Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x09 "The Inner Fight" - eviltoast
Logline

Who knows? They never released one.

Edit: They finally released one - how novel to release the actual episode first!

Captain Freeman assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try and keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger.

Written by: It’s a secret (it was Mike McMahan)

Directed by: We’re not tellin’ (it was Brandon Williams)

  • Prouvaire@kbin.social
    111·
    1 year ago

    Her whole pivot into even-more-than-normal overtly reckless behavior three episodes after the supposed precipitating event felt very abrupt, and the scene where she talks it over and appears to resolve her issues with Ma’ah felt rushed, almost forced.

    Agreed. It’s tricky injecting serious notes into an all-out sitcom and I’m not sure it worked as well this episode as it might have.

    The Sito Jaxa makes reasonable sense as a backstory component, but I found it distracting and it does add to the “small universe” syndrome that expanding IPs risk falling into

    Again, agreed. Lower Decks has as much (more even) blatant fan service as Picard season 3, although because it is a comedy I find it more forgivable and less grating than I did in the other show. That said, “Lower Decks” is my favourite TNG episode, so appreciated the Sito Jaxa callback for that reason (and it was a nice way of connecting this series and the episode it was named after). As long as they’re not foreshadowing her return. That would be very very bad. They thought about bringing her back on DS9 but wisely refrained. Keep your hands off Sito Jaxa’s corpse McMahan!!

    • inappropriatecontent@startrek.websiteEnglish
      9·
      1 year ago

      Lower Decks has as much (more even) blatant fan service as Picard season 3, although because it is a comedy I find it more forgivable and less grating than I did in the other show.

      Agree with your agreement here. If I unloaded my feelings about all the fanboy moments in Terry’s Picard, it would actually be unpleasant to read…so I won’t. How about I just say that you’re super right about Sito Jaxa, too. I thought the connection to that episode was very sweet, and really enjoyed hearing Mariner talk about how much the Dominion War sucked, too. It made sense to me that she’d be more comfortable getting that out with a stranger than her friends, at least when I think about the guys I was in the Navy with.

    • triktrek@startrek.websiteEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Lower Decks, the TNG episode was an amazing episode. I almost cried at the end - it was so sad and poetic as well and I agree that reviving her now would undo the beauty and weight of the TNG episode.