Paramount Plus
The latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is called ‘A Mathematically Perfect Redemption’ and goes in some pretty odd directions. We start very unusually with a ‘Previously On…’ that shows us the exocomp robot Peanut Hamper fleeing during the Season 1 finale, then we start watching how things would’ve looked from her perspective, which is pretty fun.
In kind of a mixed message, the episode then shows us a new, somber version of the opening credits as the exocomp floats through space while the theme song plays a sad version of itself. I suppose the idea is meant to have us sympathize more with the cowardly little robot, which is successful for the most part — even if at the end of the episode this is immediately reversed in a way that makes it all feel a little pointless.
It’s reasonably fun until that point, with Peanut Hamper crash landing on the planet Areore, where a civilization of owl people live. At first things proceed in an interesting way, where the village elder thinks that the robot can be trusted, and she inadvertently gains people’s trust by replicating candy for a child. The real change comes when she saves the elder’s life using (for her) pretty easy technology.
That’s all well and good in terms of progression, but then we get into the truly odd part, which I’m mixed about. She starts to bond with Rawda, son of the leader, and they somehow hook up in a very weird scene. Quite soon after that they are actually getting married, which is truly bizarre, especially considering what Peanut Hamper’s secret plan turns out to be.
At first it seems that the exocomp is a legitimate hero, performing a dangerous, perhaps self-sacrificial maneuver to take down the Drookmani scavengers destroying the owl people’s village. That’s the first time we get back to our Cerritos crew in the entire episode, as they are impressed by the exocomp’s move and consider bringing her back into Starfleet.
Paramount Plus
Unfortunately it’s all a scam, as she reveals when the Drookmani steal one of the owl people’s ancient starships — instead of her saving the day legitimately, her non-robot lover does it instead, somehow managing to pilot a technology he’s never seen before and saves the day. It … strains credulity a bit.
The final moments where the exocomp reveals the scam and somehow expects to be brought back into the fold despite her lies also strain credulity. Although the real problem is that it feels more like a ‘what was the point of all this?’ episode. It starts with the exocomp abandoning her team after an act of cowardice, and this one has her being jailed after an act of manipulation.
Admittedly the final moments of her in the ‘Self-aware megalomanical computer storage’ are funny, and it’s also great to hear the voice of Jeffrey Combs in a Star Trek show again. Kether Donohue does a great job voicing the exocomp, of course, toeing the line between annoying and plaintive, but I’m stuck feeling like the episode was kind of a waste of time.
The weird way the episode tried to make the exocomp sympathetic and then throw it away felt odd, and the bizarre sex stuff was weirder than normal. Definitely a step down for this season, but hopefully we’re back up to a better tale next week.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks stream Thursdays on Paramount Plus. Use Hotchka’s affiliate link to subscribe.
Share this post
