Star Trek: Lower Decks 1x10 “No Small Parts” Review

 rating: ***

the story: The secret’s out!

review: It wasn’t just viewers who didn’t know upfront that Freeman is Mariner’s mom. Boimler accidentally found out last episode, and just as accidentally leaked it to the rest of the Cerritos. The result? Now everyone treats Mariner differently, sucking up to score favor with the captain, and of course she hates it!

It’s really the only way the season could have ended, but there are a few unrelated twists, and one related one, that keep it lively. Tendi mentors an exocomp (secret origin from Next Generation’s “The Quality of Life”), who has joined Starfleet, which leads to any number of unexpected developments, while Rutherford gets his best spotlight of the season when he learns there’s a switch in his implant that can change his personality. Eventually the funny bits lead to a sad bit, as well as the sacrifice of the ship’s aggressive Bajoran chief tactical officer, Shaxs.

And Pakleds! Surely the most hilariously pathetic legacy of Next Generation’s second season, the Pakleds blunder their way into be formidable again. 

But then Boimler is promoted and transferred to the Titan. Riker! Troi! Again! No one has shown up in the modern franchise more than these two, and here they continue their impressive stature. Will they be here all next season? Well, where then would be Mariner? And Tendi? And Rutherford? Technically also the canonical first appearance of the Titan, referenced as Riker’s new (and first!) command in Nemesis, and apparently considered quite a prestigious assignment. Of course!

criteria analysis:

>franchise - Riker and Troi! Again!

>series - A fitting season finale.

>character - Big moments for Mariner and Boimler, and yet somehow it’s Rutherford who shines brightest.

>essential - Close!

notable guest-stars:

Jonathan Frakes (Riker, sounding as natural as ever in animated form)

Marina Sirtis (Troi)

Jack McBrayer (Badgey)

Picard 1x7 "Nepenthe"

rating: ****

the story: Picard visits with old friends (you've probably heard of them).

review: It's official, then.  Riker became Little John.  (Give you a moment to remember.)  That's the wonderful memory and thought I had, anyway, watching "Nepenthe," among other happy reflections.  This was another solid episode.  At this point, I'm easily calling Picard the most rewarding series experience of the whole franchise, not just because I enjoy seeing Picard again, but because the season has been so consistently good, an excellent mix of everything, from ideas to characters new and old, and building on the rich legacy preceding it.

Let's talk about the ideas a little.  Finally we learn what convinced Jurati to kill her own friend and lover, Bruce Maddox, a vision of the future, and not just a vision, but that frequent vision of today, some dreaded apocalypse.  If we don't do this, this will happen.  And there's no convenient real world allegory here, no side to pick, in case you were worried.  It's just the times we live in, which is much as it was in the '60s, when Star Trek originally suggested it didn't have to be that way. 

But we begin to have an idea of why the Romulans, or anyone else, fear artificial life so much, and that's the key here, in this episode, that prejudice so often infused with some awful kernel but more often created by hysterical imagination, especially when the victim is so easy to dismiss as "other," as of course is always the case. 

No doubt we'll learn more.

In the meantime we have Picard and Soji visiting Riker and Troi and their daughter!  And, learning about what's happened in the meantime, who they lost, and how their lives have developed along the way.  Troi's there, but Riker receives more emphasis, and before anyone cries injustice, let me just suggest that Riker makes for better entertainment, and this might actually be his best-ever appearance in the franchise (across Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise, and even his transporter duplicate in Deep Space Nine, and the movies, and now this, helping him, and Jonathan Frakes, set a new record, surpassing the likes of Nimoy/Spock and Dorn/Worf for most franchise appearances, that is unlikely to be broken).  And I'm not sure his height difference with Picard ever came across this sharply, either, at least for me.

For everything in the mix, it's another strong showing for Soji, who perhaps again most benefits from what might otherwise have seemed an obvious Picard spotlight, as she begins to accept who and what she is as she interacts with Picard's friends.

(Is it too early to suggest that the daughter gets her own series?)

Plus, unfortunately, the death of another familiar face, this time Hugh, as the Romulans officially switch into villainous gear.  Who else was seeing Narek, meanwhile, as a Star Trek Boba Fett?

(The title "Nepenthe," meanwhile, comes from The Odyssey, referencing a drug that cures a troubled mind.  Love the deep Greek mythology cut for that one, as with another recent Star Trek classic, Discovery's "An Obol for Charon.")

criteria analysis:

• franchise - I mean, gosh, it's great to see Riker and Troi again!
• series - But there's still plenty of room to celebrate what's happening in Picard, all you fans still paranoid about "These Are the Voyages..."
• character - Soji grapples with recent revelations, among other highlights.
• essential - Hardly a missed opportunity!

notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Frakes (Riker)
Marina Sirtis (Troi)
Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh)

Voyager 7x6 "Inside Man"

rating: ****

the story: Ferengi intercept a holographic Barclay.

what it's all about: Reg Barclay in Voyager is one of the most remarkable developments of the whole franchise.  In Next Generation, Barclay was the poster boy of neurotic behavior, whose skills as an engineer always took a backseat to his latest psychological problem.  Then he starts making appearances in Voyager, and then in "Pathfinder" becomes an official member of the family as he spearheads regular communication between Voyager and Starfleet, itself a milestone development in the series. 

Ironically, as a counterpoint to his first appearance ("Hollow Pursuits"), Barclay here gains a holographic version of himself! 

"Inside Man" continues that arc while also bringing back the idea of the Ferengi as antagonists.  The Ferengi were Next Generation's first attempt at new villainous aliens.  They were quickly exposed as difficult to take seriously, and so they became progressively comedic, until in Deep Space Nine virtually every spotlight episode for Quark was played for laughs, regardless of how nuanced Ferengi society was depicted in that series. 

They'd appeared in Voyager previously ("False Profits"), but "Inside" makes a more concerted effort to return the Ferengi to their roots, when DaiMon Bok was envisioned as Picard's mortal enemy.  Here they're refashioned as essentially faceless, which is perhaps key to making the idea work.  Devious but incapable of following up on their schemes, the Ferengi in the episode are exactly what they always were, but in a situation that at last sells the concept on every level it always needed to work.  They're revealed as cowards, which is why their best bet is gambling against each other, where the façade can truly function.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - An honest-to-god attempt to redeem the original vision of the Ferengi.
• series - Progress in communications with Starfleet!
• character - Barclay once again proves he belongs in this family.
• essential - For those who claim the episodic format can't handle serialized material, this is yet another example to the contrary.

notable guest-stars:
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)
Marina Sirtis (Troi)
Richard Herd (Admiral Paris)

Enterprise 4x22 "These Are the Voyages..."

****

The final episode of Enterprise has weathered its fair share of criticism for the decision to prominently feature Riker, Troi, and the scenario of the Next Generation episode "The Pegasus."  Some of the less generous observers have even called it the worst episode of the series.

I've always loved "These Are the Voyages..."  For one, it puts a big spotlight on the show's best character, Trip Tucker.  (In Pocket Books continuity, criticism of the episode reaches the point of nullifying his death in the episode.  Oh, um SPOILER ALERT.)  That alone puts a smile on my face.  I love the structure.  I love that after his death, we receive what is arguably Trip's definitive scene, and speech.  I love that he's munching on a carrot during this scene.

I love that Shran is also a featured element of the episode.  I always loved Shran, too, thought he was one of the show's strongest and most distinguished elements.  Set six years after the events of the Terra Prime Dulogy (the preceding episodes), "Voyages" is all about shipping Archer to the big moment of actually getting to give the commencement speech to the Federation.  Complications arise.  Shran, for example, has seen better days.  (Oh, how rich it would have been to see that arc, Archer rising while Shran's fortunes fall.)  He's gotten into trouble and is looking to rescue his daughter from some thugs.  Archer agrees to help.  Things turn out well, except Trip sacrifices himself so Archer can survive the decision to help Shran.

All of this technically plays out on the holodeck, as Riker attempts to make his decision to rat on Terry O'Quinn, with a little encouragement from Troi (Data makes a vocal cameo as well).  The critics would have you believe that this is embarrassing, that the final episode of Enterprise is stolen by another series.  I would say instead that it's a remarkable tribute.

Being a prequel series, it was always hard to establish the connections other shows were able to accomplish on a regular basis, even Voyager (and not just with Q, mind you).  It was set a hundred years before everything else.  Having familiar actors appear is one thing, but having familiar characters show up is like an acknowledgement that this new Trek was a worthy endeavor.  Who would argue that the point of "Sarek" was anything else?

And besides, Riker using Archer's crew as a source of support (via Troi's suggestion, though she never accessed the program herself, another notable detail) is a direct show of support for the series.  That it features Next Generation characters and sets is also a way of supporting another Star Trek.  Until this point, the only nostalgic trip to another series was the original one ("Relics," Trials and Tribble-ations," "Flashback").  But Next Generation, despite the harsh failure of Nemesis was at one point the reason anyone cared about Star Trek.

The producers said at the time that they viewed "Voyages" as a finale to not only Enterprise but that phase of the franchise as a whole.  Kirk, Archer, and Picard can all be heard proclaiming the old mission statement in the closing moments of the episode.  And yet, short of trying to shoe-horn every cast into the episode, choosing to spotlight one other cast in some way was absolutely necessary to that goal.  And Next Generation made perfect sense.

And beyond that, Riker was always a charming and welcome presence, and Troi had already proven her crossover appeal in Voyager.  That I have things to say about the episode other than their presence proves that they did not, after all, dominate it.

Trip did that.  He dominated the whole series, even though his role was carefully balanced with T'Pol and Archer, who was the captain of the ship.  Trip did it effortlessly, from the very start, even when he became pregnant in the fourth episode of the series, a story that would have destroyed any other character.  That's how strong he was.  "Voyages" serves as a testament to him, and to the series as a whole.  Sure, Archer was important in the grand sense.  But Trip was what defined the series, held all the characters together.  And this was a series about character.

Ignore what you've heard.  This one's essential.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Jeffrey Combs
Jonathan Frakes
Marina Sirtis
Brent Spiner (voice)

Memory Alpha summary.

Voyager 6x10 "Pathfinder"

****

In the many sweeping generalizations of the last half-decade of the franchise before the J.J. Abrams reboot, it's always been unfair to suggest the sixth season of Voyager as both a colossal failure and waste of time, and you can look no further for contradiction than "Pathfinder," the episode that began the crew's last leg of the journey home.

There's a lot of things to like about this one, actually, or if you're still being obstinate, then at least consider it noteworthy.  Dwight Schultz, for instance, returns to the series (after making a more random appearance in the second season episode "Projections") and the franchise as the ship's unlikely savior.  Then again, maybe he wasn't so unlikely.  Originally a beloved if neurotic recurring character in The Next Generation, Reginald Barclay was a brilliant engineer who kept getting in his own way, finally tapping into his potential with a little prodding from the combined efforts of Captain Picard's crew.  He made an appearance in First Contact, but seemed destined to remain known as the guy who was once nicknamed "Broccoli" (and not affectionately).

Some fans considered "Pathfinder" to be a character regression for the guy who first made a name for himself retreating to the fantasies of the Holodeck, Barclay once again preferring to hang out with holograms rather than real people.  Yet they really missed the point.  In a roundabout way, what he was really doing was integrating what had once been his biggest failing with his greatest strength, and in the process solved the riddle of how Starfleet could locate and establish regular contact with the wayward crew in the Delta Quadrant.  It was a fete of brilliance that he could never have achieved serving aboard a starship.  No offense to Scotty or La Forge, but this is an accomplishment of far greater important than making an engine sing even in the midst of a crisis.

Anyway, Barclay is joined by Marina Sirtis (making the first of three appearances in the series), once again portraying Deanna Troi, saddled with the task of figuring out the most peculiar officer in the fleet one more time.  The episode also features the debut of Richard Herd in the role of Admiral Owen Paris, former colleague of Captain Janeway and Tom Paris, making the implicit case that father no longer so harshly judges son in his efforts to oversee the success of this project.

Subconsciously, "Pathfinder" was a huge development in the series, making what the show would never be able to do without limiting the dramatic impact of finally getting home in the finale possible by finally opening contact with home.

It's essential viewing in every sense of the word, a clear highlight of the series, something a skeptical fan can use if they want to approach with an open mind, a break from the regular format, a giant step forward for an established character...you name it.

franchise * series * essential * character

Notable guest-stars:
Dwight Schultz
Marina Sirtis
Richard Herd

Memory Alpha summary.