Lower Decks - Second Contact

[stryke]

https://youtu.be/T-kwlVNebyM

Spot on ripping apart of the first episode of Lower Decks. Only issue is arguably this could have been the Christmas episode as this really is the worst of the worst when it comes to this series.

Thankfully it gets so, so much better outside of a couple of unfortunate returns to this style like Mugato, Gumato in season 2.

[Nealithi]

Just by this review, I have no respect for Mariner.
Boimler is trying to beam out. So you steal his combadge and throw it for distance. This is not 'I am experienced'. This is 'I AM A PSYCHOPATH'. What does stripping to their underwear do after that? Not a thing. In this episode she makes psycho Janeway talking to the shoulder spider seem to be the rational one.

[Thebestoftherest]

I get they don't want to be the the blind prime directive following dogmatic goodie goodie like tng but this is too far the other way, or they need a moment like this...

[Thebestoftherest]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpRmLMNmSk[/youtube]

[Riedquat]

Just by this review, I have no respect for Mariner.
Boimler is trying to beam out. So you steal his combadge and throw it for distance. This is not 'I am experienced'. This is 'I AM A PSYCHOPATH'. What does stripping to their underwear do after that? Not a thing. In this episode she makes psycho Janeway talking to the shoulder spider seem to be the rational one.

Pretty much this. Mariner is a terrible person here, incredibly irresponsible, childish, full of herself, and unable to give a damn about anyone else. Characters like that can work but the writers appear to be behind her, saying "This is the right way to behave, rather than be a sad, boring person who isn't a menace to everyone around them!" Thankfully it gets turned down as the series goes on.

I'm glad I stuck through these early episodes, I did wonder at first whether there was any point in carrying on with the show.

[CharlesPhipps]

MY GOD!

CHUCK SAID HE LIKES LOWER DECKS! WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?

EDIT:

But yes, I took this to be the least "serious" Lower Decks. I will note it is interesting that a lot of Chuck's criticism of Mariner is actually in the episode.

* Mariner IS grossly irresponsible and has to learn a lot of lessons.
* Tendi is deeply uncomfortable with Mariner's "Naked Olympians" and clearly did not like being shown her porn stash.
* Mariner's actions are WHY Boimler doesn't trust her. If she was responsible, he wouldn't have a reason not to.
* "Crisis Point" is the moment where Mariner confronts she's NOT the cool badass she thinks she is.

Basically, Mariner THINKS she's the Kirk but she's really Lorcano/Paris.

[stryke]

Pretty much this. Mariner is a terrible person here, incredibly irresponsible, childish, full of herself, and unable to give a damn about anyone else. Characters like that can work but the writers appear to be behind her, saying "This is the right way to behave, rather than be a sad, boring person who isn't a menace to everyone around them!" Thankfully it gets turned down as the series goes on.

To go back to Chuck's comparison this is why I went off Rick and Morty so hard after the first couple of seasons because the writer's just liked Rick too much, and so he got to be right far too often, got all the sympathy that was to be found amongst the usual cynicism and nihilism, and all as he kept on punching down on other's like Gerry who the show wanted to make clear really were beneath him and so were not worthy of being treated with kindness.

[CharlesPhipps]

Yeah, the reverse happens in lower Decks where Boimler stops being the butt monkey and Mariner gets taken down several pegs.

[Riedquat]

Yeah, the reverse happens in lower Decks where Boimler stops being the butt monkey and Mariner gets taken down several pegs.

And the end result is two very different characters who you can believe do actually get along with each other and who both have something useful to add, unlike here.

Obviously I don't know why things changed but I'm glad that they recognised fairly quickly that they needed to and made the changes.

[clearspira]

Well... i'm bored. Its a lazy Saturday night and the Formula 1 is late today because its in Miami. And I thought ''lets watch this review. I don't watch New Trek so why not have my first dose of Lower Decks? That'll kill fifteen minutes. It can't be that bad, after all, plenty of people on this forum have been singing its praises for months now.''

And ohmygod, what in the name of all that is holy is this shite? As in, ''every fear I had about Star Trek going animated has been confirmed.'' I HOPE that Chuck is accurate when he says that it gets better because right now... I think I need to apologise to DISCO and PICARD because this steaming turd is what bad Star Trek truly looks like. I've seen Quark grow tits to fight for equality, I've seen a planet of Africans wearing genie costumes banging sticks, I've seen a lawyer wear a shower curtain, I've seen a trained diplomat threaten to maroon his crew after letting his dog piss on a holy tree, and I've even watched a show try to make out that ''the salamander'' is the end result of flying a shuttle at infinite speed. Well hold on to your butts my friends, because the 0/10 club has a new buddy, and its worse than all of them.

And as an aside here, I also have to express my belief that Mariner is a character that could never be written this way if she was a he because ''he'' would not be a source of comedy, rather, ''he'' would be the most misogynistic and absurd thing ever put to film. And if you doubt that, let me change some scenarios here:

Worf runs Troi through with a Be'Leth because he was drunkenly swinging it recklessly through a corridor.
Worf forces Troi to view his porn stash of naked women exercising.
Worf suggests that Troi take off her pants.
Worf strips nearly naked to battle an alien.
Worf is indifferent to any suffering that inflicted on Troi thanks to his actions.

Having fun yet?