Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery: Stammets isn't so bad, he can be a fungi

We learn more about the instantaneous travel Discovery and Glenn were working on in the next episode, "The Butcher's knife cares not for the lamb's cry." Paul Stamets, chief engineer, is trying to make use of the mycelial network, some form of space fungi that exists in both normal space and subspace, to create a new form of space travel. Hence, why I call this the "flying using fungi" story arc.

Related: Thoughts on Star Trek: Discovery: activate the mushroom machine

Stamets is probably going to become one of my favourite characters, simply because he barely gives a damn about what other people think. When Michael first enters Engineering, he's more concerned with her intruding on his workspace. Her being a convict barely registers. Stamets is the kind of abrasive know-it-all work colleague you'd hate in real life, but somehow he's strangely endearing.

In a bit of understated humour, he gets his face slammed into a console when the ship lurches forward unexpectedly and breaks his nose. Fortunately, this is the 23rd century so this is like having the common cold.

  

It seems they're missing something, despite the data they collected in the previous episode. In the meantime, Landry wants Michael in the Captain's house of horrors. Yeah, Lorca has a room full of dangerous alien weapons and bits from some of the most dangerous aliens known to man (including what might be a Gorn skeleton). He has the monster from the Glenn kept behind a forcefield. This does not sound like a good idea.

What's an even worse idea is Landry lowering the forcefield so she can extract some of those super deadly claws from the monster. This ends in predictable fashion, with her being mauled to death by those same claws. Not only is it shocking that she did something this stupid, we also didn't expect Landry to die so soon as she she seemed touted to be an ongoing support.

Michael surmises the monster is actually sentient and only acting aggressively in self defence. She also manages to figure out why it was on board the Glenn in the first place. The creature, labelled the tardigrade, can instinctively latch onto the mycelial network and travel through it and the crew of the Glenn were experimenting with it as an organic component in the spore drive.

Thanks to Michael's deduction, Discovery appears instantaneously over Corvan 2- a vital mining colony - and obliterates a bunch of attacking Klingon ships. We end with Michael receiving a holographic message from the deceased Captain Georgiou. Words of wisdom and encouragement from her mentor meant to be received when she acquired her own command, now  a somber reminder of her regrets and fateful choices.

Also with the message is Georgiou's old telescope, a reminder to her pupil to seek out the unknown.

Meanwhile, the Klingons are starving
The Klingon side story is the least compelling thing about Discovery at the moment. The crew of T'Kuvma's ship (who is now dead) are struggling. His protege, Voq, is now in command. Six months on and they haven't been able to repair the damage to their ship, and supplies are running low.

Kol, the nasty Klingon who derided T'Kuvma in the pilot, shows up to seek forgiveness for his lack of faith. Except he then wins over the crew and steals the ship from Voq, something we could see coming from a mile away. Rather under handed for a Klingon. We end with Voq being marooned on Michael's old ship, the Shenzou. Klingons understand irony, they're good that way.

Continued...

Other little things
Michael's quarters has a machine that synthesises uniforms. Does anyone wash uniforms or do they just make a new one every day?