Star Trek: Lower Decks Review

This article will contain spoilers for the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, so turn back now if you do not want to be spoiled.

Yes, I know I’m several months late to the party here, but at least I got in. If you’re all familiar with me, you know I’m a Star Trek fan. But then you likely also know that I’m wary of shows that bill themselves as comedies. See, I prefer my Trek like I prefer most of my other television: serialized and dripping with dramatic tension. So, I was nervous about diving into a comedic take on the lives of the lower deck staff of a Starfleet ship. Isn’t the fun of Trek seeing all the incredible situations the Senior Staff manages to wriggle their way out of, skirting the Prime Directive and averting wars? The only time we need to deal with the lower deck crew is when they’ve done something horribly wrong or when the show needs a Red Shirt to sacrifice to the television gods. And, frankly, through the first half of season one of Lower Decks, I was seriously doubting my choice in watching the series. But once the writers remembered the hallmark of good sci-fi television (if you don’t give us multi-faceted characters, there’s no reason to care about the flashy set pieces), I found myself really enjoying the fun, often plain silly, stories captured within Lower Decks.

There are more than enough in-jokes to keep even the most stalwart Trekkie satisfied and chuckling throughout Lower Decks. But what really makes the series work is its heart. Sure, it takes until late in the season for the writers to get a complete grasp of their characters (and to decide that Mariner should be the true leading character of the piece, despite the continued push for Boimler to take the lead in story after story), but the payoff is worth the shaky start. I genuinely enjoyed this cast of characters – and was thrilled that the series acknowledged their individual failings without forcing them to correct them (nothing sinks a comedy faster than trying to fix characters – while characters should grow and change in comedies, their quirks shouldn’t be shaved down for the sake of the character; rather, the characters should grow to recognize their issues and adapt rather than clear them out for good). In particular, the journey Mariner takes from the pilot to the season finale was great to see. I genuinely wondered if the series was willing to dive into her issues with authority and explore just why she refused to grow up and become the sensational Starfleet officer she is destined to become. And the decision to have her recognize that perhaps she can have time with her friends and still live up to her potential was a nice way to leave the character until season two. As for Boimler, well, his ending illustrates the major issue with the series as a whole: It’s going to need to twist itself into knots to keep all these characters together.

And yes, the series does come with a built in shelf-life: At some point, the four main characters will need to get promoted and move up and out, either to new postings or to higher ranks that take them from the lower decks into actual crew quarters and real responsibilities. Yes, even Mariner will someday get promoted up from Ensign for good. So, will future episodes of the series adapt by bringing in new characters? Will we continue to follow these four central characters? Will we stay with the Cerritos, or will we move onto different ships? While I suspect Boimler’s time on the Titan will be short-lived, a change of locale for several episodes – or even for a whole season – isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Look at the good its done to Discovery this season.

But the thing I find the most refreshing about Lower Decks is that it lacks the rigidity of so much of Star Trek. By focusing on those outside of the Senior Staff, the series allows the characters to have fun and play fast and loose with Starfleet rules and regulations. Tendi and Rutherford have jobs on the ship that put them, occasionally, in a position to make life and death mistakes, but they rarely need to place the heavy burden of command on their psyches and simply need to follow orders to the best of their abilities. Boimler and Mariner often find themselves in crazy side quests that wouldn’t even warrant a footnote in any other series, but let us see that there’s far more going on in our favorite Trek series than what we see from our central characters. Yes, it’s a comedy, and yes, on true Trek series none of their actions would fly, but it’s nice to get to see how crewmen feel about their superiors. And just who gets the job of cleaning the Senior Staff conference room before and after meetings.

As someone in the midst of a Deep Space Nine rewatch, it was nice to take some time off to laugh at how ridiculous some Trek plot lines can be. And to see that, in the future, Starfleet will remember Miles O’Brien as the most important of the Starfleet officers (he really was pretty clutch across the board). I’m eager to see what Boimler does to get himself reassigned from the Titan. And what Mariner does that finally gets her a real promotion. But, most of all, I’m intrigued to spend more time with theses characters and their B-plot exploits in season two. And a few more Q appearances wouldn’t hurt.