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The latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is called ‘The Least Dangerous Game’ which is naturally a reference to the classic story idea of the ‘most dangerous game’ that has even had a few Star Trek episodes referencing it over the decades. Here we get two main storylines, as is common with this show, each one once again about Boimler and Mariner learning lessons and not really facing consequences for their mistakes.
The less interesting of the two was the Ransom/Mariner storyline, where they are off on a trip to repair a space elevator and Ransom selfishly chooses to send the engineers down to deal with diplomacy while they work to fix the problems. It doesn’t really make sense logically, and Ransom even admits as much by the end of the episode — and he doesn’t really have to face consequences for endangering the engineers too.
Rutherford and the chief engineer are down at a ‘wellness-based’ society (which was a fun idea) where they both prefer to wear little clothing, be in shape, and also kill people for small offenses like in the TNG episode ‘Justice’. It was also a cute little moment where it turns out that the leaders of the planet are a psychic baby and a sentient computer, only one of which I think I’ve even seen on Star Trek (the computer of course, which has also shown as an antagonist on Lower Decks).
Mariner being forced to severely work herself to the bone due to her guilt was a good change, even if she didn’t get caught for nearly going against orders. She even is able to offer respect to Ransom for his successful super-fit gambit, even if he is only a jerk back (probably fairly). It’s honestly a toxic situation for both of them, but one of them is in command so maybe he should work better.
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The other storyline was quite a bit more fun, starting with a delightful little Klingon RPG the team are playing, including an AI Dungeon Master of General Martok (voiced by the actor that played him, J.G. Hertzler — and he previously played a different voice of this show too). We even get one of those rare combinations of characters, Tendi and Boimler, where she provides a truly great bit of advice for him — which he partially gets.
Her idea of not over-planning and missing opportunities is taken by him at first, but he proceeds to say yes to everything without thinking about it at all — and notably, he often is rude about saying no too. This leads to a fun series of him doing things that keep giving him better opportunities and potential growth.
From a dirge choir to consenting to being hunted by a huge alien, it all is uncomfortable but ultimately rewarding for Boims. No wonder he immediately decides to change his perspective going forward, ignoring the idea of moderation instead from Tendi (who is nearly always competent after all).
Overall it was a pretty funny episode and did have some useful character moments, if I really wanted to see a few things shaken up a bit more. The stuff with the wellness planet was cute but a little under-thought, and I wasn’t entirely happy with the ending of that where both Ransom and Mariner screwed up but nothing came of it.
And it’s a shame not to get anything from Rutherford other than his admittedly great joke of wanting to be only ‘regular early’ (relatable). But it’s a good change from Episode 1 so hopefully the season keeps on this track and hits the heights we know it can hit.
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