Fewer flutes, more fists? Spoilers…
Clearly a part one of two, so a bit difficult to judge. The only plots that really come to any kind of conclusion are Mariner on the planet convincing people to cooperate, and the Captain on the criminal planet. Both are reasonably good plots, although I am really honestly sick of the hidden trauma trope in Star Trek. It is getting very, very tired.
The other parts of the episode are good, but I’ll reserve judgment until we see where it goes. Calling back to the OG Lower Decks episode, and ‘The First Duty’ is a strong foundation. But it really comes down to justifying al of it in terms of motivations next time around.
One final point – there is a puzzling volume of Star Wars reference in this episode. There are two or three elements that are so blatant that they simply have to be deliberate. But why, and why now? Puzzling.
Quick hits:
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Cold open feels a bit odd – more a one piece joke than a setup for a story.
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A little bit of a poorly setup Mariner plot.
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It’s episode 9, and we’re really about the same spot as we were in episode 2 on the overarching plot.
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Callback to not-Tom-Paris Locarno.
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Very Empire-adjacent traffic control staff on the planet.
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The effects on the D7 are fantastic, especially the photon torpedo.
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OK, this is veering on ‘not-Mariner’ levels of strange personality changes.
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And then the shuttle landing is so Star Trek (prequel era) that it has to be deliberate.
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Harry Mudd callback. Fantastic.
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Oh no, not a hidden trauma story. Well, at least it’s a tie in to the Locarno story and the OG ‘Lower Decks’ episode in TNG. It makes sense from her history, but I hate how unfounded this is, and yet again dipping into the trauma well…
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Liking this Klingon. He has some good wisdom.
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The Information Broker being a callback to ‘The Corbomite Manoeuvre’ is a good callback.
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And that has to be a deliberate Empire reference with the bunker.
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Boimler’s reaction to ‘we don’t have to love each other’ was great.
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Very nice focus plane shift effect during Mariner’s hero speech.
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The Billips reveal was great – very clever thinking from Captain Freeman.
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I’m pretty sure not even Klingon ships can be opened like a can opener from the outside.
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And a fine ‘dun dun dun….’ – and with Robert Duncan MacNeil back for the voice too.
912 down.