would like to point out (I’m guessing primarily to people not in those camps) that roan exists as more than a cheerleader for bellarke, fourth can someone please direct me to the source of the rumor that his actor was ““waiting on a script for s5″”

clarke is.... i mean that decision to steal the bunker... Yikes™ and also I feel like she’s kind of lost her silver tongue that she was known for. there were several points in the season where things could have gone a lot differently if the ark had a decent pr rep and she was kind of the closest thing near the beginning, but all the “I’m going to remain silent and gape when someone spills the beans on our most recent Dastardly Plot™” is absolutely ridiculous.

am a little disappointed the new ship was not aliens, but alas, it’s not that kind of sf show.

what else... also a little surprised actually that hallucination!becca wasn’t actually hallucination!alie trying to take over again via raven. it was alie’s code stuck in raven’s head; why wasn’t alie the one to manifest? but whatever. that arc’s done.

(unpopular opinion: i’m glad jasper is gone)

(unpopular opinion: also glad luna’s gone)

confused opinion: Why was it so necessary for ilian’s mom to take the chip to the point where alie actually made a net loss in that family’s numbers? it felt contrived in order to give ilian an anti-tech stance. i think my biggest problem with the character is that he felt shoehorned in to be a macguffin and then died.

finally, lmao @ the show doing a timeskip so the characters are closer to the actor’s actual ages

i’m probably going to watch s5 when it comes out because i’m still a little lowkey invested in this trash heap especially if the ice king comes back

[ragincagein4life]

USS Indianapolis

I haven’t posted a Ragin’ Cagein’ review in months; a grave offense on par with Nicy Poo’s hair (wig? spray paint?) in our next film: USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.  You probably haven’t heard of this movie because Cagey Kins churns out blockbusters (we’ll use that term very loosely) like he needs to pay back the IRS after bankruptcy…oh wait.  Before pressing play, I decided to do a little research on the old Goog to see what pops up.  It currently has 5.1/10 stars on IMDB, which is actually pretty good for our resident screamer.  But then I saw the review on Rotten Tomatoes…9%...me thinks we found a winner.  If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching this tasty treat, here is the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExSDMWJhm_Q

Before diving in (pun intended…too soon?) here’s a little background on the event this movie attempts to recreate on screen, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Her sinking led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. On 30 July 1945, after a high-speed trip to deliver parts for Little Boy, the first atomic bomb used in combat, to the United States air base at Tinian, the ship was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 while on her way to the Philippines, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remaining 900 faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning, and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 survived.

U.S.S Indianapolis

Needless to say, this was and still is an incredibly tragic moment in U.S. history that should be treated with respect.  So why was Nic Cage chosen to star in this film?  Great question.  And why I am choosing to review this movie in my snarky voice?  Because it’s my duty as an American! (No it’s not). 

I’ll be honest, I’m already pretty excited to watch this movie because it’s been several months since my last Cage experience and the opening credits is like a desert oasis when I saw this…

A FILM BY

MARIO VAN PEEBLES

Jesus take the wheel.  Or should I say helm?  Anyway, on with the show! 

“There will always be war until we kill our own species.”   

With writing like that, I’m shocked this wasn’t a shoe in for an Oscar Meyer hotdog.  Alas, the graphics are horrendous!  It looks like a computer game played on Windows 95.  Already this plot is tough to follow, one minute NC is writing a letter to his wife (I assume), the next we’re following two young seaman on their romantic interludes (unfortunately isn’t not with each other).  Then we switch to a Japanese submarine where of course all the lighting is red (EVIL!) and they’re sacrificing themselves when it doesn’t even seem necessary.  New characters are introduced in practically every scene with “subtle” foreshadowing about sharks, specifically, their rows of sharp teeth and that humans are at the bottom of the food chain when swimming in the ocean.  

Wait, is that Tom Sizemore?  He’s actually looking pretty good (thank you Dr. Drew and Celebrity Rehab) and I’m glad to see he’s still making war movies...even if they star a melted candle in a wig (seriously though, what is going on with Nic Cage’s face??  His complexion looks gray).  

One of the more flattering shots I could find.

And the glorious writing just keeps coming.  “This isn’t a minstrel show..this is the UNITED STATES NAVY.”  Another cutting line from a naval officer.  Seaman are notorious for dicking around at minstrel shows.

Quick side note. I Googled “minstrel shows” and this was the first image that came up:

Apparently this form of entertainment originated in the 19th century and was performed by white people in black face.  Later on, especially after the Civil War, these shows were performed by actual black people.  Did Steve Bannon write this movie?  Maybe NC Skat Cat’s gray bloat-face pays homage to the human trash pile who also served in the Navy:

Fun fact, you’ll find the picture on the left in the dictionary under “Melanoma” 

Well, the Japanese torpedoes finally hit and the U.S.S Indianapolis melts into lackadaisical chaos.  You might be thinking, “But Katie, doesn’t that phrase contradict itself?”  You are correct, however, the actors in this movie make it an art form on par with Method Acting.  It’s a delightful combination of screaming yet jogging, shrieking orders while lazily jumping off the ship.  Is it time for the sharks to arrive?  

Well, the ship is gone, the men are drifting in the water and I wish the sharks would hurry up so I don’t have to listen to this horrendous dialogue.  I’ll be honest, I was zoning out until random people were pulled under.  Oh, and Tom Sizemore’s character is begging for morphine...how appropriate.  The best part of the water scenes is NC rowing his raft with a comically small ore as seen at the beginning of this delightfully dubbed clip: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MoXLSU_s84 

This movie is abysmal.  Each scene lasts a couple of minutes that either depict ridiculous shark attack scenes or late night confessionals by the survivors about their love lives or the afterlife. 

“Do you think it’s luck who lives and who dies? “It was his time.”

Oh. Was it?

But in all seriousness, this event is considered the worst Naval disaster in our nation’s history where hundreds of men lost their lives in terrifying ways.  They were stranded for four days in shark infested waters while their distress calls went unanswered.  So, yeah...kind of a big deal and not surprisingly, this movie and the characters don’t do it justice...at all.   I think the most fitting line of movie was spoken one of the rescuing soldier:

“This is a class A clusterfuck.” 

Indeed.  I need a pallet cleanser (or an enema for my eyes).

So the men are rescued and there’s still about 30 minutes left in the movie and what comes next feels like it should be a different film altogether.  There’s a lot going on:

-One character, nicknamed ‘Bama’ (gross), marries his best friend’s pregnant girlfriend after he dies at sea.

-Some of the surviving soldiers get together to throw a party the night before the trial.  “What trial?” you might ask...

-Nic-y kins is on trial for not “zig zagging as an evasive maneuver” and “failing to abandon ship in a timely manner” (wait what?) aka you weren’t prepared for a possible attack by the Japanese and didn’t react appropriately.  Basically, the military fucked up big time and are trying to throw him under the bus.  As you can see, our military likes to repeat history.  

-OH SHIT!  During the trial the United States Military calls the Captain from the Japanese submarine that attacked the USS Indianapolis.  Slap in the face to Wig Master Cage.  But I think he lied on the stand to help Cage...blooming friendship on the horizon? 

-NOT GULTY...on one count but they found Cage guilty for not zig zagging.  What is going on in this movie.

-Okay I’ll admit, there’s a scene between NC and the Japanese Captain about forgiveness that I actually kind of liked.  

-I take that back because the movie ends with NC shooting himself in the head.  WHY?!

-The most powerful part of this movie is the ending credits.  Two veterans describe the experience of the shark attacks followed by actual footage of the rescue.  So basically the parts that Mario van Peebles had nothing to do with.  

I think it’s pretty clear how I feel about this movie.  Two hours of actors bumbling on screen, desperately trying to recreate and pay homage to a tragic moment and failing miserably.  I don’t recommend this movie to anyone, even if you’re under the influence of anything...weed, alcohol, paint thinner, etc.  That said, I give this movie 1/5 Ragin’ Cageins.

But not everyone feels the same way.  The following 9/10 star review is from scottwolf-26710 on IMBD:

I am wondering whether the people who posted bad reviews saw the same movie as I did, It was historically good , acting fair, story excellent CGI a little cheesy. But overall very entertaining. I studied this incident and knew an old sailor, who helped off load the bomb on Tinian. Maybe the movie didn't have enough sex and foul language for the people who gave it bad reviews.

You might be on to something old Scotty boy.  I would have enjoyed “U.S.S Indianapolis” so much more if there was a budding love story throughout.  Perhaps something like this:

After abandoning his ship, NC is brought to a raft by a shark who, unlike his brothers and sisters, doesn’t see humans as food.  Rather, he feels a strong connection towards them...maybe even love?  

NC is confused himself.  He should hate the sharks, after all, they’re killing his men!  But there’s something about that first shark, the one he believes saved him that night.  Or was it just a dream?  His mind tells him to remember his wife!  But his heart keeps remembering those beautiful, black shark eyes.  

Over the next four days, NC and the shark steal wanting glances and NC even hits the shark with his tiny ore to cover up his true feelings.  NC knows they can never be and the shark understands that if he truly loves this melting wax figure, he should let him go back to his wife.  

During one particularly lonely night, NC spots his savior in the water just below the raft.  The shark swims quietly to the surface- he knows he shouldn’t be here but the connection is too strong.  As the shark breaks the surface, NC simply says “It’s you.”  With that, the two begin a passionate affair lasting until daybreak.  

On the day of the rescue, the sea was extra salty with the lovers’ tears.  As NC sails away, he looks back one last time and says a silent goodbye to the creature who saved his life but stole his heart.  Just before the screen fades to black, he whispers, “In another life.” 

El Fin 

Potential movie poster?

With that dear readers, I end my review of this ghastly film.  Stay tuned for the next post and if you have any requests, please submit in the comments.

Peace, love and wigs xo 

[porgthespacepenguin]

“this is not going to go the way you think”

(this was initially a comment on @trashywestallen’s blog that has now evolved into a full, 6500 word crazy meta. send help)

Or, the Lorca/Burnham meta that just wouldn’t quit and that nobody asked for.

Warning: those are just my ramblings/wild theories based on too much watching of the show, too little sleep, and some literary/cinematographic analysis.

Expect spoilers up to episode 10.

A lot of people on the Star Trek subreddits have been complaining that some of the plot twists so far on DSC have been too obvious (specifically, the Voq/Ash theory and the mirror!Lorca theory). Setting aside the fact that most of the general audience (who do not spend as much time as we do analyzing every word and frame) probably did not see those twists coming, at all…

I have a nagging feeling that there is another plot twist that has been under our nose this whole time.

I think Lorca is mirror!Lorca and was involved (romantically) with mirror!Michael. There, I said it. Worse: it was serious (perhaps she was even his wife, though obviously it would have had to be a  secret).

Either mirror!Michael was helping him secretly against the Terran Empire and was in on the coup, or more tragically, she wasn’t and was actually sent to stop him. She died, or was presumed dead: but the show was careful to mention it wasn’t Lorca who “killed” her, it was one of his followers (seems like an odd distinction to make, no?).

That’s a pretty radical theory, I admit. But bear with me for a while, will you?

Episode 10: the turning point

Three major plot point stand out immediately:

”Amazing isn’t it? Different universe, and somehow the same people had a way to find each other. Strongest argument I’ve ever seen for the existence of destiny.”

Their whole conversation in Lorca’s ready room is fascinating, but I’ll focus on the most relevant parts.

First off, while “finding each other” can apply to multiple people, it’s usually used for two. Lorca is almost certainly talking about the two of them here, not the crew in general.

And then, that bombshell... “destiny”. Defined as, “the hidden power believed to control future events; fate.”

That’s a pretty strong word to use. Essentially, Lorca is suggesting that fate has brought the two of them together, in this universe… and maybe even in another (mirror) universe.

Ever logical, Michael immediately rejects the very idea.

“I’m not sure I believe in the existence of destiny.”

This sort of talk is way too much for Michael to handle right now. She was raised on Vulcan: logic informs her thinking. But what Lorca is trying to tell her has nothing to do with logic. She just doesn’t hear him at all.

The rest of their conversation continues in a similar vein:

“Part of you had to know that wasn’t the end of your story (...) You were destined for something more.”

“Destiny did not get me out of prison, Captain. You did that.”

Two ways of looking at the same thing: one poetic and even romantic; the other factual and rational.  And perhaps they are both right, from their perspective: after all, if Lorca really is mirror!Lorca, who has lost his own Michael, only to find her again in another universe… that would be pretty incredible.

As he often does, Lorca immediately deflects:

“Let’s agree to disagree. For now.”

That “For now” is also important. Is there something that could realistically change her mind in the future, that he knows about and we don’t? Only Lorca knows.

Visually the scene is also very telling. They start off separated by his desk (which Lorca uses to create a barrier between them in many scenes, notably their first meeting) but then at his invitation, they move to the window, where the camera frames them with alternating two-shots (used primarily to establish links between characters) and close-ups (to create intimacy and focus on emotional reactions). There are also a few shots of them from behind, with their reflections in the window as well.

Mirror? Reflection? Did you want fries with your symbolism? (Note that shots of Lorca looking out a window with his reflection appearing also happens at least in episode 3, when Michael and Lorca first meet, and episode 6, after the whole Katrina debacle. They’ve not been subtle with this use of imagery).

- Not a scene but more a general feeling throughout the episode. How many times have we seen Michael touch Lorca previously? I’ll help you: exactly once, and honestly it barely counts (at the end of episode 3, when Michael takes a fortune cookie from his hand). As for Lorca, he never touches her.

Yet in this episode? Michael is all over him, starting from that moment on the bridge where she lays a hand on the small of his back to interrupt him (before that whole Scottish accent thing). That has literally never happened before.

Don’t even get me started on the whole hair and neck stroking she has going on later. In fact, as soon as she steps into her Terran persona she becomes a lot more tactile – only with Lorca, mind.

Now, I don’t know whether this means Michael is attracted to him or not – at least not consciously! – and in fact this might not even be the point.

Rather, those touches serve to establish and anchor a sense of physicality between the two of them, for us the audience. Essentially telling our unconscious minds:

“Look, here are are two very attractive people (that leather jacket, oh my lord) that are touching each other. The line has been crossed. Make of that what you will.”

I predict we will see an influx of new people wondering about the Lorca/Michael dynamic after watching episode 10, wondering if there was indeed something there or if they are imagining things.

- The ending scene! Either this is a very clever juxtaposition, or some super strange editing. Since TPTB have been doing excellent work on filmography so far, I’m hoping it’s the former.

I’m talking about the “love” scene between Tyler and Michael (and I use parenthesis here not because I dislike Ash/Michael -- I don’t -- but because at this point neither he nor Michael know who he is, or what he is, and … he just killed Culber in cold blood so… yay romance?) followed immediately by Lorca in the agonizer booth, screaming in pain.

Now that’s an odd editing choice. Or is it?

Cinematically, a cut like that is a common technique: it’s called cross-cutting, and is often used to show than two actions are happening at the same time.

According to Wikipedia:

“This creates a sharp dichotomy between the two actions, and encourages the viewer to compare the two shots. Often, this contrast is used for strong emotional effect (...).”

If we go back to the theory that mirror!Lorca and mirror!Michael were together, as more than just reluctant allies, and that he has feelings for both versions of her (yes, prime!Michael too after learning to know her)…

Well, Michael and Tyler consummating their relationship brings utter and complete agony to Lorca.

This is all symbolic, of course, but re watching the scene with all this in mind… It’s chilling. Tyler above Michael, the scene telegraphing that they are about to have sex…

Cut to Lorca screaming in the agonizer booth.

At the very least, they are implying some fairly dark things about Michael/Tyler going forward, but I also think it’s significant that Lorca is the one shown in pain here.

An aside: Michael/Tyler, from Ash to ashes

Poor Michael. Poor Tyler. I’ve been sure of the whole “Ash is Voq” thing almost since his introduction (remember the eye wound Michael inflicts on Voq in episode 2? Now check Tyler’s same eye in episode 5. Go on. I’ll wait.) but I thought there might be hope for them somehow, despite the fact that both had killed each other’s mentors (eaten, actually, in Voq’s case…)

Until episode 10.

I won’t dwell too much on the fact that, out of all the possible scenarios for Ash/Voq, we ended up with the worst one for their future: Tyler is Voq, physically and mentally -- not the other way around. The Tyler personality is an overlay, and we don’t know yet how much of that personality is real. But regardless: the body belongs to Voq.

I would have had a lot more hope if Tyler had been physically Tyler, with Voq’s personality implanted somewhere inside. This duality could have allowed a positive resolution for the plot line (driving out Voq’s consciousness, for example) and therefore their relationship.

Moving on.

Tyler/Voq murders Culber in cold blood (or so it seems to the audience), then proceeds to break into Michael’s room (and yes, this is meant to feel slightly creepy, even out of character for Tyler, who has so far respected her boundaries) and seduces her.

Everything is consensual but feels a bit… off. And for good reason.

They are surrounded by enemies, Michael is emotionally shaken from having had to kill a familiar face/friend (and the ironic juxtaposition of their two kills, one a cold-blooded murder, the other an act of self-defense, is just heartbreaking), and Lorca is being horribly tortured a few decks below.

Yikes.

Sex, and death, and pain. Those are not good things to put together when hoping for a happy ending. Symbolically there is no going back from this, I don’t think.

If they had consummated their relationship previously, in a more positive setting, I could still see their romance perhaps going in a positive direction (at least this would have been a good sign, though Culber’s fate might have made that moot as well).

As things stand, it feels like watching the death warrant of their relationship being signed and… ouch.

Poor Michael. Talk about a devastating first love.

Did someone say first love?

Interestingly there is a common trope pair, “First Love” / “Second Love”, that is often combined with “Wrong Guy First”. From TVTropes:

“This is the plot that results when a Love Triangle is used to illustrate the Aesop "Be Careful Who You Give Your Heart To".

Our heroine is a young woman with two suitors. Suitor #1 (...) seems to be everything a young woman would want. But he's not. Suitor #2 appears to be flawed. (...) If he's handsome, he's not as handsome. He could be many years older than our heroine. He often has the kind of personality that makes him hard to get to know.”

There are many literary examples of this trope, from Jane Austen, Tolstoy, or Dickens, all the way to Harry Potter or even the Hunger Games.

But no, wait. That can’t be right. It’s not like there is someone else who has been watching over Michael from the side lines since the beginning.

Right?

Well...

“I did choose you” : Going back to the beginning

After having this “red alert something is happening here” moment while watching episode 10, I went back and re-watched most of Lorca and Michael’s earlier interactions with this theory in mind.

(As a general note, I think Lorca generally avoids lying outright and prefers a more… Obi-wan approach. “What I told you was true, from a certain point of view.”)

Episode 3: First meeting and new beginnings

Their first meeting is almost theatrical in its setting. Michael enters a darkened room, and Lorca has his back to her, facing the window (where, again, his reflection can be seen). He is clad (armored, really) in darkness and mystery.

Lorca initially sounds almost like he is flirting: 

“I like to think it makes me mysterious. No?” 

“Don’t be shy.”

When I watched the episode for the first time, I thought it might be part of his personality (like Kirk) but no. He does not do this with other people. Only Michael.

In fact, I now think he is deflecting. The whole situation is somehow painful or difficult for him, and he uses humor to hide it. Which of course falls utterly flat, because Michael does not really get humor (at least not at this point).

He keeps his back to her for a long time, and even takes a breath before turning around, as though he has to fortify himself before seeing her.

Now that doesn’t make a lot of sense at face value, if Lorca is just a captain and Michael just a mutineer.

But it is a lot more understandable if Lorca is mirror!Lorca and the last time he saw Michael was before she (well, her mirror counterpart) died.

Because of him.

Lorca then comes to stand behind his desk, in a move he will be shown to use often in the future. Make no mistake, this is a highly defensive maneuver.

They talk about Michael’s shuttle being diverted, and no surprise, Michael’s logic bluntly dispels Lorca’s attempts at plausible deniability. (Something, by the way, that happens many times in the series: she rarely lets him get away with misdirection. Though amusingly she has also, so far, never caught up with what he is actually trying to hide.)

To which Lorca says:

“Maybe the universe hates waste.”

Considering their discussion in episode 10, similarly in Lorca’s ready room, this line takes on a lot more meaning. He is referring to destiny here, although obliquely.

Visually, two things happen in succession: Lorca has a little half smile, and then tilts his head and holds her gaze for a long moment. Now what does body language have to say about that?

“In courtship, the head tilt shows a playful and engaged attitude. It shows interest but can also be a tease (especially when combined with a half smile and sideways glance).”

Lorca is definitely flirting with her this time. In fact, his next move supports this idea. He moves around the desk and comes to stand in front of her. He does not completely leave the security of the desk, mind, instead choosing to lean against it (a sign of insecurity) while his shoulders are set back in a classic power pose.

Michael is startled and takes a few steps back, swallowing. I don’t think she is scared of him, not on a conscious level. But on an unconscious level, we have a (presumably) virginal or inexperienced young woman suddenly approached by an older, attractive man who has been flirting with her (though I doubt she consciously noticed). She is shaken.

He either doesn’t notice, or (more likely) pretends not to notice and basically offers her a job. She refuses (not just the job, but the whole Call to Adventure -- more on that later).

He tells her she doesn’t have a choice.

This is a crucial moment. Lorca talks to her harshly, tells her there are no free rides on his ship (ironic, since he is the one that dragged her here!) and that she will be put to work. Almost at once, he moves back behind the safety of his desk, walls firmly back up. He will be the “bad guy” because she needs him to be, but he is not enjoying it.

Make no mistake, Michael needs it. At this point in her story, she has lost hope. She is a ghost of her former self. She was right about the Klingons, but with the guilt of Georgiou’s death, she had taken on the guilt for the whole war as well. She is depressed, withdrawn. She has given up.

What Lorca does is put her back on her feet. He gives her a job, a purpose (however temporary), and even a mystery to chew on (of course he knew she was going to try to break in, and he wanted her to -- that’s why he assigned her to Engineering).

He reminds her of who she was (“You were once a Starfleet officer.”).

Of course, at that moment, she doesn’t see his actions as a gift, but rather a burden, an obligation. If she had the energy for it, she would resent him.

It will take her three episodes to process and express her gratitude for the second chance he has given her (more on that later).

Lorca does all this obliquely, as he does many (most) things. In fact, I believe he does not want Michael to be grateful to him (perhaps out of guilt). Mind you, he is also testing her: Lorca is a pragmatist. And if he is mirror!Lorca, he doesn’t know this version of Michael yet, and what she is capable of.

When Michael leaves with Landry, there is another closeup on Lorca’s face, and he has this very odd expression. Like this has affected him, was hard on him, somehow.

This makes no sense at all if Lorca is prime!Lorca and is simply meeting a mutineer he wants to recruit. But even if our Lorca is indeed mirror!Lorca, why would meeting Michael’s prime counterpart affect him so? Unless there is more to it than meets the eye.

At the end of the episode, we go back to Lorca’s ready room, in a lovely symbolic mirroring/book-ending of their first meeting.

Lorca is looking every inch the Captain, standing firmly behind his desk, arms wide, shoulders straight. Again a classic power pose. He offers her a position aboard Discovery. She initially refuses him again but this time, she doesn’t back down.

I can’t emphasize how different Michael’s behavior is in both encounters.

When they first meet, she is defeated, submissive, withdrawn. When she refuses Lorca’s first offer, it is weakly, and he steamrolls her objections without difficulty. When he steps closer to her, she steps back. She looks down at the floor.

In this scene, however, Michael has regained her confidence. She looks Lorca straight in the eye when she refuses him, and he is on the defensive (or seems to be). She flings his question (“Why would you refuse?”) back at him (“Why do you want me to stay?”) and even stalks toward him.

Of course, Lorca being Lorca, Michael doesn’t quite get to keep the upper hand for too long. She gets derailed into a rant about Lorca developing and testing biological weapons, which then veers into a slightly pompous speech about being a Starfleet officer to the death.

Meanwhile, Lorca is smiling, a fond smile (that almost seems out of place considering he is supposed to have met her a couple of days before). This is what he has been planning all along. His experiment was successful.

His next sentence is very telling:

“I know exactly who you are, Michael Burnham. I know exactly who you are.”

Well, well.

Essentially, he is implying here that either he knows her because… he actually knows her (and that should not be possible); or he knows her because they are the same. They are kindred spirits.

Either way, it’s a fairly odd thing to say to someone you’ve known for a few days!

Still smiling fondly, he stops her from making more of a fool of herself and proceeds to dazzle her with his shiny new technology. He is really pulling all the stops here to impress her, even taking her on a virtual tour of the galaxy.

And then he outright admits it:

“I did choose you (…) but not for the reasons you think.”

This sentence works on so many levels, it’s pretty incredible. Note that she asked him why he wanted her to stay; and he answers that he chose her. Those are not even remotely comparable in terms of emotional involvement.

Then the camera switches to choker shots (tight close-up shots that cut off above the eyes and under the mouth/chin) which are traditionally used to create … romantic tension. Or at the very least emotional tension.

Lorca holds out his hand, with a fortune cookie in it (fortune cookie which she refused in their initial meeting, mirroring!).

(No time to discuss in too many details, but in fortune cookie, there is “fortune”... another reference to fate/destiny.)

She takes the fortune cookie from his hand. This time, she accepts his offer, and symbolically, the Call to Adventure.

An aside: Michael’s hero journey

I have mentioned the Call to Adventure a couple of times now, and I realize it might be helpful to take a brief detour into the Hero’s Journey before we continue.

The Hero’s Journey, or monomyth, is a template of narrative analysis that is widely used in storytelling. It is not absolute, or perfect (it has received its fair share of criticism) but so many stories follow these patterns that they have become embedded in our collective unconscious. As such, they can be helpful in understanding the symbolic underpinnings of a story.

The Hero’s Journey (according to Campbell, who first wrote about it in 1949) is broadly composed of 3 acts (Departure, Initiation, Return), further divided in 17 stages.

For the purpose of this meta (and considering DSC is only in its first season!), I will focus mostly on the first stage, Departure.

(Note that not all stages need to be used in a story, nor do they need to happen in a linear fashion. They may also happen multiple times, in multiple forms.)

The call to adventure

The refusal of the call

Supernatural aid/meeting the mentor

Crossing the first threshold

The belly of the whale

Acceptance of the call

When we meet Michael again in episode 3 (which narratively is the beginning of the story, with episodes 1 and 2 serving as a prologue), she is a broken woman. So heavily laden with guilt, in fact, that she has essentially given up and turned her back on everything she is and believes in.

When Lorca offers her a (temporary) job on Discovery, she turns him down. On paper, this looks like a textbook refusal of the call, and it is. But looking deeper, even before she comes aboard Discovery, Michael has already refused it, and in fact, has been refusing it for a while.

"Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or 'culture,' the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. [Her] flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and [her] life feels meaningless. (...) All [she] can do is (...) await the gradual approach of [her] disintegration." (Campbell)

From the moment Captain Georgiou dies, Michael shuts down. She refuses all attempts to move forward, essentially locking herself away and throwing away the key. She has given up on herself. This is Michael’s true refusal of the call.

“The mentor gives the hero the supplies, knowledge, and confidence required to overcome his or her fear and face the adventure.” (Christopher Vogler)

Lorca then plucks her from her prison, as if by magic, and sets her to work on his ship. This is the supernatural aid/meeting the mentor stage.

"With the personifications of [her] destiny to guide and aid [her], the hero goes forward in [her] adventure until [she] comes to the 'threshold guardian' at the entrance to the zone of magnified power.” (Campbell)

Lorca then sends Michael to the Glenn, along with Stamets, Tilly and Landry. This plot point represents both the Crossing of the First Threshold and the Belly of the Whale stages, combined.

At Lorca’s orders, and despite herself, Michael has to leave the safety of Discovery for the danger of the Glenn. This is her first mission since her mutiny, and since she turned down the call. She is forced to cross the threshold of the boundaries, the walls she has drawn around herself.

“It is a turning point in the Hero’s Journey where the hero is swallowed by a larger monster or representative of evil and comes out with a new sense of self. The hero is consumed but emerges alive. (...) and [comes] to terms with death.” (Gordon Napier)

“That is why the approaches and entrances to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions, devil-slayers with drawn swords, resentful dwarfs, winged bulls. The devotee at the moment of entry into a temple undergoes a metamorphosis.” (Campbell)

On the Glenn, everything is dark and scary. There are dead bodies, horribly disfigured. There is a monster roaming. Michael barely escapes with her life, after crawling through tunnels with the tardigrade in pursuit, before jumping into the shuttle at the last possible moment (quite heroically I might add). This stage is the metaphorical Belly of the Whale.

Incidentally, an important theme throughout the episode, and especially the tardigrade pursuit, is “Alice in Wonderland”: a vivid tale where physical metamorphosis, the search for identity and the hero’s journey all play a prominent role.

After Michael faces her trials successfully, she starts to remembers who she is: a Starfleet officer. She has begun to process her grief and can now start her hero’s journey anew (a journey of healing and growth).

Later, when Lorca offers her a permanent position on Discovery, Michael accepts both his second offer and the symbolic call to adventure (after a fair bit of convincing).

And she does it on her own terms, too: if Lorca had been working on a biological weapon, she would have refused him, but not for the same reasons she had turned him down initially. Not out of fear and self-doubt, but with a renewed respect for herself and her beliefs.

She has started to remember that she is a hero.

There are many other aspects of the Hero’s journey when it comes to Michael in Star Trek Discovery, but this goes beyond the scope of this already huge meta.

Episode 5: Keeping secrets

Episode 5 doesn’t technically have any direct interactions between Michael and Lorca. There is, however, a fairly significant scene between him and Katrina Cornwell, on the matter of our favorite mutineer.

Halfway through their fight, the admiral asks Lorca an enormously important question:

“(...) Why give everyone another reason to judge you?”

Of course, Lorca immediately deflects with another question of his own, putting Katrina on the defensive. And he never actually answers the question, which means that whatever it is, it’s important.

Episode 6: Shadows and mirrors

After Michael senses Sarek’s pain and collapses, Lorca is right there at her bedside when she awakens. Does he usually do this for his crew? Somehow I doubt it.

Then Michael asks him to mount a rescue for Sarek and… Lorca does it. No questions asked.

He defies a direct order from Starfleet, which later on brings down Cornwell’s inquisition on him (by the way, she’s a psychiatrist who thinks nothing of sleeping with someone she considers psychologically unstable? Hmm.). He ends up in real danger of losing his ship. All this because Michael said please.

Then there is of course the infamous conversation between Lorca and Tyler in the shuttle:

“Bring her back in one piece.”

“Not a scratch.”

“I’m talking about her. Or don’t come back at all.”

First off, wow. Lorca is definitely overreacting here. This is not normal Captain behavior. In fact, Tyler’s reaction (thinking Lorca meant the shuttle) is much more logical than what Lorca actually means (“Anything happens to Michael, you’re a dead man”).

Whether he means it 100% is up for debate, but the message is crystal clear: this is a threat.

Bring her back to me or else.

Note that at no point in this conversation does Lorca feel the need to refer to Michael by name, simply using “her” as though it was obvious who and what he means. And to him, it is. But to poor Tyler, or even to the audience, this serves to point out the stark disconnect between normal concern over a mission vs. abnormal worry over a particular individual.

Before leaving, Lorca claps Tyler on the arm and this feels like a dominant gesture, a way to establish a hierarchy that has nothing to do with Starfleet’s. Especially after their friendly chat/threat.

Upon first watching the episode, this scene seriously made me raise an eyebrow because he sounds way too protective/possessive for a captain just caring about a crew member (and not Tilly or Tyler, who are also going on the mission, remember?).

At the end of the episode, Michael thanks Lorca, pointing out that he didn’t have to save Sarek. Lorca answers, truthfully:

“I didn’t do for him.”

He then adds that he needs his team at peak form but those are just empty words. At no point in the series does he ever choose an individual crew member’s needs over the ship/the mission. In fact, being the pragmatist that he is, he does not hesitate to put them in danger if the mission requires it (see Stamets -- though I honestly don’t believe Lorca knew or could have foreseen what would happen to him when they made that last jump).

Except when it comes to Michael.

Finally, we are offered a  shining example of the rule of threes (commonly found in fairy tales, but not only). From TVTropes:

“The Rule of Three is a pattern used in stories and jokes, where part of the story is told three times, with minor variations. The first two instances build tension, and the third releases it by incorporating a twist.”

Lorca makes her a third and final job offer: a place not only on Discovery, but on the bridge, as science officer. By his side.

In a reversal of the previous offers, Michael accepts at once, without an ounce of hesitation. She does not need any convincing.

She also says something quite meaningful, in light of her initial reactions to his first two offers:

“I am grateful… to serve under a captain like you.”

Characteristically, Lorca seems to refuse her gratitude. He looks startled, says nothing, just offers a small smile then walks away.

At this point in their story, we don’t know if this is out of guilt (atonement), his personality or even a narrative continuation of the “Wrong Guy First” trope, where the sidelined suitor is still trying to ensure the heroine’s happiness. Perhaps a mix of all three.

Episode 9: On the bridge we fight

Pahvo is in danger. Discovery, by association, is in danger. The Federation is in even more danger than usual because of the Klingon’s stealth technology.

Lorca decides to send a team to place beacons on the Klingon ship. He picks Tyler, and Tyler picks Michael, as she is the most qualified for the job.

And Lorca just goes, “No way, Michael’s not going, it’s too dangerous”. Too dangerous for her, but not for the other crew members sent on the boarding party, mind you. Including Tyler who is standing right here.

As is quickly becoming her habit, Michael just insists and proceeds to bludgeon Lorca with her logic while the rest of the crew (and the audience) tries to understand what is going on.

Lorca looks supremely uncomfortable. His whole posture is one of avoidance. He sits down onto his chair and seems to just shrink on himself, turning away from Michael in clear dismissal. He avoids her gaze, snaps at her and even resorts to orders (something he hasn’t done since their first meeting).

“Sir, you offered me a place on this ship.”

“And now I’m ordering you to stay!”

Meanwhile, everyone else on the bridge is just watching them in disbelief, and with no small amount of discomfort. They do not understand what they are witnessing -- a battle of wills.

Until finally Michael, reaching the logical conclusion of Lorca’s odd behavior, stumbles onto the truth:

“There is no logic to your thinking. Unless this is about me.”

At that Lorca finally has to look at her, but he doesn’t say anything because there is nothing to say. She is right on both counts: he is not being logical at all, and this is about her.

Amusingly, Michael still manages to miss the point completely, misreading Lorca’s agitation and protectiveness by viewing herself as a resource (to be hoarded) rather than a person (to be protected).

I honestly felt bad for Lorca in this scene. If Michael were even a tiny better at understanding feelings, in herself or in others, she would probably realize that his behavior is not normal. But she is oblivious, for which Lorca is probably very thankful.

After that, well, she has basically put him on the spot, and in front of the whole bridge to boot. He glances at Saru, then back at Michael. He has lost and can only concede. He has no more arguments beyond, “I am afraid to lose you” and that is not something he can say.

(Mind you, if this scene had been between the two of them in private, without the whole bridge watching, he would never have allowed her to go. Logic be damned.)

So Lorca finally relents, but you can tell it’s against his will. Like pulling teeth.

He even orders her to come back safely (but not Tyler, who is also going on that super duper dangerous mission and is standing right here!) Then we have another shot of his face, looking pretty damn unhappy. Wretched, even.

Possessing the emotional intelligence of a brick (and I say that as someone who loves the character), Michael thanks him and looks satisfied. For her the matter is resolved.

She totally doesn’t realize that:

She, a convicted mutineer, has just pitted her will against her captain’s and won.

She should be in the brig or confined to quarters right now, not going on the mission.

Lorca only gave in because whatever secret he is trying to protect is more important to him than his pride.

One wonders what Saru and the bridge crew made of that little scene.

Lastly, note the contrast between their confrontation in this episode, and episode 6 where Michael risks her life to go save Sarek.  

Of course, going on a rescue mission inside a nebula is probably less dangerous than infiltrating the Klingon Ship of the Dead, but it still carries a vast amount of risk (as evidenced by Stamets’ flippant “Are you really that crazy?”).

If Lorca only saw Michael as a tool he cannot afford to lose, for whatever purpose, he would never have allowed her to risk her own life going after Sarek.

He even had a perfect excuse: Starfleet explicitly forbade it. There was no reason for him to take such a tactical risk (which nearly cost him the Discovery and later brought down the wrath of Starfleet over his head), unless he knew this was important to Michael. And therefore, important to him as well.

So. What is Lorca’s deal?

Only Lorca knows, really. But we can try to explain his behavior in three basic ways:

Our Lorca is prime!Lorca and just cares about Michael because he likes her. That option definitely doesn’t explain everything, and seems to be disproved by episodes 9/10 (he did override the ship to jump somewhere, and he definitely didn’t want Saru to look into the logs. Mirror!Lorca seems also conveniently absent from the MU).

At this point, it seems relatively safe to assume our Lorca is mirror!Lorca. Which leaves two options:

Lorca wants to use prime!Michael for something, perhaps related to overthrowing the Emperor. He sees her as a tool, perhaps a valuable crew member. Now that theory explains many things, but not all, especially how Lorca just seems to care so damn much (and in that scenario, allowing Michael to risk her life to save Sarek just makes no sense, as stated above).

We go back to our starting theory. Lorca cared about mirror!Michael, in whatever capacity. She died (because of him, even if indirectly) and he feels grief/remorse because of it. He might also have started to care for prime!Michael in her own right. And he doesn’t want to lose her again. He just can’t bear it.

(Note that in this last theory, Lorca might ALSO need Michael for something related to overthrowing the Emperor. Lorca is a pragmatist, and if they were both working together originally, he might be hoping she will help him again.)

What does this mean for the future?

Short answer: it’s too early to tell.

Long answer?

Right now, if I am right and there is something between Lorca and Michael, I am inclined to think it’s one-sided. She respects him and might be attracted to him, unconsciously, but her attention is on Tyler. Lorca is not even trying to position himself as a contender, either.

Unfortunately, Tyler/Michael is likely going to go down in flames, and it’s going to hurt. All aboard the pain train, direction tragedy.

Michael is going to regress emotionally for a while. Losing a first love is hard, losing it to betrayal is awful. She is going to have to grow as a person to get past this.

I think at some point in their stay in the MU, someone (an enemy perhaps) will reveal that mirror!Michael was Lorca’s wife, or at least someone important to him. And that bombshell is going to alter Michael’s perception of Lorca (honestly she would need a bomb dropped on her head for her to catch a hint at this point).

Michael is most definitely not going to know what to do with that information. Expect a heroic BSOD, followed by her trying to understand things logically (and Lorca is not gonna be down with that, at all).

Lorca will not take it well either. He is an intensely private man, and I don’t think he had ever intended to tell Michael anything. He is likely going to close himself off as well (Tyler’s betrayal probably won’t help).

I don’t think Lorca will die in S1. Narratively, he is one of main characters (with Michael and Voq), and incidentally a fan favourite. We’ve already lost Culber (hopefully temporarily), and Ash is likely going to turn back into Voq. Stamets is still out of commission. Frankly, if Lorca dies there are not that many characters left!

Not to mention that neither Saru nor Michael are anywhere near ready to be captain yet.

Whoever she is in the mirror universe, Admiral Cornwell is not a friend to Lorca (unlike in the prime universe where they were likely friends with benefits).

We will stay a few more episodes in the Mirror Universe, though probably not until the end of the season.