Star Trek: Lower Decks - Episode Guide - Season 2

As impressive as the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks was, season 2 represnets a further leap forward for the series, as LD consistently transitions from a comedy set in the Star Trek universe to a full-on Star Trek series which just happens to be comedic.

Which is not to say that Lower Decks season 2 isn’t replete with hilarious in-jokes drawing on all series that came to the delight of fandom – plenty of this remains. This season includes some great character studies and, in true ST fashion, some fascinating worldbuilding: The Orions get more fleshing out in this season and for the first time in the franchise’s long history, a look at life onboard a Vulcan ship.

Warp me, indeed – right through Lower Decks season 2!

1. Strange Energies – What should be a routine second contact mission goes full TOS in a hurry, as first contact with an ancient totem morphs Comm. Ransom into an insane god manifesting as a giant head terrorizing the Cerritos. ***
2. Kayshon, His Eyes Open – Lower Decks formally welcomes the first-ever Tamarian to serve on a Federation ship (as far as we know, anyway) with a title role and command of an away team looking to clean out a deceased collecor’s ship (“Was he the one who tried to collect Data?” “They all tried to cllect Data!”) Meanwhile, Boimler suffers his own mishap on a USS Titan mission, resulting in creation of a transporter cloner – and an opportunity to return to the Cerritos. ****
3. We'll Always Have Tom Paris – While Boimler geeks out for the imminent arrival of Voayager’s Lt. Tom Paris aboard the Cerritos, Mariner and Tendi set off to retrieve an artifact of Dr. T’Ana’s. Also, Rutherford may get TMI on the horrifiying afterlife from the resurrected Lt. Shaxs. ***
4. Mugato, Gumato – After becoming convinced that Mariner is working for Section 31, Boimler and Rutherford are sent planetside to investigate a group of Ferengi illegally holding Mugato (Mugatos? Mugati?) captive. Meanwhile, Capt. Freeman gets scammed, and Tendi performs medical exams on the unwilling. ***
5. An Embarrassment of Dooplers – Those having difficulty accepting Lower Decks as canon certainly dialed out after this episode featuring aliens who duplicate when embarrassed, soon multiplying like shame Tribbles and swamping the Cerritos. All the while, Mariner and Boimler attempt to gain entrance to a really cool officers’ party. ***
6. The Spy Humongous – On Pakled Planet, Capt. Freeman attempts to work out a ceasefire agreement but the task is made all the more difficult thanks to several attempted political coups/revolutions. ***
7. Where Pleasant Fountains Lie – Jerry Combs makes a triumphant (and hilarious) return to the Star Trek universe to play his seventh ST character, the malevolent supercomputer AGIMUS, whom Mariner and Boimler are tasked with taking to the Daystrom Institute. The Cerritos attempts to assist a ship from Hysperia, revealed as a planet of which Chief Engineer Billups is a high-ranking member of the royal family. ***
8. I, Excretus – The Cerritos is visited by Starfleet drill instructor Shari yn Yem, who puts both senior staff and lower decks personnel through a number of classic scenarios on Holodecks, all of whom repeatedly fail spectacularly … except Boimler, who seeks only to achieve a perfect score in his simulated Borg adventure. Line for line, this is perhaps ST:LD’s funniest episode to date. ****
9. wej Duj (Three ships) – The Hugo-nominated script shows life for lower decker types aboard three ships (technically five by the end credits roll), with Vulcans and Klingons getting equal scree time with our Federation heroes. Ultimately, the truth behind the Pakleds’ recent aggressive behavior is revealed and the fantastic Ensign T’Lyn debuts. *****
10. First First Contact – How to tell when a Star Trek series has finally made it? When you get honest first-punching moments as in this one, where there are plenty. The Cerriots screw fights against time to save the crippled USS Archimedes commanded by Capt. Sonya Gomez (dude, that one engineer who spilled hot cocoa on Picard in that one TNG episode!). Replete with a shocking, all-growed-up cliffhanger to boot…****