Review Text
Lower Decks opens its fifth and final season with a sci-fi concept that's a scaled-back cross between TNG's "Parallels" and Voyager's "Deadlock." The Cerritos is pulled through a spatial rift where they encounter a duplicate of their ship and an entire crew that exist in a parallel universe that's exactly like the Prime Universe (we'll call it the "Our POV Universe," since the characters in this other universe also think they are in the Prime Universe), except with a "0.327 percent variance." So it's mostly exactly the same, but with some slight differences. The differences provide some slight amusements: Boimler has a Riker beard. Rutherford ("Otherford") is even more cybernetic. T'Lyn's counterpart says "remarkable" instead of "fascinating." And so forth. (Our Boimler steals his counterpart's PADD, to learn why he has so much more confidence.)
The biggest difference is that in this universe, Mariner — known as "Becky Freeman" — is captain of the Cerritos, while her mother has been mysteriously banished to the dreaded Starbase 80. The character core is the juxtaposition between slacker Mariner, who spent years being demoted and wasting away her career, and Captain Becky Freeman, who is a hardass disciplinarian who declares, "No interpersonal conflict is allowed on my ship" (in a nod to the Roddenberry TNG days).
Meanwhile, in the B-plot, Tendi toils in the services of her sister, per the agreement made at the end of last season, in her reactivated career as an Orion marauder, which she clearly hates. She does her best to minimize the killing and violence on her watch, much to the chagrin of her team. When they encounter some rival Blue Orions (drawn, in a nice touch, in the TAS animation style), they open fire on sight and the action/chase sequences ensue, ultimately resulting in a war being declared by the Blueys on Tendi's house (for the dumbest of reasons). Tendi feels obligated to remain in the employ of her sister beyond this episode, even after completing a mission that D'Erika agreed would be her last. The A- and B-stories cut back and forth in a choppy way that feels like two stories constantly interrupting each other because of the compressed time frame.
Overall, this is a pretty middle-of-the-road, low-stakes LD affair. I somewhat enjoyed the Beckett/Becky character juxtaposition, to the degree that it's allowed to mean much of anything at all — which is to say, it doesn't go very far or do very much. Ultimately, Becky ties up Beckett in her ready room and announces her plan to switch places with her when the Cerritos returns to its own universe — because she wants to go back to being the carefree slacker Beckett has never outgrown. It's a plot turn that isn't allowed to go anywhere, because we get only a few minutes before it's quickly resolved. A more interesting version of this story might've been a multi-episode arc that followed both Mariners after this switch and watched how they responded to being in these new roles with no one the wiser.
At the very least, we finally get the official explanation for Mariner's last name and why it's different from her parents'. Mariner is her middle name and she goes by it to distance herself from her captain mother. It makes so much straightforward sense that it's really the only logical explanation we possibly could've been given.
Previous episode: Old Friends, New Planets
Next episode: Shades of Green
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11 comments on this post
Karl Zimmerman
A decent opener to the final season which doesn't particularly break any particularly new ground. Consider me slightly underwhelmed.
The A-plot here, focusing on Cerritos meeting its alternate TL crew, feels like a tired Trek trope, though thinking on it, we've never seen it done before - probably due to the historic production costs of compositing doubles of everyone. We've seen plenty of one-off doubles, like Tom Riker, Intendant Kira, etc. share the screen with their "normal" versions, but never this many at once. I like the touch that the universe is just a little bit off. The bit where Captain Beckett Freeman recognizes Mariner's story suggests the POD happened within the run of Lower Decks itself, as does Billups actually being a king here. Also liked the little touch that the episode made us think that Carol had died, only for us to find out at the last minute that she was just reassigned to a scut job at Starbase 80.
The emotional core of this episode though - seeing the toll that command had done on the "alternate" Beckett, who had become a tyrant - just didn't work for me. On an emotional level, it was understandable, but the alternate Starfleet gave every appearance of being pretty much identical, and a captain could not get away creating a ship of "mostly brigs" - let alone whipping her crew. While I know it wouldn't fall in with the MO of this show as a supposed comedy, the impact here would have been better if it was more understated. I'm also a bit frustrated because despite the attempt to tie it in with our Mariner's growing responsibility - that she'll learn to be easier on the new ensigns - we're told this, not shown it.
The B plot with Tendi was much better, I think. She gets less screen time, but there's a complete emotional arc. She starts the episode a capable pirate captain who is conflicted with her crew, since she doesn't want to kill. She and the crew resolve their differences, and she finds a way to use her Starfleet mentality to defeat the blue Orions. Way to go on the show's part having TAS-style Orions here, BTW. I also like that her actions actually had wider consequences - the episode didn't end tied up with a neat bow.
On the whole, this was fine. Lower Decks has never opened on a particularly strong episode. But I really was hoping for something a bit less rote with the A plot.
Chrome
Solid opening episode that had me cracking up a few times. The alternate universe concept was used cleverly to revel little details about each character and the choices they made that got them to where they are in season 5. Mariner (Beckie’s) arc was especially good, as we saw for a moment what a reformed Mariner might look like, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. That alternate Mariner wants to be a screw-up ensign again is somewhat telling. The resolution here informs us that there’s a certain freestyle, if you will, to Mariner that works and another (authoritarian) one that very much doesn’t work. The conclusion is that Mariner can still be a good commander, but only in her own style.
I loved how the Boimler in this universe was perfectly capable, which makes him a great role model for the real Boimler, who is tied up with his own anxieties. The action for Tendi seems to be gearing up for other arcs, but it was light and fun. The arc with Rutherford was cool in its own way too with a solid tip about how to handle losing a friend. T’Lyn also got some great material (new Vulcan catch phrase is, instead of fascinating, “Remarkable.”).
This is a solid ep. 4 stars.
Paul D.
They really like parallel universes on Lower Decks. This is still a bit of a spin off “Second Chances” from TNG where Riker got to see a version of himself with different options. Am I blind or was T’Ana missing from this episode? No alternate cat doctor?!
Oh also, does anyone know if Jammer is reviewing this?
Lawrence Bullock
Solid opening for season five, although a bit "by the numbers" for the alternate universe trope. Would have enjoyed a bit of a new idea or two, although I do realize that the basic premise of LD is homage to the entire ST universe. Still, entertaining and funny.
Latex Zebra
Nothing remarkable but a decent season opener that had some laughs and pushed Tendi's story further.
2.5 for me.
Karl Zimmerman
Traffic for the new season has been notably low (much like Prodigy Season 2), so I can see why Jammer's put it on the back burner.
I wonder if folks will return for the next season of SNW.
Chrome
"Traffic for the new season has been notably low"
We don't really have that data, do we? Perhaps you meant comment volume? Anyway, Lower Decks is always going to be this sort of side show compared to the live action treks. Discovery, Picard, SNW, (presumably Academy) are bigger enterprises and will more reliably drive user traffic. Just check the Nielsen ratings.
I do want to see Jammer review this just for completion's sake. I don't always agree with the scores, but it's fun to read his analysis anyway.
Kyle
@ Chrome and Karl Zimmerman
It's a shame traffic has been low so far for this season; both Nielsen and here on the forum, since in many ways LD is far superior to PIC and DISC and I'm sure it will be superior to Tilly's Academy.
Karl Zimmerman
@ Kyle,
If you look back at Season 4, there were thirteen comments on the season premier here within the first day. This season, two.
I'm not sure what caused the difference. Discussion is lower for the season everywhere, so I don't think the issue is with Jammer's site traffic. Maybe international access is more limited?
Trek fan
The first three episodes of LD’s final season leave us with the lasting impression of this series as an amiable time waster. I mostly enjoy the bemusing meta commentaries on Trek themes and the callbacks to past stories — I especially loved the TAS Orions (including their weird pronunciation of Orions that didn’t match TOS) showing up.
On the other hand, the occasional callbacks also remind me that TAS was on balance a better series — more serious, more thoughtful, and better for making kids think deeply than this show. While LD is mostly brain candy, I remember being captivated by TAS on 1990s public library videocassettes in grade school. It was just a more thoughtful show altogether, which makes it more Trekkian in my book. I still enjoy LD at times, but I have to admit that I zone out more often than not. Prodigy is the better animated series.
Dark Kirk
So grateful I made sure to watch the TAS blue-skinned "OR-ee-awn" episode before this green-skinned "Or-EYE-en" episode. I didn't know that was going to happen.
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