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The latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is called ‘An Embarrassment of Dooplers’, which is a clear allusion to the classic ‘Trouble with Tribbles’ episode, which also had an alien life form that could very quickly duplicate (in a manner of speaking). Here we meet an alien Doopler ambassador (voiced perfectly by Richard Kind) which is an alien species that duplicates itself when under emotional distress or pressure.
The actual logistics or nature of such a culture or world are not even remotely addressed, because this is all about mistakes and exponential destruction. After Captain Freeman very foolishly derides the Doopler as he’s standing right behind her (as per the cliché), the dude gets distressed and duplicates. And the embarrassment of duplicating causes those duplicates to duplicate, and so on, until the ship is getting swarmed with Richard Kind alien dupes.
In the meantime in the smaller side plot, Rutherford and Tendi are working on a scale model of the Cerritos, but there are hidden messages that Rutherford no longer remembers. This sends him into his own emotional distress, as he feels like he’s competing against a better version of himself from the past, one with cool secrets and knowledge, and perhaps more importantly, a year longer of friendship building with Tendi.
The reveal at the end that the secret messages were intentional delays so that the two could keep hanging out was very sweet, and it does help reaffirm them as the best pairing the show has so far. The arc was certainly thematically connected to the Boimler/Mariner plotline, which started a bit shaky but resolved in a similarly heartwarming manner.
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The two decide to crash a fancy Starfleet event with Boimler pretending to be his transporter clone, and it was very easy for Mariner to convince him to do it. Once on the station, Mariner only makes things worse, going through an absurd and destructive car chase merely because she suspects that the station cops are corrupt (or she’s lying about it).
All well and good, but things actually come to a head at the party when Mariner is refused entry — suddenly all of those feelings of abandonment come out, and Mariner is angry that she never got an apology from Boimler. He is naturally angry about Mariner stranding him multiple times, so it seems like a bad fight for them.
But despite the cool vibe of the party, Boimler eventually goes to find Mariner and admits that he left suddenly because he was worried that she’d try to talk him out of it. They both express vulnerability and the bartender (voice of Jenifer Lewis) shares that the famous Kirk/Spock duo was once there too. Mariner and Boimler are not really in the same league, but it does help ground them and strengthen their relationship — Boims is even pushing back on the notion that Mariner has to be his leader.
The command crew showing up there is another nice little resolution, tying things together in a way that shows how alike mother and daughter really are — especially with Freeman beaming the Doopler into the party like so many Tribbles. It’s quite shady for someone with delusions of respect and glory like her.
Overall, the episode ended in a pretty strong place, and Richard Kind was great, even if some of the action scenes felt a bit unnecessary. I like the season so far, and I’m glad they’re following up on their own continuity so effectively — helps it feel like it’s going in a positive direction.
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