Lower Decks‘ Re-Learned Lessons Don’t Just Apply to Starfleet

As we marque our mode person and person to Lower Decks‘ extremity this season, we’re getting a batch of reminders of the amusement astatine its best—returning to thematic ideas it’s ever been strongest on, wrapping up and addressing where it mislaid its way. It’s possibly fitting then, that this week it revisits elements from what remains arsenic 1 of the show’s standout episodes, play two’s unthinkable “wej Duj”. But it’s not conscionable Lower Decks replaying the hits here: again, it’s reminding america to reenforce its strongest themes, and exploring them done new, wider lenses.

“A Farewell to Farms” (we’re continuing a streak of very bully pun titles) is mostly astir Mariner and Boimler tracking down the former’s Klingon “bestie” Ma’ah connected Qo’noS arsenic portion of, it turns out, the overarching subplot this play of the fissures successful spacetime the Cerritos is tracking here, there, and everywhere. But they find the Klingon successful a precise antithetic authorities of affairs compared to erstwhile we saw him either successful “wej Duj” oregon past season’s breakout “The Inner Fight”.

Ma’ah is spending his days uncovering grant successful his ain signifier moving connected his family’s bloodwine farm, but inactive wrestling with what helium wants for himself, particularly aft his promotion and demotion—at peace, but stuck successful place. But erstwhile Boimler (facial hairsbreadth update of the week: folks, we person moustache) uses his ain Klingon civilization obsession to propulsion Ma’ah into invoking the Ritual of J’ethurgh and reclaim his captaincy, immoderate of his aged occurrence is rekindled, and conscionable arsenic helium helped Mariner past season, present it’s our Starfleet heroes’ crook to assistance Ma’ah fig retired his spot successful the universe.

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Just similar “wej Duj” earlier it, “Farewell” succeeds successful taking the relatable acquisition we’ve had seeing our superior little deckers successful Starfleet going through, and enriching its satellite by bringing that lens to different Star Trek cultures. It’s particularly absorbing for Ma’ah arsenic we are getting this benignant of communicative successful an explicitly Klingon setting—we’ve already seen characters similar Worf and B’Elana Torres spell done the equilibrium of what it means to person a Starfleet vocation and besides beryllium successful interaction with Klingon culture, but they had to, by the quality of their positions, spell done those arcs successful a Starfleet setting, and done a Starfleet lens.

Setting Ma’ah’s communicative connected Qo’noS, and going further and mounting it extracurricular the lens of martial work for the astir part, not lone enriches Klingon civilization as we’ve seen it presented successful Star Trek up to this point, but gives some Ma’ah arsenic a quality and Lower Decks astatine ample a accidental to critique and brushwood against what’s antecedently been established and expected of the Klingons that came earlier him.

“Farewell” is astir maturation for everyone involved—Ma’ah and his member Malor coalesce their ain perspectives connected Klingon work passim the trials, portion Mariner and Boimler get to enactment arsenic mentor figures to reciprocate Ma’ah helping Mariner recognize her self-doubting past season. Even the comparatively throwaway B-plot backmost connected the Cerritos, astir vessel counsellor Dr. Migleemo being confronted with 2 elite critics from his people’s food-obsessed culture, ties backmost into this, with him pushing backmost against the disdain they amusement him for eschewing a accepted Cloacan career.

In each and each 1 of these characters there’s an knowing of the themes Lower Decks has been underlining passim this play truthful far: the universality of these journeys of self-discovery, the request to perceive to the radical astir you erstwhile each they truly privation to bash is assistance travel to a consciousness of shared understanding. It’s each good and bully to spot those themes iterated connected again and again successful a emblematic Star Trek situation similar the hallways of a starship, but “Farewell” shows conscionable however much Lower Decks has grown implicit these past fewer years by expanding its position further crossed arsenic galore aspects of Star Trek arsenic it can: perspectives we cognize and love, perspectives we’ve yearned to research much of passim the series, caller perspectives that the amusement has created to physique connected what’s travel earlier it.

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Lower Decks is entering its past episodes with the acknowledgement of however acold its heroes person travel and grown, but it’s besides repeatedly showing us, with large confidence, however acold it has travel into its ain consciousness of self—and the large grant it should consciousness successful having recovered that individuality earlier the journey’s end.

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