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Star Trek Lower Decks (LOW) Season 5

Season 1Season 2Season 3Season 4Season 5

Dos CerritosShades of GreenThe Best Exotic Nanite HotelA Farewell to FarmsStarbase 80?!

 

Dos Cerritos

Synopsis

"Dos Cerritos"

D'Vana Tendi is on an undercover pirating mission on the ship of a Collector, tricks the man into exposing his hidden control center, takes down the defenses and reveals her true identity. But as her crew pillages the collection, she takes care no one gets killed by them. Meanwhile, the Cerritos investigates a quantum fissure of a kind that has been popping up repeatedly as of late. Suddenly the ship gets pulled into the anomaly. On the other side, the ship is hailed by a second Cerritos. Mariner's parallel universe version named Captain Becky Freeman is in command, and everyone except for Carol Freeman meets their counterpart likewise. The two crews devise a plan to open the rift again with the combined power of four nacelles. Boimler and Rutherford are both working with their parallel universe twins. The other Boimler is self-assured but also a bit arrogant, whereas the second Rutherford is heavily cybernetically enhanced and has erased his Tendi from his memory after she had left to become a full-time pirate. Mariner is increasingly alienated by the authoritarian command style of her counterpart, whereas Becky Freeman misses her time as a loose cannon. When the plan succeeds in the second attempt, the rift re-opens and our Cerritos is about to depart, she grasps the opportunity, stuns Beckett Mariner and switches places with her. Just as her ship is leaving the parallel universe, Mariner can free herself thanks to her voice authorization and notifies the crew of the parallel Cerritos that she is not their captain. Captain Freeman orders the two to beamed to their respective ships again. But she learns the shocking truth about her parallel self, who was transferred to Starbase 80. In the meantime, Tendi and her crew have salvaged an old Orion ship ship, which turns out to be a medical vessel. They successfully defend it against the "Blue Orions" by using laughing gas, rather than deadly violence. As Tendi is back on the homeworld, her sister D'Erika says she has paid back her debt and is free to leave for Starfleet. But then news arrives that the Blue Orions have declared war because of Tendi's "un-pirate-like conduct"...

Commentary

Season 4 ended with Tendi enlisting Orion help for her friends in Starfleet at the price of her having to be at her sister's service to repay her debt. She is a full-time pirate now, with all of its consequences, such as being expected to kill her enemies. We know Tendi would never let it come that, and I asked myself prior to the start of the season how this foreseeable dilemma would be dealt with. The first time in this episode she still gets away with the strange logic that if everyone could tell about the encounter with the pirates they could spread even more fear than if only one survived. It was obvious that this evasiveness could not be the final word on the topic, so it is satisfying that she gets busted after tending to the injured Blue Orion instead of killing him. The outcome is that everyone of her all-female crew is eager to follow in Tendi's footsteps as a successful bloodthirsty pirate to make their non-violent dreams come true. It is something I can't imagine in live-action Trek but that works well in this series.

We also learn in a deep cut that the Blue Orions from TAS: "The Pirates of Orion" are still (or again) supposed to exist, including their different pronunciation as "Or-ee-ons" and their superhero costumes. Other than that, the Orion sub-plot of "Dos Cerritos" is entertaining but not overly exciting though. It pays off in the cliffhanger and is about to become the main plot in the following episode "Shades of Green".

The encounter with the parallel-universe Cerritos begins with the surprise that Mariner (here known as "Becky Freeman") is the captain of that ship and has replaced her mother in the captain's chair. The implications of everyone meeting their counterpart don't seem to be significant at first. Well, "Otherford" is cybernetically enhanced and there is no second Carol Freeman. But other than that, the differences are subtle (oftentimes it's just the uniform color, which is consistently darker in the parallel universe), unlike it would be the case if this were the Mirror Universe or a timeline in which the Borg have assimilated everyone. I cherish the careful and almost subliminal development of the "what if" scenarios. Boimler admires the self-confidence of his bearded other self and at first doesn't mind being patronized by him. He then grows jealous, but I think he also recognizes that he doesn't really want to become a smug person himself. Our Rutherford drowns his sorrow about Tendi's departure in work. He then learns that his counterpart simply erased his memory of his friend, which strikes him as more obviously wrong than his own way of coping with it. And although or just because he accomplishes that "Otherford" becomes sociable again just by enabling his friendship matrix, his takeaway is that there is nothing like switching friendships on or off.

The conflict between Beckett Mariner and Becky Freeman starts off as subtle as well. They try to get along, they want give each other a chance, although they are different. We don't really understand why Becky (with a riding crop as the symbol of power) is so harsh, until it turns out it is a coping mechanism. In a way, she suppresses her lack of discipline by being merciless to her crew - and ultimately merciless to herself. We might say that underneath the callous surface, she wants to have fun and break the rules, that she is essentially still the same as our Mariner. However, our Mariner has has made peace with her demons by now and doesn't need to hide behind anything. The resolution of Becky switching places with her, rather than simply telling everyone that she's had enough, is another thing that wouldn't make sense in live-action but is in line with how things work on Lower Decks. And no, I'm not saying that the series is less realistic because of that; in some ways it even is more consequential or more honest when the story pushes the limits of what may happen, to make a valid point.

The only thing I don't like about the parallel universe encounter is that, with the notable exception of T'Lyn and the above three, everyone else seems to hate their counterpart and eventually many of them get into fights. I think this is uncalled-for. At least, it doesn't make sense to me that all those very different characters wouldn't get along just because of injured vanity or something.

The fifth and last season of Lower Decks starts off with an episode that has a bit of everything I love about the series. A revealing A-plot with a good deal of character development, an entertaining B-plot that unexpectedly becomes more important than it seemed, a decent number of canon references (not yet an overkill) and lots of well-timed jokes. Not quite one of the best episodes of the series, but a very good start.

Annotations

Rating: 7

 

Shades of Green

Synopsis

"Shades of Green"

Stardate 59376.9: The Cerritos is at Targalus IX, a planet recently accepted into the Federation. Boimler is in charge of the two ensigns Mackler and Gorm. Their task is to support the population in getting rid of their money and other treasures that they don't need any longer after the installation of replicators. When Mariner suggests they could have some fun because they are ahead of schedule, Boimler agrees and allows his team to take an hour off. Then, however, Mackler and Gorm are kidnapped by rich people who don't want to lose their wealth and power. Mariner and Boimler pursue them to their house. They find the two ensigns in the basement, and it appears they are dead. The kidnappers are terrified and run away. The ensigns, however, remembered one of Boimler's rules, a "Bointer". They investigated the flora and fauna of the planet, found a species called a coma beetle and used it to give the impression of being dead. On Orion, D'Vana Tendi is worried about the health of D'Erika. She secretly reads her sister's logs and finds out she is pregnant. The Pirate Queen summons the House of Tendi and the rivaling Blue Orions, the House of Azure. She demands them to resolve their conflict in a sailing ship race through the Excellon Nebula. The team to find the hidden treasure and cross the finish line first will win, the losers will be removed from the Syndicate and their wealth given to the winner. During the race, D'Vana is concerned her pregnant sister may take too many risks. She incites a mutiny. But D'Erika was actually protecting D'Vana because her girl would inherit the title of the Mistress of the Winter Constellations, and tradition would require her to be taught by her aunt. The Blue Orions use unfair tactics and make the Tendis' sailing ship crash on an asteroid, with no way to launch it again. As a comet passes by, D'Vana shoots a grapple hook into the comet to pull the ship back into space again. They catch up with the Blue Orions and get hold of the booty. But instead of taking it for her team, D'Vana destroys it, assuming it will be regarded as a tie. The Queen, however, decides that both teams lose. D'Vana returns to Starfleet to Rutherford's delight. And she persuades Captain Freeman to hand over the collected treasures from Targalus IX to her sister, to "improve diplomatic relations".

Commentary

Just as foreshadowed at the end of "Dos Cerritos", the focus shifts to Orion in "Shades of Green". There is a war between the Blue Orions and the House of Tendi. But we never see anything of it except for a simulated sequence, which isn't a bad idea in hindsight. Instead, the Queen of the Syndicate wants the two houses to resolve their conflict in a peaceful (and more profitable) way. The sailing ship race that is to decide about the fate of the houses is a lot of fun.

It makes sense for D'Vana Tendi to be protective of her pregnant sister and it is in character how far she goes, considering how frantically she acted in "Strange Energies" and on a few other occasions. I like the twist that actually D'Erika was worried about her vice versa (without showing it so openly). Still, the rationale that Aunt D'Vana would have to oversee the education of the new Mistress of the Winter Constellations for fourteen years doesn't work as well in the end as it could. D'Vana leaves for Starfleet regardless. So tradition is everything until it is not. Likewise, the importance of wealth and power for the Tendi family changes like every few minutes in this episode. I think it is a tad too fabricated how D'Vana Tendi and her family part on good terms and with a good conscience.

The B-plot is about a planet that gets rid of its money-based economy and enters the post-scarcity age, thanks to replicators provided by the Federation. It is a first time in Star Trek that this transition, as it has been referred to quite a few times, is a part of a story. Although it is exaggerated that the Targalans abolish money in a happy revolution and simply give all of their treasures away, I like how the story shows the implications. Everyone is delighted to be able to get anything the replicator can produce. But those who are wealthy, even if they are not expropriated, lose their status and their political power.

The aspect of Boimler trying to guide his ensigns with "Bointers" doesn't work so well. It is not the first time he is on something like a self-discovery trip and tries out new ways, thinking of his previous phase of "Bold Boimler", for instance. So this time it is the "biography" of a successful leader of away teams, who I think may have purple hair and a beard. Perhaps the "Bointers" will have further significance in the season. In "Shades of Green", it all boils down to the away team tricking their captors into thinking they are dead, all thanks to Bointer #16, which is to examine the flora or fauna for dangerous species and which led them to the discovery of the coma beetle. This is a far-fetched and unsatisfactory reward for the kidnapping story. But at least the armed household robots are funny!

The side plot about Rutherford and T'Lyn is not convincing either. Even though T'Lyn, as a Vulcan, does not socialize the way Tendi would and could never replace her, it would have been nice if the two had established at least a little connection. But Rutherford ignores her most of the time. And T'Lyn makes essentially the same mistake as Data in "Data's Day" when she thinks if something (repairing the shuttle) doesn't make him happy, then the opposite (destroying it) will.

The most important outcome of "Shades of Green" is that Tendi happily returns to her friends, even though the circumstances are a bit awkward. The stories about the Orion sailing ship race and the abolition of capitalism on Targalus IX work just fine. But the motivations and developments of the characters are not as well-conceived as usual.

Annotations

Rating: 5

 

The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel

Synopsis

"The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel"

The mission of the Cerritos is to deal with a nanite infestation on the moon-sized cruise ship Cosmic Duchess. As the five lieutenant JGs prepare to beam down, Commander Ransom requires Boimler for a special mission to find Admiral Milius, who has gone AWOL on the cruise ship. Boimler suspects he was chosen because Ransom deems him expendable. As he, Ransom and Billups follow the leads on the Cosmic Duchess, it seems like his superiors needlessly put him in danger. When the team arrives at the admiral's compound, they are captured by other passengers that apparently work for the admiral. Milius himself tells Boimler that he defected because Starfleet gave him boring missions such as milking space whales, and he thinks that Boimler feels the same. Boimler plays along but then frees his fellow officers. Ransom tells him he was actually chosen for the mission because he is so wiry, ideal to crawl through ducts. In the meantime, Jennifer has taken Boimler's place in the away team. To Mariner's chagrin, the Andorian pretends they are still in a relationship. But Mariner decides to play along after learning that it is Jennifer's last day on the ship anyway before leaving for the USS Manitoba. The team finds the cluster of nanites and manages to confine it, but it grows and breaks free again. They lure the nanites into a theater and unwittingly feed it with lots of energy, upon which they grow to an icosahedron that consumes everything in its way. It turns out Jennifer just wanted to come clean with Mariner, after Mariner has been avoiding her for a year. The two officially break up and devise a plan to stop the huge icosahedron. They get the vibe tubes of Krog, T'Lyn's favorite musician, and let her play the instrument to disrupt the signal that controls the nanites. After the structure has broken down, Rutherford discovers that the signal comes from a miniature Federation vessel from another dimension that was trying to build an interdimensional portal. Admiral Milius returns to duty and agrees to help the tiny ship find a way home.

Commentary

Both plot threads of "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel" are driven by issues, which I assumed had already been resolved in previous seasons and which I think had better not been revived so late in the series. Boimler's fear of being deemed expendable and misused as a redshirt and his awkwardness on the mission is like a throwback to the first season. It sort of annihilates the character development he has received. It may have been supposed to give the story more of a "Lower Decks" vibe that the young officer is not sure about Commander Ransom's true intentions, but this simply comes across as anachronistic. Jet Manhaver's horrible accident after going on a mission with Ransom is supposed to corroborate the apprehensions but doesn't really help to get across Boimler's alleged trouble. It essentially just gets played for laughs and is the kind of sick humor I don't want to see in the series. Fortunately this remains the only gross joke and the episode doesn't become a second "Mugato, Gumato".

Mariner and Jennifer's silent break-up at the end of season 3 may have called for a resolution of some sorts. I can understand Jennifer, who got ghosted. But it is contrived that she would wait one year and then fabricate an awkward situation, only to make Mariner talk to her. Overall, both character stories feel out of place or time. Both Boimler and Mariner are eventually given half-way satisfactory explanations for their misfortunes, but I was watching much of the episode with a certain discomfort. At least, there is some sort of a moral lesson for Mariner in the end, whereas Boimler learns nothing about his superiors or about himself that he shouldn't already know well.

The story about the admiral who goes AWOL, purportedly because his life in Starfleet was boring, and who then hides in a jungle resort where nothing ever happens is not exactly convincing either. Sorry, I don't buy into it. Aside from Admiral Milius apparently being a homage to Colonel Kurtz of "Apocalypse Now", there is nothing rewarding about it. And the conclusion doesn't make sense either. Milius left because he was ordered to milk space whales, and now that he has returned he can suddenly do what he wants, instead of a court martial?

On the bright side, the episode has some nice action sequences. I like the idea of a huge space resort with all kinds of attractions that don't make sense to be constructed in space and that remind me of totally oversized cruise ships of our time or of boastful places like Dubai. I love that T'Lyn is a fan of music and can put it to use when she plays the vibe tubes to disrupt the signal. But the absolute highlight for me is the first appearance of the Gallamites ("I don't know what Jadzia ever saw in that man." - "Well, his brains.")!

Aside from these tidbits, "The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel" is a Lower Decks episode of the "nothing special" category that I have seen done better a dozen times before. It isn't a bad episode, but it feels so unmotivated.

Annotations

Rating: 4

 

A Farewell to Farms

Synopsis

"A Farewell to Farms"

Ma'ah has been stripped of his command because his crew mutinied - and because he killed Dorg, the brother of Bargh, the chairman of the Klingon Oversight Council. Now the former warrior works on his family's farm and produces bloodwine together with his brother Malor. Mariner and Boimler travel to Qo'noS and offer Ma'ah their help to regain his command. He is skeptical, but Boimler cites the Ritual of Je'thurgh that may be invoked. Ma'ah grudgingly agrees. The four companions are to endure painstiks up to the highest level, which they survive thanks to Boimler's idea to stay in physical contact. The second test is to catch a giant targ, which succeeds as they grab the best by its legs. The third trial, however, would be to sacrifice a member of their team. Ma'ah volunteers. He has been unenthusiastic because he doesn't want to serve in Bargh's fleet. But Mariner's pal K'orin and Enaj, the other two members of the Oversight Council, approach him, grant him the right to change to another fleet and to make use of Forced Conscription. Ma'ah selects Bargh as a member of his crew, and decides that he should die. Bargh has no choice but to grant Ma'ah a captaincy, only to stab him in the back the next moment. Ma'ah survives and kills the honorless Bargh. However, he doesn't accept a captain's position and chooses to "command" the family's farm truck instead. Mariner's actual mission was to scan a dimensional hole in the Klingon system, which turns out to be artificial. In the meantime on the Cerritos, Gabers Migleemo is excited that the ship is to ferry two of his people's most renowned food critics to their homeworld Klowahka. However, the two other Klowahkans, Gonald and Legnog, blast the meals they are being served aboard, even as members of the Cerritos crew help Migleemo prepare something truly delicious. The food critics decide to have Migleemo arrested for his bad cooking. But Tendi finds out they actually criticized every single meal that they reviewed lately as "bland". Upon arrival on their homeworld, Tendi, Rutherford and Freeman secretly swap the customary amuse-bouche with something unpalatable, which Gonald and Legnog praise. The two have to admit that they lost their sense of taste and just pretend to still do their job, which Dr. Migleemo calls a conversion disorder and for whose cure he offers his help.

Commentary

This week's two plot threads have a lot in common, as members of alien species are struggling to restore their reputation with the help of resourceful Starfleet officers. In both cases our Starfleet crew clashes with a culture that has firm moral concepts but whose proponents have to acknowledge that it is sometimes necessary to think out of the box. Both Ma'ah and Migleemo are unjustly being debased, by other members of their respective species who act against their own ethos and whose hypocrisy is exposed in the end. Although the Klingon part sounds like the much more serious one when just reading the synopsis, it is just as full of jokes and idiosyncrasies as the inherently goofy story about the Klowahkans, who honor food above all and talk about it all the time. Vice versa, being banished from the "Great Seating Chart" seems like the exact Klowahkan equivalent to being dishonored.

Like few other Lower Decks episodes, "A Farewell to Farms" draws more on its guest characters than on Rutherford, Tendi, Boimler and Mariner. This works a bit better than in "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption" but not as wonderfully as in the perhaps unsurpassable "wej Duj". Having to take a back seat is a pity for Boimler, who is still trying to literally grow a beard but becomes a punching ball for the Klingons and enjoys it for reasons that he doesn't state and that I am afraid will remain unexplained. A bit like already last week, he is out of character as if he were on drugs. Anyway, especially Ma'ah is hilarious as always. The way he internalizes Klingon culture while maintaining a universal sense of justice reminds me of Worf. I also like Malor, who is so un-Klingon by traditional standards and who stands with his brother nonetheless (even though or just because he needs a push in this direction). The two Klowahkan food critics Gonald and Legnog are the perhaps most arrogant guest characters of the whole series, for which there is a sad reason. I just love the irony that Migleemo, the psychologist, is the one who can help them overcome their conversion disorder after previously having been humiliated by them.

Summarizing, "A Farewell to Farms" consists of two fine stories. But it is another disservice to Boimler. It is very funny. I paused repeatedly because I had to laugh hard (such as in the scene in the Warrior Pit when Mariner dropped in). Besides that there are many plays on words that simply fall flat, even as I view it a second time. On the other hand, after watching it again I appreciate the jokes that work even more.

Annotations

Rating: 6

 

Starbase 80?!

Synopsis

"Starbase 80?!"

The navigation processor of the Cerritos malfunctions and causes the ship to drop out of warp. The only Starfleat facility within impulse range is the notoriously bad Starbase 80. Mariner is horrified about going back there but Captain Freeman wants her in the team to board the station with her. Starbase 80 uses technology from the 2260's that urgently needs maintenance. As Freeman and Ransom are looking for the chief engineer to obtain a navigation processor, Mariner and her team join station commander Kassia Nox to perform repairs. Soon members of the Cerritos crew begin to act strangely. They become unresponsive, they growl and lick walls. Mariner is afraid the station may be cursed. But the local population remains unaffected. It turns out that usage of their commbadges triggers the effect. Mariner, Kassia and two more of the Starbase 80 crew return to the Cerritos that is swarming with insane crew members by now. They trace the harmful signal to cetacean ops and find that an anaphasic lifeform inhabits one of the dolphins. After everything else has failed, Dr. Horseberry from Starbase 80 knocks out the dolphin, and thereby the parasite, with a dip net. All crew members return to normal. As Freeman and Ransom finally find the chief engineer, who complains about having been abandoned by Starfleet, they make a deal with him to repair the station (and get rid of the bat infestation) in exchange for the navigation processor. The anaphasic lifeform that calls itself Clem remains on Starbase 80 and promises not to harm anyone again.

Commentary

It was a no-brainer for Lower Decks to visit the notorious Starbase 80, which was repeatedly stated to be the worst of Starfleet and to where Mariner was temporarily exiled in LOW: "Trusted Sources". It still gives her nightmares. But what the story makes of this priceless opportunity is underwhelming, to put it mildly.

We only got a glimpse of Starbase 80 in "Trusted Sources". There were the two scruffy pilots with their rusty Type-15 shuttle and the Rolodex guy who was struck by a bat. Everything else was still left to our imagination. Even though there is no reason why those very same people should play a role again on the huge starbase, that would have been a nice touch, for the sake of continuity. Only the bats reappear (well, and we can briefly see one of the shuttle guys); everything and everyone else was extrapolated in an incoherent way, in a way to be just weird without a common theme. While I dig the TOS-era interiors and technology, the still 100 years older Enterprise-era uniforms and the Acamarians, for instance, somehow feel out of place.

But I think what bothers me most in terms of lacking consistency is that it doesn't feel like Mariner has really been to Starbase 80 before and is really afraid of it. She doesn't seem to know anyone of the crew. Instead of providing valuable insight, she only mentions problems of the station that are obvious anyway. Aside from that, Mariner has nothing but a vague fear of the starbase being "cursed", which she repeats like 20 times. This is boring and significantly lessens the impact of her apprehension in the story. Compare that to how skillfully her paranoid journey was fleshed out in "Cupid's Errant Arrow"!

Starbase 80 was created with loving attention to detail on the visual side. But the unspecifically cursed place that Mariner is talking of all the time could have been any other station with any other crew. Well, we might see Starbase 80 as a mere backdrop for a more interesting story - if there were one. But I neither care for crew members that mutate to zombies nor for the lame explanation that a neural parasite is responsible for it. There is absolute zero originality in it.

There are a few hilarious jokes, like the reversed gravity plating in the TOS-style engineering, Tendi trying out the whistle of the wall communicator with a big grin of pleasure or the turbolift that misunderstands Freeman's voice commands. The idea that there are no replicators but food vendors on the station is sweet.

I also like the arcade games, although they have no purpose in the story. But overall, the episode is full of references that are more than Easter eggs but that fill in for, well, something that should have had more significance. Dr. Horseberry's being partially Tarchannen has very little impact (it merely serves to set up the running joke of him scanning everyone for Tarchannen DNA). Kassia's being El-Aurian has none at all (except if we choose to count the extra gratuitous mention of Guinan) and is anticlimactic to the extreme. And as already mentioned, there is no good rationale for the Acamarians on the station (because it has no consequences) or for some of the personnel wearing ancient Earth Starfleet uniforms.

Finally, there is no reason why modern equipment would be required to repair old technology and much less why Freeman and Ransom would have to catch the bats, rather than any of the countless lazy crew members of the starbase. The bat hunt was just included for the sake of being weird and doesn't work for me. Freeman's odd rationale that she does it because her alternate universe self failed the task (which she can't know of) doesn't exactly help me understand it.

Annotations

Rating: 2

 


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