Spoilers Star Trek: Lower Decks 2x07 - "Where Pleasant Fountains Lie"

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' started by Commander Richard, Sep 22, 2021.

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Rate the episode...

  1. 10 - Excellent!

  2. 9

  3. 8

  4. 7

  5. 6

  6. 5

  7. 4

  8. 3

  9. 2

  10. 1 - Crash and burn!

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  1. jackoverfull

    jackoverfull Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    well, the Romulan crisis is around 4 years in the future of the show, so if we’re lucky we’ll get to a point they’ll have to address it.

    I don’t think Boimler will make admiral in 4 years, though. MAYBE commander if he gets promoted very fast.
     
  2. DaveyNY

    DaveyNY Admiral Admiral

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    Perhaps T'Pol showed Archer a way of getting there "as the Vulcan crow flies"? ;)
     
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  3. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Commonly known as the "vulcrow." It's a very sticky animal.
     
  4. DaveyNY

    DaveyNY Admiral Admiral

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    Heh ... perhaps 'tacky' is a more apt description. :techman:
     
  5. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks. I couldn't quite think of the right descriptor.
     
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  6. matthunter

    matthunter Admiral Admiral

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    Tackyons are why it's so fast.
     
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  7. ToddCam

    ToddCam Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    If I recall, on Enterprise, Vulcans did invent Velcro.
     
  8. Crewman6

    Crewman6 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, this episode was straight up the middle.

    Not one of the show's (sadly all-too-rare) good episodes, but not the total shit show that the last couple have been.

    It was fine. Not really funny, but at least fairly watchable. First half was stronger than the second half. Pretending Rutherford was dead was a big mistake. The fact that the explosion was a trick by the Queen was already blindingly obvious, but by throwing in the Rutherford fake-out, they made it even more so.

    I love the concept of a planet founded by Ren Faire nerds, but they could have done SO much more with that idea. Even just in the margins, they could have milked that idea for a lot of laughs, but really barely touched on it.

    They could/should also have made the Ren Faire people FAR more sexy and seductive to tempt Billips even more. There should have been scantily clad, nakedly sexual people around every corner.

    I think a funny episode punchline would have been if Billips was just like, "Yeah, I've had sex a lot, I just don't tell my mom." But whatever.

    The biggest flaw was (again) was Mariner. Her patronizing bullshit should have been left behind in season 1, it really felt like the characters have gotten past that point. And she receives no comeuppance for her behavior and doesn't even apologize. Boimler's (totally justified) anger towards her ends up being part of an act, but he has a legit grievance for her shitty behavior and she's never actually called on it or forced to confront her shittiness. Ugh.

    I really think this show needs to use the senior officers more, as this one did, as the core quartet is becoming tiresome. They keep playing the same notes over and over again. We get it. Time to add something more into the mix. Maybe a new lower deck character? Or just use the senior staff for more than just quick appearances.

    Overall, while this isn't a bad episode, per se, it does continue to highlight some of the show's macro issues which they really should have worked out by now.

    It's not surprising that their list of legitimate good episodes is so low, the foundation of the show is just deeply flawed.
     
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  9. Crewman6

    Crewman6 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Eh, not really. "Federation" is literally the name which, by definition, means a strong, central government with ultimate authority.

    The UN is basically just a club and is not a government at all. (though obviously the UFP stole their flag.)

    That said, we've seen that planetary governments seem to have quite a lot of autonomy and can leave the UFP at will.

    Truth lies somewhere in the middle.
     
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  10. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

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    I didn't see anyone answer this yet. I assume they're referring to the scene early in the episode in Engineering where Billups explains his background. His skin shows as blue in that scene.

    [​IMG]

    But it has nothing to do with his physiology or anything, it's just because he's standing right beside a big blue glowy light on the warp core:

    [​IMG]

    You can actually see the colouration on his skin pulsate as the warp core pulsates. As well, you can see the same effect on his mother when she steps beside him, plus on the background engineer above in a later part of the scene.

    At least that's what I'm assuming they're referring to; it's the only time I remember Billups's skin appearing as a different colour than it usually does.
     
  11. Search4

    Search4 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Seemed to me it was the pulsing of the warp core.
     
  12. cooleddie74

    cooleddie74 Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    In TNG when Geordi or other characters got too close to the intermix chamber they had blue light reflecting off their faces and bodies.
     
  13. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    They had access to T'Pol's Vulcan star charts. ;)

    Yep. And Episode #1.

    Your humour must vary to mine. I did watch it just before midnight, but it was hilarious.
     
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  14. Amaris

    Amaris Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Agreed. The old "nerd under the thumb of his mommy is a virgin" trope really irritated me. Then the "can't get it up" scene towards the end kind of just really put me off. This really felt off, the whole episode did. I'm hoping it's just them off their game for an episode, because I generally love the show.
     
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  15. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Eh, I think it was notable that the Starfleet crew cheered his choice to remain a virgin. No one made fun of him for it.

    And if he's not sexually attracted to men or women, it's a thing.
     
  16. Awesome Possum

    Awesome Possum Moddin' Admiral

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    Yeah, I figured he was asexual. He probably felt pressured to have sex, but couldn't make it work.
     
  17. dupersuper

    dupersuper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Not asexual or bi? He had both guards in his room...

    I wonder if they survived the synth ban...

    Do we know that the ship was near the home world?

    I'd consider that unlucky. I hope they stop at 2381 for a while. The longer we can go without dealing with all that the better...
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2021
  18. Andyliini

    Andyliini Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    This one for me was worth of an 8.

    There were plenty of situations where the jokes hit the right notes, and few where they didn't. Combs was great as the computer, but wouldn't it be more safe to just turn the computer off if you have captured it? Then again if they did that we would not have gotten that hilarious scene at the end where all the evil computers try to one-up each other.

    It was also great to see some or our heroes' grow and perhaps even prepare them for the upcoming seasons. Boimler certainly has captain material in him.
     
  19. Saul

    Saul Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah. Why is this even up for debate? Hasn't anyone been in a room with blue lights before?

    Totally, I think opinions will vary and if I was in a lighter mood I might laugh at some jokes. But I'm hard to please these days. I'm glad other people like it though.
    I find Rick & Morty hilarious. Red Dwarf too. Lower Decks just falls flat for me. It's a show that likes to think it's funnier than it actually is. Often it's a series of gags in a story rather than making the gags part of the story. Mariner is annoying, I find nothing funny about her over the top personality. I liked when she had character development at the end of season 1 and was vulnerable rather than the "nothing phases me, I can do anything" type of personality.

    Wow, can't wait for that reference,something like "Oh my god! this is like the time when Romulus exploded, this is so exciting! Woooooh! PLANET EXPLODING PARTY!!"
     
  20. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    We've already got our first Picard reference with the fact the Daystrom Institute is modeled after the one from it.

    As for the attitude, Lower Decks is high energy but easily the most optimistic and idealistic Trek currently out there.
     
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