In an episode that seems to be laying the subtle grounds for an upcoming Federation and Pakled face-off, Lower Decks decides to slow it down a bit and give our intrepid explorers some time to explore themselves!
It all begins on Pakled Planet, which is honestly the best planet name for the Pakleds, as Captain Freeman is sent to negotiate with this recently warring species. What ensues is almost like a game of chicken as Freeman and Shaxs try to find common ground with the Pakleds and get somewhere in the negotiation only to be thwarted by someone again and again without a big enough helmet to engage in negotiations. It’s such a clever and fun way to let us glimpse into Pakled culture. There’s eventually a rebellion, some spy trickery, and the Pakleds still calling Freeman as Janeway, but we get the idea there’s some bigger mystery at hand because why would the Pakleds want to bomb Earth?
This information comes from the mouth of Rumdar, the less-than-subtle Pakled spy whom Ransom and Kayshon had to wrangle. At first, seemingly seeking asylum but soon clearly spying, Rumdar disappears or wanders off and Ransom and Kayshon run around the ship desperately trying to find him before they spot him floating in the vacuum of space has gotten into the airlock. This is all played for slapstick fun but one can’t help but feel like something is too obvious and it just feels off. Because why did Rumdar disappear? And why couldn’t the ship’s computer locate him for a period of time?
I am very curious to see where this is all leading towards. It feels like we are building up to something big and I hope that it treats the Pakled species and their culture well and with respect. I’ve seen comments from people concerned about the portrayal of Pakleds and how it can be read as mocking towards those with disabilities but I want to believe that Lower Decks, a show that’s been good about subverting tropes and expectations, will have a good answer for the mystery while not shortchanging the Pakled people.
While the bridge crew deal with the Pakleds, our Lower Deckers are on Anomaly Collection Duty, essentially cleaning up and/or disposing of scientifically interesting objects picked up by the bridge crew. Tendi is on form with her unending enthusiasm but Mariner and Rutherford are rather displeased, they are grumbling and dragging their feet. They get bulked up, zapped, even at some point pooped out by slime. It all makes one wonder just what has the bridge crew been doing on those away missions.
But eventually, Mariner and Rutherford find out that even Tendi has her limits. She had hoped this collection duty would be a fun time for them all to hang out together and be a little closer to the action of the “cool kids”, however it’s clearly not turned out as well as it can. With her hands on a cube that’s amplifying her increasing bad mood and anger, she turns into a scorpion-like creature and starts wreaking havoc. It’s actually really interesting to see Tendi lose her temper, knowing that even her boundless enthusiasm has a breaking point and she’s not just always bubbly.
We’ve seen glimpses of steel and focused-anger underneath her usual happy-go-lucky persona and this episode brought more of that to the surface, giving her more nuance and complexity. But as Tendi is running amiss, Boimler is dealing with his own “cool kids” issue. Having run out on the others’ collection duty to hang out with the Redshirts group of ensigns who are focused on getting promoted and making captain, it would have been all too easy for Boimler to fall back onto old bad habits. In a lesser show, this would have happened and we would have lost Boimler’s character development.
However, Lower Decks has always been clever when it comes to delivering character growth and this story shows that Boimler has truly learned from his experiences. He refuses to badmouth his friends or thinks of them as losers. Sure, he wants to be promoted and be captain one day but he’s also become more discerning in recognizing what’s important on the path to getting what he wants in his career.
These Redshirts may change his appearance and push him to make better motivational speeches, but they aren’t teaching him anything that he didn’t already know from doing his job and learning from everyone around him. Lower Decks uses this story to explicitly state the message that leadership isn’t all pomp and circumstance and speeches but actually doing the hard work. Sometimes when we want something so badly, it’s difficult to take a step back and look at what is really important. Leadership isn’t just something you say you are capable of, it’s something you have to show through actual action.
Boimler does this when he humiliates himself to make Tendi laugh and get her back to normal, showing that not only is Boimler smart to realize what is causing her this problem but is quick on his feet with the solution. Doing the actual work and not just talking about how cool he can be to show off. This is a long way from Season 1 Boimler who struggled to think on his feet because he was so tied to being rigid about what he memorized in books instead of experiences, and I’m very proud of him.
And you know what, hard work does get noticed as Ransom gives a sincere compliment to Boimler for saving the day while the Redshirts, particularly Ensign Casey, aren’t exactly thanked for their useless overlapping speeches that solved nothing in a crisis. Luckily a few of the ensigns, our beloved Jennifer the Andorian among them, realizes their errors even if Ensign Casey won’t. And while there’s a bit of satisfaction to see him barely getting to be acting captain for 5 seconds before he’s sent off to do latrine duties, I hope that Ensign Casey finds his own path to growth and be a better officer too. After all, Star Trek teaches us that it’s never too late to learn and change and grow.
There’s one creature that isn’t growing or changing though, and that’s Armus. Ending the episode with the Lower Deckers prank calling Armus with an object they picked up from their collection duties is just absolutely genius. It had me howling and pumping my fists in the air as Tasha Yar is finally at least somewhat avenged!
Laughing at Armus aside, an Easter egg that made me chuckle was the Kzinti officer criticizing Boimler’s posture by hunching his back just like the Kzinti looked in The Animated Series! This was just a really fun episode that showed off how some of our characters have truly grown and changed while setting the board ready for what is sure to be exciting things to come!
