How would anyone know if was being used?

This is a different kind of time loop, however, because Stamets was learning something new every time to build his endgame. If you had known what Stamets knew, then there would be no suspense. He probably found out Stella and her dad were near by in a prior loop. And they were probably nearby because the Klingons…

Stamets was working on his end game. He’d finally reached it with Tyler being killed, and then Burnham sacrificing himself. That mad Mudd feel just safe enough to think he’d won and make himself vulnerable.

What makes you think they know Mudd has the intelligence. Only Stamets knows what Mudd knows. And Lorca and Burnham only know what Stamets tells them.

He asked to be provided proof that the Tardigrade was suffering. Neither Burnham nor the doctor could provide it. Remember?

You’re assuming that Stamets didn’t offer a compelling argument to let Mudd go, because he clearly must have.

That’s not Stamets goal. Pay attention.

This is clearly what Stamets wanted, so its most likely its how he couched the situation to the crew in order to get Mudd back with Stella, regardless of the consequences (Stamets has shown that love is pretty important to him, and look at the damn title of the episode.

But you still have to prove it, and it seems that the only witness isn’t talking.

But the only person who knows is Stamets. And his ideal resolution was that Harry wasn’t punished per se, but allowed the love that Harry was running from to finally catch up to him.

They’re probably called Baroque and Roll by that point.

Maybe they’ll get Reverend Al to show up personally. He is still alive right now (not sure if he still is in the 23rd Century though).

That’s because Stamet’s ultimately takes charge, and his main interest is to serve the concept of love over everything else going on.

At least until Stamets gets a step ahead of him, and even then all Stamets sees at that point is that Harry is someone who is running from love, so he sees it his job to make sure his love catches up to him.

Only Stamets knows what Harry did, and he has his own agenda which is more important to him. Remember the title of the episode, The Magic That Drives The Most Sane Man Mad? And what is that? LOVE. Stamets is more interested in sharing the love he feels than in punishing Mudd. That is why he aids Michael, who has…

Also, Lorca has shown no sign of having a vendetta against the Klingons. He merely wants to win the war. And has shown no interest in torturing anyone. You also forgot that they sent Mudd off *without* his technology, so they still actually have it and can use it in the future if they need to. And they’ve ensured…

Ironically, this episode does follow continuity, if you believe what Harry told Norman about his marraige to Stella in ‘I, Mudd’.

Well, Mudd did claim in I Mudd, it was a Starfleet Captain who forced him to marry Stella.

You mean like Beethoven’s 5th being a massive party tune 200 years after it was written, say in the 1970s during the height of Disco. That would be totally unbelievable, right. Never happen;-)

Its amazing you can’t tell the difference between the way the music was used in this episode and how pop-cultural references are used in the Orville. Then again, sounds like you don’t watch the show and just signed in to show you hate it.