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

[jackoverfull]

Sadly, the issues of consent on this episode weren’t great

Well, more like weren’t there at all.
Billups consents at the end, but only because he’s been tricked and the show makes very clear that’s not ok.

("trained from birth not to need foreplay!" is a very unfortunate line

it fits with how ruthless the queen is, though.

it also fits with how sex between nobles was once seen (and still is in some parts of the world): not as something pleasurable but as a duty that allows you to form allegiances (or, in this case, to get on the throne).

 

[Charles Phipps]

While I wouldn't want to live there, I admit I absolutely would visit the planet of dragons and all the mutton I could eat.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Sadly, the issues of consent on this episode weren't great nor were some of the jokes ("trained from birth not to need foreplay!" is a very unfortunate line).

Different society, different standards.

I think Billups has his eyes on Ransom.
"Strange Energies" wasn't exactly subtle.

You're reading too much into it.
Billups is Mecha-Sexual IMO.

 

[Tuskin38]

Yup, nice in-joke. But seriously, what's with every single Malevolent AI fitting into a Old School Macintosh shaped box with a slightly different outter design?

Some of them looked like modern gaming PCs

 

[Harpsichord]

I think Billups has his eyes on Ransom.
"Strange Energies" wasn't exactly subtle.

Ransom's "little buddy" was Stevens, not Billups.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

So I take it the Lower Decks made it to the Royal Decks?

 

[BigJake]

8/10.

Spoiler

I'm over "Mariner is toxically insecure about the Titan" and "Mariner fucks with Boimler out of some messed-up sense of separation anxiety" story beats. Those are automatic point deductions by now.

That said, everything else about this episode is great. Boimler actually using Mariner's jerkassery as leverage to fake a conflict and outsmart the supercomputer? Combs as Agomis? The Ren Faire sexytimes-planet backstory for Billups? Rutherford and "has his kingdom come?" The artful sowing of a seed with poor Tendi being expected to just be okay with thinking her friends have died every few episodes? (I hope that pays off.) All really funny and as beautifully put-together as ever. And I always kinda geek out when I see a Shakespearean name on an episode.

 

[Aeolusdallas]

8/10.

Spoiler

I'm over "Mariner is toxically insecure about the Titan" and "Mariner fucks with Boimler out of some messed-up sense of separation anxiety" story beats. Those are automatic point deductions by now.

That said, everything else about this episode is great. Boimler actually using Mariner's jerkassery as leverage to fake a conflict and outsmart the supercomputer? Combs as Agomis? The Ren Faire sexytimes-planet backstory for Billups? Rutherford and "has his kingdom come?" The artful sowing of a seed with poor Tendi being expected to just be okay with thinking her friends have died every few episodes? (I hope that pays off.) All really funny and as beautifully put-together as ever. And I always kinda geek out when I see a Shakespearean name on an episode.

Especially when the quote is so apropos to the storyline

 

[Noname Given]

A 7.

Didn't find this one all that amusing. Had some nice bits here and there and the character development was good. Not a bad episode at all, but just nothing that either made me really bust out laughing or surprised me in any way. I am happy they DIDN'T use the TOS trope of someone using circular logic to 'beat' the computer AI. No they just placed it in a server rack where it can threaten with the rest of its kind.

 

[cooleddie74]

Mariner just needs to accept the fact that Boimler served on Will Riker's ship and get the chip off her shoulder. Yes, sometimes Starfleet officers get prize postings to starships with great prestige and/or famous commanding officers. She really takes the ribbing about his assigment way too far.

 

[fireproof78]

A 7.

Didn't find this one all that amusing. Had some nice bits here and there and the character development was good. Not at all a bad episode at all, but just nothing that either made me really bust out laughing or surprised me in any way. I am happy they DIDN'T use the TOS trope of someone using circular logic to 'beat' the computer AI. No they just placed it in a server rack where it can threaten with the rest of its kind.

Reminds me of the Toaster of Doom from Fallout.

 

[Noname Given]

Mariner just needs to accept the fact that Boimler served on Will Riker's ship and get the chip off her shoulder. Yes, sometimes Starfleet officers get prize postings to starships with great prestige and/or famous commanding officers. She really takes the ribbing about his assigment way too far.

That was done to pretty much to really underscore to the audience that Mariner was 100% WRONG about Boimler's 'officer' abilities once he had 'defeated the AI and saved both their asses in the same act. That was one bit of character development for BOTH of the characters that I liked (and yes, Mariner is smart enough herself to realize just how wrong she was afterwards.)

One thing I will say for the writing staff of this show - they do a pretty good job of telling 2 running plots to satisfactory endings in 22 minutes <--- And that's not easy. Hell, TNG couldn't often do that very well given 44 minutes. If there's one thing this series has made me realize it's that I don't dislike the 24th century setting; I'm finding that TNG while setting it up, didn't often really do that good a job of telling interesting stories in it. (DS9 did a lot better at it).

 

[cooleddie74]

In a lot of ways TNG was the weak link in the TNG-DS9 chain from a storytelling perspective.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Mariner just needs to accept the fact that Boimler served on Will Riker's ship and get the chip off her shoulder. Yes, sometimes Starfleet officers get prize postings to starships with great prestige and/or famous commanding officers. She really takes the ribbing about his assigment way too far.

Mariner wants to pretend it never happened and go back to Boimler being her bumbling useless sidekick. This episode basically shatters that possibility forever.

 

[oldtrekkie]

I bet you guys already knew that Jeffrey Combs would be one of the guests this time but I for one was surprised to hear Weyoun's voice ( a little bit of Weyoun and a little bit of Shran actually) when the evil computer spoke.

"Trained to skip foreplay"! What kind of training is that? Usually, it's the other way around.

I see they wanted to have all the bases covered with the Prince, sort of, he could have been into exotic things, have fetishes for example...

 

[dswynne1]

I give this episode a "7". While it was a solid episode, there weren't any "laughs", as far as what type of program LD is suppose to be. Don't get me wrong. The episode was enjoyable to watch, and it did progress the characters' development, but as far as comedic effects, not so much. Plus, having an "enthusiastic" parent who won't let go of being a "parent", even when the child is now an adult, hit too close to home for me. That part was "triggering" (man, I hate that word). Oh, well. Looking forward to the next episode...

 

[Awesome Possum]

I love the idea that some Rennaissance Fair/D&D fans would settle on some planet because it had dragons on it and structure and entire society around living their fantasy. It was like a really fun take on the trope on TOS where they'd find a gangster planet or Nazi planet that somehow developed naturally. The evil computer repeatedly trying to talk everyone into just letting it connect to another device was great too.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I wonder if Billups is the first on-screen asexual character.

 

[Gepard]

It was like a really fun take on the trope on TOS where they'd find a gangster planet or Nazi planet that somehow developed naturally.

That was my thought, too, though I could have done without the "hurr, hurr, Ren Faire nerds are virginal losers" angle. (Seriously, if he manages to have sex he automatically becomes king? Come on.)

Gepard, not a Ren Faire guy but respects the enthusiasm.

 

[Awesome Possum]

That was my thought, too, though I could have done without the "hurr, hurr, Ren Faire nerds are virginal losers" angle. (Seriously, if he manages to have sex he automatically becomes king? Come on.)

Gepard, not a Ren Faire guy but respects the enthusiasm.

I got impression that their whole society was based around having as much sex as possible.