Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus”

Overview

ANOTHER call back episode? Weird. If you recall the first season’s episode “Crisis Point”, this is the sequel episode that focuses on another sequel, this one entitled “Paradoxus” which is the official sequel to Rise of Vindicta. This time, Boimler is Captain Bosephus Dagger and he mans the USS Wayfarer in a mission that goes a bit off the rails and ends up in a completely different spot than whence first intended. Tendi and Rutherford opt to take part in the holoprogram that it was originally intended by Boimler, and we learn that Tendi has some career ambitions of her own.

Our Take

I think I actually preferred this episode to the season one prequel episode. Reason being, I’m not THAT hardcore of a Star Trek fan, so a lot of parody elements probably went over my head in the original Crisis Point. This week’s episode focuses on character development for both Boimler and Tendi, and how their friends would react if both opted to take different paths in their respective careers.

There are still some references to past Star Trek fandom, a lot of it focused on movies and series not as critically acclaimed as the proper series, but we do get a fantastic cameo this week that I’m not going to spoil but…”Oh My”. It is odd that we got back-to-back episodes that focused on episodes from the franchise’s past, only with these episodes premiering in the opposite sequence of whence the original episodes premiered. Moreover, you would think that if we were going to do callback episodes, we would split those in different seasons or at different parts in this season as I’m not sure this episode couldn’t have aired in any order with any great difference in the area in which the characters’ growth was focused on. Perhaps I’m wrong by the time we get to the season finale later this month, but I’m not seeing it yet.

Still though, there were some positive moments throughout. The show still manages to be silly and the visual effects during the space fight sequences are marvelous to look at each and every friggin’ time. Next week we have the penultimate episode to look forward to, and we haven’t seen that BIG story that’s supposed to come to a raging climax just yet, just bits and pieces, not unlike what Rick and Morty has done in years’ past, so hopefully this is all coming to a head sooner, rather than later.