On Lower Decks, Boimler and Mariner Have to Learn Each Other’s Lessons

Last week’s little bit of a reset for Star Trek: Lower Decks’ premise has primed our ensigns to re-learn a few of the classes they should perceive earlier than they go off making an attempt to be the large heroes of their lives on the Cerritos. This week, a minimum of two of them get to start out studying them… by taking pages out of one another’s books.

“The Least Dangerous Game” is probably a little bit too Trek-trope burdened for its personal good at instances. Following the Cerritos because it tries to assist out a close-by planet repairing an important house elevator leaving civilians stranded on and off world alike, the episode appears like much more of a reset than final week’s knocking-down as Commander Ransom takes over Mariner’s “parole” aboard the ship. There’s numerous humorous referential gags occurring, in fact—from the opening Klingon Dungeons & Dragons knockoff—that includes the beautiful return of J.G. Hertzler as Deep Space Nine’s Martok, narrating by way of PADD display screen like these outdated Star Trek video and FMV video games—to a veritable smorgasbord of basic premises: a ritualistic hunter alien aboard the ship! Planet of the pleasure folks! A prolonged riff on Star Trek 2009’s orbital leap!

But there’s a lot occurring simply as “yes, this is a bit” gags that there’s probably not sufficient time for the primary story to concentrate on something past Boimler and Mariner’s plights—a lot to the frustration of anybody hoping that the sequence had began to determine find out how to give extra time to Tendi and Rutherford, who largely right here get to spend time as help to Boimler and Mariner, respectively. It looks like the present’s status-quo realignment has executed extra than simply metaphorically put our heroes again within the place we first discovered them at its starting, however returned to the comfy, if often irritating, patterns its first season dipped into in its center episodes already.

Thankfully, even when it’s repeating the sorts of hits Lower Decks has executed earlier than, these hits are nonetheless fairly humorous. The ongoing Martok commentary is a enjoyable send-up, as is the awkward sport of hunter and prey Boimler finds himself in aboard the Cerritos after a brand new “say yes to anything” mantra means he finds himself the goal of mentioned ritual hunt. But let’s rewind a bit, as a result of that’s really an important a part of “The Least Dangerous Game.” Gags apart, the first focus of the episode splits Mariner and Boimler up, as the previous, alongside Ransom, Billups, and Rutherford, is tasked with going alongside on the elevator restore group, and the previous is left on the ship to have an existential disaster over a former fellow ensign’s fast rise to captaincy. Even break up up, the duo have a lot to be taught from one another as they find yourself having to take classes from the opposite half of their friendship: Boimler, appearing on Tendi’s encouragement, turns into extra outwardly daring and social, vowing to say sure to any alternative that might progress him in his dream of ascending to the captain’s chair some day. Mariner, in the meantime, being examined by Ransom as he forces her to do handbook restore work and comply with illogical orders simply to see if she’ll snap again at him and provides him an excuse to reprimand her, has to be taught to mood her rebellious impulses and focus her attentions in the fitting place, even when it frustrates her to comply with orders she doesn’t assume are proper.

It’s what takes what would in any other case be a serviceable, but by-product episode of Lower Decks and provides it a a lot wanted carry—not simply because these are classes these characters need to be taught. If something, they’ve realized them earlier than in being mates with one another, after which gone backwards and forwards on them ever since because of the nature of Lower Decks’ comedic, largely unserialized format. But what makes it extra necessary this time is that Boimler and Mariner be taught these classes aside from one another. They are conclusions they’ve to return to on their very own, as an alternative of on the pushing of one another, and in the end they each repay. Sure, Boimler would possibly get a little everlasting shoulder harm from having an alien hunter fling a spear into him, however he takes to coronary heart the concept he can’t all the time simply anxiously draw back from alternative if he needs to sooner or later be a frontrunner. Mariner nonetheless might need an antagonistic relationship with Ransom, particularly when he admits he was making an attempt to goad her as a take a look at, however she nonetheless rises to the event—and even when she doesn’t realize it stomping away from him on the finish of the episode, manages to impress him too.

For an episode that in any other case retreats into Lower Decks’ creature comforts, it’s an necessary step for the sequence’ main characters to take. Hopefully this time they’ll actually take these classes to coronary heart.

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