Alerted to the universe destroying rift that’s been isolated to their timeline, Boimler and Mariner lead the charge in convincing Captain Freeman of the threat. To their surprise, there’s no argument from her as she trusts her ‘best officers’ and informs command who then deliver the bad news. There’s no other ship in range. It’s time for Cerritos to step out of their comfort zone and save the galaxy.
Lower Decks doesn’t always hit a home run for me. But when it does, it’s in a finale.
For an animated comedy that seems to thrive and get put on a pedestal for it’s multiple callbacks and references, it’s a show that shines when it goes beyond the nudge and a wink to let it’s characters grow. Very quickly this episodes hammers how how that growth has carried the show beyond expectations. And it all hits home early with one line. “You’re my best officers.” A line from Freeman that shows the massive turnaround from Mariner and being losers and misfits into what they are now; proven and valued crewmembers.
Although the Cerritos has seen it’s share of high profile missions, this is the first time they’ve been tasked with ‘Enterprise level’ work which brings a lot of comedy but lets the series show off what it’s achieved, putting everyone in prime position to showcase that behind the comedy and emphasis on being the background workhorses of the fleet, there’s still some Starfleet in them all. Not only that, but it feels like it brings the show together for one last hurrah similar to how the Picard crew got their last big adventure.
Mixing the lower and upper decks as an ensemble, having everyone work to their strengths, kind of feels like a fitting way to close the show. It’s a race against time with some Klingon interference helping to close off a sub-story of the show, with everything thrown in. Rutherford realises his implants are holding him back, Mariner takes charge in the middle of a crisis… even Ransom, who’s often a one note joke, it elevated to a heroic level as he shows he’s smarter than the gym-bro caricature.
For everything thrown in there, it doesn’t feel too packed and it’s paced perfectly. Even preparing Cerritos with new upgrades from Starfleet, or searching the ship for missing Klingons doesn’t slow anything down. If anything it all adds to the tension that comes with the unique brand of storytelling to give both drama and comedy a chance to come to the forefront as they show the Cerritos and it’s crew to be their better selves working as one.
And as it all came to an end, they gave us a satisfying conclusion tot he series and not just a season with Starbase 80 becoming a key outpost and new home for Captain Freeman, and Jack Ransom taking command for new adventures as he mentors his new command team with Boims and Mariner now in charge of the lower decks; T’Lynn and Tendi staying as co-science officers and Rutherford falling back in love with the Cerritos as he enters life without his implant guiding him.
It’s a joyful episode that shows the best of what Lower Decks was and even if it left the door open for more adventures, the New Next Generation was a wonderful way to close the book on the series final chapter.
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