Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks “Dos Cerritos; Shades of Green”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Cerritos faces their slightly different selves and handle a planet that just got rid of capitalism, while Tendi resolves her family pirate drama.

OUR TAKE

And so begins the final season (for now at least) of the show that brought Star Trek back into animation. I’ve covered most of the previous seasons, back when I had very little first hand experience with the franchise, and I did not immediately take to the show…for good reason, as it was trying a bit too much to ape the style of Rick and Morty (yes I know the creator used to work on it) and relied far too heavily on in-jokes across the franchise. Thankfully, as it has become more sure of itself and built up its own specific cast of characters, it has grown into an excellent show on its own, even paving the way for the other modern Star Trek cartoon, Prodigy. Unfortunately, both shows are sharing the same fate of being canceled prematurely. The franchise itself is going through a bit of a receding period overall, as only Strange New Worlds will be ongoing by the time Lower Decks ends, and only one movie and upcoming show on the horizon. Still, I intend to celebrate this show while we have it (or at least as far as it deserves), so let’s see how the Ensigns turned Lieutenant Junior Grades carry on into their remaining adventures.

As has been the case with previous premieres, we have two episodes to discuss, which both serve the purpose of reverting the season ending cliffhanger of Tendi going off to be a pirate with her family. It’s nice to see her goal of bettering the name of her species, the Orions, is continuing to develop as she inspires other pirates to pursue their dreams while also loving and supporting her family. And hey, they threw in a reference to some previous Orion designs and the story and jokes work fine even if you haven’t seen what it’s referencing! See?! THEY’RE LEARNING! I’m so proud! Otherwise, the parallel story was fun AND funny while showing how far each of the other main characters have come, especially Mariner and Rutherford, while propelling Boimler to start growing his beard (that has TWO meanings!) and begin believing in himself. And T’Lyn got to have a pretty good joke! Alas, we have already shaved off a fifth of the remaining episodes, leaving only eight in the series, but here’s hoping they’re going to be as solid as these were. And if not, there’s always the comics!