‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Takes Fans Back to Deep Space Nine in “Hear All, Trust Nothing”
While promoting the third season of Lower Decks we were promised a trip to Deep Space Nine. Today that promise is fulfilled.
Star Trek: Lower Decks love an homage. And most references to Trek’s past involve The Original Series and The Next Generation. However, Voyager gets its due – Robert Duncan McNeill even appears at one point as Tom Paris.
However, one series we hear very little about is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And that’s a shame as, by many people’s standards, DS9 is the best Trek has to offer. Fortunately, “Hear All, Trust Nothing” changes everything. And we get a lot more than a simple Easter egg fest here – this is a full-blown episode set on Deep Space Nine with not one, but two returning cast members from the series.
So, how do you bring back the most important starbase in the Alpha Quadrant? Let’s find out!
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To Boldly Recap
Let’s be brief, because, let’s face it, the review is the most important part of this week.
The Cerritos is in charge of opening negotiations with the Karemma, a species of merchants from the Gamma Quadrant. Captain Freeman receives assistance from Colonel Kira who runs Deep Space Nine. The Karemma seem tepid on opening trade negotiations so Kira and Freeman ask Quark for assistance.
Unfortunately, Quark apparently hates the Karemma because of their attachment to the Dominion (and therefore the Dominion War). The Karemma reciprocate the hatred freaking out over a replicator of Quark’s taking him hostage, and dropping bombs that shut down both the station and the Cerritos.
Thankfully, already aboard the Karemma vessel are Rutherford, Tendi, and an Orion security officer named Mesk. And while Mesk spends the whole episode infuriating Tendi with Orion pirate talk, she quickly realizes she needs those Orion skills when Quark is brought on board against his will.
While it turns out Mesk was adopted by humans, Tendi is a former Orion pirate. She uses her skills to stop the Karemma ship from escaping through the wormhole. After Quark’s rescue, it’s revealed that Quark’s replicator uses stolen Karemma technology. In order to prevent Quard from being executed, Freeman offers the Karemma a huge share of Quark’s financial gains from all his franchises.
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Meanwhile with Mariner and Boimler
In less Deep Space Nine-related drama, Mariner agrees to meet Jennifer’s friends. They are hosting a “salon” which is basically just candlemaking, drinking, and self-aggrandizing. It’s awful. Mariner hates it. But she puts up with the whole thing because she wants to put on a good face for Jennifer.
Eventually, the Cerritos loses power (including life support) because of the Karemma bombs. Everyone at the party freaks out and starts wasting air. The candles are also massive air wasters. Jennifer admits she wants Mariner to be hard on her obnoxious friends. So, in order to prevent more wasted air, Mariner stuns the entire party with her phaser. She and Jennifer kiss and then stun themselves so as not to seem suspicious.
Meanwhile, on Deep Space Nine, Boimler hits the Dabo table and is extraordinarily looking. He keeps winning more and more gold-pressed latinum. The Ferengi are furious. Eventually, they offer Boimler a ton of credit at Quark’s in exchange for the latinum which Boimler happily accepts. After all, Boimler is a Starfleet officer – what the heck is he going to do with latinum?
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To Boldly Review
“Hear All, Trust Nothing” is a hard episode to review. In fact, it may just be the hardest episode of modern Trek to honestly assess. “What happens after Deep Space Nine season seven” is a question Star Trek fans contemplate regularly. And we’ve been contemplating for over two decades. Until this moment, the closest we had to a DS9 continuation is the writer’s room segment from the 2018 documentary What We Left Behind.
But now, here we are. And for around 25 minutes Deep Space Nine, the station, and some of her crew are back. It’s hard not to get emotional seeing Colonel Kira with that baseball in her hand. It’s hard not to be critical, too. After all, what’s with the cropped red hair?! In season seven she has chin-length brown hair! What, she can’t have a style beyond the one she had for most of the series? What is she, a cartoon character? Oh, right. It’s Lower Decks. She’s a cartoon character. Okay fine.
The thing to keep in mind about “Hear All, Trust Nothing” is that it is an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, not Deep Space Nine. And as such, it is, by its nature, a goofy, half-hour, animated comedy. And the good news is that Deep Space Nine, maybe more than any other Trek show that isn’t Lower Decks, absolutely excels at comedy. So more often than not, this pairing is a perfect fit.
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Quark: the Right Ferengi for the Job
The funniest episodes of Deep Space Nine are the Ferengi episodes. Whether Quark is losing his bar, fending off assassins, or arguing with his mother, the Ferengi episodes are almost always pitch-perfect comedy. So, having Quark at the center of the plot of “Hear All, Trust Nothing” is the smart move – and it pays off.
Captain Freeman has to negotiate with merchants from the Gamma Quadrant? Of course, she goes to Quark! And of course, Quark is more trouble than he is worth. And of course, he already took advantage of the very people Starfleet is trying to build a relationship with. Any latinum-loving Trek fan knows exactly what’s coming a mile away.
But that’s what makes “Hear All, Trust Nothing” so good – it’s comfort food from your favorite kitchen you never thought you’d eat from again. It’s not complicated but it is satisfying. Hearing Armin Shimmerman voice Quark just on its own is worth the price of admission. But watching him blunder his way into an explosive fight that can only be resolved with Tendi’s Orion know-how? That’s a perfect blending of ingredients.
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Kira is a Little More Challenging
Kira Nerys can be funny, but she is defined in no small part by her past trauma. She is a freedom fighter who makes impossible choices including killing people who may be innocent. Kira spends seven seasons struggling with what it means to be the status quo after she spent her youth fighting the status quo. And Kira loses people – Jadzia, Ben, and Odo just to name a few.
So what do you do with all of that in a half-hour comedy format? The answer is that you (mostly) leave it aside. The Lower Decks team wisely gives Kira a sparring partner/old ally in the form of Shaxs. It makes perfect sense that Kira and Shaxs have a shared past fighting Cardassian. And it makes sense that they argue over who owes who for what.
But Kira ain’t Kira without the hurt. Seeing her happy is wonderful no doubt. Just hearing Nana Visitor voice Kira again after all these years is enough to bring a tear to your eye. But an animated series doesn’t quite serve Kira as well as it does Quark. She’s just too complex. So file her appearance under emotionally gratifying, very good, but not quite great.
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Also, the Lower Decks Stuff is Good
Probably should mention, this is still Lower Decks and those characters also do things in “Hear All, Trust Nothing”! The biggest focus is on Tendi getting stuck with another Orion. And this plot really lands. We know Tendi wants to grow beyond the limits of her Orion heritage. And watching someone who is an Orion try and push her back into that box is complex while still remaining fun. And letting Tendi embrace the pirate side while still being who she is now? Great resolution.
And we also get Mariner and Jen time! Ever since we found out that the pair are dating, we’ve been waiting to see what Mariner and Jen are like together. And while it’s safe to say that stunning an entire party with her phaser is grounds for court-martial, this is still Lower Decks. Mariner will face consequences inevitably, but this isn’t the time. And finding out that Jen like Mariner precisely because she is pushy is sweet. Mariner being happy? We love to see it.
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References: Gotta Spot ‘Em All
It’s hard to name all the Easter eggs in “Hear All, Trust Nothing” because almost everything is a reference. Heck, the episode title is a reference to the 190th Rule of Acquisition! But we’ll name some of the ones that don’t connect entirely to the plot itself – that’s how Easter eggs work, right?
Mariner mentions Smiley, O’Brien’s mirror universe counterpart. Related, Rutherford mentions O’Brien’s dart board, a game he plays often with Dr. Bashir. Rutherford says he wants to talk to a junior reporter and we’re assuming that’s Jake Sisko. Kira and Shaxs discuss the Haru outposts which the Shakar Resistance does in fact raid during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
We see Morn in the background. We see Dabo girls at Quark’s Bar dressed exactly like the character Leela from DS9. A tailor’s shop gets a namedrop, which means Garak is still aboard the station.
Meanwhile, the “salon” Mariner attends is “betazoid casual”. Betazoid formal is nudity, so anything involving clothes probably counts as casual! One of Jennifer’s friends does a dance called the Kobayashi Maru (the unwinnable scenario Starfleet exam) and it cannot be danced correctly.
Is “Hear All, Trust Nothing” as great as last week’s episode? Not quite. But it’s a wonderful walk down Deep Space Nine‘s memory lane. If they want to do a DS9 animated series, I’m all for it!
4.5/5 stars
