‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Sets Sights on Season 5 With “Old Friends, New Planets”
Star Trek: Lower Decks spends a lot of its fourth season preparing fans for a sea change. And this is when it happens. Here we go.
Lieutenant Junior Grade. After three seasons of Lower Decking at the lowest rung of the ladder, season four of Star Trek: Lower Decks finally promotes our favorite ensigns. And it’s a season full of people evolving. Boimler learns to lead. Rutherford finally embraces fatherhood (twice). Tendi realizes her past and present can co-exist. Even minor characters grow. T’Lyn accepts that she’s a weird Vulcan. And both Agimus and Peanut Hamper get out of the world domination biz.
But Mariner? Mariner is different, isn’t she? No matter how much faith her mother, her friends, and even Jack Ransom have in her, Mariner just can’t seem to get it together. Mariner doesn’t want to be a Lieutenant Junior Grade, let alone anything above that. And in last week’s episode “Inner Fight” we finally find out why Mariner is the only voluntary eternal ensign.
It all boils down to one name: Sito Jaxa. Jaxa, a formerly disgraced ensign, and Mariner’s hero, finds redemption aboard the Enterprise but dies tragically in the process. Mariner fears being the kind of person who would ever order someone like Sito to their death.
And now Mariner comes face-to-face with the man who arguably sets Sito on the path to her demise—Nick Locarno. What happens next? Let’s find out.
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To Boldly Recap “Old Friends, New Planets”
After a flashback scene showing Mariner’s hero worship for Sito Jaxa and Nova Squadron, Nick Locarno reveals his plot. Nova Squadron may be long gone, but he’s got a new gang: Nova Fleet. The fleet consists of “liberated” ships from different races. Locarno wants to draft dissatisfied people across the quadrant into Nova Fleet. He’s got a Trynar shield protecting the fleet in the Detrion System. And he has a Genesis device as added collateral. He also thinks he has Mariner.
He doesn’t.
After explaining his plan on open hail, Nick passes the proverbial mic to Mariner who declares that Nick is an idiot with bad ideas before stealing the Genesis device and a Federation ship to escape with. But the Trynar shield blocks her from getting away.
Meanwhile, Captain Freeman and the Cerritos go against orders and seek aid from Tendi’s sister D’Erika. Tendi asks for a warship. After a series of wagers and battles, Tendi ultimately has to agree to leave Starfleet and return to Orion in exchange for the warship. Also, the warship is broken.
However, the Cerritos uses the warship as a battering ram, slamming it into the Trynar shield and busting it open in time for Freeman to take her captain’s yacht into Destrion space. She rescues Mariner just as Locarno is about to fire on her. Locarno has not only lost support from his people, he also fails to disarm the Genesis device Mariner activated. He explodes and a new world is left in his place.
We end with Tendi leaving the Cerritos but vowing to be back.
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To Boldly Review “Old Friends, New Planets”
Listen! I will write about Star Trek: Lower Decks and “Old Friends, New Planets” but first: is there some kind of law that requires new Star Trek to pull a Wrath of Khan at least once a season, every season, and for every series? Seriously, is there a legally binding contract that forces these shows to have no-win scenarios, genesis devices, and/or augmented beings of some sort? If so, I would like to propose a new law outlawing all of these things for a minimum of five years.
With that said, “Old Friends, New Planet is a really exciting finale that takes some surprising turns, even when they do things you kind of know they have to. Tendi leaving the Cerritos is something that has to happen. Not only because of her growth as a character but also because she’s literally the only Lower Decker left who hasn’t either left or died yet. Sending her back to Orion, though, is an exciting twist.
Then there’s Nick Locarno. His plan to create an unaffiliated fleet actually makes some sense. Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, the Romulans, Cardassians, and Ferengi all have rules that don’t always serve their people. Wanting to flee those systems and create something new isn’t a foolish idea.
But Locarno’s motivations are terrible. He’s resentful of the life he lost due to his own bad decisions. Rather than learn, he’s doing more of the same with Nova Fleet. He wants power and he doesn’t care who gets hurt. And after every other Star Trek show made A.I. the enemy for the last few years, it’s nice to see a fallible human as the villain.
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On the Subject of Nova Squadron
I have a nitpick. I don’t know how much it will matter to my fellow old heads: this one’s for you.
In the flashback, we see the following members of Nova Squadron: Nick Locarno, Sito Jaxa, Wesley Crusher, and… Joshua Albert. Now if you’ve rewatched Star Trek: The Next Generation a million times, Josh Albert’s appearance is a big deal. Josh is the person who dies when Nova Squadron attempts the Kolvoord Starburst. This is the first time we’ve ever seen or heard him.
However, Nova Squadron is five members, not four. And Jean Hajar, the fifth member, is as much a part of that time as the others. And yet she’s suspiciously absent. So why isn’t she there?
There’s a possibility that Walker Brandt didn’t okay the return of the character she played, but I suspect an animated series could’ve worked around that. Sadly I think leaving Hajar out is tactical.
Josh Albert is dead. Sito Jaxa is also dead. And Wesley Crusher no longer exists in the normal flow of space-time. In other words, the only true surviving members of Nova Squadron are Nick Locarno and Jean Hajar. I thought for sure Jean Hajar would at least get a mention.
I suspect the reason Hajar doesn’t appear is because ignoring her existence leaves Locarno completely alone. With no one to share his guilt or rage with it festers and turns him into the man he becomes. Except Hajar exists and acknowledging that kind of makes Locarno’s story make less sense.
It feels like she got left off on purpose and as a lifelong fan more so than a critic it bugs me!
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Wrapping Up Star Trek: Lower Decks Season Four
Something interesting about “Old Friends, New Planets” is that it calls back to a surprising amount of threads from earlier in the season that aren’t exactly loose. And for the most part, it works. There are a lot of buttons placed on things that make this season finale feel like a real ending for what Star Trek: Lower Decks was for the first four seasons. And it sets up how things can be for seasons to come provided Paramount allows for it.
Boimler sitting in the captain’s chair shows that he is capable of leadership without killing himself in the process. We know Boimler wants to be a captain, but this is the first time it feels feasible. T’Lyn truly abandons returning to a Vulcan ship because she says more personal potential on the Cerritos is a big deal. It feels like we’re just getting to know her and this bodes well for where we might see this Vulcan character go next.
And then there’s Rutherford and Tendi. I admit I have been frustrated with their will-they-or-won’t-they this season, but separating them like this is really sad. More than that it will force them to chase what they really want. Maybe they want each other. Maybe they want something else entirely.
Tendi’s departure feels a little forced. I’m not sure I buy that D’Erika wants her sister more than the Cerritos. But seeing the mischievous look on Tendi’s face in the final moments suggests we’ll see a whole new side of her next season. And I’m genuinely excited about that.
All in all, an exciting if, at times, frustrating season finale.
4/5 stars
