The second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks is a revelation. The trial and error of the first season is over, the lessons learnt, and the show has evolved into a confident and assured Star Trek comedy. The season manages to be both of those things: a Star Trek show and a comedy, and while once those two aspects may have seemed at odds with each other, the show has now found the perfect balancing point where tone and genre feel aligned. And while still occasionally frantic, the show is content with being calmer, quieter, and, bluntly, less annoying than it was with season 1. When Lower Decks was announced it seemed like it would be a funky side dish for the franchise, a little spice while the live action shows tackled the more standard Star Trek fare. But that’s not the case. Season 2 proves that, alongside Prodigy, Lower Decks is the heir apparent of the franchise, being a genuinely brilliant Star Trek show.
I would happily watch the stories told this season in a serious, live action, 45-minute Star Trek series. But that’s not to say the jokes get in the way or hold the show back. The season manages to be a great Star Trek show alongside the humour, because of the humour. Lower Decks is often compared to The Orville but I think they are only similar on the surface. After an okay first season, I stopped watching The Orville not far into its second because it started to pull back from the comedy and position itself as a more serious show. That’s not what I want: I’d rather just watch old episodes of The Next Generation than an imitation. Lower Decks increases the stakes, the drama, the character conflict, the serialised elements, all while keeping the comedy. It’s still trying to be bold and new, with medieval fantasy worlds and more sex jokes that they somehow, shockingly, make feel natural to Star Trek.
With the show finding its footing, it now feels like a comedy from an inside perspective on Star Trek rather than when the first season often felt like outside fans making gags that seemed abnormal within the franchise itself. Yet Lower Decks is no less meta. In fact, now that the show has established itself it can start making meta jokes about itself. Tendi and Mariner recognise that they’ve never paired up for a mission, allowing the writers to poke fun at themselves. And while each episode works as a standalone adventure, a 22-minute comedy, each instalment builds character and story arcs expertly, leading up to Lower Decks’ masterpiece, Wej Duj, with only a few very minor issues on the way.
Best Character: Brad Boimler
Mariner was the star of the first season; every other character was simply in her orbit. The focus expands in the second. Rutherford and Tendi are better served yet perhaps still playing second fiddle, and Boimler is vastly improved. Showrunner Mike McMahan claims that Mariner and Boimler are both right and just solve problems in very different ways. But too often the first season presented Boimler as wrong, needing to follow Mariner’s example, aiding in her development rather than developing himself. Season 2 supports Boimler’s perspective much more and he even gets to be a hero, in both little ways and by sacrificing himself in the finale, a literal death and rebirth as he grows as a character, emulating the Starfleet heroes he so admires.
It turns out that I like Jack Quaid as Boimler much more when he’s not being directed to shout all his lines. Now that he’s not screaming quite so much, Boimler can be the mouthpiece of classic Star Trek values. He gets to voice the wonderful Starfleet perspective and by supporting him rather than making him the butt of the joke, Lower Decks as a whole becomes a more accomplished Star Trek series. Through him the show can comment that it’s not violent action that people enjoy about the franchise but exploration, friendships, seeing people love their work, and cello recitals.
Boimler’s evolution feels earned. His experience on the Titan across the opening two episodes has made him much more of an equal to Mariner. The first season seemed to think he was the new ensign on the Cerritos when that was Tendi. His arc this season allows him to work out where he belongs, what kind of officer and hero he can be. I really enjoyed seeing him team up with Rutherford in the fourth episode Mugato, Gumato in which he saves Mariner by negotiating with a Ferengi, showcasing his development since the first season’s second episode.
Worst Episode: Strange Energies (S2E1)
While the second season is a huge improvement overall, it doesn’t immediately seem like it. I want to discuss what works this season so I’ll take a lead from the show and get the worst out of the way with first. I remember the premiere being a disappointment when I first saw it. After growing so much as a show in the final two episodes of the first season, Lower Decks returns with a weak effort. While I now don’t find it as such a drastic step down, Strange Energies is the weakest instalment of the season. Too much of it acts as a recap episode, catching the audience up on the characters and what happened at the end of last season. Are episodes like this still needed? In the streaming age, no one is catching the first episode of the second season as the introduction of the show when the first season is right there to watch. Lower Decks could have made a meta joke about this, Mariner commenting on how expositional her logs and dialogue are, but it’s an aspect of the episode tackled with surprising sincerity.
The first half of Strange Energies recaps while the second half resets. The big shake-ups of the season 1 finale are not quite so big after all. Mariner and her mother, Captain Freeman, go back to agreeing not to work together, which is understandable but I would have liked to see them interact more during this brief respite from antagonism, maybe pairing them together on an adventure rather than Mariner and Ransom. Ransom is transformed into a Gary Mitchell-inspired godlike being, which is fun but the joke wears a thin by the end. Meanwhile the usually ever-reliable Tendi and Rutherford B-plot also has its issues. Tendi’s characterisation is pushed too far for my taste, literally torturing Rutherford and threatening to cut out his brain because his personality is slightly different after his implant was reinstalled. Of course, Rutherford is then back to normal by the end and Tendi faces no consequences for her selfish actions. Lower Decks is a crazy comedy but I still want it to adhere to some Star Trek morals.
Best Reference: Boimler stating “It was a bunch of complex characters thrown into heavily serialised battles, which always ended in mind-blowing twists and made me question the basic tenets of my reality” in Kayshon, His Eyes Open (S2E2)
Discounting what has to be an intentional Mad Men reference in the season finale (“I don’t think about you at all”) it’s the second episode, Kayshon, His Eyes Open, which has the richest supply of easter eggs and references. Yet my favourite isn’t found on the collector’s ship and instead comes from Boimler, speaking about how he didn’t enjoy his time on the Titan and yearned for the gentler, warmer adventures of the Cerritos. It’s a well judged meta comment on the majority of modern Star Trek being huge, heavy, action dramas which to fail to capture the franchise’s heart. On the episode’s audio commentary, Mike McMahan frames it more as a loving jibe, that those shows are great, just different, yet its hard for me to see it as anything other than disparaging. I’m surprised but glad the line got through to the finished episode. What really makes it work is the realisation I had when I first heard it: Boimler’s right. As crude and bold a step into a new genre as Lower Decks is, it is the true inheritor of The Next Generation, capturing that spirit.
Best Joke: Shaxs’ unexplained resurrection in We’ll Always Have Tom Paris (S2E3)
When I first saw this episode I was pissed that Shaxs was back from the dead. I thought it was such a bad decision and would be shocked to learn my future self wouldn’t only have come around on the idea but name it the best joke of the season. I’ve changed my mind for three reasons: 1) While it does lessen the impact of his death in the first season finale and speak of a lack of consequences in the show, I’ll accept exchanging that for four more seasons of Shaxs because he’s one of the funniest characters on the show. 2) His replacement, Kayshon, a Tamarian from the classic TNG episode Darmok, is fun but it soon becomes clear he’s a one joke character. 3) It’s just a really funny joke.
Vaguely explained resurrections aren’t just a Star Trek thing, and Star Wars has probably become the worst offender, but the reaction to Shaxs suddenly being back is hilarious because it commits to Rutherford’s lower decks point-of-view. He’s just an ensign and wouldn’t be privy to the details of the officers’ lives (and deaths). He’s just minding his own business and suddenly Shaxs is walking down a corridor, back from the dead. It made me think of how knowledge of Spock’s resurrection would or wouldn’t have spread. There are some great moments of Rutherford wanting to bring it up but wary of how Shaxs will take it, and the final reveal that the junior ranks aren’t told the details not because the bridge crew dismiss them but because the truth is so unknowably cosmically terrifying that it scars any who learn it is great.
Worst Reference & Joke: Mariner prank calling Armus in The Spy Humongous (S2E6)
This is a reference which feels too much like an out-of-universe fan joke than something that should exist within the franchise itself. As fans, we can admit that Armus sucks. He looks stupid, like a trash bag covered in tar. Yet within Star Trek he’s supposed to be scary and threatening, a manifestation of pure evil who has the rare distinction of killing a lead character: Tasha Yar. Within the rules of the franchise, he should be feared, so the gang crank calling him, telling him he’s “a puddle of shit,” destroys the sense that this show is taking place within continuity. Every viewer will have a different threshold for this and the Armus scene encroaches on mine. It’s not a particularly funny joke anyway but even so lessens the impact of other related storytelling, and even though the original Armus ‘Skin of Evil’ episode is terrible, it doesn’t mean its events and characters should just become a joke within the canon. It hurts the idea that these characters are Starfleet instead of just Star Trek fans.
Best Guest Star: Jeffrey Combs as AGIMUS in Where Pleasant Fountains Lie (S2E7)
Honouring Star Trek’s past and ensuring it fits snuggly amongst the other shows in the franchise’s legacy, Lower Decks does what all Star Trek shows should and casts Jeffrey Combs. I’m shocked that Combs has yet to appear in any of the modern live action shows. I would have cast him in all of them, in multiple roles. Combs is a great cult actor, deeply appreciated by a dedicated group of fans, and some of his best work has been in Star Trek, particularly his roles in Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. Lower Decks lets him have a lot of fun as an evil sentient computer, desperately and humorously trying to manipulate Boimler, which is a new type of role for Combs and very classically Star Trek. He’s often brought humour to his past roles and he’s a perfect fit for Lower Decks. The only issue is that its only one role he’s playing, bringing his franchise total up to ten, although thankfully it’s recurring. AGIMUS will return…
Best Episode: Wej Duj (S2E9)
Wej Duj is not only the best episode of the season but likely all of Lower Decks, and one of the best instalments of the franchise in decades. It’s truly that good, and has even improved on each rewatch. It’s a very Star Trek-y episode but also very Lower Decks. The episode expands its specific perspective and looks at the lower decks of three ships, including Vulcan and Klingon vessels. We see the uniting universal features of all these species, the common issues they face, but the episode stays true to the specificities of each race, too. At first the episode seems like a mini anthology, an off-duty episode without a major plot, yet the three stories soon become cleverly weaved together and Wej Duj is ultimately the key to the season’s serialised plot. This means it offers the best of both worlds: classic Star Trek low stakes character beats while on an extended warp and a huge battle with real stakes and reveals.
The episode does the impossible and gives us a Vulcan comedy. The Klingon storyline is great but it’s the Vulcans who are the true stars. Seeing T’Lyn, essentially the Vulcan Mariner, ostracised because she has the smallest emotional displays is both funny and fascinating. One small vocal inflection and the crew acts like she’s lost control. The desire could have been to play the Vulcans more obviously for comedy but I love their portrayal here, it’s genuinely some of the best Vulcan storytelling and dialogue we’ve ever gotten. Kathryn Lyn’s script, her one and only for the show, is so rich in character. Even Ransom gets a nice moment in the end showing some growth, which the show wouldn’t have committed to in the first season. And then it all concludes in a thrilling final battle where the action and music are as good as any huge Star Trek adventure. This rewatch has cemented it: Wej Duj is a masterpiece.
Biggest Disappointment: First First Contact (S2E10)
I first started doing this ‘Best and Worst’ format to discuss seasons of The X-Files, a wildly inconsistent show, and thought it would fit Star Trek just as well. Lower Decks season 2 has destroyed the format completely because there are very few elements I dislike to name as the worst. The second season finale is good. I like it. But considering the preceding episodes, I would just about call it a mild disappointment. Wej Duj is certainly hard to follow. Instead of a big battle or conflict with an enemy, I do enjoy that the season ends with a sci-fi problem to solve, a rescue mission. Yet there are some elements which feel contrived to ramp up the tension. The switch they need to flip just happens to be at the bottom of the Cetacean Ops pool and the episode falls back on characters constantly swearing to make it all seem more dramatic.
I also dislike conflict that arises from miscommunication and could be resolved simply by characters talking, so Tendi mistakenly thinking she’s being transferred is a weak point. I also wish we’d had a medical-focused episode before she gets transferred to the bridge crew; there’s a missed opportunity there. Jennifer is the one to save Mariner at a pivotal moment when I think it would have made more sense for it to be her mother considering their arc this season, whereas Jennifer comes out of nowhere and is suddenly a big deal this episode. And finally, it’s nice to see Sonya Gomez from TNG back but I think there’s a reason why actress Lycia Naff hasn’t acted much since: she’s not very good here. But that’s it, I’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel looking for things I dislike.
Season 2 Episode Ranking:
10. Strange Energies (S2E1)
9. An Embarrassment of Dooplers (S2E5)
8. The Spy Humongous (S2E6)
7. Mugato, Gumato (S2E4)
6. First First Contact (S2E10)
5. Where Pleasant Fountains Lie (S2E7)
4. We’ll Always Have Tom Paris (S2E3)
3. Kayshon, His Eyes Open (S2E2)
2. I, Excretus (S2E8)
1. Wej Duj (S2E9)
The second season of Lower Decks is perhaps the best of modern Star Trek, alongside the first season of Prodigy. It’s a brilliant accomplishment, and the show thankfully didn’t have to wait until its third year to ‘grow its beard.’ I’m very curious to revisit the third season of Lower Decks and see how it holds up. I remember it being solid but couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed after how strong I found the second season. Expect the next instalment of Best and Worst, covering season 3, in the coming weeks.
