This season - so far - showed me how much I don't care about Boimler.
He's just way too annoying with his neurotic persona and simply not funny.
The chaotic persona of Mariner on the other hand makes for fun things no matter the companion, even if they aren't making a lot of sense in the greater context. Boimler grounds Mariner's antics in rules, rules of their roles, rules of their world. Apart they do not work too well, together they kinda do but it's way too formulaic as a whole. It does not seem to me as if they will ever break out of this and rather stay in their comforting little bubble of tried and tested story formulas and references to deliver something that is never going to be groundbreaking, nor really bad. These three episodes made that very clear.
Doesn't mean it can't be entertaining, though.
[7.7/10] A really fun outing all around! The main story, featuring Mariner and Tendi going on an ill-fated “girls trip” together has a strong character basis to it. The realization that despite working together and being in the same friend group, they don’t really know one another and aren’t really friends is a good throughline for the usual Mariner-fueled insanity. The episode unspools that nicely with each realizing the other doesn’t know major things about them, until the two have an out-and-out argument over it.
But I also like where the episode lands. Despite the distance between them, Tendi’s still willing to blow her big chance for a promotion to save Mariner and Mariner’s still apt to use her “improvisations” to save Tendi’s skin. While things don’t go as planned, the trip works to help them get to know one another, and there’s particular insight into the two of them struggling to open up to people, either because friends get promoted and jet off or from being a natural people-pleaser. There’s emotional maturity at the core of this one, which bolsters all the hijinks.
And the hijinks are fun! The two officers jetting around the galaxy to preserve Dr. Tiana’s fertility idol is a hoot. Seeing homages to Naussicans in pool halls and another visit to the Orions’ planet (not to mention Tendi’s cultural discomfort with the whole thing) is a lot of fun. I particularly love the twist at the end, where for all Tendi and Mariner’s concern about the fertility post, Dr. Tiana just wanted to play around in the box it came in like a housecat.
The B-stories are good too! I got a big kick out of Rutheford being taken aback at Shax returning for the dead and having to know the secret of how while everyone else just takes it in stride. Star Trek isn’t as bad about convenient resurrections or cheats as other nerd franchises, but it’s still amusing to watch the show poke fun at past Lazarus extravaganzas across Star Trek history via Shax’s unexpected return. I particularly like the resolution, where the answer is so dark and disturbing that Rutheford wishes he didn’t know about it, as a fig leaf on why explanations aren't always so forthcoming.
Plus, how can you not love the Boimler/Tom Paris plot? It’s fun to see Robert Duncan McNeil in on screen (so to speak) for the first time since his show ended, and there’s a lot of wonderful gags and homages to Voyager along the way. (I especially enjoyed Boimler humming its theme as he walks down the hallway and a very late resolution to the bizarre salamander episode.) The running gags about the ship’s computer not recognizing Boimler since his transfer, and the escalating, Looney Tunes-like mishaps it forces him to endure, are top notch stuff. And his commitment to his VOY commemorative plate was a laugh and a half.
Overall, this is another winner for Lower Decks, which yet again finds clever ways to poke fun at some silly Trek tropes, while imbuing its madcap adventures with a very human core.
Second favourite Lower Decks episode! I was so skeptical about this animated Star Trek that I intentionally avoided watching it, but it's very much worth the time.
I'd rewatch Lower Decks fifty times before I ever watch Enterprise again.
Great episode, loving season 2 so far. Each episode is happy and has a bunch of good laughs.
And the fan service is an added bonus all the time.
Absolutely great.
Marinar is annoying AF. I enjoy the scenes / episodes without her.
It was great to see Lower Decks putting its (lovely) infatuation for The Next Generation on hold and give some love to Voyager. Having the original Tom Paris on screen again (sort of) was delightful, so I really hope we'll get to see other Voyager's former crew members on the Cerritos.
Fan service and hat tips are supposed to be fun Easter Eggs placed into a story for the astute viewer to "discover" to bring on the nostalgia feels for the original tale, while adding appreciation for the newer one. What we seem to have this so far on this season of lower decks are tired re-hashes of season one's The continuing adventures of Ensign Screw Up, but, with a plethora of thinly disguised plot "appropriations" er, references, from ST canon, as sleight of hand, to try to cover the weak storylines, keeping the viewers distracted, hopefully long enough for them to come up with something new, and or, interesting.
But, like a magician whose "trick" has been revealed, each time you see it performed, you are less and less amazed, and start to see only the slight of hand, and not the "magic" the magician wants you to believe in.
By making "how's she gonna screw things up THIS week, and then blame everyone else" the central theme of each episode, with little or no personal improvement, reflection, or growth, Ensign Beckett is becoming, to paraphrase "Enter the Dragons" Williams shading the evil Han, "Girl, you are straight out of a comic book", and NOT in any good way. At least she could ADD to the brig cell drawing each week, to make her lack of development interesting. And, then again, at least we know how it's going to end each week.
But the writers don't want you to notice their lack of vision, so, they have peppered each of this seasons episodes with as many OG Trek references as the animators are able to fit in, even if they have to torture the story to jam them into place. They effect for me, as a Trek fan is starting to feel less nostalgic an more off putting and frankly LAZY. I really started noticing this last episode, and this episode, it pulled me out of what little original story was actually in it.
Well, at least the Doctor was true to life, in that the "box" was more important than it's contents. Hopefully they'll come up with something new by seasons end.
...Of course, as always, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Shout by Why Not Zoidberg?BlockedParent2021-08-27T03:10:51Z
Enjoyed this episode; all the storylines were pretty great. Lots of great references and concepts. Tom Paris back is amazing.