An IncredibleStar Trek: Lower DecksExpanded Its World and Its Stakes

Usually , a show like the invigorate Star Trek : Lower Decks — where theevents our national flag get up toare mostly like the c - patch in any other series — upping its stakes and scope might come with a level of pinch . Perhaps the show would move away from what made it operate , and going big could maybestretch its liquid body substance too far . This week we read that , really , we should n’t doubt what ’s become perhapsthe smartest Star Trek serial publication around .

call “ wej Duj”—or “ Three Ships”—this was the first Star Trek instalment that used an entirely Klingon language title even write in Klingon book rather than Federation Standard English in the installment itself . The story offered a premise that , at first , seemed much more comfortablyin Lower Decks ’ remitment . In for a long - haul warp flight , the Cerritos bunch are left with niggling to do in the downtime , and Ensign Boimler is the only one among our protagonist four who doesn’thave a “ Bridge Buddy”to pass the day with . Mariner hang out with her mum for mandate bonding , Rutherford spins mud with Shaxs , and even Tendi run holo - raft climb with Dr. T’Ana . Then there ’s Boimler , who spirals into his usual paranoia of not using his time well , or not perpetually thinking about his career procession to the detriment of literally anything else he ’s doing . As he runs around endeavor to slot himself into his supporter ’s warp - flight distraction ( to no help ) , he settles on trying to buddy up with Commander Ransom and his group of fellow Hawaiian officers , which necessitates a moral quandary . Does he lie about being from Hawaii as well to fit in and gain cachet with a nosepiece military officer — he does — or is it the Starfleet matter to do to be honest , and hope forthrightness about his misjudgment will ingratiate him more ? ( It does , for a time . )

If “ wej Duj ” was alone about this discharge , it would be a perfectly fine , and moderately shady , sequence of Lower Decks . It ties in with a primal push and pull that ’s sat at the heart of the season — Boimler trying to navigate his innate desire for life history promotion while not having those desirescome at the costof distancing his friends again . Plus there ’s plenty of right gags to be found with both national flag and bridge officer alike alfresco of the typical Star Trek confines we find them in , as Boimler chases each one of them down ( Shaxs , in finical , gets some suitably hilarious rage to handle with over his prison term in the Bajoran resistance ) . But , as we mentioned up top , Lower Decks is a very smart slice of Star Trek , and expecting the unornamented lower limit out of it only lead room for it to keep surprising us — and surprise “ wej Duj ” does , as its titular meaning becomes very quickly apparent . We are n’t just follow the lower deck of the Cerritos this week : we ’re following the lower decks of three ships . Well , four technically thanks to one brief gag , but , we ’ll get there .

Our heroes grab breakfast ahead of a long warp flight.

Our heroes grab breakfast ahead of a long warp flight.Image: Paramount+

The installment intersperses Boimler ’s bridge buddy pursuit with the perspectives of two similar figures on two very different ship : a unseasoned Klingon ( Ma’ah ) aboard the Bird of Prey Che’ta , and a young Vulcan ( T’Lyn ) aboard the Vulcan cruiser Sh’vahl . Despite the clearly very unlike cultivation aboard their various vessels , Ma’ah and T’Lyn are in many ways quite like Boimler himself . Ma’ah is eager to try himself ready to ascend through program line ranks , albeit through the traditional Klingon methods of honor , ritual fight , and more than a little agreement of societal double-dealing . T’Lyn , on the other hand , is a uncommon Vulcan hungriness to think outside of the well-to-do narrow constraints of her position , manoeuver on instinct and hunch over as much as she does logic , and always ready to stand her ground instead of reasonably defer to command .

Their floor become more than just the bare “ Oh boy , I wonder what humbled deck life is like on that ship ” they start out as . They become reminders of the world-wide commonalty all these foreigner races have in the shipway their statement structures wager out — that even in enlightened utopias and empires , there ’s always perish to be the little folks on the bottom rundle . But beyond that , when Lower Decks weaves T’Lyn , Boimler , and Ma’ah ’s stories of thwarting together into a bragging picture for the show at big , the serial publication shifts into a gear not project since the late stages of its first season .

Over the course of “ wej Duj ” it becomes clear that the stories of the Che’ta , Sh’vahl , and Cerritos are entwine . Much to Ma’ah ’s dismay , his maitre d' has been countermine the Klingon High Council and stoking conflict with the Federation by allow for sophisticated implements of war to the Pakleds in their own aggression with Starfleet — something that ’s been simmer in the ground this whole time of year . He ’s angry , not out of a love for the Klingon Empire ’s most recent wartime allies , but because of his fervent feeling that if a Klingon wants to fight an opponent , they do so proudly and out in the out-of-doors . The same suspicion and order - dare expansions of her scanning remitment that keep getting T’Lyn sent to punitive meditation sessions are also the ones that permit her discover the tracing sign that brings the Sh’vahl to the Cerritos ’ care when both ships separately find metreon particles from Klingon explosives as the Che’ta does its illicit swop with the Pakled Clumpship , err , Pakled .

Image: Paramount+

One wonderfully volatile ship fight subsequently — and one abbreviated glimpse of what life ’s like for the Pakled ’s humbled deckers — the day is saved , but the series is setting up something much larger than this episode led us to believe . Ma’ah ’s laurels is what lets him overthrow his captain ’s illicit attempt to conduct a proxy war with the Federation , gaining the ascension in social rank he craved but also setting the stage for much larger matter between the Pakleds , the Klingons , and now Starfleet , with the Cerritos ready to reveal the true architects of the conflict to Federation dictation . T’Lyn , despite bring through the Sh’vahl from demolition with shield improvements she was not designated to work on , is have words with the worst punishment a Vulcan ship can give : reassignment to a Starfleet watercraft ( if we can right estimate one matter about Lower Decks instead of it always vaulting over those estimation , it has to be aboard the Cerritos next time of year , right ? ) . And even Boimler make a just end , finding himself taking a young honorary society alumna under his wing on Ransom ’s own passport , a fortune for him to bestow all the things he has learned to a new generation of junior officer .

It take for an incredibly satisfying bit of foundation to lay the final sequence of the season on — a finale that has a sight to be up to after the evenly satisfying way the first time of year amount to its conclusion . That first finalethreaded a great balance between intimate rooter serve and tie off the character piece of work the show had build up around Mariner from its debut . Now , Lower Decks comes into a 2d finale with a much large world and more characters to tie into the ribbon it ’s weaved this season , with much heavy forking beyond just the Cerritos . But , as we learned here and have learned several times over the class of this season : there ’s always elbow room for Lower Decks to surprise us .

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Image: Paramount+