Lower Decks: Crisis Point

[CrypticMirror]

Nope what you say doesn't golf water at all.

You're not meant to play golf on water, you're doing it wrong.

[Riedquat]

Enterprise-D faced more danger than Earth did. All of your examples with Earth have years placed between them and in some cases decades. Like V'Ger and the whale probe.

If there's ever a Trek series faced on Earth it'll be facing danger every week.

[CharlesPhipps]

I have a different take on Mariner that is wholly different from the "spoiled rich kid" and "traumatized survivor" takes. My take on Mariner is the fact that she is simply wrong genre savvy. She thinks she's in a show about plucky rebels bucking against authority and heroically standing up for what is right. She's clearly been involved in a lot of adventures and daring do.

It's just...she's in Star Trek where authority is 9/10 nice and kind with the remaining 10 being an insane Admiral.

She's trying to rebel against a system not worth rebelling against.

[CmdrKing]

My take is a bit of a spin on that, Mariner has strong Gifted Kid Burnout vibes, crushed under the contrast between the expectations placed on her and her actual ability to impact the world around her. So she has a fierce need to push back against anything she sees as controlling, but has lost all ability to distinguish between bureaucracy that’s built up and prevents people from doing what needs done, and rules in place so everyone knows what they need to be doing.

Mind, this is most visible in the season 3 premiere and they may well have only settled on that as her characterization later

[Riedquat]

My take is a bit of a spin on that, Mariner has strong Gifted Kid Burnout vibes, crushed under the contrast between the expectations placed on her and her actual ability to impact the world around her. So she has a fierce need to push back against anything she sees as controlling, but has lost all ability to distinguish between bureaucracy that’s built up and prevents people from doing what needs done, and rules in place so everyone knows what they need to be doing.

Mind, this is most visible in the season 3 premiere and they may well have only settled on that as her characterization later

Fair point, although I'd argue that that's part of realising just what an obnoxious monster they'd created and trying to reshape her in to something decent and fitting. Which they more or less have by now.

[CharlesPhipps]

To throw in a weird element of the story, the creators seem to have somehow accidentally stumbled into a Mirror Wesley situation.

Boimler was created to be the butt monkey of the show and the obnoxious boy genius esque sort of character that our plucky heroes have to drag along. Basically, tapping into all that resentment and annoyance about Wesley Crusher. However, instead, the audience immediately latched onto him as an audience insert of frustrated geeks in Star Trek.

Which is what Wesley was MEANT to do but failed miserably at.

Just like Mariner was meant to be the breakup plucky hero but really got a lot of the audience's ire instead.

[McAvoy]

Enterprise-D faced more danger than Earth did. All of your examples with Earth have years placed between them and in some cases decades. Like V'Ger and the whale probe.

If there's ever a Trek series faced on Earth it'll be facing danger every week.

Pretty much for drama.

[shikomekidomi]

One thing that got skipped over a little in the review, to me it seemed that the episode came down on the side that Mariner's little simulated killspree was sick and not helping her at all. She certainly seemed to be getting worse, not better, as it went on and it drove away all her friends.

Rather, what seemed to help her was confronting herself from the outside, at the end, which was when she had a bit of a turn around. She could probably have gotten even better results by just arguing with (and probably fighting, given her personality) a good simulation of herself while skipping all the twisted lead up.

[Fianna]

I have a different take on Mariner that is wholly different from the "spoiled rich kid" and "traumatized survivor" takes. My take on Mariner is the fact that she is simply wrong genre savvy. She thinks she's in a show about plucky rebels bucking against authority and heroically standing up for what is right. She's clearly been involved in a lot of adventures and daring do.

It's just...she's in Star Trek where authority is 9/10 nice and kind with the remaining 10 being an insane Admiral.

She's trying to rebel against a system not worth rebelling against.

Which probably comes from the unhealthy dynamic where their parents are also their commanding officers.

As people grow up, it's normal to rebel against your parents' rules, to realize that you don't always have to do things their way, that you can make your own decisions, and that you shouldn't let them control you. Except, due to their positions in Starfleet, Mariner's parents continue to have authority over them well into adulthood. As a result, Mariner has never exited their Rebellious Teenager Phase, and has come to associate all Starfleet regulations with the parental authority they're trying to prove they don't need.

[LordUltimus]

To throw in a weird element of the story, the creators seem to have somehow accidentally stumbled into a Mirror Wesley situation.

Boimler was created to be the butt monkey of the show and the obnoxious boy genius esque sort of character that our plucky heroes have to drag along. Basically, tapping into all that resentment and annoyance about Wesley Crusher. However, instead, the audience immediately latched onto him as an audience insert of frustrated geeks in Star Trek.

Which is what Wesley was MEANT to do but failed miserably at.

Just like Mariner was meant to be the breakup plucky hero but really got a lot of the audience's ire instead.

Well, at least they've seemed to have realized this and adapted.