No Small Parts

Throughout its first season, Star Trek: Lower Decks has skillfully walked the line of being respectful of Star Trek while pointing out the stains on its figurative tie. (All in good fun.) With its season finale, "No Small Parts," it continued to do that -- while also serving up its most authentically Star Trek installment so far.

The secret of Captain Freeman and Ensign Mariner's relationship slips out to the whole crew. But the dust hasn't settled when a crisis hits: the Cerritos comes under attack from an alien threat... and not everyone will survive.

Lower Decks has often "remixed" plot elements of past Star Trek episodes for comedic effect. Indeed, this episode was every bit as referential as the others, with nods to a classic original series episode, a style lift from the first animated series, a quote of the lyrics from the Enterprise theme song, and more. But this episode was almost an inversion, taking something from past Trek that was largely played for comedy -- the Pakleds from The Next Generation -- and bringing them back in a serious context.

The result was a season finale that could compare quite favorably against many finales of other Star Trek seasons. We got big action and big stakes, plus the death of a character and a real shake-up in the lives of many others. There was also some serious discussion about the inconsistent application of Starfleet's (and Star Trek's) principles of non-interference. To fit all that in, "No Small Parts" was arguably not as funny as other Lower Decks episodes... but certainly funny enough in the right moments.

The series and its characters stayed true even in this more dramatic story. The loss of Rutherford's memory, along with his implant, could easily have been a tragic turn on another show, but Tendi responded with lightness and optimism. Career-driven Boimler of course would take a promotion when offered. And Mariner's going to keep being wild, now with more support from her mother.

We got fun cameos from Will Riker and Deanna Troi. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis delivered recognizable versions of their characters while shading them with a bit more roguishness and snark (more like the actors themselves, based on what I've seen of them) to fit better in the world of this series. And perhaps we have a little more of them to look forward to in season 2 (at least as long as Boimler's adventures on the Titan last)?

"No Small Parts" was a strong episode, to me probably the best of the season save for last week's hilarious movie send-up. Regardless, it showed another gear the series can shift to, and that made me look forward to its eventual second season. I give the episode a B+.

Next time, we're moving on to season three of Star Trek: Discovery!