Dang, I miss this show. I like the subversion of expectations when the Captain is ready for it to be a touchy feely "we all have our struggles" moment, only for a selfish bureaucrat to wreck that whole idea. Hats off to Boimler being a main character in the background and basically defeating the Borg singlehandedly, only to get ordered to fail 😅
@@zafranorbian757 Indeed. It's five seasons, but each season gets better than the last, and the story carries everyone to a better place as they go through all the chaos and such of their lives as the backbone of Starfleet.
acting uncomfortably seductive towards Boimler (like she did with Data) "I think I should add your biological distinctiveness towards our own, it's kind of our thing" "are you sure?! because I've got hay fever and acid reflux, adding me might result in a net negative towards the collective"
This was the episode that showed the characters had more to them. Mariner wasn't an infallible Mary Sue, and Boimler had the skills to belong in Starfleet. From this episode on, knowing that Boimler is actually incredibly skilled really put everything he does in a different light.
To be fair, Boimler has proved himself time and time again, he is really good at his job, it's just overshadowed by his lack of practical experience, and brown-nosing. The previous episode, Where Pleasant Fountains Lie, has him outsmart Mariner, and an AI played by Jeffrey Combs, after all.
This is the episode that convinced me to give this show another chance. I'm one of those that dropped it after season 1's...craptacular opening hour of content with those first two episodes. I figured it was as bad as I was told, and just didn't want to keep going with it, especially since I was already falling off other trek series. Then someone mentioned this one, making fun of, and having fun with the franchise's iconic weird moments. And it had me laughing my butt off. It was a great showing, and after it, I decided to go back and watch the rest of season 1, and then all of season 2, and stuck with it until the end. This is what this series excels at, and as he said, it reset expectations of the characters, showing how they deal with adversity in so many ways that we couldn't do under normal circumstances, including showing off that Boimler really does belong on the path he's on, while also showing the rest of the crew, for all their screw ups, are dedicated to this. After all, how often have the lower deckers, the upper deckers, and everyone we know complained about this ship and how it operates? No one was going to be booted out of starfleet, the most was a few desk work assignments, ones they would be able to earn their way out of in a year or two. They had to go through EFFORT(the dreaded F word) to stay together, to stay here, on this crap of a ship. And it was glorious to watch. It reaffirmed my love for the franchise, along with Prodigy(Space Cases, Star Trek edition), and Strange New Worlds. I hope that, given two of those have ended and one is ending soonish, that we'll keep getting some like them in the future...and I REALLY hope Section 31 is good, and the Academy series lives up to the expectations it's being given.
What sold me on Lower Decks were the season finales. The season 1, 2, and especially the season 3 finale are excellent Star Trek that's in character for the Lower Decks cast, but is also taken VERY seriously in the episode, complete with "people WILL die if they fail" stakes.
A very neat episode. It's really neat seeing the whole crew handle really crazy stuff like it was nothing and grow together as a team. TAS aliens are always a neat addition as well! It's also fun seeing Mariner being the butt of a few jokes as well!
As much as I'd like to see more too (given that it was written for seven seasons instead of five), I'm glad it had a really good run. It's a tight series that just gets better as it goes, and it's likely going to be vindicated by time as more Trek fans give it a couple seasons and see that it does respect the franchise while building on what came before.
Probably a very good forshadowing for what finale of this season is doing. The writers really wanted us to see the crew of USS Cerritos as part of Starfleet. The best of the best and this season finally shows when they are put on their own they deserve this title.
I laughed so hard at the Naked Time scenario. The "tormenting the unreasonable bureaucrat manager" segment was also cathartic. (I'm a retail hell survivor.)
Ah the first time I did see Boims becoming a captain one day. Also Mariner blowing everyone into space as Star Trek´s version of Promethium infused floor cleaner into one´s eye sockets was also a fun scene. I´d give it a 7 out of 10. Actually...make it 8. The references were great, the episode fun and I do notice a lot of familiar, but nameless faces. I do wonder, did they make an entire crew for the ship, just to have 'real' background characters with their own position, even if they never say a word or get a name?
Man I remember the anti-LD crowd and anti-modern Trek discourse being massively high towards this one. Between the “fanservice” of drill scenarios, making something like the moral dilemma of TNG’s Ethics episode into a joke, the lack of Cerritos professionalism justifying Shari’s plot, the Cerritos crew’s “spitefulness” at the end towards her, and the horrific implications of Boimler’s Borg experience being written off as a joke. Despite all that, still one of the best Season 2 episodes for me.
The thing is that Roddenberry DID want orgies on the Enterprise D... and the Anti-trek crowd are people thinking Rick Berman era Trek can do no wrong, even though Threshold and the Outrageous Okana exists.
Yeah but those guys will complain about anything. I saw a video with the scene where Tendi and Rutherford steal tricorders with the purple stripe. From the way people in the comments were reacting, you’d think this was the worst betrayal of the Roddenberry ideal in Star Trek history and not a brief gag.
I LIKE THIS COMMENTARY CHANNEL, ESPECIALLY THE LOWER DECKS EPS. SORRY, MY CAPSLOCK KEY CAME OFF AND I'M TOO HUNG OVER TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING TO STICK IN THERE.
I adore the fact that mirror universe Boimler can't grow an evil beard. Also, making one of the worst TAS species a surprisingly fun Lower Decks one off character? Well played Lower Decks.
I feel bad for BEM, because the writer had his own little idea, and Roddenberry barged in with his shit yet again. His dumb idea is literally a 1:1 to what we get in Justice with the satellite.
I feel like this was the episode where the writers stopped having Boilmer just be a carbon copy of Morty Smith and be his own character. Boilmer is neurotic as heck but he does have the skills of a Starfleet officer: Diligent, disciplined, and honorable.
I kind of see him as someone who would have ended up being another Barclay if he hadn't ended up with actual friends there that kind of kept him from devolving in his own neurosis there. Add a few years of crap while being without them and that's basically what would happen...
Mistress of the Winter Constellations maybe would have no qualms, but this is Starfleet Ensign Tendi. Let's not forget that at this point she is trying her hardest to turn away from any of her Orion ways (that and the reveal is that these tests were Kobayashi Maru'd)
It did get 5 good seasons and a really good run though. I'll watch through it all properly and enjoy it some day. I've been enjoying it vicariously through reviews and season finale clips here on RUclips, but it's obviously good enough to actually deserve a watch.
Boimler is incredibly capable and has the skills needed to rise up the ranks, he just gets stuck in his own head too much and often over thinks a situation.
"I knew it! That mirror universe drill was rigged!" "They were all rigged!" "And those horses? I would never get trampled by a horse!" "Oh, actually, no. The horses weren't rigged. I ran out of time. That one's on you." "Horses love me! Shut up!" I wonder if the creators realize how much the audience enjoys watching Mariner get her comeuppance at times.
Yeah, but with all that money going towards Lower Decks' 6th season production, where are they gonna find the spare scratch to pay for that Keanu cameo in the inevitable Knuckles Season 2? I found the episode funny and engaging enough, but for me it highlights something that's always felt a bit paradoxical about the show: That sometimes the characters feel like not Star Trek characters but rather characters a little too self-aware of Star Trek's tropes and foibles. Like, for a good season or two I was sure the finale's grand twist was gonna be that it wall all a holodeck entertainment program starring a gang actors set in within Star Trek's universe and was sending up life in Starfleet, rather than them being an actual ship with a functional crew. Sort of a... Wormhole X-Treme to Stargate.
Dang, I miss this show. I like the subversion of expectations when the Captain is ready for it to be a touchy feely "we all have our struggles" moment, only for a selfish bureaucrat to wreck that whole idea.
Hats off to Boimler being a main character in the background and basically defeating the Borg singlehandedly, only to get ordered to fail 😅
Love the dig at Paramount. Gonna miss this show.
Fun episode. Poor Boimler.
on the other hand, this show had a great run, better to leave it on a high note than to run it into the ground.
@@zafranorbian757 Indeed. It's five seasons, but each season gets better than the last, and the story carries everyone to a better place as they go through all the chaos and such of their lives as the backbone of Starfleet.
And they got Alice Krige to play the Borg Queen.
acting uncomfortably seductive towards Boimler (like she did with Data)
"I think I should add your biological distinctiveness towards our own, it's kind of our thing"
"are you sure?! because I've got hay fever and acid reflux, adding me might result in a net negative towards the collective"
This was the episode that showed the characters had more to them. Mariner wasn't an infallible Mary Sue, and Boimler had the skills to belong in Starfleet.
From this episode on, knowing that Boimler is actually incredibly skilled really put everything he does in a different light.
I always thought Boimler's big issue was a lack of confidence. When he's chill, he is The Man.
To be fair, Boimler has proved himself time and time again, he is really good at his job, it's just overshadowed by his lack of practical experience, and brown-nosing.
The previous episode, Where Pleasant Fountains Lie, has him outsmart Mariner, and an AI played by Jeffrey Combs, after all.
Newsflash, season 1 episode 9 showed Mariner was in a deeply unstable state.
This is the episode that convinced me to give this show another chance. I'm one of those that dropped it after season 1's...craptacular opening hour of content with those first two episodes. I figured it was as bad as I was told, and just didn't want to keep going with it, especially since I was already falling off other trek series.
Then someone mentioned this one, making fun of, and having fun with the franchise's iconic weird moments. And it had me laughing my butt off. It was a great showing, and after it, I decided to go back and watch the rest of season 1, and then all of season 2, and stuck with it until the end.
This is what this series excels at, and as he said, it reset expectations of the characters, showing how they deal with adversity in so many ways that we couldn't do under normal circumstances, including showing off that Boimler really does belong on the path he's on, while also showing the rest of the crew, for all their screw ups, are dedicated to this.
After all, how often have the lower deckers, the upper deckers, and everyone we know complained about this ship and how it operates? No one was going to be booted out of starfleet, the most was a few desk work assignments, ones they would be able to earn their way out of in a year or two.
They had to go through EFFORT(the dreaded F word) to stay together, to stay here, on this crap of a ship. And it was glorious to watch. It reaffirmed my love for the franchise, along with Prodigy(Space Cases, Star Trek edition), and Strange New Worlds. I hope that, given two of those have ended and one is ending soonish, that we'll keep getting some like them in the future...and I REALLY hope Section 31 is good, and the Academy series lives up to the expectations it's being given.
What sold me on Lower Decks were the season finales. The season 1, 2, and especially the season 3 finale are excellent Star Trek that's in character for the Lower Decks cast, but is also taken VERY seriously in the episode, complete with "people WILL die if they fail" stakes.
A very neat episode. It's really neat seeing the whole crew handle really crazy stuff like it was nothing and grow together as a team. TAS aliens are always a neat addition as well! It's also fun seeing Mariner being the butt of a few jokes as well!
Bring back lower decks
Here, here.
Love it so much
As much as I'd like to see more too (given that it was written for seven seasons instead of five), I'm glad it had a really good run.
It's a tight series that just gets better as it goes, and it's likely going to be vindicated by time as more Trek fans give it a couple seasons and see that it does respect the franchise while building on what came before.
I'm gonna miss this show
Probably a very good forshadowing for what finale of this season is doing.
The writers really wanted us to see the crew of USS Cerritos as part of Starfleet. The best of the best and this season finally shows when they are put on their own they deserve this title.
The best way I can put what the Cerritos becomes is said in show: "It's the Enterprise of the Cali Class."
You know what really compounds seeing the other side's perspective? A common enemy.
I laughed so hard at the Naked Time scenario. The "tormenting the unreasonable bureaucrat manager" segment was also cathartic. (I'm a retail hell survivor.)
I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but I think this is episode is on the same level as Wej Duj and Crisis Point and of my absolute favorites.
I wouldn't go that far, but this is a good one.
Trek has mag boots now?? Hilarious that they didn't replace it with something more technobabbly.
They were a key plot point in The Undiscovered Country.
Yay, I was just wondering when the next Lower Decks review would show up!
Ah the first time I did see Boims becoming a captain one day.
Also Mariner blowing everyone into space as Star Trek´s version of Promethium infused floor cleaner into one´s eye sockets was also a fun scene.
I´d give it a 7 out of 10. Actually...make it 8. The references were great, the episode fun and I do notice a lot of familiar, but nameless faces. I do wonder, did they make an entire crew for the ship, just to have 'real' background characters with their own position, even if they never say a word or get a name?
Man I remember the anti-LD crowd and anti-modern Trek discourse being massively high towards this one. Between the “fanservice” of drill scenarios, making something like the moral dilemma of TNG’s Ethics episode into a joke, the lack of Cerritos professionalism justifying Shari’s plot, the Cerritos crew’s “spitefulness” at the end towards her, and the horrific implications of Boimler’s Borg experience being written off as a joke.
Despite all that, still one of the best Season 2 episodes for me.
The anti-any trek passed TOS or maybe, if you ask reeeaaaaaallllly nicely, TNG crowed still hate Lower Decks. I find it absolutely funny.
The thing is that Roddenberry DID want orgies on the Enterprise D... and the Anti-trek crowd are people thinking Rick Berman era Trek can do no wrong, even though Threshold and the Outrageous Okana exists.
Yeah but those guys will complain about anything. I saw a video with the scene where Tendi and Rutherford steal tricorders with the purple stripe. From the way people in the comments were reacting, you’d think this was the worst betrayal of the Roddenberry ideal in Star Trek history and not a brief gag.
I LIKE THIS COMMENTARY CHANNEL, ESPECIALLY THE LOWER DECKS EPS. SORRY, MY CAPSLOCK KEY CAME OFF AND I'M TOO HUNG OVER TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING TO STICK IN THERE.
My favorite part of this episode was the horse. It wasn’t even rigged; Mariner just seems to suck at handling horses.
"Horses love me, I'm a maverick"
proceeds to get thrown off and trampled to death.
"Shut up! Horses love me!"
Do they Mariner?
I adore the fact that mirror universe Boimler can't grow an evil beard. Also, making one of the worst TAS species a surprisingly fun Lower Decks one off character? Well played Lower Decks.
I feel bad for BEM, because the writer had his own little idea, and Roddenberry barged in with his shit yet again. His dumb idea is literally a 1:1 to what we get in Justice with the satellite.
I feel like this was the episode where the writers stopped having Boilmer just be a carbon copy of Morty Smith and be his own character. Boilmer is neurotic as heck but he does have the skills of a Starfleet officer: Diligent, disciplined, and honorable.
I kind of see him as someone who would have ended up being another Barclay if he hadn't ended up with actual friends there that kind of kept him from devolving in his own neurosis there. Add a few years of crap while being without them and that's basically what would happen...
Let's be honest, this was not Tendi's first experience killing a Klingon
but the first one with a klingon asking to be killed
Mistress of the Winter Constellations maybe would have no qualms, but this is Starfleet Ensign Tendi. Let's not forget that at this point she is trying her hardest to turn away from any of her Orion ways (that and the reveal is that these tests were Kobayashi Maru'd)
The biggest failure was Paramount Plus canceling this series.
It did get 5 good seasons and a really good run though.
I'll watch through it all properly and enjoy it some day. I've been enjoying it vicariously through reviews and season finale clips here on RUclips, but it's obviously good enough to actually deserve a watch.
Boimler is incredibly capable and has the skills needed to rise up the ranks, he just gets stuck in his own head too much and often over thinks a situation.
"I knew it! That mirror universe drill was rigged!"
"They were all rigged!"
"And those horses? I would never get trampled by a horse!"
"Oh, actually, no. The horses weren't rigged. I ran out of time. That one's on you."
"Horses love me! Shut up!"
I wonder if the creators realize how much the audience enjoys watching Mariner get her comeuppance at times.
How does holo-assimilation work, exactly? Like, did they actually replace parts of Boimler's body with holographic machinery?
At a guess? It's just some really fancy way of simulating the sensations. Like Torres' having a holo-pregnancy in The Killing Game.
Yeah, but with all that money going towards Lower Decks' 6th season production, where are they gonna find the spare scratch to pay for that Keanu cameo in the inevitable Knuckles Season 2?
I found the episode funny and engaging enough, but for me it highlights something that's always felt a bit paradoxical about the show: That sometimes the characters feel like not Star Trek characters but rather characters a little too self-aware of Star Trek's tropes and foibles.
Like, for a good season or two I was sure the finale's grand twist was gonna be that it wall all a holodeck entertainment program starring a gang actors set in within Star Trek's universe and was sending up life in Starfleet, rather than them being an actual ship with a functional crew. Sort of a... Wormhole X-Treme to Stargate.
Latin is a strange language. Especially in this context.
Yeah come on hit me lets go.
I can do better
DO IT AGAIN! HIT ME!
again I SAID AGAIN!!