Boimler.
Plus we still haven't dealt with the clone.
But really, what is Boimler's story other than wanting to be taken seriously as an officer but Mariner's stupid antics hinder him at every turn?
And there was probably only a 50/50 chance we were going to see William Boimler again. And Section 31 is basically a big joke these days, so who really cares?
It's strange. The episodes are fine. Better than fine! They're entertaining with heart and everything you'd probably want to see in the 5th season.
And yet...
The series is loosing steam. Yes, we all know the end is coming, but it's something beyond that. It's like there's a disinterest in the show. Like any and all enthusiasm for the show was sucked out of it the moment we found out it's canceled.
The #savelowerdecks movement had all the impact of a wet fart, and this very forum barely talks about the show.
Maybe the show never was that popular, as good as it is. Maybe Paramount is absolutely right to cancel the series.
I dunno. It certainly doesn't seem to be running, but rather crawling across the finish line.
'Starbase 80?!' is basically the proof that a show can't survive on just memberberries alone.
I once mentioned a few years ago that I saw in Lower Decks a really good show trying to creep out from under all the tedious callbacks, dumb humor, and annoying characters. It's like The Orville, once McFarlane was able to distance the show from the idiotic humor that Fox insisted it have at the beginning.
But this episode showed that they're just devolving back into pointless callbacks, only worse, because most of those memberberries had little to nothing to do with the plot of the story. For example:
-Why have the two main officers of the starbase wear ENT-style uniforms and not reference them?
-Why have the starbase doctor be half-Tarchannen for no real good reason?
-Why have Kassia be an El-Aurian but just 30 years old and not relevant to the plot?
-Why have Acamarians on the starbase? What function did they serve other than just being some background thugs who weren't actually thugs? And was anyone actually pining to see Acamarians again? At least when they showed the Pakleds, they were integral to the plot and used in an interesting way.
I also stand by my statement that once Mariner's arc ended, there was no need to continue the show. Most of the other characters either weren't developed enough to have any kind of major arcs for them, or whatever background they had was developed enough by the end of season 4.
The very best stuff in Lower Decks, for me, has always been the callbacks to older Trek. It never really broke any new ground, but also never shat the bed. It's toed the line for most of its run.
YMMV
As I mentioned above, I disagree with that statement. But you're exactly right: YMMV.