The final season of Lower Decks opens by dropping the Cerritos into a universe where Mariner is the captain, and she runs that ship with an iron fist.
I’m really broken up about the fact that the series is ending. At the same time, I can already see they’re going to go out with a big bang. This is season 5, the last one, and it starts with two episodes back to back.
There’s a lot that goes into making a Star Trek show, and nothing is more fun to poke at than the idea of alternate realities. It started with “Mirror, Mirror” and it’s continued through many, many episodes since. Next Generation kind of made it a cottage industry for a brief while, just cranking out version after version of the concept. “We won’t go back. The Federation’s gone. The Borg is everywhere.” This episode is literally the same thing.
Captain Becky Freeman
Captain Freeman and the crew of the Cerritos come up on an anomaly in space, get sucked through it, and find themselves in an alternate dimension where Mariner, as it turns out, is the captain of the Cerritos. “What up, Cerritos? This is Captain Becky Freeman. Looks like we have a lot to discuss.”
They don’t get too far into what happened to her mom over there. Our side keeps asking, and ultimately they find out she’s been assigned to the tail end of the galaxy, out of Starbase 80.
So this Beckett runs her crew hard. “Why’s everybody on edge?” “Because I keep them on edge. Ensign, back straight. Stop slouching.” “Yes, Captain.” “Fear is the best motivator.”
When the Beckett from the other universe sees ours, she misses that old life. And of course, stereotypically, she takes the opportunity to try a switcheroo. “Oh my god, are you replacing me? Do you know how hacky that is?” “Yes, and I don’t care. How do I look?” “Cute, which sucks.”
She decides she’s going to steal the ship, and she switches places with our Mariner, who escapes just before they make it to the rift. They’ve got to stop them. They catch on, and ultimately they keep it from happening. It’s Star Trek. Come on. I love these kinds of episodes.
The Other Boimler and Otherford
The fun part of this episode really is seeing all the alternate versions of people. Their Boimler is his perfect, Riker-esque Boimler self, which is hilarious.
Rutherford’s alternate, or Otherford, as he calls him, is just shy of being a Borg. The guy’s fully cybernetic, and it’s really interesting why. In their universe, when Tendi left, he didn’t want to feel it anymore, so he just threw himself into his work. It’s a pretty close parallel to what our Rutherford’s going through.
So our Rutherford reprograms his alternate’s brain so that he’s willing to make friends. “What are you doing?” “Just making a small adjustment to your friendship matrix.” “I am not here to make friends.” “There.” “I am here to make friends.”
They get to know each other, and Rutherford starts to realize he’s got to continue life. He can’t do this the way he thought he was going to do it.
Blue Orions
On the B plot, Tendi is still with the Orions, dealing with the fact that her crew always wants to kill people. She’s trying to get them to stop that and change how they are. Then they run into blue Orions.
Green Orions, blue Orions. That’s a great callback to the old animated series, if you’re familiar with it at all. Blue is what the animated series did with Orions, and they match it right down to the outfit. It’s pretty funny.
One of Tendi’s officers stabs one of them and almost kills him. Tendi tells her crew to go, she’s going to check on things, and once they leave she heals him real quick. So he files a complaint with the queen of the Orions for unpirate-like conduct. Now they’re being brought up on charges, if you will, and that’s the next episode.
The Second Half of Something
Episode two picks up right on the heels of episode one, and I’m actually very glad they put them together. They don’t call it a two-parter, but it’s definitely the second half of something. Mariner got to see where she could have been, and ultimately so did Boimler.
At the end of the last episode, Boimler stole his alternate’s PADD, which has all of his alternate’s information on it. Now, I don’t know that this technically breaks any Starfleet rules, only because it’s parallel information and nothing in it comes from the future. He sees all the things that made the other Boimler awesome, and he wants to be that. He’s already started growing some whiskers. He has a team. And he’s got these pointers, which they call bointers.
I thought it was fun. It’s fun to see Boimler being successful on any level, because Lord knows that man has a hard time.
While he’s trying his best, Mariner shows up. She’s trying to be less like her alternate, so she leans very heavily into the idea of, hey man, why don’t you be the fun boss? Let them go, take a break. “Come on, be the fun boss, Boims.” “The fun boss. I could be the fun boss. Brad Boimler, fun boss. Yeah, I’ll do it. I’m in.”
That turned out to be the wrong decision, because they get kidnapped.
The Down With Capitalism Episode
The mission is on a planet that’s just entered a post-scarcity era. Replicator technology exists there now, and they’re getting rid of all the money. It’s basically the Down With Capitalism episode, and the Cerritos is there to help with the switchover.
A whole bunch of rich folks can’t stand the idea of not being at the top of the hill anymore. So they take hostages, and two of the people they take are Boimler’s officers. Mariner helps Boimler rescue them, and in the middle of the rescue you find out they faked their deaths using his bointers. They found a bug, and the bug makes them look dead. It’s an interesting storyline.
Tendi Lassos a Comet
The big storyline in episode two is the flip of episode one. This time it’s Tendi.
Like I said, the blue Orions complained to the queen, and when you complain to the queen she makes you go on a race. I don’t know why a pirate culture is racing. I would have assumed something closer to an “Amok Time,” some sort of death trial, or trial by knives. But nope. The blue Orion house has challenged the Tendi family, and they have to abide by the rules of the challenge: race out, get the prize, come back. If they lose, their entire wealth gets stripped from them and handed to their opponents.
Adding insult to injury, Tendi finds out her sister’s pregnant. “But there’s just too much on the line. And now I have to keep my pregnancy secret.”
Tendi’s worried, and she’s Starfleet worried, not Orion worried. She doesn’t want her sister to hurt herself. She almost loses them the whole competition because she’s so worried about her sister having a kid. They crash, and the blue Orions pass them, make it out there, and start back.
Then, by coincidence and plot armor, there’s a comet coming by, and Tendi manages to lasso the comet. Yes, just like that. Who does this? Apparently she does.
They manage to attack the blue Orions and get on their ship, and Tendi, genius that she is, destroys the prize. Which pisses off the queen. “You blew it up!” “It was a tie. Pretty smart, right?” “No! Everyone loses. The Syndicate will be taking both of your houses’ wealth.”
Nobody’s kicked out on the street. All their wealth gets taken away, and that’s it.
So Tendi goes home, and when she gets there, she finds out they need help disposing of the wealth of this other planet. I don’t have to tell you. I really don’t. She ends up saving the day for her family, and she’s going to be an auntie in the process.
The Verdict
Star Trek: Lower Decks gets two numbers on the Know-It-All Index for its season 5 premiere: a 7 out of 10 for the first episode, “Dos Cerritos,” and an 8 out of 10 for the second, “Shades of Green.”
The first one’s not bad. It sets the stage and gets everything started. It isn’t the best episode in the world, but it’s a good solid seven, and it’s the first of the last batch.
I intended to score both episodes and then give a combined number for the premiere, and I’m not going to. The second episode I liked better. It was clearly the end of that particular line. Eight out of 10, for sure.
Star Trek is back, and I’m excited. Lower Decks is wonderful. Baby Know-It-All apologizes that she wasn’t able to make it this morning, poor thing. She’s going to college now, so she’s older, she’s wiser, and she’s exhausted. She’s going to make an effort to get some more rest and be on the show next week. Don’t worry, you’ll absolutely see her on the next one.
Let me know what you thought of both episodes, and whether you’re as excited as I am that Star Trek is back. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
