Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x10 "Old Friends, New Planets"

If Locarno had kidnapped like Harry Kim or Geordi or some shit and put them on that viewscreen like he did Mariner, we would have had a full episode’s worth of them interminably trying to find a way to play along and send a secret message out and agonizing over the situation, when just yelling “this guy’s an idiot and his plan is stupid” is genuinely a vastly better plan.

"This guy suuuucks!" was so perfect.

I liked the "He looks like Tom Paris" back and forth, I'm glad they didn't do something hokey like he's Tom Paris' cousin or something. I liked the flashback showing Mariner as the tag along first year, worked better than just telling us in the previous episode, that flashback probably should have been attached to episode 9.

I kept expecting William Boimler to show up before the end of the season, guess they're holding onto that thread for next year

I kept expecting William Boimler to show up before the end of the season, guess they’re holding onto that thread for next year

I think it would be pretty funny if they just never picked up that thread again. William Boimler, already presumed dead, joins S31, does ???? because ?????, is never heard from again.

Then again, this show could do a great job riffing off of how counterproductive and ultimately stupid S31 is, in addition to their absurdly twisted and seemingly inconsistent history. So I'd be perfectly happy to see that too.
- William Boimler hatches a plan to try to use Changelings as spies by making them able to pass tests to detect them. What could possibly go wrong?
- Alternatively, do what they did with Bashir and suddenly reveal that he replaced Bradward at some indeterminate point during season 4.
I don't know man I just don't see it.

It tickles me that brining Shannon Fill out of retirement for a handful of lines gave her her first screen credit since 1995.

This was an excellent finale (as all four of them have been, not at all a given with modern Trek or frankly modern television in general), and fully justifies the somewhat weaker setup episode before it.

"A paywall on a bomb?" might be the best joke this show has delivered in it's whole run. I don't often crack up while watching these episodes, but this one really got me. At the very least it's up there with "It's a bomb! You can only use it once!" from Wej Duj. I'm sensing a pattern.

In more typical lower key Lower Decks humor, Boimler and Rutherford arguing about if Locarno looks like Tom Paris was excellent.

I do wonder what the plan is with Tendi. We've seen supposed major shakeups like this dropped into previous finales, of course, with Boimler leaving the Cerritos for the Titan at the end of season one and Freeman getting arrested at the end of Season 2, which were quickly reverted in the first few episodes of the subsequent season. Odds are that's the play here. I hope so, because losing Tendi would suck. She's a delight.

Why was Boimler the acting captain when the command staff took off on the captain's yacht? There was a full Lieutenant right behind him on the bridge, and surely tens of others on the ship who are more senior and more qualified. A little bit of a main character boost there.

I asked the same question out loud to myself when I saw Boims in the captain seat. Best guess: since the plan was just to tow the destroyer and throw it, they knew he wouldn't have to do much, and it'd give him a shot. Plus they might have taken his relationship with Mariner (and his rapport with the rest of the Lower Decks gang) into account. Lastly, it might have been a tactic for if the admiralty went through with court-martials. Whomever answered that hail in the captain's seat would be in more hot water than the rest of the crew.
- Star Trek does this thing where formal rank isn't actually as important as being in the captain's in-group. Can you name anything important that provisional Lt. JG Ayala did on the USS Voyager? I sure as hell can't, but it was less important than Harry "eternal ensign" Kim.
  
  As much as the Lower Decks gang would like to think of themselves as unimportant, they're very much confidants of the Cerritos' senior staff so it's illogical, but consistent for Boimler to be at the top of the list for acting captain when stuff's going down.
  
  Out of universe it's obviously a narrative/screen time thing, I'd say you've just got to accept it and move on.
- It's also important to note that our LD crew are all bridge crew. We've seen that they have shifts at the helm and engineering/science/ops stations regularly, so putting them in charge really isn't that big of a stretch if the senior staff need to be off-ship for the more important role of the mission. They're basically babysitting the Cerritos and fending off hails from Starfleet.
The Tendi thing is basically the same move SNW made with La'an. It'll be resolved in the s5 premiere.

I did wonder why so many LJGs were on the bridge and why Boims got the chair, but I just chalked it to the usual - the otter more senior staff were up to something more important we didn't need to know about. Though it's certainly not unprecedented to give promising young officers the chair even when more senior officers are available. I take that as just part of Starfleet's training protocols.
- Heck, Lower Decks already did it with Boimler, with the status quo being back to normal after two episodes of fun B-plots on the Titan.
He is command track the other officers were engineering or security etc.

Maybe not "acting captain" but certainly I have seen equivalent in the merchant navy of a lower bridge officer being effectively in command of the vessel including more senior engineer
The Tendi thing gives them options. They can do something with that next season, or just revert to the norm if they’d rather have her back with the main cast.

Yooo it went from T'Lyn being like, "I am staying to focus on being your Bestie," to Tendi saying, "ight, outie!" In like 30 seconds. ,💀💀💀

It is logical to assume that Tendi will back back within a few episodes.

That ending theme was irresponsibly good.

I was really impressed by that. Really felt it belonged on a cinematic feature.
I didn't even get to listen to all of it because the app always wants to autoplay Hegemony.

If I had a nickel for every time a Genesis device was used to reconstruct a nebula into a planet (instead of its intended purpose of terraforming an existing planet), I'd have two nickels-- which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Well, maybe not so weird when the second time was a direct callback to the first time.

So Nick Locarno is definitely a living planet now, right? They made sure to point out that the new planet was made using his molecules. I'm thinking he's basically Ego now.

Also how great was it to see Wesley again, before he turned into a Time Lord? Anyone? Just me?

I liked how the remnants of the explosion formed the pattern of a Kolvoord Starburst maneuver.
No, it's just an M class planet like any other. It's kinda like fertilizing a plant with a person's remains.
- Yeah but this is Lower Decks we're talking about.
I may have squee'd a little...
Small g, son.

Amazing TWOK references as always. And again they do stakes without leaning too much into combat. But it did feel like it would benefit from more time, some bits felt rushed. I'd also have liked to see the reclaimed BoP help in some way. It didn't feel right that he wasn't in the picture to get back at Locarno. The paywall was amazing.

The Ice Debris field have me Titan AE vibes, especially with making a new planet at the end.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that!
Thaaaat's what it is from. I knew I knew it from somewhere, but was thinking it was maybe Andromeda or even another BSG reference.

The part at the end where you could see Tendi flip the switch from being Starfleet officer Tendi to Mistress of the Winter Constellations was great. Curious to see where they go with that. Even though her heart is in being a science officer, from what we've been shown she's very good at being a space pirate leader.

Mark twain was the callback of the century 😂😂

Migleemo's fight scene was great. After that puffy plumage and thinking himself tough shit was pretty damn funny.

Honestly i kinda want a episode about him. we still don't know what his species is and clearly the plumage thing is more than just for show...or is it...

I strongly disagree that he lost that fight, though. They were both incapacitated, it was clearly a draw!
- Agreed. Especially since he was still moving while she wasn't
I would love for my food metaphors to come back

Overall, I really liked the overarching plot, but I think they needed to extend out the conclusion over more episodes with this episode and the previous feeling a little rushed.

That being said, still a very enjoyable episode and

spoiler

yay captain Boimler!

Feels like a lot of character development this series.

I enjoyed the TWoK references though!

This whole episode was surprisingly mature

Shameless copied from trekbbs thread

Mariner looks good in a captain seat with her trusty GD by her side. 😜 Love the twok references.

Where's the steamrunners phaser banks?

USS Passaro being a steamrunner class does seem to be keeping with the Mark Twain steamboat theme.

Nvm. Apparently its a sabrerunner class. Steamrunner aestechics at sabre class size.
The steamrunner gets no phasers. Only photon torpedos and reinforced plating on the bow for excessive repeated ramming manouevers

Is this the first time we've seen Starfleet deploy a kinetic missile?

Basically an Expanse-episode:

Nicholas Locarno ≈ Marco Inaros
Mariners pet Genesis Device ≈ Millers pet nuke

spoiler for The Expanse finale

Battle inside trinar shield ≈ battle inside ring space

This episode seems full of subtle allusions or homages, albeit possibly accidental, considering how much that ice field scene looked so much like Titan A.E.
I hope the parallels were intentional. The Expanse is the fucking best. Here's hoping for the final 3 seasons once the case has aged properly

Interesting coincidence that Tom Paris and Not Tom Paris both have a penchant for designing ships

Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/3287357

I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic, after having built it up for a few seasons it just ended with a deluded Locarno vs Mariner. Anybody else feel the same way?

You know, I was starting to think they were milking the resolution for Tendi's arc. Like, we found out 4 episodes ago, then they brought it up last episode, now it's a plot point again; you can't stretch out the climax that long.

But it turns out we're still in the rising action, this was just a stepping stone. I love this show.