rating: ***
the story: The lower decks crews of Vulcans, Klingons, Pakleds, and Starfleet unexpectedly converge.
review: I would probably have considered rating this one a classic if the online reaction hadn't been so overboard in emphasizing the role of the Vulcan in the episode. Proclaimed an instant "best of" Vulcans! Should be a regular character of the series!
Not that special. What's actually special about "wej Duj" (Klingon for "three ships") is that it takes the premise of Lower Decks to further conclusions, as outlined in the story summary above. The Vulcan and Klingon characters act as independent agents (they're essentially the Mariners of their crews), and while we've seen far more of how Klingon crews operate, this is still, for me, the more interesting of those arcs. The Pakleds are Pakleds. There's even a funny bit at the end featuring a Borg crew.
Meanwhile Boimler is once again trying to find a replacement crew, this time buddying up with Ransom (as is traditional in my reviews, even though Ransom is in every episode, and therefore so is Jerry O'Connell voicing him, when he has a particular spotlight, I include him as a "notable guest-star") in lying about being Hawaiian. This is notable in that it's a rare instance of Boimler being anything but his impresion of Starfleet professional. The arc ends with a mushy note of Boimler once again discovering his work is noticed. Not even the only time this one has been done this season, so I'm not really counting it as a positive, and it's all the weirder because the episode otherwise is about the Mariner archetype, and she doesn't even have anything notable happening, which is another obvious oversight in a string of episodes that didn't think everything through.
criteria analysis:
- franchise - The Klingon arc follows a grand tradition, and it's a rare instance of getting to hang out with Vulcans, too.
- series - It's the series doing an episode of just lower decks action!
character- The Boimler arc falls a little flat for being overly familiar.- essential - It's an episode the series had to do. And mostly nailed.
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