Star Trek: Lower Decks began loud and brash. By the time it reaches its third season, it’s almost as if the show has tired itself out, like an overactive child. It has toned itself down a little and turned down the volume a lot. After complaining about how headache-inducing the speed and volume was in the opening episodes, I find myself hypocritically longing for a bit more of that old style.
Season 3 is good. It’s solid and consistent, now truly comfortable and confident in its own place as a Star Trek show and a comedy. So don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it. But after a truly exceptional second season, it’s hard not to see the third as a disappointment and wish the show had continued that middle ground balancing act of Star Trek drama and wild comedy it found last year. Yet despite a small malaise over several episodes, there are still some highlights, some fantastic episodes. And this is the season that gave us Tendi in a towel so I can’t be too negative about it.
The second season also balanced serialised plots with standalone weekly stories very well while the third doesn’t cement what its ongoing storylines are until late in the season, the threads before then being weaved perhaps a little too subtly. And after 20 episodes, Lower Decks has exhausted much of its stockpile of Star Trek jokes and stories and so begins to fall back on more generic sitcom plots that aren’t as franchise-specific. Freeman making sure the crew is on best behaviour when a reporter visits the ship is essentially a ‘boss is coming around for dinner’ episode of every sitcom ever.
Yet regardless of the plots, the characters continue to shine. Rutherford and Tendi are better than ever and there’s a strong thematic throughline about identity in season 3. All the characters are trying to come to terms with who they are, both individually and within an institution like Starfleet, which has the potential to both stifle and strengthen individual talent. Mariner reckons with this, given a last chance to submit to the rules or leave for good, desperately trying to not fuck it up. I like this journey with her, particularly where it leads in the fantastic finale, which is so good it makes up for some of the lacklustre previous episodes, but Mariner is perhaps too pacified this season. It’s the quietest and most restrained she’s been and while I don’t want her to be at her season 1 level again, like with the season overall, I wish there was a bit more energy.
Unpopular Opinion: The Season 3 Premiere Is Better Than The Season 2 Finale
That’s right, I think the season premiere offers that most rare of things: a second part superior to the first. The second season ends on a classic Star Trek cliffhanger and if Lower Decks really wanted to ape its forebearers then it would ensure that the eventual resolution is a disappointment. Ever since The Best of Both Worlds, the second part is almost always the weaker episode. That seems to be the consensus here, too, looking at reviews and IMDB scores, but I disagree. I much prefer Grounded to First First Contact.
I think Grounded is one of the show’s standout funny episodes and has some fresh takes on the classic Trek formula. The twist at the end of last season came out of nowhere, had little time to cause an impact or make much sense, but here we sit with the consequences. Little comes of it plot-wise but it’s a key story for understanding Mariner and I like the characterful moments we get between her and her parents (finally getting scenes with her father rather than just brief cameos). It’s also an ‘Earth episode’, set on the planet, and after two whole seasons in space the show has earned that. Often the films and shows always returning to Earth is a crutch but it feels new here. That means the episode is packed with every earth-based reference and gag it can think of, from Sisko’s Creole Kitchen and vineyards, to the Golden Gate Bridge and Bozeman for some First Contact jokes. It’s also a ‘crew goes rogue’ story, which is also earned and allows for some appropriately hideous civilian clothing.
But the best part of the episode comes from the perspective only this show can offer. The big dramatic mission on Pakled Planet and the clearing of Captain Freeman’s name is revealed to have been happening offscreen, as if the plot of an imaginary show focusing on the Cerritos’ bridge crew. Our characters think they’re being the heroes, saving the day, but their actions are inconsequential to the wider plot yet important to the characters and their own lower decks story. It’s a nice subversion and a funny joke rather than a disappointment: a way to embrace the small jobs in Starfleet while the movie-scale stories happen in the background. It also makes Starfleet the good guys, an institution that can be trusted, which is refreshing after so much modern Star Trek paints them as a deeply flawed and almost villainous organisation.
Worst Storyline: Bold Boimler
I love Boimler’s growth across the second season. It felt natural, his time on the Titan giving him confidence and experience. But the third season does cheapen his continued evolution a little. It becomes a gimmick, a trope, a joke. Boimler decides to become ‘Bold Boimler’ and it feels like a generic sitcom storyline. It’s basically The Opposite from Seinfeld mixed with Danny Wallace’s Yes Man. Boimler strives to become better by acting totally different than he is, which doesn’t feel very Star Trek, as a storyline or a joke. Bold Boimler dominates the second episode, seeing him get hunted by essentially the Predator (I’m surprised they didn’t use the Hirogen) but recurs throughout the season and it never works for me.
Best Joke: The Koala Running Joke Across Multiple Episodes
In terms of the biggest laugh, the joke that I found funniest was probably Mariner stating of a recording of Martok, “Damn they really programmed Martok with, like, full intensity at all times” because it has to be a self-aware reference of how incredibly intense she was throughout the whole first season. But this feels like the best time to point out a fun running joke. I don’t know why I find all the koala references funny but I do. It’s a rare piece of surrealist cosmic humour for Star Trek and I’ll take it.
The first season featured an episode in which a crewman ascended to some higher plain of existence and saw a godlike koala and ever since then the show has linked the image of a koala with death. Boimler saw it last season when he briefly died. This season Stevens is declared dead for ten minutes and upon returning reports having seen a koala atop a black mountain (another recurring reference in the show, shared with Rick & Morty). There’s another reference too in the eighth episode, with an alien preacher announcing “The koala smiles on us all.” Lower Decks has built its own funny little mythology within the wider canon, and I wonder how many viewers have picked up on the many under-the-radar references.
Worst Guest Star: Fred Tatasciore as Practically Every Alien in Every Episode
I love Fred Tatasciore. He’s one of the most prominent voice actors working today, and one of the best. But I think he’s too prominent in Lower Decks. This is an issue with the casting rather than the actor. He’s wonderful as Shaxs but too often he’s called upon to voice the alien-of-the-week. Or aliens-of-the-weeks. It becomes very noticeable this season, with every other character being voiced by Tatasciore. Whether it’s a member of an alien delegation, a space deity, a volcano with a consciousness, or all three in one, it’ll be Fred’s voice. I don’t know what the budget for guest stars is but this season needed a wider pool of talent.
Best Character: Samanthan Rutherford
Finally, Rutherford gets some focus. Rewatching the first two seasons, I was stuck by how little Rutherford had to do and how little impact his implant had on his stories. That’s corrected here, with both him and Tendi getting more to do. After a tease last season, we get to see how Rutherford got the implant but more importantly what he was like before it. Turns out, he was a dick. Sweet lovely baby bear Samanthan was a real piece of shit and I love this reveal. It lets Eugene Cordero have some fun and expand his range but it also leads into a fascinating story about the cybernetic implant. Usually, implants, installed against a character’s will, changing their personality is obviously presented in a negative way. But here, he’s better for it, a nicer human being. That’s a great moral dilemma to explore and Reflections sees Rutherford’s identity crisis play out with both humour and genuine emotion. It’s the episode Rutherford has needed and the character-focused highlight of the season.
Best Reference: The Lasting Damage of Masks in Room for Growth (S3E4)
It feels like the amount of references has been toned down this season but there are still some good ones. Ketracel White-Hot Sauce made me laugh and it was nice to get a mention of the parasitic aliens from the conspiracy storyline in TNG season 1, named here as “butt bugs.” I’m actually surprised Lower Decks didn’t feature a follow-up story with those creatures considering how they remain a major loose thread in the franchise. But my favourite is actually a reference to one of my least favourite episodes of TNG. Captain Freeman is possessed by an alien mask, just like Data in the episode Masks. What makes it so great is that that is just the teaser. The rest of the episode deals with the consequences of that event. The crew has to spend a week cleaning the Cerritos of the temple aesthetic the mask creates, removing all the old stone walls and vines. This exhausting work pokes fun at the reset nature of most Star Trek plots, with whatever crazy thing happening, no matter how drastic, whether the ship being damaged or the crew turned into salamanders, being back to normal and never mentioned in the following episode. Here we finally see what usually happens between episodes.
The Excellent Deep Space Nine Episode: Hear All, Trust Nothing (S3E6)
Hear All, Trust Nothing is a prime example of the show’s ability to balance reverence for Star Trek’s past with its own forward-looking storytelling. I love Deep Space Nine. It’s the my favourite Star Trek show and honestly probably the franchise’s peak. This episode is a wonderful revisit to that world, or, rather, space station. The location itself and the characters within are well realised in animation, translated well, with darker visuals and Quark and Kira being well written. Morn in particular has perfect dialogue. The temptation is there for a DS9 revival, a legacy show picking up the story, but honestly this is probably the best we can hope for. An episode of an animated comedy may not seem like the best epilogue but I think it’s the best option to avoid disappointment.
But the episode never becomes too sappy and reverential. An overexcited Rutherford begins pointing out references and then realises he should probably tone it down. The episode recreates DS9’s opening credits but wisely undercuts the moment before it becomes too much with Shaxs calling the station a “tacky Cardassian fascist eyesore.” Lower Decks utilises the stay at Deep Space Nine to facilitate some growth in its own characters rather than just catch up with the old. Hear All, Trust Nothing is the best episode of the season for both Tendi and Freeman. The Cerritos crew butt up against some very DS9 sensibilities. That show was dominated by criminal elements and race negotiations so that’s what this episode deals with in its own Lower Decks way. Tendi struggles to face her Orion past when confronted with the criminal element aboard the station and Freeman is challenged by negotiations with a Gamma Quadrant race. It’s not just the locations and visuals this episode embraces from DS9 but the heart, soul, and storytelling, too.
Worst Episode: A Mathematically Perfect Redemption (S3E7)
I respect A Mathematically Perfect Redemption but I don’t enjoy it. It might be my least favourite episode of the entire series, but I wish it wasn’t. I want to like it, to champion it, but I can’t. In a season which feels a little too samey, it’s a bold new direction and a unique episode that would be refreshing if I thought that direction worked. But I don’t. The episode focuses on Peanut Hamper, the selfish exocomp ensign from season 1, as she finds herself stranded on an alien world of bird people. The regular cast only appear in the last ten minutes as supporting characters.
My issues with Peanut Hamper reflect my issues with the wider episode: she’s not funny, she’s actively annoying, and she doesn’t feel like a Star Trek character. From the jokes to the setting to the characters, this doesn’t feel like Lower Decks or Star Trek in general. It’s like an episode of a random sci-fi comedy show, which would be watchable if it was funny but it’s not. I don’t think Peanut Hamper is interesting or humorous enough to support an entire episode, either as a hero or villain, and her lack of development by the end make it feel like a waste of time. The episode is a big swing for the show, and I appreciate it taking one, but it’s a miss.
Biggest Disappointment: Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus (S3E8)
I guess it’s fitting that this episode is disappointing. Boimler’s holodeck movie is supposed to be a letdown, there are meta jokes about how sequels are lacklustre, so this quasi-sequel to the first season’s best episode is suitably weaker. Crisis Point was fantastic and used up so many great jokes and references relating to the Star Trek movies that it feels like there’s not enough to fill a second episode parodying them. There are a few good nods to Star Trek V but not enough to support the runtime. In fact, I found most of the jokes here to be a little snarkier than usual. They’re definitely less original at least, feeling like gags fans have been making for decades. Much of the humour comes from eye-rolling at standard plot conventions and contrivances, like pointing out MacGuffins.
Crisis Point 2 lacks the point of the original. For the first half of the episode we’re simply watching the events of a fake film play out, so there’s little to get invested in. It’s Tendi and Rutherford playing dress up. The second half does introduce some genuine conflict and themes but I don’t love how they’re handled. Tendi reveals she wants to be a captain and I just don’t like that development. I want a character who is excited about being a scientist or doctor, not a third (out of four) who wants to be a captain. Then we discover Boimler’s transporter clone has died and the reason he’s so invested in the movie’s plot is to try and make some sense of the randomness of death. There’s some good drama here but much of it still feels flimsy. Boimler mocks the initial answers he receives as empty platitudes and then the final answer as revelatory when it just seems like another saccharine soundbite to me. And I never bought into that William was actually dead: the final twist that he’s faked his death is obvious from the outset.
Best Episode: The Stars at Night (S3E10)
The season finales of Lower Decks may be starting to be a little formulaic by this point but if anything that just means Mike McMahan has refined what makes them work. Because wow. I love this episode. It’s not the deepest or the cleverest or the funniest episode of the show (it’s actually pretty low on laughs, apart from one great scene of Shaxs finally being able to eject the warp core) but it is the most thrilling. It’s an action episode, the best Lower Decks has done and one of the best Star Trek has done. It feels big. After episodes parodying Star Trek movie conventions, this feels like a 30-minute animated movie, with real scale and tension and pace and brilliant music by Chris Westlake.
The Stars at Night is the culmination of the entire show up to this point. It’s also a great payoff to the third season. The serialisation this season has been subtle, maybe too much so, feeling like not much is going on, but the finale pulls the threads together, some I didn’t even realise were threads, into one great conclusion. Admiral Buenamigo is revealed to be a villain, using drones designed by Rutherford during his forgotten past, and Freeman has to prove her and her ship’s worth against these AI replacements. This is a modern Star Trek finale so of course a huge amount of copy-and-pasted ships turn up for a battle but unlike the live actions shows, the appearance of the Cali-class ships means something, enforcing the themes. It’s a great moment, led by Mariner, choosing to stay in Starfleet. And to show how much the series has grown, there’s a logical reference to Captain Picard but thankfully no appearance. The focus is where it should be: purely on this show’s characters.
Season 3 Episode Ranking:
10. A Mathematically Perfect Redemption (S3E7)
9. Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus (S3E8)
8. Trusted Sources (S3E9)
7. Mining the Mind’s Mines (S3E3)
6. The Least Dangerous Game (S3E2)
5. Room for Growth (S3E4)
4. Reflections (S3E5)
3. Grounded (S3E1)
2. Hear All, Trust Nothing (S3E6)
1. The Stars at Night (S3E10)
Revisiting these first three seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks has been great fun but a mere primer for what’s next. When Paramount’s deal to stop airing the show on Amazon Prime Video stopped, I stopped watching the show. Seasons four and five released exclusively on Paramount+ and I’m not paying for that. But now that I’ve bought the complete series on Blu-ray, I can watch and discuss the final two seasons of the show for the first time. I’m excited to cover season four in the coming weeks, taking a step into a new world…
