The animated Star Trek: Lower Decks has all the time put the divide between the massive, essential jobs of being bridge crew in stark reduction to the precise nitty-gritty work of being the entry-level staff of a ship—particularly a ship that options in a present as bizarre as Star Trek within the first place. But this week’s episode takes an alternate spin, quite than asking our ensign heroes to smile and bear it.

Episode six of the Paramount+ sequence, “The Spy Humongous,” has lots happening. However, all of it feeds into this narrative in regards to the fairly, “clean” work of life as a Starfleet officer, and the soiled work—most of the time very literal—of the juniors beneath them. While Captain Freeman is given what’s her most severe and Star Trek-y Captain’s plot but, negotiating peace with the Pakleds on their homeworld (and a hilariously inept faction conflict that breaks out among the many beings which have develop into a thorn within the Federation’s aspect), Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford discover themselves coping with “Anomaly Collection Duty.” Essentially, it’s trash day aboard the Cerritos. It’s a enjoyable riff on the concept most of the time we see bridge crew in different Star Trek reveals conducting all kinds of untamed and possibly extremely harmful analysis experiments of their private quarters, or simply yanking issues from away missions that ought to in all probability be safely archived. But you don’t have to fret in regards to the security issues when a bunch of ensigns can simply eliminate it for you, proper?

Tendi is very excited over poking at harmful vegetation, electrified statues, and slime-spewing vases within the bridge workers’s quarters. But her pleasure begins to grate on an exhausted Rutherford and Mariner, who hate having to primarily be cleansing workers to their superiors even with out Tendi’s overt exuberance getting on their nerves. Meanwhile, Boimler, who you’d assume could be proper subsequent to her in over-excitement, is nowhere to be discovered. Instead, he finds himself pulled right into a clique of keen go-getter command division ensigns who need to be often called, distressingly, “The Redshirts.” They see Boimler’s earlier historical past on the Titan as an indication that he, like them, is somebody devoted to profession development in Starfleet above all else. As Boimler decides to chop and run on ACD to hang around with the cool crowd, what follows is a typical, virtually high-school-teen film format. His outdated mates—the nerds—are having a depressing time, whereas Boimler is rapidly enamored by this effortlessly by-the-book squad of cool children who… apparently spend method an excessive amount of time training speeches at one another, within the hopes they’ll get an obligation shift as “acting captain” sometime. There’s even a cool child makeover concerned!

While it’s a typical Lower Decks riff on a traditional premise, it’s an attention-grabbing one to place instantly after final week’s episode, one which had Mariner and Boimler correctly air out their discomfort over the latter abandoning his mates for the Titan on the finish of season one. To have Brad instantly run again off and chase promotion possibilities, particularly whereas ditching his mates and making their crappy job even crappier, is a alternative that “The Spy Humongous” doesn’t actually have time to sort out. The episode is already a bit tight between Boimler’s arc, the remainder of the Lower Deckers, and Captain Freeman’s plot with the Pakleds pulling collectively strings from throughout the entire season. But it displays an attention-grabbing, ongoing texture to the ups and downs of the relationships between these mates. It’s one thing we additionally see as Mariner will get more and more and brazenly indignant at Tendi’s exuberance at being handled like rubbish—particularly after she and Rutherford be taught they weren’t assigned ACD, however put up for it by Tendi for enjoyable.

These mates should not all the time going to be on the identical web page, disputes should not all the time going to be resolved and handled eternally. It creates battle within the second but in addition strengthens the bond between characters every time it’s overcome, even when it’s only short-term. It additionally builds on one thing Lower Decks has been doing an important job of this season, which is definitely exhibiting why this quartet are mates, as an alternative of merely telling us. All this brilliantly involves a head when a mysterious dice Tendi is attempting to archive—amid an explosive rant at Mariner and Rutherford—transforms her into an enraged scorpion (as a result of, nicely, what else is a mysterious dice on a Star Trek present gonna do?), bringing collectively the a number of threads of the episode collectively in a real, Lower Decks chaotic trend.

While the remainder of Boimler’s “Redshirt” groupies stand within the chaos shouting speeches over one another (as that’s what they assume leaders ought to do), Boimler realizes that precise good commanders, and good mates, get down within the muck of Starfleet’s nerdy weirdness to avoid wasting the day. In his case, it’s literal: the Tendi-Scorpion crashes by means of the mess corridor, requiring Boimler to debase himself through the replicator with a view to get her to snicker, undoing the transformation… however leaving them each slimy messes within the course of. His muscular new look and slick hairdo is likely to be caked in 17 layers of protein molecules, however he helps a buddy out and avoids a ship-large catastrophe, even when it prices him his new, not-really-friends friendship circle within the Redshirts. Interestingly sufficient, the occasion and Boimler’s fast considering makes most of them understand that consistently chasing command and drilling speeches into one another is a waste of time. They may simply be nerds having enjoyable on a Starship too! If they’re going to be handled like lessers by the bridge crew whether or not they’re self-serious or easygoing anyway, why not not less than have enjoyable and make mates alongside the best way?

And actually, that’s what life in Starfleet is like, even when Lower Decks provides us a extra comically tinged lens on it. Sure generally it’s the massive days and also you get to try to negotiate peace with some very, very dumb rivals. Somedays you must take out the house trash and have fun the weirdness of boldly going. But no matter day it’s aboard a Starfleet vessel, it’s higher to spend it alongside individuals who perceive all that and also you.

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