Temporal Edict

Comedy can be rather subjective. But to me at least, I thought the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks was notably funnier than the first two, and a nice step forward for the series.

When Captain Freeman learns about the "buffer time" her officers are building into their work schedules, she overreacts by regimenting every minute of their lives. This quickly leads to burnout, and a disastrous diplomatic misunderstanding with an alien race that Mariner and Commander Ransom fight to repair (as they fight with each other).

I hadn't thought of it as the "sweet spot" for me and Lower Decks, but it seems totally obvious to me in retrospect: the more the show is like Galaxy Quest, the more I'm going to love it. That movie lampooned every cliche about Star Trek, but did it from a clear place of love for the franchise and its fans. It cracked wise every minute, but not at the expense of actually telling a real story with stakes and growth. Though a parody of a Star Trek movie, it was kind of the best Star Trek movie.

Lower Decks does feel like it's coming from the same place, but it got the "intermix ratio" better this time than it had before. There was a quasi-serious look at what keeps a "dream job" being a dream job once you have it, a message about down time being important to productivity that seemed coincidentally extra-resonant in the age of COVID-19 and working from home. There was also a nice character arc for Mariner, who for the first time in the series didn't actually know everything; she learned that Commander Ransom has some skills too.

And that's just about all the seriousness a half-hour comedy format can hold, and wisely where the writers stopped. The rest was loaded it with those loving pokes at Star Trek tropes. None less than Scotty himself has voiced the concept of "buffer time" before, albeit without using that term. But this episode dialed that up to 11, as comedy animation is wont to do. Elsewhere in the episode: you might have thought every possible joke about Captain Kirk's frequent shirtlessness and ridiculous fighting style has already been made, but Lower Decks managed to put its own amusing spin on both. (Kirk Fu may look silly, but it works.)

For a while, I thought I was even getting my wish for everyone on the show to lower the volume a bit and stop shouting; with Boimler happily in his element for most of the episode, actor Jack Quaid was allowed to stand a normal distance from his recording mic. But filling the void was Captain Freeman, whose character took a pretty big hit this week. To clear the rails for the plot, she had to become a buffoon unable to see the consequences of her extreme actions -- and she tripled her volume and intensity to boot. It's the nature of the beast that Lower Decks is never going to be a "realistic" Star Trek show, but I hope that the concessions for the humor don't always come at the expense of a major character.

And it's not like they always did this week. Some of the best jokes were quick little pops like Boimler humming Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek theme in the turbolift, the running gags about the ineffectiveness of spears against the power of phasers, and that final blow about the most important person in the history of Starfleet: Miles O'Brien.

This was my favorite Lower Decks episode yet, a solid B+ in my book. The series could hold at this level and I'd be perfectly happy. That it's been steadily trending upward from week to week, though, makes me hopeful that we'll see even better at some point this season.