Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x9 "wej Duj" Review

 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.

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O'Connell (Ransom)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x1 "Strange Energies" Review

 rating: **

the story: Ransom gets zapped with weird energy and develops godlike powers.

review: Welcome back, Lower Decks!  The second season opens with a fairly unambitious episode that nonetheless grounds it in traditional franchise lore, a plot device demonstrated previously in the original series ("Where No Man Has Gone Before," "Charlie X") and Next Generation ("Hide and Q"), although played very differently in Deep Space Nine (Sisko as the Emissary of the Prophets, a series-long arc that never sees him develop special powers, unlike his rival Dukat, who does when he becomes emissary for the Pah-wraiths).

And while Ransom, a key member of the command staff voiced by the biggest name of the regular cast, Jerry O'Connell (as a reminder, I list O'Connell as a guest-star when Ransom has a significant part, even though he's generally in every episode), certainly deserves an odd spotlight every now and then, that "Strange Energies" devotes its time to a supporting character in this situation is a little disappointing.  Boimler, locked up as a member of another crew (Riker's Titan) at this point, would have been the obvious choice, and it almost seems as if everyone realized what a terrible mistake it was, as he's barely even in the episode.

Tendi and Rutherford instead have the significant spotlight, although nothing much comes of it except to highlight that they're pals.  Even more surprising is that even Mariner doesn't have much to do!

The whole experience seems calculated just to make sure someone popping in for the season premiere doesn't feel too bogged down in series specifics, which is kind of funny, as Star Trek traditionally holds premiere and finale slots to make bold series-specific statements.  Well.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The familiar plot device is a nice reminder of the kinds of things Star Trek has done in its rich history.
• series - My quibbles aside, it's genuinely nice to see Lower Decks return with new material regardless of its overall merit.
• character - I don't think there's a significant spotlight for anyone here, with Tendi coming closest (although the four episodes I've seen as of this writing suggest there was a specific push for her, and this was merely a soft start).
• essential - Not at all. The kind of episode you can enjoy but not worry too much about.

notable guest-stars:

Jonathan Frakes (Riker)

Jerry O'Connell (Ransom)

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x3 “Temporal Edict” Review

 rating: ****

the story: Boimler accidentally reveals to the captain how most of the crew functions by padding out their work time.

the review: If there’s a potential breakout episode among the first three of the series, it’s this one. I loved the Boimler/Mariner dynamic in the first two, but separating them turns out to if anything be even better.

Mariner is the best character in the series, but her story in “Temporal Edict” is the weaker, generally speaking, of the two. The effect is to set up a potential romance with Ransom (his biggest spotlight so far) as they square off in an “Arena” riff. So I’m not really going to focus on that (though pending future developments this could become more significant).

Instead: the Boimler Effect, folks.

Boimler’s best moment in the episode is when everyone else is freaking out and struggling to perform routine tasks for n the time allotted by Freeman (and now I know the captain’s name; previously, for me, she was better known as “Mariner’s mom), which for Boimler is no big deal at all, as he strolls the halls of the Cerritos (and maybe I know that now, too! it wasn’t until this, Discovery and Picard that I actively demonstrated in these reviews having to learn basic facts in Star Trek, because these are “real time” reactions where all the previous ones are retrospective; there was legitimately a time I had no idea what a Cardassian actually was, and that was when I was actively engaged in the franchise and expected to know these things by my family, in which I was the resident “expert,” which as this side note expands I assure you is all the more accurate now than ever before).

Anyway, Boimler’s whole thing is that he loves serving in Starfleet under its standard operating procedures. He’s the picture of a generic officer, which because we’ve...never seen this before (the closest is Harry Kim, but even he tried desperately to prove himself to Torres and Paris right from the start in Voyager). He loves going by the book. 

And...basically no one else does. He loves it so much it’s easy for him. When it’s just Mariner in contrast, it looks like he’s weird because she’s so awesome (generally speaking), but set against...everyone else, you realize, this guy’s like the Vulcan of Starfleet officers. Which because he isn’t Vulcan makes him all the more fun to follow.

So imagine his reaction when his biggest victory turns into his biggest defeat: by convincing Freeman to lax the rules (for everyone else), he actually sends the message that everything he stands for...is an impossible standard that no Starfleet officer should ever be held to. And gets that distinction named after him: “the Boimler Effect.”

Anyway, the whole thing feels like the best statement of the series to date, very close at the very least to some of the best of the Short Treks. I could very well bump it up to classic status at a future date, depending on how much better the series itself could get.

And then, just because this is the episode that keeps on giving: there’s a wonderful nod to Miles O’Brien at the end.

Okay, okay, I talked myself into it: This one’s a classic.

criteria analysis:

>series - Well worth watching as a fan of Lower Decks itself.

>franchise - A wry commentary on being a Starfleet officer.

>character - Boimler fully in the spotlight.

>essential - A truly defining moment for him, in fact.

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O’Connell

Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x1 “Second Contact” Review

the story: Crew is assigned for follow-up contact with new species.

rating: *** (out of ****)

review: The unspoken truth about Star Trek fandom is that it can often (okay, nearly always) be ruthlessly protective. Often this manifests itself as preferring older material (and of course rejecting newer, which has been a thing since at least the start of Next Generation). So when Lower Decks was announced and subsequently revealed as an “adult animated series,” it faced the immediate and obligatory fate of instant, summary rejection. But, well, lighten up!

I think it can actually be seen as a response to Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville, which is roundly regarded as a comedic Next Generation. In Lower Decks our perspective is a crew of a Starfleet ship tasked with less glamorous assignments but just as prone as any ship or crew we’ve followed before in getting into a heap of trouble very quickly and easily. Like The Animated Series before it, this translates first and foremost to a more visually dynamic presentation.

Our main guides are Mariner and Boimler, two junior officers who lead the support team on a support starship. “Second Contact” is really about them coming to terms with the nature of their relationship, which at this point is not romantic but merely working together. Mariner has seen more, and been to more planets (Boimler counts Vulcan and...Earth among the whole five he has thus far visited, which for those keeping score at home is like counting places you’ve lived rather than outright visited), and so her perspective is kind of like Kirk’s while Boimler’s is sort of fresh-out-of-the-Academy, Harry Kim style. Until he learns how valuable her perspective really is.

But for me it’s actually more interesting how we glimpse Mariner’s backstory. Her mom is ship’s captain, her dad an admiral. It really is like a Voyager throwback with Mariner and Boimler; just imagine what it would’ve been like for Tom Paris to work closely with his dad! 

Of the command crew we spend the most time with first officer Jack Ransom. Suffice to say but usually it’s the admirals who come off looking this bad, though here it’s all in good fun!

I don’t know if the whole series is going to follow this template, if we’ll get healthy servings of character work with all the comedy, but I would certainly prefer it that way. Some fans forget that Star Trek at its core spends most of its time confronting wacky scenarios. At least this time the approach is wacky, too. This is not at all a bad thing.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - A fresh take on Star Trek for sure!

>series - A good introduction to Lower Decks.

>character - Excellent use of at least two members of its cast, Mariner and Boimler.

>essential - Here’s where I’m really going to be monitoring Lower Decks, in its ability to produce truly standout material. Will this format be capable of it?

notable guest-stars:

Jerry O’Connell (Jack Ransom)