We are back from shore leave with two episodes of Lower Decks!
The season begins with some impending promotions, though Boimler is scared in some way over them (typical Boims). The Cerritos has a mission to help with the making of an exhibit out of the decommissioned Voyager which will also showcase all her key missions. They are to escort it to Earth, which splits the Cerritos crew. On the Cerritos, a certain plant petal that once created Tuvix has merged Billips and Dr. T’Ana which results in T’illups. When he…it?…finds out that the solution is destroying this new being to split back into two, T’illups grabs much of the senior crew to create hybrids so that it becomes more complicated in ethics. Tawny’s new apprentice, T’Lyn, combines all the hybrids together forming a somewhat non-sentient being. This is enough for Tawny to split them all back apart.
Meanwhile on Voyager, Boimler accidentally discovers a dormant macrovirus. It begins replicating and takes over the ship, also by initiating holodeck characters from Voyager’s past. It also is able to connect to the Borg sleeping alcoves and becomes a virus Borg. All the crew is captured, except Boimler, who is in jeopardy for not getting a promotion. After a pep talk from Mariner, he frees Rutherford and the two take some Neelix cheese and fry the ship’s computers which breaks Voyager free from the macro virus’ control. They defeat the virus and escort Voyager to Earth. At the end of the episode, the Lower Decks gang minus Rutherford gets promoted to lieutenant junior grade. We end with a view of the lower decks of Klingon ships just as they encounter a mysterious vessel that blows up the ship to bits.
“I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee” starts with seeing Romulan lower decks suddenly deal with the mysterious ship that destroyed a Klingon vessel. Then, Mariner is trying to sabotage her new promotion after overhearing Ransom say he’s trying to make her not his problem. Rutherford is trying to get promoted to join his friends on in new rooms. Boimler gets a new crew room that happens to see right into the bright red nacelle. Mariner and Ransom, and an ensign named Gary, go and retrieve humans that were accidentally put in an alien menagerie. While there, a dangerous but cute creature that drinks bones escapes and takes control of the station. The owner and operator is killed by the creature, and Mariner and Ransom figure out how to lure it back into the habitat. They find out that the humans freed it and wanted to take control of the menagerie because it makes money. In the end, Ransom explains that he actually wants Mariner to succeed and she realizes she does want the promotion.
Meanwhile, Rutherford tries several projects to get promoted but is foiled by another, new, ensign. Right when that ensign is getting the promotion, Rutherford tells Tawny he passed up many promotions to stay with his friends in lower decks. So, he just asks if he could have one of the promotions and Billips lets him.
Boimler has been searching for another room and has terrible faults with all of them, like being able to hear several holodeck private adventures at the same time. In the end, he and Boimler room together, and it’s discovered he could have dimmed the viewports the whole time.
Ok, with that here are our thoughts on this week’s episodes!
Music
Mr. Daps: “I enjoyed the score for both episodes. It was nice to hear the nods back to Voyager in Twovix. In the second episode there was a moment that sounded straight out of Jurassic Park. I found myself enjoying both scores that I was able to listen to this week!”
Murray: “The score for ‘Twovix’ stuck out to me more because of its homage to Voyager music, and in several locations. The second episode didn’t have anything that sticks out, though that’s not bad. It worked for the episode to make it more subtle and fitting.”
Design
Mr. Daps: “Oh man, there was a LOT to like from both episodes. I feel like this show and its design has gotten even better this season. Clearly the first episode it was a lot of awesome regarding the connections with Voyager. The second one seemed to let the production team get even more creative and I felt like it excelled even further in that regard. Both did a very nice job, though.”
Murray: “There is so much design happening in these episodes. I have to say I enjoyed what was happening in the Voyager episode more because of how well they translated so many episodes throughout. And to make it a museum was done so well, complete with dummies wearing the uniforms. I did appreciate the creature’s design in ‘No Bones’ because it had that very cute look with a sudden dangerous, almost psychotic expression at times.”
Story
Mr. Daps: “I found myself enjoying both stories. I felt like Twovix did a nice job of being an homage to the past while also telling a new story. I thought that I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee was a bit more creative and I liked how it was more unpredictable. Overall, I enjoyed both stories and episodes.”
Murray: “Both stories worked very well. But, I think I did like the Voyager one more. It might be from the homages to Voyager episodes, but it was just a lot of solid fun. It fit with the Lower Decks tension that usually happens, yet with great comedic hijinks that play on classic Trek lore. And the robot salamander should be a recurring character. The second episode was great with their plots, but there was 3 plots where Boimler’s gets very lost with the other two. It makes it not quite as effective for the overall episode.”
This Week’s Winner
Mr. Daps: “I really hate to say this because I really liked seeing Voyager again but… I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee was my winner this week. I really liked how creative it was. I also liked the character development that this episode continued with. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this season builds off of two very solid episodes that started it. This is going to be a lot of fun I think!”
Murray: “‘Twovix’ was the winner for me. It was out loud funny for me, and has that great comedic look at Voyager. So much of that show is played with in ways that fans, like me, have probably mentioned at times. But, it was just a great episode. It worked to have the crew in two places dealing with their own sets of problems. And it tied in very well to the overall Lower Decks arc of getting promoted. Right away it showed me the season is off to a great start.”
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