TREK REVIEW - Lower Decks 4-6 - 4-8

4-6 - "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place"

A highlight of the season so far, the sixth episode takes us back to Ferenginar, a planet we used to visit quite regularly on Deep Space 9 but haven't seen since. Surprisingly, for a series so involved in Trek lore, Lower Decks hasn't spent a great deal of time moving the Trek universe forward, generally leaving this kind of thing to the live action shows. We've previously had a DS9 follow-up episode with 3-6, "Hear All, Trust Nothing" (perhaps episode six could become an annual DS9 tribute) but all that really told us about the post-Nemesis era is that some limited negotiations have started with Dominion members.

"Parth Ferengi's Heart Place" (love that title) on the other hand takes a big step forward by showing us the Ferengi Alliance's application to join the United Federation of Planets, a huge deal and one that would have been unthinkable when the Ferengi were first introduced. Under the rule of Grand Nagus Rom, though, things are different. (Plus, Discovery suggests that the Ferengi join sometime before the 32nd century, albeit nothing more concrete than that.)

Like "Hear All," we have a favourite Bajoran and Ferengi return, with Chase Masterson and Max Grodenchik once again voicing Leeta and Rom, now the first couple of the Alliance. (Like Armin Shimerman in that earlier episode, Grodenchik sounds quite different, likely partly due to age but mostly due to not having to perform lines with a mouth full of jagged false teeth.) I loved Rom's characterisation in this episode: he's the moderate Ferengi, of course, but he's still a Ferengi, and his commitment to not merely get a good deal for Ferenginar, but ensure that his culture is respected by the Federation is perfect.

On Ferenginar itself, Tendi and Rutherford up the will-they-won't-they stakes when they have to play a happy couple, and while I was disappointed they didn't finally get together, at least they were forced to face their attraction to each other, even if they're both doing their best to ignore or deny it. Surely we'll see them in a clinch by the end of the season? This is silly but beautifully realised comedy work, and while it's a sitcom cliche to have two characters have to fake being romantically involved, the added layer of jeopardy makes it work. Of course faking a relationship to get a special discount package would be a crime on Ferenginar.

There's a lot going on in this episode. Boimler's addiction to Ferengi TV is the smallest part of the story, but works pretty well, while Mariner is finally facing up to her self-destructive tendencies. It's good to see her character slowly moving forward. Nice to see her buddy Quimp again, who previously appeared in "Envoys," only the second episode of the series. Fun though these storylines are, they're C-plots, and it's the Rom/Leeta/Freeman and Tendi/Rutherford plots that make the episode work.

Fun bits and callbacks:

• We last visited Ferenginar on DS9 5.20, "Ferengi Love Songs," 27 years ago in real life and about ten years earlier in-universe. 
• The Ferengi viewscreen logo is suspiciously siilar to the Paramount logo.
• We have a new Rule of Acquisition: No. 8 - "Small print leads to large risk."
• The episode's title is a reference to the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, and might be the best title this series has ever given us.
• Quark's Federation Experience Bar & Grill is basically the Star Trek Experience in the late 90s to 00s. 
• If the Ferengi really did have to ensure Kronos' accession to the Federation, they'd be waiting around 150 years based on the glimpse of events we saw on Enterprise (albeit from a future that now won't come about).
• Gay space dog!
• Quote of the week: "We also need someone to act as a couple. And since the Cerritos is statistically the horniest and least romantically committed crew in Starfleet, we have no married officers aboard."

4-7 - "A Few Badgeys More"

After a delve into the post-DS9 universe and its sundry Ferengi references, Lower Decks embraces its own growing mythology with an episode that brings together and pretty much shuts down some long-running plotlines. Having Badgey resurface in deep space, at exactly the same time as Peanut Hamper and Agimus leave their confinement at the Daystrom Institute is a bit of a coincidence, but at least the show is big enough to lampshade that. The episode as a whole is a good poke at the proliferatio of evil AIs as villains throughout modern Trek; not that the franchise has ever been free of them, but frankly, you can hardly move for killer computers lately. The fact that Starfleet has a special prison just for mad computers, and that it's chock to burst with them, is hilarious.

As silly as this episode is, it's actually a strong story about moving past animosity and finding another path. Badgey's evolution to the next phase of existence might be a bit on the nose, but the fact that it comes about partly due to Rutherford accepting his responsibility as the hologram's creator is overdue. It's good to see Peanut Hamper get to be more than a raving villain, since there was really not a lot left to do with that storyline, and while Agimus took a little longer, he got there in the end. We were overdue some Agimus time, which, criminally, remains the only role for Jeffrey Combs in modern Trek.

Having the Drookmani salvage Badgey is a nice touch, adding to the feel of this episode embracing Lower Decks itself rather than Trek as a whole, but it was nice to see the Bynars back too. Finally we get some answers about the msyterious ship that has taken out Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi and Cardassians before attacking the Bynars, and while the episode naturally blew my Peanut Hamper as Big Bad theory out the water, it does pose an intriguing question. Who stands to gain by making it look like they're destroying ships when they're actually stealing them?

Fun bits and callbacks:

• Badgey's short-lived takeover of the Federation includes Deep Space 9 and T'Lyn's old ship, the VCF Sh'Val.
• Will we ever get a proper explanation for the mysterious cosmic koala?
• Peanut Hamper goes home to the orbital station above Tyrus 7-A, where the exocomps were created in TNG "The Quality of Life."
• Going back even further, this is the first proper appearance of the Bynars since the first season TNG episode "11001001" over 35 years ago.
• Orion beaches don't have sand, they have pebbles, just like proper beaches.

4-8 - "Caves"

Ah, this one was a little treat, wasn't it? I love the idea of basing an entire episode around the franchise's over-reliance on cave-based stories, even lampshading the fact that from the 80s through to the 00s Paramount used one very fake-looking cave set over and over and over. It's even funnier that what we have here is basically a clip-and-bottle episode, the sort of thing that a series wheels out when they've spent all the budget earlier in the season, only with entirely new material based on an animated series, just perversely unnecessary. 

Giving us a quickfire round of smaller stories is a good way of providing the Lower Decks style of busy episode without overegging it; each story is done and dusted nice and simply, then onto the next. While the individual stories are slight, they all come together to show us how the Lower Deckers have begun t develop and move on with their careers, while reinforcing that, just because they don't have as much time for each other now, they're still the best of Starfleet buds. Aw.

Just to make sure we don't get too smooshy, there's plenty of weird and gruesome stuff here (the poor ensign's leg falling off after healing misshapenly really was nasty), making it the most Rick and Morty-esque episode for a while, but without the unrelenting nihilism.

This episode gives us a nice breather before the the climactic events we're promised for the final two instalments, so it's nice to just kick back and listen to our guys tell stories to some sentient moss. 

Fun bits and callbacks:

• The Vendorians were created for the Animated Series episode "The Survivor," way back in 1973. It's a bit weird that Boimler didn't believe in them, considering he met one in his second episode (the aforementioned "Envoys").
• Planets visited: Boimler's story occurs on Kyron 4, Rutherford got impregnated on Balkus 9, and Mariner led Delta Shift on the planet Gish. The framing story takes place on Grottonus.
• Tendi's story takes place right after the very first episode of Lower Decks, "Second Contact."
• While Levy is an obvious (and deserving) pisstake of online conspiracy idiots, given the number of conspiracies actually happening in and around Starfleet you can't feel too angry with the guy.
• The idea that the Vendorians faked the subspace damage caused by high warp (revealed in the late TNG episode "Force of Nature"), but given how quickly this was forgotten about, it's a fair assumption that it was faked.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-7 - "Dominion"

 SPOILERS from the outset.

"Dominion" is a mix of the excellent and the irritating, that comes together to make an overall strong episode, albeit one that stops at a frustrating point. 

On the plus side, this episode features some of the best cast performances so far this season. Brent Spiner is as good as ever, flitting between Data and Lore, while Levar Burton gives easily his best ever performance as Geordi. It's a good indication of how he's matured as an actor over the years, with his scene as the grief-stricken and desperate Geordi as he speaks to the android by far the best work he's done in the role. Both Stewart and McFadden are also on top form this episode, particularly in their quiet yet intense scenes together, discussing the lengths to which they are prepared to go in their mission.

Ed Speeler and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut continue to show excellent chemistry, although their scene in the turbolift is a bit weird. Not only does Sydney have a very specific flirting routine, and Jack doing something slightly different puts her off, when he does touch her hand at the right moment this freaks her out. Sure, we know he's reading her mind, but surely from her perspective he's just doing something perfectly normal that she wanted him to do anyway? Christ, I'm glad I'm not dating this woman. Fortunately, their later scenes during the Changeling assault show that they make an excellent team, and this sequence actually makes Jack's sudden, newfound telepathy work as a plot point.

This is really Vadic's episode, though. Amanda Plummer, allowed to do more than chew the scenery, is absolutely phenomenal, with Vadic coming into her own as a powerful and almost justified villain. The flashbacks to her torture at the hands of a Federation scientist make for a potent and disturbing origin story, and one that is all too believable. I suspect many Trek purists will balk at this darker side to the supposedly utopian Federation, just as they balked at the dirty secrets and warfare of Deep Space Nine. I prefer this take, though, for reminding us that there is always the temptation to break the moral code when you think the ends justify the means. I love how Picard keeps trying to point out that the Federation gave the Changelings the cure to the disease that almost wiped them out, while Vadic points out that not only did they create the disease in the first place, once it came to light, even the public face of the UFP voted not to give it to them. It was only Odo and his comrades on DS9 who saved the Changelings, and then the Federation continued to experiment on their enemies.

Of course, Vadic conveniently forgets that the Dominion was also happy to commit genocide against the Cardassians, and that it had used biological warfare numerous times in the Gamma Quadrant. Her mission is not truly justified - not least because many innocents will surely die if she completes it - but it is entirely undersandable. Once she takes the Titan, it's hard not to feel a surge of triumph on her behalf.

Unfortunately, to get us to this point, the plot has to take some ridiculous and contrived turns. The forcefield battle and trap on the Titan is brilliant, but it's hard to see how Vadic could fall for it, especially as she was surely unaware that Lore was hiding in there to help her escape. Why, indeed, did Picard and Geordi leave the new android plugged in at all, knowing that Lore was in there and threatening to assert dominance? Sadly, all too often, to get a plot to function supposedly intelligent characters have to do very stupid things.

The episode gives us both questions and answers, predictable moments and surprises, and it's satisfying that this season isn't simply a folow-up to The Next Generation, but to the entire TNG-era. Tim Russ making an appearance as Tuvok (or not, as it turned out to be) was a nice touch and a genuine surprise, and I understand from his tweets post-broadcast that he'll be back again, so hopefully real Tuvok will appear before the series is done. The mysterious, swirling face is heavily implied to not be a Changeling itself, and the list of possible villains is getting slimmer. (You just know it has to be someone we've met before. My money is on Sela, as she has unfinished and it would give Denise Crosby a chance to return to the fold, but frankly it's a wild guess.) Somehow less interesting is the truth about Jack's nature, and Picard's in relation to him, as it all feels a little too contrived. Still, it looks like we'll be getting answers to these questions shortly, and not before time.

Random Thoughts:

Setting much of the episode in the debris field of the Chin'toka system is a nice touch, showing more of the fallout of the Dominion War.

Interesting that the Vulcans still have warships, though. We know from Lower Decks that they retain their own fleet, but a warship doesn't seem like their style post-Enterprise era.

Seemingly forgotten is that Lal is also within the new android, along with Data, Lore and the dormant personalities of Altan Soong and B-4. Unless, of course, this is being deliberately overlooked for a surprise development later.

Dr. Crusher is still talking like Wesley is dead, and not actually having a great time travelling time and space.

The mysterious face who likes to give orders is now named Serious Beef, thanks to a comment I made on the Star Trek Shitposting FB group being picked up. Whoever they turn out to be, I shall always think of them as Serious Beef.

TREK REVIEW: PIC 3-5 "Imposters"

SPOILERS from the outset.

Another very strong episode, a taut thriller which delivers some surprises, albeit more in terms of unexpected returning characters than plot twists. The big deal in this episode is, of course, the return of Michelle Forbes as Ro Laren, thirty years since her last appearance on TNG: “Pre-emptive Strike.” I had genuinely avoided any spoilers regarding this, and among all the many returning faces given away in the trailers before, seeing Ro again was a true surprise. Playing on the Changeling conspiracy with it, so we kept questioning whether it was really her to begin with, added an extra layer to an already tense reunion.

Forbes and Stewart are electric together, the once protégé confronting the teacher she betrayed. As beautifully done as it is, though, I’m not entirely happy with it. After all, as I said, it was thirty years ago, and it doesn’t seem like Picard to have been nursing this grudge so venomously for so long. He claims to have been planning what he’d say to Ro all that time, yet not once has he mentioned it on screen since the aforementioned episode. Yes, this was right at the end of The Next Generation, and it's not surprising that it wasn’t followed up in the films or previous series of Picard among all the many other elements. Still, while it’s good to finally have some closure on Ro’s story, Picard’s simmering anger with her seems to come out of nowhere. While last week it was Shaw who channelled Sisko, this time it’s Picard, whose attitude to Ro is almost identical to Sisko’s hatred of the other major Maquis turncoat, Eddington.

Yet, it’s hard to be turned off by this, given how exceptional the performances are, and it’s way beyond time Forbes came back to the fold. It’s common enough knowledge that the creators of DS9 originally wanted Ro as a main character, and that Kira was created as a replacement when Forbes said no. As much as I love Nana Visitor, I feel we missed out on an even more powerful dynamic that Forbes would have brought to the series. At least she’s back…

… and then they kill her. I’m not against major character deaths, and Picard is certainly not afraid to bump off legacy characters, but we really needed more time with Ro. I understand that killing her was intended to show that no one is safe, but with this being the last last hurrah for the TNG crew, we already know that major characters can be killed.

After missing out last week, we’re back with Worf and Raffi, and they’re as good together as ever. I loved Kirk Avecedo as the villainous Vulcan Krinn. I understand that he’s another of Matalas’s Twelve Monkeys stalwarts, along with Aaron “Sneed” Stanford, but to me he’s always going to be Charlie from Fringe. The idea of a Vulcan who has become a crime lord because he’s deduced that crime is a logical and unavoidable element of society, so he might as well be the one organising it, is a great one. The fight between Raffi and Worf was fun, an obvious callback to the Kirk-Spock deathmatch in TOS: “Amok Time” (but what it was really missing was that classic TOS fight music). Still, I’m glad that the season’s threads are tying up and that we’re finally moving on from M’Talas Prime.

The Changeling threat gets more interesting, with the revelation that this a new breed of shapeshifter that actively mimics human blood and organs a logical progression of their infiltration techniques (so it seems their new look is deliberately “fleshy,” compared to their translucent old style). Equally intriguing is Jack’s ongoing trouble with alien visions, and his sudden superhero moment where he takes out a whole bunch of shapeshifters. He’s seemingly some kind of sleeper agent, but who or what placed him there? This feels like it might be one mystery too many, but hopefully it’ll all be tied up satisfactorily in the end. My concern is that we’re halfway through the season and the characters are only now finding answers and moving onto new locations. I fear that we’re going to have the same rushed ending issues as the previous two seasons.

Random Thoughts:

Names of interest on Worf’s feed include Morn of Luria (he never shuts up), his one-time associate Larell, Brunt (FCA) and Thadiun Okona (the one whose managed to appear on Lower Decks and Prodigy lately – you know, the guy who’s like what you’d get if you ordered Han Solo from Wish).

New ship alert: the USS Intrepid NCC-79520, apparently Duderstadt-class. I don’t enjoy the constant fan negativity when it comes to new ship designs, but that’s one ugly vessel. It looks like it’s bum’s the wrong way round.

Picard speaks Bajoran, it seems. He offers Ro some Bajoran springwine – she looks like more of a spirit drinker to me.

The mobile holographic emitter, cribbed by the Doctor from the 29^th century, is now on the market to intelligence operatives and criminal lowlifes.

Although there hardly seems to be room for yet more legacy characters in the season, it definitely sounds like they’re building to an appearance by Admiral Janeway.

Worst line of the week:

“Is it a new species?”

“No… it’s evolution.”

Christ, Crusher’s always been lumbered with nonsensical pseudoscientific dialogue, but doesn’t she understand that’s what evolution is?

TREK REVIEW; PIC 3-3 - "Seventeen Seconds"

 SPOILERS, naturally.

And suddenly, the season went from being good to bloody great.

Last week I quibbled about wanting to know what's going on, having seen the previous two seasons spend too long getting to the core of the plot and having serious pacing issues because of it. I needn't have worried. Although the events remain stuck in the same places as in the end of episode one - a mysterious, unusual nebula and the seedy streets of M'Talas Prime - they're pushing forward, and while the claustrophobic tension increases, we suddenly learn a lot more about what's going on behind the scenes in the galaxy.

On the Titan, Captain Shaw is incapacitated by Vadic's attack, with the absolute pummeling the ship takes this episode proving him completely right about the folly of getting involved here at the edge of space. Todd Stashwick's performance, combined with some solid writing, have made Shaw move from the nasty character who opposes our heroes to the one we all finding ourselves siding with. He's the only one, somehow, to realise that Vadic must be tracking the Titan somehow, as if the idea they're trailing something is so difficult for all these Starfleet geniuses to come up with. (I don't know, maybe they're all just overconfident.)

Sadly, this pushes Shaw out of the episode, but there's more than enough going on elsewhere. I love that he puts Riker in command, not Picard, in spite of the elder man being the ranking officer. It's clear that, while he doesn't much like the former Titan captain, he can't stand the legendary Jean-Luc Picard, and you can understand why. Last week I mentioned how Jack was very much Picard in his youth, reckless and irresponsible but well-meaning, while Shaw is rather like early-TNG, all duty and by-the-book, not friendly with his crew but garnering their respect. 

Contemporary Picard has come through the other side, being familiar, morally-bound and courageous, but he's come right back through to reckless again. Riker, who has a more recent and keenly felt loss, is more cautious and introspective than we once knew him. Their command roles are switched, just as their personas have changed with time. It's great to see them at each other's throats after so many years being on good terms. We barely got a cross word between them on TNG (thanks to Roddenberry's drama-killing "no human conflict" rule), and you can't help but feel that there's nearly forty years' pent-up resentment between these men, finally coming out.

On the other hand, we have the confrontation between Picard and Crusher, and here it's hard not to feel sympathetic to old JL. It's entirely understandable that Beverly would fear for son's safety as the child of the legendary Picard, especially given how his approach became more gung-ho in the movies and beyond. Plus, let's not forget the one time that he thought he did have a son, because the Ferengi Daimon Bok wanted revenge so badly that he faked a DNA test. If someone did find out that Jack was Picard Jr, he probably would be in danger from certain elements. On the other hand, Beverly has been living an even more dangerous life on the edge of the law with her son, breaking all manner of treaties and seeing him become a wanted man, all by the age of twenty (yes, Ed Speelers is about 34, but that's how the years add up, no two ways about it). Something doesn't quite ring true.

Elsewhere, Raffi and Worf become a wonderful new double-act, with Dorn in particular shining as the older, wryer Klingon. "Beheadings are on Wednesdays" - and they say this guy doesn't have a sense of humour. Dorn has, famously, appeared in more instalments of the Trek franchise than any other actor, all as Worf (except The Undiscovered Country, where he played Worf's grandfather... Worf). He's great, but his long-championed Worf series never sounded particularly appealing, until now. I'd watch these two snipe at each other on undercover missions for hours.

Both storylines finally come together with the revelations that, a) Vadic has the portal gun (obvs), and b) the Changelings are behind the plot. Now, that was a bit of a shock - not because they weren't a possibility (the changing faces line hinted at it), but because there were so many other possibilities, and DS9 so rarely gets any follow-up. We had that one episode of Lower Decks, and the odd little alien cameo or mention, and that was it for the legacy of the best series in Trek canon? (No, I will not take discussion on this.) An updated Changeling effect makes for a visually appealing, and not immediately obvious, reveal, and that it's a breakaway group, acting against the Founders, is intriguing. Of course the Changelings should hate the Federation after how they won the war.

Intriguing, though, is the clear implication that it isn't just the Changelings behind this. Is Vadic a Changeling? No reason why not, as such, but it somehow doesn't feel likely. As an aside, I loved the battle this week, with Amanda Plummer giving a much more subdued, more appealing performance, and the visual spectacle of the portal gun making for something new in space battles at last. (Riker has clearly never played Portal, and it shows.) It's very Wrath of Khan/Mutara Nebula, of course, but a newer, twistier version. Just as Khan couldn't quite grasp that he was in 3D space, not on the sea, Riker and Picard can't quite grasp that they're fighting something that can come from any angle, any time.

We learn, as well, that the portal gun isn't the prize at all, merely a handy bonus that can be used as a distraction. It's pretty clear that the actual aim of the heist was Lore and/or Moriarty, as we've already seen them in the trailers (perhaps keeping them a secret would have worked better?) Daystrom is, after all, known far more for AI than weapons development. I'm beginning to wonder if we're actually seeing a loose alliance of various beings with an axe to grind with the Federation (hey, maybe we will see the Conspiracy bugs after all).

Interestingly, we've seen that Lore and Moriarty will be visibly older, in spite of the de-ageing software used in the prologue for this episode. With Picard now 96 in-universe, it seems that being a synthetic life form doesn't protect one from the ravages of time. There's a definite theme of ageism in this episode, with Dr. Trill dismissing Crusher, then having to eat her words as Beverly effortlessly diagnoses Shaw. On the other hand, Picard and Riker seem to be genuinely out of their depth against this new threat. 

 All of this covered, and not once did we feel bogged down in exposition or that the pacing was lagging. Excellent work.

Random thoughts:

It's genuinely tricky watching this my partner Suzanne, who has an uncanny ability to guess left-field plot twists way ahead of the reveal. So if it turns out that Riker is actually Thomas Riker, and that's why he's so unconfident in command, she got there first.

Worf has taken to drinking chamomile tea. I hope he still drinks prune juice - it keeps you regular.

Thaddeus Troi-Riker, Will and Deanna's late son, was apparently born around 2381, the same year that Jack was conceived.

Thomas Dekker, who played the Changeling on M'Talas, also played young Thomas Picard on Star Trek Generations. He's about the same age as Ed Speelers. Makes me wonder if he auditioned for Jack Crusher.

Beverly agrees with my theory that Jack's accent is genetic... although it's really because he was schooled in London. We've given up any pretense that Picard is meant to sound French, then.

TREK REVIEWS on Television Heaven

 The new "Best of..." feature at Television Heaven continues with two reviews of classic Trek episodes (that's classic episodes of Trek, not episodes of Classic Trek). 

"Distant Origin," my favourite Trek episode ever, is up as the Best of Star Trek: Voyager, while the heartbreaking "The Visitor" is the Best of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

While you're there, you'll find the Best of Red Dwarf, the Best of Doctor Who and, from John Winterson Richards, the Best of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There'll be more to come soon.

TREK REVIEWS: Television Heaven series reviews

I've four new reviews up on Television Heaven covering the breadth of Star Trek for your reading pleasure.The cute and underrated kids' spin-off Star Trek: The Animated Series, the flawed but watchable Star Trek: Voyager, the equally flawed Enterprise (but my do I have a soft spot for it), and bringing us right up to date, a review of Star Trek: Picard S1 as a whole, to sit alongside my episode reviews on the blog.

While we're at it, John Winterson Richard and Peter Henshuls have covered the ever popular Star Trek: The Next Generation, the connoisseur's choice, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and along with site runner Laurence Marcus, they've gone back to the beginning with a look at the original Star Trek.