Was Chuck too hard on Mariner in Ep 2?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

To be honest, I have always been annoyed by people who compare Lower Decks to Rick and Morty, especially those who call it "Rick and Morty with a Star Trek skin".

Chuck says you don't get brownie points for fixing something that you screwed up in the first place, but for me that's not the point. The ending showed us that Mariner cares about Boimler, that she's willing to humiliate herself if that's what it takes to make Boimler feel better. But the point isn't about "winning" or how awesome Mariner is or isn't. The point is it reveals something about the character, that for all her destructive tendencies, Mariner has a kernel of goodness in her heart, and that she cares about the effect she has on other people. It's important because it tells us something about who Mariner is, and where we can expect her to go as the series continues.

I think I know enough to know that Rick would never humiliate himself just to make somebody else feel better. Beckett Mariner at her absolute worst is still better than Rick Sanchez on his best day.

[Riedquat]

Nope, not too hard on Mariner. She was a complete and utter liability to everything and everyone around her at the start. The "look, what she was doing was right after all!" approach didn't help, it just made the writers look bad. And to their credit they seem to have realised that and changed tack with her, managing to shift her from an arsehole with no real redeeming qualities to an interesting character.