Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x03 - "We'll Always Have Tom Paris"

I wonder if this is confirmation that Mariner is about 10 years older than the others.

 

Hm, I just realized, so Mariner is Pansexual? Neat.

 

I think the problem with this season is the use of the reset button. However, to be fair, I suspect that LD was originally supposed to be a self-contained season, and that's it. It's only when the show got picked up for two additional seasons that the producers were forced to use said reset button, with both Boilmer and Shax returning to the USS Cerritos.

BTW, I give the episode a "7", because of the use of the reset button. I liked the show because there were real consequences at stake. It just seems that there have been some back slide in both the overall plot and character growth. Still, overall, I was entertained, and we had more "world-building", which I always liked about ST. Hopefully, this season will conclude as a awesomely as it did previously.

 

She's basically this universes version of Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood / Doctor Who Universe.

 

She's badsexual. She's into bad boys, bad girls, bad non-binry babes...

 

I wonder how much heat Tendi is facing is due to her own internalized xenophobia and Green Guilt.

No one seems to give her much crap for being Orion but she's apparently assuming its everywhere.

 

Gave it a 9, really enjoyed it.

I totally bought the explanation for shax coming back, kinda reminds of worf being in insurrection.
Also great Orion stuff and the final cat gag was totally unexpected and spot on.

 

I'm a bit put off that Shaxs' return seems to be permanent. I mean, yeah, a gag would've been fine. Have him be a mirror Shaxs or Silver Blood doppelganger or bored shapeshifter, great. But, like all reset buttons, it cheapens his death from last season. I'm really feeling Rutherford and his concern for WTH is happening here.

There's a tinder of hope that his return might be tied into a seasonal arc, and this isn't the last we've heard about it. But I'm not holding my breath. I feel for Kayshon, though. Looks like he got a demotion.

The first two episodes were well-done and evolved the series with a new dynamic and new characters. Jet worked well with the crew. Kayshon was an interesting addition. The events of Season 1 seemed like they happened and had an effect on their lives.

When Mariner talks about shutting herself off because from making friends, because they always go away, that moment is cheapened when she's surrounded by the same group from S1E1. We need to see people leaving, people dying, to get into the heads of these characters.

I don't have a huge issue with Shaxs' return. Maybe they'll develop his character quite a bit more and we'll all be grateful for it. It does help nail in the cosmic horror of the Star Trek universe which LD revels in and I love that aspect of it.

But this isn't supposed to be a silly cartoon with the same dynamics every episode. The show needs to grow and thrive. They did a good job of it last season. I hope this episode and season is a bit of a hiccough and they'll get back on track soon.

 

Mariner showed a bit of it during the holomovie last year (casting Tendi as an Orion and telling her to act like a stereotypical Orion), and the collector from last week was concerned that "the Orion" would be stealing things during their mission. It's not all in Tendi's head.

 

Admittedly, yes. I also note that Tendi was shocked when her superior called her a Filthy Orion in the simulation.

 

I've gone 7,9,8 so far. I didn't feel like this one had too much going on like episode 1.

When in Star Trek have we seen so many prople coming back form the dead? Spock comes to mind of course.

An entire episode for a cat joke is priceless.

 

Yeah, that was the tipping point for me. I would've gone into more detail in my earlier post, but it was 4:00 in the morning in my time-zone. I have insomnia, so I have a hard time sleeping at night in general, but I still get tired. So that's the worst combination. But, anyway...

Everything that happens in LD gets reset, so it's effectively TNG and VOY but with more of a sense of humor. So, after this episode, I figured, "I'll just watch this whenever. No rush." Which basically means it could be the end of the season, it could be 10 years from now, it could be something in-between, literally whenever. With DSC and PIC I wonder "What's going to happen next?!" It keeps me anticipating. With LD, everything resets and reverts in short order. And I get that that's how it was usually done on TOS, TNG, and VOY. So I understand LD is just following in this path. And that's fine. It's just not my personal preference these days as one viewer. And I get a mild-kick out of the jokes, but it's not like I'm dying on the floor laughing.

I told my brother the series is a little too fluffy for me, but he likes it, so he'll keep watching. I only told him so he wouldn't be constantly asking me, "Hey! Did you see today's episode yet?" every week.

 

I loved this episode. Loved the road- trip and the conversations/adventure Mariner and Tendi had.

Really glad Shax is back; I’d been so glad to see his name in the credits ep1. I’m sorry that Sam is traumatized, though.

Boimler’s hero worship was funny and Paris’ cameo was just the right amount of “guest-starring.”

I don’t give a sh*t about “rEs3t.” Ive read a crap ton of old trek books and as far as consistency went; there wasn’t any. I got over that.

This season is as enjoyable as the first and I’m not ready for it to end any time soon.

 

Last week had me wondering:

Spoiler

“Wait a sec, how’d duplicate Boimler make it to the shuttle and back up to the Titan so fast? He said the Pakleds couldn’t make it past the door, when they clearly did right as he was beaming out.” Pacing is compressed on the show, I’ll allow, but not to *that* degree.

This week has me noticing that,

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despite being logged back into the system by Billups, the ship’s computer doesn’t recognize Boimler. Did anyone bother to check him out on his return to the Titan, or the Cerritos for that matter? Or is he just a ‘lower decker, we’ve ‘heard this tune before’, and nobody bothered to care?

I don’t think it’s actually

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Boimler. I think he’s a Pakled plant. Just like the crew of the Titan suspected for all of five seconds.

I may have over-spoiler-tagged here. Figuring it’s better to be safe than sorry given that the show is still hot off the presses.

 

Hahaha, I think there was a minor Threshold retcon (correct me if I'm wrong). Instead of a nonsense "evolution jump" it's a celerity-induced accelerated somatic mutation rate.

 

I don't think the Pakled's have anybody that intelligent or sophisticated that they can be a "Plant" for them given their "THUGGISH" ways of getting FTL and Space Piracy & Marauding.

They have to enslave smarter people to make their tech work, otherwise it's rather easy to sabotage or trick them.

 

Perhaps not the Pakleds. Perhaps someone else is pulling the strings.

 

The Collector's Guild guy?

 

10 for me. An incredibly clever and funny episode.

Spoiler

I am always on board for watching Boimler suffer and his finally meeting Tom Paris only to get his ass handed to him was *chef's kiss*, Mariner and Tendi getting their own mission was great (and the twist into the cat joke was nice), Shax returning from the dead was funny, and Rutherford learning there are some things you just don't want to know was even funnier.

Particularly enjoyed the development of Tendi's character. Learning that she's actually D'Vana Tendi, Mistress of the Winter Constellation, and may or may not have the pheromone thing going on was actually really cool. The mention of racism against Orions in Starfleet is on point and does fit with how people in Starfleet sometimes actually behave (I remember the gross cultural insensitivity just about everyone on the Enterprise displayed toward Ensign Ro when she first turned up). Good comedy with some meat on the bone to boot.

 

They mentioned that "someone" in the staff meeting. My money's on a very pissed off (still) Ensign Kim.