You see, all I’m really looking for with Lower Decks is character and comedy, and “Much Ado About Boimler” gets that reasonably well. Written by M (or Emei) Willis, who previously wrote for She-ra and some stuff you’ve never heard of (or care for), we have about three stories throughout the 7th episode of animated Star Fleet. As a result of Captain Freeman, Shaxs, and Ransom on a secret operation to plant some… plants, the crew of the Cerritos are getting a replacement teacher. I mean Captain! Meanwhile, Tendi has created a dog, The Dog, that is nothing but a totally normal dog.

Ignore that image! That’s the A, B, and C plots mostly covered: The Bridge crew are away, a stand-in crew consisting of Beckett’s old friend comes in, Brad gets phase shifted in Rutherford’s latest tech-tinker, and apparently The Dog is weird for some reason.

With Beckett in the A story growing her character by seeing what an old friend has accomplished in the time they’ve been away from each other, we have something fun that is Star Trek-y, and gives us progression. In the B story, we have the first interactions between Tendi and Brad, and it is hard to say they are friends that hang out outside of the group. Nonetheless, B story = comedy plot.

The C story kind of just happens in the background without resolution either way. We see the bridge crew in their ninja pajamas, we hear that they “could be called into action at any moment,” and then at the end, Ransom appears back on the ship. Either there is a scene missing from the final cut or the plot was never intended to resolve. Maybe I’m too concerned with the rule of 3s for comedy. Though if there was no intention to resolve that plot, maybe the second scene between Captain Ramsey and Captain Freeman could have been cut too. 

If that seems nitpicky, I’ll seem like a gorilla. Once it has been established that Brad can’t be fixed with Doctor T’Ana (the Caitian – the cat) and we’ll be seeing Division 14 (not 31!) he asks how long the trip is. It is a simple joke that mostly works, but in doing so he asks how long it will be because he didn’t know how many books to bring. I’ve made the joke once or twice that my eReader has almost infinite possibilities, infinite in this case being over 1580 books of smut, presidential assassination, and the adventures of Sisko. So I’m pretty sure Star Fleet could come up with a pad to hold enough books.

I said it recently that Lower Decks has an opportunity that other Star Trek doesn’t, to use visual comedy to enhance itself. Though it isn’t Edgar Wright perfection there are a couple of things that only Lower Decks could do here. Specifically utilizing a talking dog that could curve its jaw back to open a portal to hell in its throat and release the bats that will give us a new plague, Anthony, and several other examples of the “freaks” heading to The Farm. I think more could be done in that regard sometimes but I like that enough to make “Much Ado About Boimler” stand out.

It has also been said several times already that the character-driven focus is what makes Lower Decks so special in the world of animation. However, for some reason, I don’t think of this being one of Beckett’s big character pieces. From memory alone, this is always an episode about The Dog and Boimler (unsurprisingly). Much like the episode where the Grand Nagus went loopy because the Prophets from the wormhole saw fit to correct his greed, I can’t think about the B story off the top of my head.

The connection between Ramsey and Beckett is great to see, and it gives us the moment of Beckett once again doing the job to Star Fleet standard when needed. Beyond that spark of “look, I care, I just don’t like the responsibility” there isn’t really anything memorable from it. Call that a fault of the short runtime or praise of it, I can’t quite tell sometimes. There are times when I wish more could have been done. In that case, desiring more of something has always been a good thing in my books. Given Lower Decks has consistently been a streaming show, I think the restrictions on time can be suffocating to an episode.

Ultimately, M Willis’ “Much Ado About Boimler” is another fun episode that sometimes pokes fun in all the ways the franchise sometimes needs it. Then you have the fact that The Farm is supposedly curing or rehabilitating Delta Radiation and it makes you wonder what Pike is so worried about. The highlight for me is easily The Dog, because she’s just a normal dog that hovers and spits lightning, as all golden retrievers do. I just wish there was more to make me care about Beckett’s ability to get the job done when needed the most.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks "Much Ado About Boimler"

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• The use of visual comedy and character work throughout.
• The Dog.

Cons

• The C story not really going anywhere.
• A missing scene or two in places.