“Choose Your Pain” is great because that’s my new catch phrase when I ask my friends what kind of shots they wanna do. But as for the episode itself? There are also some key events.
Lorca is heading back to the Discovery after meeting with the admirals, when he runs into a Klingon ship. He gets tossed in the brig, where he meets a couple of fellas. One of those fellas is Ash Tyler, whose ship was disabled back in Battle at the Binary Stars. The other is Harcourt Fenton Mudd. And the person doing all the capturing? Turns out it’s L’Rell, Voq’s old flame from the Ship of the Dead.
Aboard the Discovery, Michael Burnham is determined to find a way to stop using Ripper as their means of travel. It’s because she’s a good person who recognizes that stabbing animals in the nipples isn’t a moral choice for fuel. Stamets might be able to help out with this.
Behind the Camera
“Choose Your Pain” was directed by my man Lee Rose. I call him my man to boost him up because I actually don’t know him. And that’s entirely my own fault because this fella has done a lot of directing. Half dozen episodes of Lincoln Heights, Related, Haven, The Fosters? The guy has a record. He’ll also come back for season two of Star Trek Discovery with “An Obol for Charon.”
Over on the writing side, we got Kemp Powers to thank for this outstanding teleplay. He is a staff writer, so he had his hand in developing The Vulcan Hello, Battle at the Binary Stars, Context is for Kings, and The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry. This is also his last writing credit on Star Trek Discovery, so we definitely thank him for his contributions.
The story for “Choose Your Pain” saw show runners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts joining in with Kemp Powers get it done.
In Front of the Camera
- We have Jayne Brooke returning as Admiral Cornwell, and I’m hoping we get to see her a heckuva lot more.
- Shazad Latif makes his debut here as Ash Tyler, and I’m liking the cut of this guy’s jib. He’s a good looking fella with a quiet, kind confidence.
- And of course, we finally get to meet Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd. I’m not really into Harry Mudd. I don’t know how much I’m into Rainn Wilson. But Rainn Wilson AS Harry Mudd is definitely a thing I’m into. I don’t know how frequently they can use this character and still have me enjoy him, but this episode makes me think the answer to that question is “a lot.”