Just what we need right now!
My love affair with Star Trek has been a little weird in 2023. I adored Star Trek Picard Season 3, felt mostly disappointed by Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 (though it admittedly came good in the latter half of that run), and found myself plain ol’ angry at Paramount for deciding to shelve Star Trek Prodigy before Season 2 could even come to be.
While I’ve found Star Trek Lower Decks to be hit-and-miss over the years, the six episodes of Season 4 that I’ve already seen are decidedly in the “hit” camp.
While I’m never big on spoilers — and will keep this relatively spoiler-free — I’d say this is the first year in Lower Decks where plot is actually important. There are some big life changes in store for the Lower Deckers, alongside the inclusion of a new regular cast member in the Vulcan T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), a character that was actually introduced back in Season 2.
T’Lyn’s addition is a welcome one; her Vulcan wit is as dry as it is sharp and she makes a wonderful foil to both D’Vana Tendi (Mistress of the Winter Constellation herself, voiced by Noël Wells) and to Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome).
That’s not to say that performances — and situations encountered — by Jack Quaid as Brad Boimler and Eugene Cordero as Sam Rutherford aren’t equally as amazing or endearing. Like many things in Lower Decks, those instances are very Easter egg heavy, involving the likes of The Next Generation‘s version of an olden days holodeck character. I’ll say no more, but on the subject of Easter eggs I was pleased to see some smart references to Enterprise, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and even Twin Peaks in the mix this year.
While the show is largely focused on junior officers of the U.S.S. Cerritos, I believe that its command staff — especially Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), Commander Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell), Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), and T’Ana (Gillian Vigman) — have a lot more to do in this season. The best part about that is that the senior staff seem to be less slapstick or silly and actually seem like competent, capable officers. To that degree, so too do the Lower Deckers; producers have done a tremendous job to keep comedic levels high despite this.
The usual roadblocks are still here, though — this isn’t necessarily the classic Trek that some fans demand. It’s silly, it’s sometimes stupid (though I really do enjoy those moments the best), and it moves at a blazing fast pace. This mightn’t be for you if you’ve bounced off previous seasons… but then again, the changes to professionalism that I’ve noted may address the concerns of some.
Despite the lack of seriousness at some points, Lower Decks is rooted in what makes Star Trek just that: Star Trek. It deserves a chance on your TV (or smartphone, or laptop) if you’ve not tried it as yet. This year marks the first time that Lower Decks will be available as its released on both Prime Video and Paramount+. We’ve got a guide on when new episodes drop right here.
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