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The latest episode Star Trek: Lower Decks was called ‘Terminal Provocations’, another multiple punny name — ‘Terminal’ meaning several things, including the terminals people on the ship use, the idea of something being a harbinger of death, or simply the end of something (e.g., ‘terminal velocity’). Here we have three plotlines all connected through the main one, as Ensign Fletcher (voice of Tim Robinson) causes cascading problems throughout the ship due to his one exceptionally stupid action.
Fletcher starts by being a party dude, chugging and cheering, but although we have no idea of his technical capability, he does show off an empathetic, social understanding. Sometimes people like that can understand people just fine, but when pressed in emergencies, they reveal a depth of selfishness (or even sociopathy) not far below the surface. Hard to believe he made it through Starfleet Academy, but then again, as we learn from this episode, incompetent people are there too — as Tendi reveals she never passed spacewalking as the instructor simply didn’t bother or didn’t notice.
The rest of the Boimler/Mariner storyline is trying to fix Fletcher’s increasingly terrible choices, but the two of them present a pretty useful contrast to Fletcher’s issues. Fletcher calls out Mariner’s delight in rule breaking, but she points out it’s the ‘rules that don’t make sense’ which is subjective for sure, but also she’d never put someone in danger. Contrast that to Fletcher immediately (and badly) lying about mysteriously being stunned and robbed the moment things go wrong, or how he keeps threatening to take them down with him.
The final choice, of tricking him into taking a promotion and a transfer, is a useful little dodge, as he immediately gets ‘fired’ (probably the wrong word, but it’s Fletcher saying it after all). This helps solidify Boimler and Mariner’s increasing levels of respect for each other — and not romance! That’s a good thing, as the Tendi/Rutherford pair is clearly moving in that direction.
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Tendi and Rutherford’s storyline was the most ridiculous but pretty funny — Rutherford created a helpful ‘Badgey’ character (Jack McBrayer) in the holodeck, a nod to the always annoying Clippy that bothered users of older Microsoft Office software. Naturally there are glitches as Rutherford is trying to help out Tendi and impress her, and of course the safety features go offline as Badgey goes murderous.
Rutherford and Tendi do have a cute energy together, and I don’t hate their nerdy cheery attitudes at all. The final storyline, the ship under attack from random aliens, was just there to provide context and drop in some jokes, but that worked well. I recognized JG Hertzler, a Star Trek mainstay, as the lead alien, which is a nice inclusion.
Overall, the episode was more silly than last time, but I felt that it was a step in the right direction. There wasn’t any meanness here, just a realization that incompetence can still exist even in Starfleet. Fletcher wasn’t the most compelling character, but I did enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance.
Standout jokes included the legitimately funny cold open with the ensigns trying to hum like the ship’s engines, the mysterious horror of being compared to Starbase 80, the extended Chu Chu dance references, the ‘evil’ Delta Shift counterparts, Tendi shouting ‘That fact wasn’t fun’, the shoutouts to blaming Q and Evasive Pattern Sulu, and everything with Bajoran Security Chief Shaxs. From his pleading to blow up the other ship, to his joyous shout ‘I don’t know how, but we did it,’ to his passionate kissing of the Caitian doctor — I appreciate how the command team is also pretty funny. It’s a good sign.
Star Trek: Lower Decks streams new episodes every Thursday on CBS All Access.
What did you think of the episodes? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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