I’ve been waiting for the cold opens to actually be about something instead of just being a quick joke that has mostly nothing to do with the following events, this episode delivered. “Moist Vessel” – yes, that’s its name – is written by Ann Kim this time, a writer for High School Musical: The Musical. We don’t need to talk about Disney as we’ve got the episode that found the balance for Lower Decks to settle into, A character-focused drama with a comedy bent to it. 

Once again the A story focuses on Mariner and Captain Freeman while the B story stays with Tendi basically being Julian but less annoying while actively being annoying. How did Jadzia and Miles ever put up with him? In a joint mission, the Cerritos and the Merced crews are trying to move an ancient colony ship with bio-materials aboard, yet in the senior officer’s briefing, Beckett struggles to stay awake at all the boringness that is probably already on the data pads she’s handing out. Tendi is set to join a spiritual enlightenment ceremony where a member of the crew will become one with the universe.

There was a while back when Shatner flapped his gums about how modern Star Trek isn’t what Gene would have wanted for his series, and “Moist Vessel” is exactly that. That’s a good thing, especially when we are aiming at this comedy target. It allows us to break away from his TNG rule of (paraphrasing) “no spiritual nonsense,” and do exactly this. Now we have a character that will become one with the Koala of the universe. Then again, I don’t know how Star Fleet view catching STDs and smelling of your own excretions.

Unsurprisingly, the ceremony goes off without a hitch, aside from Tendi baseball sliding through the mandala constructed over 2 years out of colorful sand. Beckett is assigned all the worst jobs that the captain can think of to get her daughter out of her hair. Jobs that Beckett creates fun out of via bets and comradery. Evidently, both Tendi and captain Freeman have to change tact when neither gets their way, with Carole deciding to promote her daughter to be a lieutenant in front of ensign Boimler, while Tendi tries to get O’Connor back on track by the afternoon.

Once again I feel like I am repeating myself a little bit too much, but the character work here from Ann and the team presumably in the writer’s room, gets us some interesting ideas. The stories and plots aren’t original. They are standard simple stories we’ve seen in children’s or teen dramas before, but telling the stories simply with character-focus provides an interesting enough twist when other shows/writers would overcomplicate them. Beckett and Captain Freeman’s story is similar to Freaky Friday, a mother-daughter pairing proving their love (or independence) while trying to work together. Tendi’s story is every ruined ritual plot.

Yet in the background of all of this we get captain hairy boring face showing more character than everything Chris Chibnall wrote. It is his superficial desire to be seen as in charge that results in the mission’s failure, and this gives his character so much to play off of. That also gives us time to see Beckett grow and understand Freeman while she learns her daughter is capable despite being so dissuaded by the call for authority. We also see how Tendi just wants to be friends. Coming from a race of pirates and robbers, she’s the sweet one.

There is also this dark undertone behind the “Don’t give me that sarcastic Vulcan salute!” moment and the rest of the either referential or comedy bits. I’m not just talking about the “I’ve got her emptying [redacted] from the holodeck’s [redacted] filter” bit, because secretly we all knew that is what the holodeck is really used for. Though Star Trek is a series that is often about space politics and looking at hope for humanity to do better, there has almost always been a contrasting darkness underneath. Lieutenant O’Connor’s ascension captures that darkness as he becomes one with the universe and realizes it hurts to be such an ethereal being.

That transcendence makes Tendi feel bad about her part in helping him join the Koala with the universe on its back and turns what would be a moment of happiness into sadness. It is a wonderful little bit that works well as a “comedy is tragedy plus timing” moment. Meanwhile, as Beckett rises the ranks and is almost immediately punted back down for being herself, Brad tried to get the same promotion by imitating Beckett’s bad behavior and fails as you’d expect. There is just a lot of playing with the world, which Lower Decks can do more than other series in the franchise.

Ultimately, “Moist Vessel” captured the fun sci-fi of the larger franchise while also allowing for Lower Decks to find its place. There are still a few comedy bits that are ‘low-brow’ to fit that Rick and Morty cartoon thing, but overall it captures where we’re going more with its character-based comedy. I also think you’ll be tired of me mentioning just how beautiful “Moist Vessel” is when I’ve said the explosion of color makes me happy after so many reviews of desaturated melodrama with no character.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks "Moist Vessel"

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• A great balance of character and comedy.
• A nice bit of darkness under the plot.
• Fun sci-fi comedy.

Cons

• More 'low-brow' bits.
• The United Federation of boredom.