Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Final Season Lessons Are Facing Their Biggest Test

Lower Decks is not precisely a amusement you would needfully accidental has had a batch of bite to it, successful presumption of consequential conflict. There’s been moments, but they’re often brushed past for a gag, oregon resolved precise quickly. As we get acceptable to participate the backmost fractional of its last season, however, we mightiness person conscionable gotten the amusement taking its biggest wound truthful far… astatine a cleanable clip for our ever-growing, ever-learning heroes to enactment their lessons into practice.

For the astir portion “Starbase 80?!” is different successful the enactment of season five’s repeated lessons astir connection and judgment, and it’s a perfectly good 1 astatine being conscionable that. Suffering a navigation contented that knocks retired Cetacean Ops (not the dolphin officers!), some Mariner and her parent Captain Freeman alike are horrified erstwhile the nearest larboard of telephone that could connection repairs to the Cerritos is nary different than Starbase 80. Both they and the unit astatine ample hatred the station, though Beckett and Captain Freeman are divided connected conscionable why. For Mariner, Starbase 80 represents 1 of the lowest times of her vocation (and for Lower Decks alike), erstwhile she was reassigned to the infamously run-down Starbase by her parent arsenic punishment for misconduct she didn’t commit. For Captain Freeman, it’s been portion of a gag that was moving successful the inheritance of the premiere occurrence of this season, erstwhile we learned successful the adjacent, close-enough alternate world that the crushed its USS Cerritos was captained by “Becky” was due to the fact that Alt-Freeman had seemingly been demoted and assigned to Starbase 80 herself, ne'er to beryllium seen again.

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So naturally, everyone arrives astatine the Starbase a small connected edge, and similar they’d alternatively beryllium anyplace other than. The unit assigned to the presumption are beauteous chipper successful comparison—especially the remarkably peppy Kassia Nox (delightful impermanent prima Nicole Byer), who we larn really volunteered to beryllium assigned to the base—making bash with the small they person connected Starbase 80, a amusive opposition wherever it’s the crook of our regular heroes to beryllium dismissive Starfleet jerks to the scrappy underdogs. That gets extrapolated adjacent further erstwhile Cerritos crewmembers aboard the Starbase commencement being afflicted with immoderate benignant of zombifying possessive virus, starring to Mariner’s contiguous presumption that the “curse” of Starbase 80 is real, and their amicable hosts person thing to bash with it. Hijinks ensue, it turns retired to nary 1 but Mariner’s archetypal astonishment that the “virus”—actually an anaphasic lifeform named Clem trying to beryllium himself—was the responsibility of the Cerritos alternatively than Starbase 80, having been picked up accidentally by its past mission, and everyone learns possibly to not marque assumptions of different people.

Hooray for lessons successful prejudice! As blasé arsenic that mightiness sound, it’s really a truly large infinitesimal to spot Mariner’s cognition reflected backmost astatine her. The past clip she was connected Starbase 80, she was truthful furious astatine being really pushed speech to a “lower decks” presumption she promptly resigned from Starfleet. Forcing her to brace up with Nox, who doesn’t just want to beryllium determination but sees the spot successful making bash with what small resources the unit of the presumption person scrounged portion Starfleet ignores them, lets Mariner truly instrumentality connected committee the maturation she went done successful the play and a fractional betwixt her visits to Starbase 80. As amusive arsenic it is to spot her instantly commencement yelling astir curses erstwhile things spell incorrect here, she’s a precise antithetic idiosyncratic this clip astir than the 1 that was assigned to Starbase 80 backmost successful play three, and re-reminding her of that acquisition ties the occurrence backmost into Lower Decks‘ ongoing repetition of radical perpetually having to re-learn their lessons arsenic they mature this season.

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But what truly makes it absorbing is besides seeing that benignant of arc mirrored by her mother. Captain Freeman has seldom had a spotlight in Lower Decks extracurricular of being a foil and occasional antagonistic unit for her daughter. In “Starbase 80?!” she’s mostly chopped disconnected from the main crippled astir the anaphasic virus, wrapped up successful her ain insecurities astir the Starbase’s reputation—and her alternate self’s consignment there—as she’s charmingly conned by the station’s technologist and wearer-of-many-proverbial-hats Gene Jakobowski (Stephen Root) into helping hole up the presumption successful speech for the parts the Cerritos needs successful its ain repair. By conscionable having her and Ransom together, we yet get an accidental to person Carol unfastened up a little, adjacent if it is done that consciousness of stubborn defiance she shares with her daughter, perpetually refusing to fto Starbase 80 bushed her successful the mode it bushed her different self. But it’s not conscionable that defiance of destiny driving her arsenic she rolls her sleeves up and gets to enactment fixing up immoderate small occupation Gene throws astatine her and Ransom. Starbase 80 represents to Captain Freeman some her imaginable nonaccomplishment arsenic a captain, but besides her nonaccomplishment arsenic a mother, distrusting Mariner backmost successful play 3 to presume the worst of Beckett successful assigning her to the Starbase arsenic punishment.

Ultimately, the much she works connected these myriad fixes, the much Captain Freeman comes to recognize that she and the denizens of Starbase 80 person much successful communal than her fearfulness had allowed her to consider. The Cerritos whitethorn person had a fewer leader moments, but it’s inactive a vas that Starfleet astatine ample has dismissed oregon looked down on—even present aft the climax of play four, their overarching ngo this play has been, arsenic Captain Freeman enactment it herself, monitoring spacetime potholes. She knows what it’s similar to conflict without recognition, support, oregon resources, adjacent if it’s wide the concern aboard the Cerritos is mode amended than Starbase 80’s has been for a while. In coming to that understanding, Captain Freeman’s code begins to displacement beneath the comical stubbornness: she sees, potentially, a way wherever she wouldn’t beryllium consigned to Starbase 80 arsenic punishment, but possibly a way wherever she would person stayed determination willingly to assistance a unit she feels kinship with.

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Well, that is if she isn’t taken retired by a elephantine pyrithian bat, that is. “Starbase 80?!” concludes with Beckett wondering wherever her parent has been during the full virus-zombie thing, lone for america to chopped to Ransom and Captain Freeman trying to circular up the past of the elephantine bats clogging up the Starbase’s systems… and with an ever-stubborn Captain Freeman charging caput archetypal astatine the parent of each pyrithian bats, inactive anxious to beryllium that she tin win wherever her alt-self failed. We don’t spot what happens next, conscionable perceive it, arsenic Ransom yells astatine her to look retired for the claws, and we perceive a scream—whether it’s Ransom oregon Freeman, it’s hard to tell—as the soundtrack crescendos and abruptly falls silent.

One past parting gag, oregon possibly those fears of nonaccomplishment teased successful the premiere coming location to roost, we’ll person to hold until adjacent week to find out, but if it isn’t a gag, we’re successful for a concern present wherever Captain Freeman doesn’t get to determine if she’d beryllium stuck connected Starbase 80 arsenic punishment oregon due to the fact that she genuinely feels for its plight… and mightiness beryllium stuck connected determination for acold direr reasons. After fractional a play of re-learning who our heroes person go arsenic they’ve matured arsenic radical and Starfleet officers, what amended mode to enactment those lessons into signifier than dealing with having their skipper abruptly retired of commission?

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