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

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Some day, we might learn the answer to that question re: Boimler and his thoughts and actions re: Romulus. Not sure if that'll be any time soon.
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.
 
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.
 
Well we know the Federation doesn't let caste societies into its ranks from DS9.

However, the Federation is also meant to be based on the UN and not a US style democracy.

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.
 
Someone mentioned earlier in this thread that Billups "changed color."

Serious question, I am color-blind (strong protanomaly, red/green issues), did Billups's skin change colour? What scene was it in? What was the dramatic or narrative implication? If you know what this refers to, please help me out. I watched the episode 3 times and I did not notice this.

Thanks

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.

billups-blue-skin.jpg


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:

billups-blue-skin-2.jpg


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.
 
Someone mentioned earlier in this thread that Billups "changed color."

Serious question, I am color-blind (strong protanomaly, red/green issues), did Billups's skin change colour? What scene was it in? What was the dramatic or narrative implication? If you know what this refers to, please help me out. I watched the episode 3 times and I did not notice this.

Thanks
Seemed to me it was the pulsing of the warp core.
 
"80 hours to Qo'noS" with mid-22nd century warp drive still bothers some fans.

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

*looks at Star Charts' reference to "subspace shortcuts", specifically noting the "four days to Qo'noS" bit in connection to that*

Yep. And Episode #1.

Not really a funny episode...

Your humour must vary to mine. I did watch it just before midnight, but it was hilarious.
 
I appreciate the enthusiasm for this episode but gave it a 6; my lowest so far. I don’t much relate to privileged guy has mommy issues. I was glad that Boimler gets to stretch and utilize all that great info in his head. The main four will be more satisfying to watch as equal peers than the hierarchy that was forming.
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.
 
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.

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.
 
He appears to be either asexual or gay.

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

Also, I now really want robo-Combs checked out of the Daystrom Institute by Picard. Maybe in Season 3.

I wonder if they survived the synth ban...

At the very least, if the (slower?) Cerritos shuttle is involved, it suggests but doesn't guarantee that Hysperia is not that far from Okinawa.

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

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'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...
 
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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.
 
Seemed to me it was the pulsing of the warp core.
Yeah. Why is this even up for debate? Hasn't anyone been in a room with blue lights before?

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

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.
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!!"
 
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!!"

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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