Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Episode 1 Review: Grounded
Diana Keng
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It's been a while since we hung with the lower decks team of the U.S.S. Cerritos, and Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Episode 1 gives us a solid refresher course on the personalities and general motivations involved in the well-meaning but bumbling bunch.
In brief: Mariner doesn't do "sit back and wait/trust in the system" well, and Boimler is ludicrously clueless. Meanwhile, Tendi and Rutherford are the best possible example of friendzone folks, and together, the four remain a wholesome troupe of Starfleet's finest.
After six months of hour-long format series, there's a cognitive gear-shift needed to reacclimate to the half-hour Easter Egg-laden animated Lower Decks, but it's the perfect end-of-summer sci-fi froth to raise as a toast to Trek in all its different forms.
Let's look at what we learn about our team members here and how well the humor lands, considering the dire straits the Season 2 finale, Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 10, left us in.
As yours truly predicted, with the Cerritos in dry dock and Freeman imprisoned awaiting trial, we see Mariner and her dad, Admiral Saul Freeman, interact more than ever before.
Clearly, he has even less influence on Mariner than Captain Freeman.
Admiral Buenomigo: I don’t know why you keep breakable objects in the house anymore.
Admiral Mariner: Neither do I.
As Captain Freeman's trial gets underway, Mariner's becoming unhinged, not even trying to exercise a modicum of self-control. Feeling helpless is a major trigger for her as she destroys her father's breakables at an impressive rate.
Beckett Mariner: The longer I’m off a ship, the more useless I feel! Like that, that big dumb red thing.
Admiral Mariner: Beckett, you know that’s the Golden Gate Bridge.
Beckett: Nobody drives anymore! Why do you need a bridge? This planet’s wack.
Admiral: People like the bridge. I like the bridge.
It's Mariner at her brattiest and most unreasonable, which has a lot to do with her feeling scared and without any control.
On the flip side, the Boimler raisin vineyards are a hilarious (and deliberate) contrast to the Château Picard wine vineyards on Star Trek: Picard.
One can only assume it's Boimler's disenchantment with his family business that blinds him to the desperate and obvious advances by the nubile grape harvesters flinging themselves at his feet.
Mariner: When you said your family had vineyards, I just assumed it was for wine.
Boimler: Oh, I wish. No, we Boimlers dry grapes. Just dry ‘em and dry ‘em and DRY ‘EM until they’re all shriveled and hopeless and stuck on Earth forever.
Grounded Boimler seems to have things much more in hand than active duty Ensign Boimler. Fascinating. Without the ship context, Boimler becomes more capable, and Mariner becomes less so.
Hmm... I wonder how that juxtaposition of abilities might play out in the future.
It reminds me of the underlying lesson of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 9, which is that Boimler would make a better Klingon than Mariner would a Vulcan.
Tendi and Rutherford are adorable as tourist travel buddies. Dining at Sisko's Creole Kitchen feels exactly right for a couple of Starfleet fan-kids.
However, the fact they're zipping from the Grand Canyon to New Orleans and considering a trip to Historical Bozeman, Montana, means they're probably transporting with relative ease. As would Mariner and Boimler, who were in California but catch up to Tendi and Rutherford in the French Quarter.
All this begs the question of why Mariner needs Denny to send them from the Transporter Facility (presumably back in San Francisco) to Montana.
If there’s one thing I’ve got in this joint, it’s gout! But also transporters.
Chief Denny
Anyhoo, Historical Bozeman is fantastic, and getting James Cromwell onboard (see what I did there?) to voice all the Zefram Cochrane bits is a triumph of cameo work.
Hello, Explorers, and welcome to the 21st Century. We hope you enjoy yourself and make a first contact… with FUN!
Voice of Bozeman
Man, I'd love to ride a Phoenix replica into orbit. Forget you, Blue Origin.
Now since the alleged point of Mariner's mission is to save Freeman, there's an argument to be made that it's a zero-sum conclusion as the captain is exonerated by Starfleet's own investigation, and the wheels of justice turning exactly the way they are meant to.
Yes, Mariner learns a lesson about trusting the system, but honestly, how interesting would that be if it stuck? She's always going to be a conspiracy theorist at heart with a skeptical eye on The Powers That be.
Yes, there's a shift in the power dynamic now that Ransom is in charge of Mariner's discipline and career development.
Boimler: Y’know, even covered in alien sploof, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Tendi: Yeah. Home, sticky home.
And yes, there's a lot of Verugament leavings to clean up. Considering they were mating on the Cerritos sans hull plating, that ooze probably got into many of the ship's systems.
But ultimately, as with most animated comedies, we return to the status quo by the end credits, allowing them to embark on new adventures with very little change to character, motivation, or consequence.
The premiere sets up some interesting obstacles for the new season.
Ransom and Mariner will be fun to watch. And only time will tell if the Freemans will be able to stand by and accept judgment if Mariner steps over the line again without her parents' safety net to keep her in Starfleet.
The Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 trailer teases many more shenanigans to come. And Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 left a lot of plot potential dangling in the galactic currents.
I'd like to see T'Lyn again now that she's been banished to Starfleet. The other lower decks members introduced on Wej Duj would also be an entertaining exchange or immersion candidates.
There's also the question of how the Gorn went from the apex predator introduced on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 to hawking meat in the market on Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 Episode 5.
It could just be one rebellious Gorn who refused to let prey meat go to waste, but there could be some sort of cultural shift story there too.
But more significantly, there's Rutherford's secret cyborg programming yet to explore as well as what's been up with Boimler's transporter twin. There are a lot of juicy possibilities to delve into, and I, for one, am here for it.
Boimler: We have to stop her. I don’t care what trouble I get in.
Rutherford: Same.
Tendi: I want the trouble. Give me the trouble!
All in all, it's nice to have them back. The premiere isn't ground-breaking or innovative in narrative or form, but it's like stepping back into an old hang-out and finding everyone's still there and remembers your name.
Yeah, in a world full of heavy news and unhappy tidings, it's nice to take a break from all your worries. It sure does help a lot.
What do you think, Fanatics? Are you glad they came [back]? What are you looking forward to this season?
Was the conclusion of Freeman's trial a bit of a letdown, or was the journey through Mariner's fears the true destination after all?
Hit our comments with your thoughts and theories, and beam them up!
Diana Keng was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lifelong fan of smart sci-fi and fantasy media, an upstanding citizen of the United Federation of Planets, and a supporter of AFC Richmond 'til she dies. Her guilty pleasures include female-led procedurals, old-school sitcoms, and Bluey. She teaches, knits, and dreams big. Follow her on X.
