Star Trek: Lower Decks – Episode Guide – Season 3

What’s new for Star Trek: Lower Decks season 3? More evolutionary growth for a series rapidly and happily shedded the pure comedy label to become one of the more beloved series within the entire Star Trek universe.

The in-jokes remain, as do the legacy-character cameos – this season we get Comm. Kira Nerys, Quark the bartender, good ol’ Captain Sulu and Zefrim Cochrane himself (sort of) – but ST:LD season 3 goes deep-dive on Rutherford and Boimler in particular for some nice character-based stories.

And then there’s the bird-planet episode…

1. Grounded – After the stunning turn of events capping the season 2 finale, Mariner rounds up her besties Mariner, Rutherford and Tendi to steal Cerritos and clear Capt. Freeman’s name on a romp that takes them to a teleporter museum and Bozeman, Montana. Although … maybe she just should have had faith in the system…****
2. The Least Dangerous Game – Frustrated with his lack of upward mobility, Boimler decides to make a radical change: He’ll do the opposite become bolder! “Bold Boimler” sees limited success, however, as he soon becomes the prey in a ritualistic alien hunt. Meanwhile, Mariner helps Comm. Ransom repair a space elevator an orbital lift. ***
3. Mining the Mind's Mines –Under classic Trek trope gets scoped out, with the Cerritos attempting to settle a contentious and suspicious dispute between indigenous alien beings and Federation scientists, why may or may not have something to do with the away team’s hallucinations while on the planet’s surface…***
4. Room for Growth – As Mariner, Boimler and Tendi conspire to get themselves a presitigious private quarters, Capt. Freeman takes the entire engineering team to a spa planet for some R&R. ***
5. Reflections – Rutherford wrangles with his surprisingly dark past as a younger aspect of himself takes over his body. Off the ship, Mariner and Boimler work a Starfleet recruitment drive, battling skeptics, wisenheimers and conspiracy theoritsts. ***
6. Hear All, Trust Nothing – The Cerritos visits Mariner’s old stomping grounds of Deep Space 9, where Quark is involved in a dispute of his own making with the Karemma of the Gamma Quadrant. Unfortunately for her, Mariner is trapped all the while in a “salon” organized by her girlfriend Jennifer’s coffee klatch. ****
7. A Mathematically Perfect Redemptin – Touted by showrunners and starring actors alike as “bananas,” this episode indeed lives up to the fruited hype. The vast majority of the episode centers on Peanut Hamper the exocom and her(?) life and loves with the winged Areore people – replate with a twist that we all should have seen coming, really…***
8. Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus – It’s back to the holodeck for another take on the Star Trek movie franchise, this time loaded with the action and stunts of the Kelvin-verse flicks. Boimler cannot appreciate the fun ‘n’ frivolity, though, as he’s been informed of the apparent death of his transporter clone, William Boimler. ***
9. Trusted Sources – How high does “The Badmiral” rank among the list of top Trek tropes? When Capt. Freeman and the Cerritos are embarrassed and ambushed in the Ornara system – dude, where that one planet was keeping the other planet’s citizens in an addicated state in that one episode of TNG! – Adm. Buenamigo introduces his new Texas class of automated drone starships set to replace the California class. Even worse, the entire incident is covered by Federation news and Mariner, accused of revealing the more questionable actions and decisions of the Cerriots crew, is transferred off the ship. ***
10. The Stars at Night – burn big and bright, deep in the faulty AI of the Texas class of starships. Buenamigo’s forward-looking action backfires in a big way, with only the Cerritos aware of the Badmiral’s insidious plans, unti… Look, if Lower Decks has one area of expertise, it’s in the big fist-pumping, bacon-saving last-minute arrival of a Federation savior in the season-ending episode. In “No Small Parts,” it was Capt. Riker’s Titan. In “First First Contact,” the Cerritos itself played cavalry. And here it’s … ah, we’ll save the suspense for most squee-inducing save yet. ****