Beckett Mariner, Bad Breakups, And ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ “Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”
The evolution of Beckett Mariner continues as she faces former relationships and… giant D20’s? That’s our Lower Decks!
Tendi is back on board the Cerritos! It’s her first mission back and naturally that means capturing a sentient nanite cluster on an interstellar cruise ship. That checks out! But is there more to “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”?
Not really.
I mean, yes, there’s a secondary plot and a continuation of the season arc. Boimler is still growing the beard. However, this is mostly a very quick in and out episode. There’ resolution on a story that doesn’t really need resolving. Not to Debbie Downer this, but any Star Trek episode that lowkey references the best Dolly Parton movie in its title has set the bar very high.
Let’s get into it.
To Boldly Recap “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel”
So. Nanite cluster. Interstellar cruise ship. Your typical Lower Decks mission—with two exceptions. One, Boimler is teaming up with Ransom and Billups for a secret mission. Two, in Boimler’s place is Jennifer, who apparently still thinks she and Mariner are dating. Hoo boy. Sapphic drama, ahoy, baby!
We’ll start with Boimler. He is excited about the secret mission until Jet, who just lost his hands on a secret mission himself, says Ransom is only using Boimler as the canary in the coal mine. And it very much seems as though Ransom keeps putting him in danger as they search for a rogue admiral. However, it turns out Ransom is just pushing Boimler because Ransom believes in him. TL;DR the secret squad captures the admiral (who just doesn’t want to milk space cows anymore).
Meanwhile, Beckett Mariner thinks she’s avoided breaking up with Jen when she finds out Jen is transferring. But first they need to complete this nanite hunting mission successfully. And helping the cluster grow into a giant twenty-sided die that devours your friends is not generally considered success.
Thankfully Mariner and Jen are honest with each other, break up amicably, disrupt the cluster, and destroy it. In the end it turns out an Intrepid class starship from another parallel world (where everything is itty bitty) was controlling to cluster in an effort to get home. The wayward admiral signs up to help them out.
The end!
Lower Decks and the Palate Cleanser
The first two episodes of Lower Decks‘ fifth season are heavy on continuity. We watch Tendi find her way back home. We witness alternate futures for the rest of the cast that are vaguely grim. Things are changing, dangerous time space anomalies loom in the distance.
And then “The Best Exotic Nanite Hotel” turns up and is the exact opposite. Yes, there’s the Jennifer and Mariner continuity, but that’s only here to tie up loose ends. This episode is a diversion. It’s a break from the heavier stuff before more heavier stuff. It’s an amuse-bouche.
I don’t think we needed an amuse-bouche.
That being said this episode is still fun. It’s got everything a nerd wants. Beckett Mariner calls the giant, 20-sided die a icosahedron—which is what it is! The tiny Intrepid class ship is a huge shout out to the time Q (the other one) turns Voyager into a Christmas ornament. There’s a “Galaxy’s Child” reference! There’s an instrument called “vibe tubes” and T’Lyn is a massive fan!
It’s a smorgasbord of cute references. Plus, we get a break-up story for Mariner and Jen instead of just leaving it kind of loose. That’s nice! It’s just a little thin, you know? We’re down to the wire. Just a few episodes to go. In the parlance of the 1980s: where’s the beef?
