Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks “In the Cradle of Vexilon”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Cerritos takes on helping an alien planet restart their world computer, who is actually surprisingly benevolent, but Captain Freeman can’t stop messing up the update. Meanwhile, new Lieutenant Junior Grade Boimler leads some Ensigns in an on planet mission that gets lethal, while Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford deal with ambiguous hazing.

OUR TAKE

Okay, looks like we’ve hit an “eat your vegetables” sort of episode. What I mean by that is this week’s story, at least the ones involving the former Ensigns, felt necessary enough considering their new positions. They’re no longer at the bottom of the totem pole, in fact they’re actually right above the bottom, and therefore have new responsibilities, some of which being looking after their subordinates. To see Boimler in somewhat of a leadership position and trying to actively protect those under him feels like a long time coming and something he truly deserves after all he’s gone through and put up with, along with the inclusion of T’Lyn, who continues to live up to much of the potential of her early appearances. Writing a Vulcan character that isn’t just Spock or Tuvok again is not an impossible feat for this franchise, but also not that easy, so it’s good they’re making sure she stands out. The promotion, accompanying character development, and addition of new recurring characters has so far worked out pretty well for the show and we’ll see how it builds in the remaining episodes of the season. Oh yeah, and the koala. I’m sure we’ll get back to him.

But as for why I say this episode is like eating your vegetables, well, it feels necessary, and may be tasty enough if prepared right, but it’s also not the most flavorful. The other parts of the episode are not…TERRIBLE, but don’t feel like they add a ton. The Freeman subplot about restarting the planet’s computer has its funny bits and is a rare example of an all knowing AI actually being benevolent (which is only really significant here because of how the last season’s finale, Prodigy’s season finale, and a fair amount of current Trek have handled “rogue AI” stories), but it mainly feels like it’s spinning its wheels. And as for the plot about the other former Ensigns taking on more chores, it again feels necessary to show that while they have been promoted, their ranks are not THAT different, but also doesn’t feel like it’s giving any of them a real chance to flex more than their comedy chops. And their comedy chops are perfectly good, don’t get me wrong, but I’m hoping we’ll get more chances to see development and jokes that are not just tied to more impenetrable references. Perhaps we’ll get that next week!