Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 4x09 - "The Inner Fight"

[Amaris]

A great episode, full of twists and turns. I'm glad we got to get to the heart of why Mariner pushes so hard to stay a lower decker. I always liked Sito Jaxa as a character, and "Lower Decks," the TNG episode has always been a favorite. That Nick Locarno is involved makes it feel like this season was a cautionary one, just in case the show didn't get renewed, so that everything could be thematically wrapped up. I love it, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out next week.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Is it weird I was really hoping the planet was going to be Nimbus III.

 

[ToddCam]

Interestingly, Locarno seems to have gone grey early, since assuming he was about 22 as a senior at the Academy, he'd only be in his mid-30s. I'm pretty sure RDM was significantly older than Locarno, though.

 

[Tuskin38]

I like how Mariner recognized Nick right away instead of mistaking him for Tom.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I wonder if they'll address the Tom Paris thing at all as Thomas RIker is a transporter clone and we have Section 31 Boimler hanging over things.

 

[Jedman67]

It's been years since I was exited for a new Star Trek episode. But this and Picard have really made me feel like I was a teenager, watching TNG in my room instead of doing homework...

Or in the bathroom instead of doing work

I have to admit, I was expecting the threat to be Boimler's twin in Section 31.

I have a feeling he's gonna show up in the finale.
And I'm betting Licarno

Spoiler

take on the Cerritos like he did to the other ships

I gave it a 10. It just felt like a 10 for me.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Seven

I haven't loved this season, but this was a standout episode for me. It swerved in ways I definitely wasn't expecting, and I don't mind it a bit. I'm glad we got a mention of Thomas Riker. Locarno is a character I never thought we would see again, and I liked how Mariner ties back to TNG's Lower Deckers. I wish this had been the seventh or eighth episode though, because it feels like they might cram a lot into the season finale.

Not sure why Locarno, Riker, Crusher, and Seven of Nine have to do with things, but I wouldn't have minded having Pulaski in Beverly's place here with Lower Decks already bringing back lesser known/used Next Generation characters.

All seem to be off the grid types with Starfleet connection. Riker is ex Maquis. Crusher with the Mariposas. Seven is with the Rangers. (Or wil be?)

 

[fireproof78]

Is it weird I was really hoping the planet was going to be Nimbus III.

Yes.

 

[Saul]

I liked this episode. Like other seasons it doesn't get interesting until the last 2 or 3 episodes. If only more of the season could be like this.

 

[Jag2112]

Screencaps gallery now online:

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/sc-LD4-9.php

 

[Wingcommanderdarkwolf01]

8/10
Nick Locarno was VERY surprising.

 

[UssGlenn]

Carol Freeman apparently served with Riker at some point, which makes me wonder if Mariner was a child on the Yorktown. She would have been roughly Wesley Crusher’s age and probably knew him as well as all of the others at the Academy and heard all his Enterprise stories, though she must not have been caught up in the scandal that tripped up the others.

Any reason she couldn't have been on the Enterprise D in the early seasons before going to the Academy?

 

[Super Grover]

At least they have the taste to actually bleep the words instead of saying them. Not that I’m being an apologist for it. I find it extremely annoying and distasteful when they do something just because they can. I’m also quite pro-nudity, but I also find gratuitous nudity to be distasteful.

bleeping makes it funnier

 

[bookworm8571]

Any reason she couldn't have been on the Enterprise D in the early seasons before going to the Academy?

I suppose she could have been, though she would have been a teenager. She certainly served with Worf on Deep Space Nine.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Soooo, VOY didn't use Nick Locarno for what reason?

 

[Super Grover]

Soooo, VOY didn't use Nick Locarno for what reason?

something like having to pay the writer who created the initial charachter.

 

[UssGlenn]

Soooo, VOY didn't use Nick Locarno for what reason?

something like having to pay the writer who created the initial charachter.

Which is way cheaper for two episodes than an entire series.

 

[Aragorn]

Soooo, VOY didn't use Nick Locarno for what reason?

Paying the writer who created him for two episodes is a lot different than paying him for 170 episodes.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I originally thought Mariner would have been one of the Enterprise children but it seems her connection is actually with being in the same general class as Wesley Crusher's group in "First Duty."

The REAL question for me is whether Lorcano will be ringing the bell from that episode that the DS9 writers considered doing and showing that Sito has been in a Cardassian Prison camp for the past fourteen years.

 

[Mike Doyle]

I suppose she could have been, though she would have been a teenager. She certainly served with Worf on Deep Space Nine.

This episode put me off that theory. When Mariner talks about Sito being posted to the Enterprise she wasn’t talking about it in a way that made it sound she used to live there.