Welcome back to another week of Two Captains Log. This week we take a look at “The Least Dangerous Game.” This episode had Mariner under the guiding hand of Ransom during an away mission. Boimler sought to become “Bold Boimler” through some out of the ordinary tasks. Here we go with this week’s review!
Music
Mr. Daps: “The music for Star Trek: Lower Decks really is solid week after week. This week was no exception. In some ways, it reminds me of some of the great scores from showed like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. There were a lot of fun moments that really added to the scenes they were accompanying. This was a good choice and made for a good accompaniment to the episode.”
Murray: “The music that stuck out most to me was during the game that the lower decks group was playing. It was very Klingon movie music, and fit very well since it was within context of a somewhat cheesy game. Other than that, I have to say I didn’t notice a lot of the music, but that’s not a bad thing. The soundtrack still has good homages while not taking away from each scene.”
Design
Mr. Daps: “The design of both settings and characters this week I thought were all very well done. There were a lot of connections with other series and places, even the Kelvin Timeline. The big thing I took away from the design in this episode is how it is leaning more and more into Star Trek: The Next Generation. This fit in very well with the look and feel of that series. I half expected Picard or Riker to show up at any given moment.”
Murray: “There were some new aliens in this episode, though one seemed like a callback to another humanoid race from Next Generation. Still, it made for some fun characterizations, and ones that could be fun in live action. I enjoyed the details of the elevator…I mean orbital platform and the planet it was found on. In all, some great elements to have as now part of Trek canon.”
Story
Mr. Daps: “This week was a fun episode and story. While there were a lot of fun and goofy things going on, there was also some real growth for the characters, which I enjoyed. We’ll see how it all plays out for them moving forward. I like where they are taking both Mariner and Boimler and am very much looking forward to seeing where they end up going. The bigger picture of the story felt very Star Trek. There were moments that definitely reminded me of both The Original Series and also The Next Generation. The humor was fun, the lessons were fun, and the characters were fun. Overall, this is one of the things that made me enjoy Star Trek in the first place. It is fun but also has some pretty big concepts it hits.”
Murray: “I enjoyed the episode a lot. It was fun to have the Ferengi knockoff game as a plot device. It also fit both Mariner and Boimler to have mirrored stories of growth in their character. Rutherford’s struggles with the planet and the eventual resolution by Ransom were some classic Trek clichés that caused me to have some audible laughs. The story was a solid Trek episode plot, and even in a half-hour time frame!”
Hit or Miss?
Mr. Daps: “This week was a definite hit for me. Was it a home run? Perhaps not. However, it was a very enjoyable episode that really didn’t make any major missteps. I loved the nods to other Trek and the variation on D&D was very amusing. I like how this season is going so far. It seems like there is confidence that continues to grow out of the first two seasons. I am curious how far they can take this if the crew from the lower decks start to get promoted. All in all, fun episode and I can’t wait for next week!”
Murray: “I say this is a hit. It had some great Trek Easter eggs while advancing some characters in their journey. Out of the two episodes this season I do like the first more, but this was a very solid Lower Decks episode that shows it has matured into that Trek third season maturity. It really has that lower decks foils while still making them heroes, and I really appreciate this series for that.”
