Review Text
I'm beginning to suspect that Lower Decks might be about over for me. This series has had its moments over the past several seasons, but there's just nothing left that's of much interest, and this season so far has failed to capture my ability to care.
"A Farewell to Farms" returns a recurring character into the show's orbit: exiled Klingon former-lower-decker-turned-captain Ma'ah, who toils on his family farm after having had his command stripped for the mutiny that happened on his watch during last season's Nick Locarno arc. This manages to be a tolerable catch-up with a recurring player, but nothing that really transcends the meh of it all.
And again, the comedy aspect just isn't much of a factor. This is an episode so awash in Klingon-language insults that the self-parody of the self-importance is the very point — but it's not like that's a hilarious insight on a series that has trafficked in self-references from the beginning. It's your typical Klingon hijinks outing played about how you'd expect. That being said, there's something mildly endearing about Brave Boimler's exuberance in embracing all things Klingon; he gamely throws himself into all manners of mayhem (and bodily harm) in the interests of his newfound journey of courageous self-development. And the Bad Boimler Beard (BBB) continues its progression.
The plot is that Mariner intends to help Ma'ah regain his status as a captain by appealing to the Klingon Oversight Council, upon which is seated one of her old pals, General K'Orin. By undergoing an obscure ritual, Ma'ah can be reinstated. The head of the council, however, is Bargh, who happens to be the brother of the man Ma'ah killed to become captain. Bargh has every intention of crushing Ma'ah and his partners in ritualistic tribulation (which, naturally, are Mariner, Boimler, and Ma'ah's brother Malor). First challenge: the escalation of pain-stick voltage. Second challenge: taming a massive targ. Third challenge: selecting a member of the team to die as a sacrifice. (Ma'ah does the honorable thing and selects himself, before Boimler identifies a loophole to turn the tables against Bargh.) This plays as the cartoon version of Klingon 101, right down to the fight to the death that ultimately ensues between the honorable Ma'ah and the treacherous Bargh. This is ... what's the word? Fine. It's fine.
In the B-plot, the Cerritos takes on two Klowahkan passengers, from the world of Dr. Migleemo's bird people. The Klowahkans are apparently a species of culinary connoisseurs, and these two passengers are galaxy-renowned food critics who prove here to be insufferably pretentious snobs who complain about anything and everything. This leads to much embarrassment for Migleemo, who dares to give them a replicated (gasp!) meal, then tries to make it up to them with a personally prepared dish that they reject with a vehemence bordering on pleasure. Of course, the twist that these two foodies have actually lost their sense of taste — mercilessly assailing every dish put before them to cover up that fact — is fairly standard for this show (as is Migleemo's solution to retrain their sense of taste through his profession of psychology). There's a proven track record of awful characters anchoring hilarious stories (I maintain that "A Mathematically Perfect Redemption" is one of this series' best episodes ever, which also featured bird people), but this is simply bland rather than sharp.
One thing to keep an eye on: Mariner's reason for helping Ma'ah was also to gain his favor so Starfleet could access an area inside Klingon space where they could scan a mysterious spatial rift. The show hints that there's more to be seen on this front.
Previous episode: The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel
Next episode: Starbase 80?!
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14 comments on this post
Karl Zimmerman
Personally, I think this was the best episode of the season to date, though YMMV.
The A plot here sees the return of Ma'ah, with Mariner and Boimler attempting to put things right for him. I don't think it was laugh-out-loud funny, but I did appreciate many of the turns here. Boimler being unexpectedly really into Klingon stuff (and now apparently being fearless) was a nice turn for his character. Ma'ah's brother was also an interesting take on a non-traditional Klingon character. I'm not going to say this was a deep exploration of Klingon culture, but it was very refreshing to get a view into lives of Klingons who aren't all about warrior posturing - I wanted more story here, which is (IMHO) always a good sign. Not to mention the episode genuinely shocked me at the end with a bloody death (I think the first one in Lower Decks?).
Unfortunately, this is brought down by the B-plot involving Migleemo, which is just - there. While it's at least a bit interesting they decided to go somewhere with his food simile obsession and we find out he's from a species of gourmets, it was a two-minute gag stretched across the episode's length. Not to mention Tendi and Rutherford basically just stood there. The episode would have been infinitely better if this was all just cut.
MercerCreate
Review Andor
Jeffrey's Tube
Better. Much better.
Enjoyed the Klowakhan culture and learning about it. A society of bird gourmands is both funny and also makes a certain amount of deranged sense actually. The universe WOULD be weird like that.
But is this the first time we've learned the name of Migleemo's species, or had I missed it previously? It's funny, but also a bit odd, kind of like a species naming itself "The Phallicans" or "The Vaginans," no? Not exactly, of course, but not too far off, either.
I bet the universe would be weird like THAT, too.
I guess at some point their culture felt strong enough about the importance of that body part to so closely associate and identify themselves with it. And actually, given its importance in reproduction, which ties into origin myths and religions, and how cultures have ritualized and revered fertility at times, that's not such a stretch, really.
As for the Klingon "A" plot, I liked it too. Ma'ah's a good character. His brother was funny, walking the line between "good Klingon" and "bad Klingon," and showing how the class of Klingon that aren't exactly warriors exist in their culture. Because for their society to function, we all know that class must exist, but we rarely get to see them.
I like that he killed his "Duras" too. I thought maybe LD was too light-hearted to go there.
One thing bugging me, if Boimler wants a beard, why not use a follicle stimulator? This is the 24th century, adding a beard to yourself is trivial, we've seen this many times. I know, I know, it's just a gag. But still.
Latex Zebra
That was really good fun. Both stories had my interest and there were some good laughs.
3/4 for me.
Tim C
I'm with both Karl Zimmerman and Jammer. It is indeed... fine. It is also the best episode of the season so far... because the first three were genuine misfires.
There's a lot of clamouring amongst online Trek fans for Lower Decks to be un-cancelled. It doesn't bother me. Aside from the first season (which until the very end was genuinely bad) the show has always just been a semi-amusing hangout, rarely rising to the level of great animated comedy *or* great Star Trek. I've enjoyed watching it but nor am I particularly bothered by it going away. (I will definitely miss it more than Disco, however.)
As usual, I rate episodes of this show by how often they make me laugh out loud. Biggest one for me this time was Boimler's enthusiastic volunteering to be sacrificed, which is perfectly in keeping with his character evolution thus far.
Chrome
I thought the artwork and animation were gorgeous, however I didn’t care much for either story.
I know that Lower Decks is by format only about low-level officers and such but I feel like they’re crossing the line when there are literal fights to the death. I mean, okay sure, Klingons fight to the death all the time in Star Trek, but the stakes are usually very high. Here, Ma’ah has now killed an entire family so that he can… become a pilot of a local freight vessel? The stakes don’t make any sense and the casual brutality just isn’t that funny.
Migleemo’s story had some amusing moments; it reminded of how celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay behave these days. I also liked that there is a Yelp-like app in Star Trek that Tendi uses. Ultimately though, the punchline for this plot was painfully obvious from the start. Migleemo solving the whole taste problem with psychology was interesting but perhaps too underdeveloped.
2 stars.
MidshipmanNorris
I'm afraid I'm just not much for mental chewing gum. I watched Star Trek and most of its following serieses up to Enterprise. (Which I sorta skimmed).
I get what they're going for...it's just that Star Trek was what I would put on when I was sick of dopey comedies.
:| I mean, is that wrong, idk
HaveGun_WillRiker
I'm always impressed when they go all out trying to make something pretty, ignoring everything else the title sequence this week was quite beautiful
Chris W
"Stop being a qoH!" 😆😆😆
Kyle
So was the opening sequence a riff on the opening of Picard? Farm, vineyards? I feel like I’ve seen it before.
Kyle
Others have mentioned laugh out loud funny as a criteria for reviewing this series, I for one laughed out loud when we see Boimler in the background getting thrown against the wall. And last week when he went flying straight down the hill on skis while Doppler screaming.
IfWeShadows
I’m beginning to suspect that Lower Decks might be about over for everyone, what with there only being five episodes remaining.
S. in Pa.
Well, some of us still love Lower Decks. I get genuine enjoyment (if not always laughs) from this series more consistently than any other. The whole series demonstrates the creators' love of Star Trek, real Star Trek, as it used to be.
Bobby
The line "what crawled up her boob window" had me rolling on the floor.
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