Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks “Cupid’s Errant Arrow”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the captain and first officer deal with a potentially world ending crisis, Boimler has other priorities. The other ship helping them out also has his Barbara Brinson, smartest officer in Starfleet and his girlfriend, much to Mariner’s shock and disbelief. Anyone who could possibly have any romantic or sexual interest in Boimler must be either a hologram, a shapeshifter, or a parasite, so she makes it her personal mission to find out why this doesn’t make sense. Eventually, after making a fool of herself more times than even she’s used to, she tracks them down on a secret date only to find that Barbara isn’t the parasite, but that one has stowed away on Boimler and given him pheromones that drew Barbara to him.

Meanwhile, Tendi and Rutherford compete to get access to new Star Fleet tech, only to find out that they’re about to get forcibly transferred to the other ship, since apparently one of the officers has had enough with being on epic space adventures.

OUR TAKE

You know, Lower Decks, you really don’t need to keep hammering it in how much Boimler sucks, okay? We already know he’s a neurotic, know-it-all, insecure, pain in the ass whiner who makes everything he’s in less cool. It’s not any more funny than it was when you first brought it to the forefront in the pilot. And it certainly isn’t any funnier driving that point home by showing that the only way he could possibly get a girl to like him without a deadly parasite giving him help. You have made your point thoroughly that I should never feel anything about Boimler than abject pity and boredom. He has been constructed from the top down to feel like every second of screen time he is given is an utter waste that would be better spent watching Star Trek V.

Hahahaha, isn’t it funny how I made a reference to previous Star Trek things? I bet you can probably tell that Star Trek V is pretty bad from the context clues, huh? Yeah, that’s how it sounds listening to this show’s humor still. All of these terms and phrases and names that, were I more of a Star Trek fan versed in the lore, might mean more to me in the moment, but feel more and more like they are trying desperately to rely on fan familiarity with those names and terms than coming up with a decent joke. I did have a moment this week where I DID recognize a name spouted out, which may have given me a glimpse into what the creators of this show might have intended for me to feel, but it faded pretty much as quickly as it came, mainly due to the fact that A REFERENCE IS NOT A JOKE. Never has been, never will be.

There are plenty of jokes to be made from Star Trek lore and its universe that do not need a constant reference deluge, and maybe with this show’s second season, they can start getting into that. But with one half of Lower Decks’ maiden voyage in the books, I don’t have a lot of hope that this first season is going to get much better by the end. AND there are plenty of ways to make us feel something for the characters besides increased annoyance and feeling like I would rather be anywhere else than being around them, but maybe THAT will take a little longer to sink in.