What Is Lorca Up To?

So maybe prime lorca did die with his crew. Mirror lorca assumes his identity on the run from the emperor who he is trying to usurp and is now getting back to perhaps complete that aim. Perhaps he is just as nasty as he seems he doesn't really care he just wants power.

Yeah. I have more questions now than I did when I posed the question ... but it's going to be great fun speculating. Kev, I'm interested in your take on this: if you had to pick "Lorca is up to good" or "Lorca is up to no good," which would you choose?

@Glenn, kudos to you for spotting Lorca's smirk btw. I didn't see it upon first viewing of "The Wolf Inside," but after you tipped us off, I rewatched the scene and totally saw his expression and appreciated how damned subtle it was. Loved it.

It is, as always with this show, difficult to decipher his objectives. I think the crux of the matter is why he is doing what he is doing.

1. Is his apparent conflict with the empire because he is against their xenophobic nature and he wishes to become emperor to change that for the better.

2. Is his apparent conflict with the empire because he wants to usurp the position of emperor and continue the same policies.

3. Was his apparent conflict with the empire a ruse supported by the emperor to travel to prime to find a cure for the problem that imperial Stamets has caused to the mycellium.

4. Was it an attempt to cure the problem with the mycellium but not supported by the emperor.

There are other more convoluted hypotheses rolling around in my brain as well.

Personally I have a feeling that Lorca will turn out to be good. I think he may be an Aragorn type character, as Frodo says "Well, if he was one of the enemy, he would look fairer and...well, feel fouler, if you see what I mean." but then again they may have flipped us to looks foul, is foul.

I do believe that he is the puppet master here, he has more information than anyone else and is manipulating everyone all the time but the strain of that and the close calls as the situation evolves will see him lose control. The question is who will he turn to and how much he will reveal.

Kev, these are the questions and hopes I also have. Your first option is what I'm rooting for, but that curb stomp at the end of "Vaulting Ambition" suggests we aren't going to get it.

I admit I'm pretty clueless about where they're going with Mirror-Lorca -- and I love that. But I am still thinking about what his possible futures on this series could be (presuming he survives the current arc). It's not like an outed Mirror-Lorca could be allowed to resume command of the Discovery once it gets back to the Prime Universe, or even be part of the crew, really; so if Mirror-Lorca does find his way back with the rest of our gang, I suppose it'd have to be with him being a renegade from Starfleet, a villain. Or maybe they'll find Prime-Lorca alive somewhere, and that's how Isaacs will keep his job on the show? I dunno. But the Disco writers have my trust, I'm sure whichever path they've chosen will be fun and satisfying.

Oh, here's some trivia they revealed on the AfterTrek for "Vaulting Ambition"...

- Turns out that triangular scar on Lorca's back is from an agonizer booth.

- Apparently there was a scene from a past episode in which we see Lorca in his ready room eating something prawn-like? Well, AfterTrek implied that (somehow) that was actually Kelpien!?

I mean, he's never been very nice to Saru.

At least he hasn't eaten him yet.

Haha, right. I'm not sure we really want to look too closely at his logs.

The show has spent a lot of time with how the mirror universe corrodes morality. What about in the opposite direction? Mirror Lorca has spent more time in the opposite universe than any character we have seen. Should this not have changed him?

That's a really great point, and I would like to believe that. DS9 ultimately went a different direction with the Mirror Universe, but I think that your comment is more in line with the moral of TOS's "Mirror, Mirror," in which contact with Federation values changes Mirror Spock.

It would be nice to think that he could be influenced in a positive way by his contact with the prime universe and more so his contact with burnham, I would have to believe that there would be some effect.

I imagine arriving in the prime universe and being given command of a starship with a first officer who he considers food might explain the less than cordial interactions between lorca and saru.

Haha, yes indeed. I've been really trying to put myself in Mirror Lorca's position and imagine what this crazy story is like from his perspective.

The final shot was of mirror universe lady who was security chief in first episodes, sorry forgotten her name, I am very interested in what she is going to do.

Yes, indeed! I think that Lorca running around the Charon is going to cause a lot of chaos that people will use to advance their own agendas. It's the Mirror Universe way.

Chaos creates opportunity and a great way to advance up the ladder is to be the only survivor. I think everyone is going to have their work cut out trying to survive the chaos Lorca is about to cause.

Haha, great Game of Thrones reference, Kev! Time for a Lorca/Little Finger team-up?

But, yeah, I think I'm going to be on the edge of my seat the next episode.

I think the last episode is going to look slow paced by comparison.

I’m so glad to see everyone enjoying the Lorca revelation! I, for one, *needed* them to do something to explain why he was such an untraditional (read: mean? corrupt?) captain.

@BionicDave: What’s fascinating here and what I think we’re leaving out of the discussion is that Burnham’s fate is tied to Lorca’s. Without him, she’d be working in a prison camp on a mining colony. Is she doomed to return to prison once Lorca is outed? Has she proven herself enough that Starfleet will reconsider? Will Lorca fall from Captain and join the cast as a member of the lower decks?

@Daniel Falch: This is a fascinating point. It could be a reason for keeping Mirror Lorca around in the prime universe, as a cadet. :)

If Burnham is instrumental in getting disco back to the prime with the cloak frequencies I think that would go a long way to redemption.