WHY WE LIKE IT: Murf! Romulans! Twists and turns!
WHY WE DON'T: Okona. (I'm with Dal!)
REVIEW: So DOES Okona show his value in this second (and last) episode? Only as a contrast to Dal. On the one hand, he's incredibly personable and the crew take to him, which is part of what pushes Dal to make mistakes in this episode, trying to outdo him. But he's also a bit of a fake and aside from leading the kids to Noble Isle where the action takes place, he's quick to ditch them when they come under fire. And so Dal must be the better captain, which is something he comes to realize. Did it need to be Okona? No, but these kinds of references are fun (like the Admiral Jellico bit, voiced by Ronnie Cox himself), even when they come from lackluster episodes. Perhaps there's just no time in this short episode format to do much more than that with a guest star. After all, it's got to be about the crew of the Protostar.
Their visit to a place that uses the Neutral Zone to conduct illegal/unethical business (including genetic experimentation) gives Dal a shot at discovering what species he is, and where he comes from, thanks Okona's geneticist client Dr. Jago. As it turns out, he's probably human at his core, but was created in a lab using 26 other species' genetic traits. Time for a freeze frame, cuz there are some wild and woolly aliens in his make-up, including Breen, Tholians, Gorn, Suliban (actually the closest in concept), and a logo that looks remarkably like Q (but surely you can't extract Q DNA?! well, maybe with a fork). This is apparently the work of Soong's followers, and surely there's still enough of a mystery there to fuel a future episode or arc. Now of course, Dal doesn't respond well to this. He has no parents, no home, and the sense of being a freak is heightened. Between that and his competition with Okona, it's no wonder he accepts Jago's help (how he pays for it is dreadfully glossed over, however) and allows her to give him a button he can punch to unlock one or more traits. It all goes wrong, of course, and he's essentially werewolfing through most of the third act. Having access to extra powers is a fine idea, and I like how it's activated by his ganglia hitting the implant at the back of the neck. Too bad it had to be removed.
Things just get worse when a Romulan hit squad shows up to steal the Protostar, but need its captain to unlock the controls. Dal is initially useful, but he loses control and starts excreting rude liquids, and it's all up to the new and improved Murf, whose rubber body is so good at dispatching Romulans, he's minted as the ship's security officer thereafter. A security officer like this, we've never seen before. So fun action there, though the earlier sequences with Romulans throwing themselves off an orbital elevator in flight suits is now old hat (similar scenes in the Reboot movies and Discovery of course, but this was specifically done in Lower Decks this year). To raise the stakes, we also have Janeway firing on the Protostar to prevent the Romulans from getting its technology and having to abort at the last second.
Throughout the episode, the character of Asencia seems particularly motivated to either follow the ship in the Neutral Zone against orders, or prevent it from being destroyed, and in the closing moments we find out why: She's one of the Diviner's people in disguise - he wasn't the only one sent into the past to destroy Starfleet. I'm guessing her Dreadnok is a different one from the Diviner's. Great cliffhanger moment. I heard the Doctor Who sting in my head.
LESSON: To thine own selves be true.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: An important revelation is enlivened with fun and unusual action. How has this little kid's show become so thrilling?
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