WHY WE LIKE IT: The Secret Origin of Mariner.
WHY WE DON'T: Freeman's tedious mission.
REVIEW: Ever since the Lower Deckers were promoted to Lt. (j.g.), Mariner has been reverting to the annoying rule breaker of Season 1, and this episode finally addresses it. The opening gag with the venomous tremble lizards shows how this has evolved into a dangerous death wish. So now, Captain Freeman wants her sidelined and ropes her friends into taking her on a safe mission. Except it isn't. The characters are stranded on a savage planet with glass storms and other stranded personnel from various species - most of them bridge crew we've met before (their Lower Decks apparently took over) - indeed, the survivors of the ships destroyed by the mystery ship all season. Mariner sneaks away from her party and battles a Klingon captain called Ma'ah until the weather forces them into a cave and ultimately into an Enemy Mine situation.
This is who she tells her origin story. Turns out she was friends with Sito Jaxa, first introduced in The First Duty, and who died in - wait for it - Lower Decks, the episode. Now, the idea of ordering someone to their death (as Picard did) turns her stomach, which is why she insists on remaining an ensign. Nice connection - first of all - and it lends weight to her backstory. I do wonder how old Mariner is supposed to be since the characters all seem to be in their twenties. If she was at the Academy with Sito, that episode was 11 years ago from her current perspective, and Sito died 9 years ago. She had to be a first year at the Academy 11 years ago, and Sito graduated the next year and got assigned to the Enterprise-D. At most, they have a 2 year difference. Mariner would be, at best, 8 years after her graduation (if it's four years), which would make her perhaps 27 years old (24 at start of series). I arrive at those figures because she looks like a 16-year-old in the next ep's flashback. Older than Boimler, etc., but she does have more life experience (and yo-yoed her way back to ensign). I questioned it (11 years!) until I realized the Academy accepted teenagers (like Wesley, Nog, etc.). Just nerd thoughts. In any case, Ma'ah makes her realize she's not honoring her friend's sacrifice and that seems to do the trick. Off they go, as allies, to make all the other lost crews allies. And though it seems reckless of her to call a time-out, they ARE all afraid of the Klingon (and the Orion of Tendi), so they listen. This whole sequence gave me the feels. Mariner makes herself vulnerable. Continuity is exploited in a great and resonant way. And Mariner ends ups making a great speech about Starfleet's values. If this isn't pure Star Trek, I don't know what is.
I'm less enamoured of the B-plot. This has Captain Freeman visit a planet that's a den of scum and villainy to find information on Nick Locarno (The First Duty, natch), one of several ex-Starfleet members who need protection in the wake of the mystery ship now kidnapping such. He's a rogue pilot now, and intel might be available on New Axton. The world is essentially a Star Wars riff, with Imperial officers running the space port, a Mos Eisley-type cantina (Mudd's), lots of non-human aliens, and a mysterious helmeted figure with an electronic voice. That's not what bothers me - I think Lower Decks is uniquely positioned to do Star Wars jokes since it's a comedy cartoon - and the A-plot also indulges, with a climax set at a bunker with a dish, everything looking like the Moon of Endor, and even a fight between a vehicle and people armed with sticks. No, what bothers me is that I don't buy Freeman's plan. She looks extremely foolish throughout, trying to act like a rules-breaker but stymied by a society that actually does have rules, so she's misinformed (they just don't follow STARFLEET's rules). The guy in the helmet is a disguised Billups who gets the intel because the information broker wants to spite her, but she never acts like this is really part of a plan until she reveals it at the end. She even attacks a Balok puppet who is very stiff and throws sparks, but which turns out to be not a puppet at all (that's a tortured joke, I don't buy it either). It all goes way too far and feels like the script is jerking the audience around.
But the intel is interesting. Seems Locarno (and amusingly, Robert Duncan McNeill can reprise THAT role now) is the owner of the mystery ship, and this is all part of HIS scheme. He's just kidnapped former school chum Mariner, so we'll have a ring-side seat next episode. He wears a badge that evokes the Kolvoord Starburst, the very maneuver that got him drummed out of Starfleet, nice deep cut. And who else has he kidnapped and might show up in the finale?
LESSON: Sometimes the drama is just too strong to mention many of the jokes. But the episode has good jokes too!
REWATCHABILITY - High: It's kind of Medium-Low for the Freeman stuff, but Mariner's story get a High rating. Surprisingly touching and yet still funny and exciting.
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