Has the black badge for S31 been seen anywhere else besides ST DISCO?
As far as I know it was only from Discovery and was called out even then as silly for the exact reason Boimler stated.
It’s possible they developed it for that supposed S31 spinoff that seems dead.
I had actually liked the Peanut Hamper episode; this one OTOH struck me as off stride.
The captain was just way over the top even for the character especially given the growth they had been allowing her to have.
Questions though?
What happened to the pusher planet inhabitants? All vaporized? Actually moved over to the other planet and were the fitness freaks and junkies out of view?
Texas class prototype just happened to be close enough to show up in time? In front of reporter? Or Star Fleet knew the Breen were there and this was a set up putting them at risk to give Texas class a public unveiling?
A weak ep of this show is still fine enough end of day.
Maybe not the Breen specifically, but Project Swing By was tailor-made to put the Cerritos into danger eventually. Admiral GoodGuy (definitely not a setup to be a badguy) no doubt knew this was the ultimate outcome for a ship.
I initially believed that the captain’s reaction was over the top for the character, but… maybe she’s actually a bad captain? She’s vain, she constantly overreacts to perceived slights, and generally puts her own reputation over the well-being of her crew. Unlike the rest of the bridge crew, she’s rarely shown being exceptional in her professional capacities. Shax is genuinely badass, T’Ana is a great doctor, and Ransom is a classic Kirk-style brawler/diplomat.
Well that’s why over the top, not completely out of character. She’s bad, including vain, over controlling, and ill tempered, but had been growing and not had not that degree of awfulness or that degree of vindictiveness to her daughter. IMHO of course.
The Growth was far more on Mariner’s side, not ‘moms’ - Mom clearly has issues.
I thought the reveal at the end was exactly as I expected it to be - it was perfectly done.
I suspect a rewatch (which I absolutely intend to do once the season has concluded) will show that Carol’s ‘growth’ was really just “holy shit I finally found a way to handle my out-of-control daughter and protect my reputation at the same time, better lean into it.”
concur - she passed Mariner off to Ransom.
For the last few days, my desktop background has been this picture of a koala sitting in a bucket of water. At least once a day I look at it and say “The koala smiles on us all!”
Koala bless you.
Yay for T’lynn being back! It will be fun to watch Tindi driving her nuts next season. And I loved Fly-Boimler and the gender-swapped senior officers on … whatever Cali-class ship that was.
I was pretty happy with the episode overall and thought it brought the season to a nice ending after a couple of ok-but-not-great outings. I must say I so appreciate how un-cynical this show remains, how even the supposedly “rogue” characters still have a core of integrity and a belief in something greater than their own gain. That’s always been the heart of Star Trek of course, but it’s great to see it articulated so boldly, without apology or eye-rolling. Cali class rules!
(But seriously, how lame would it be to serve on the USS Fresno?)
He also put that reporter on the Cerritos, presumably with the specific purpose of having her do a hack job on the ship. I think we’re going to find out next season that he wants the Texas-class ships to replace the California-class ships completely, and part of his plan for that is showing the crews of California-class ships as incompetents.
It’s almost like Admiral Buenamigo was actually… 
Admiral Malamigo.
I’ll see myself out.
(I laughed when the Sherman Oaks showed up.)
I said that exact thing during the episode !
FYI there was a short scene after the credits of the finale.
This was a great season. I actually got a little emotional at the end of the finale. It’s been a while since Trek has done that.
Um, are you an episode behind or something? I doubt that he thinks much of anything, what with being vaporized and all.
I am.
I know it was painfully obvious, but I’m still taking credit for this.
Agreed. Lower Decks continues to be a real pleasure to watch. Every episode is just a delight, even the weaker ones.
Have we seen the ship with the fly Boimler before?
I seem to recall T’Ana seeing that bridge crew once when she accidentally boarded the wrong California class ship at a station.
All the shops look alike was the punchline.
I liked the finale. I was a little hazy on how Mariner had time to round up a couple dozen California-class ships (and only California-class ships), but it doesn’t really matter.