Well, slap me silly, Picard is actually shaping up to be something worth watching. Usually, the seasons go like this: the first episode is solid, the second jumps off the cliff, and the third all the way to the finale hits every jut of Springfield Gorge in a race to the bottom. I am three episodes in (at the time of writing) and they are actually doing solid character work. They’ve de-aged Picard 20 years by giving him a good script (so far), and overall put some effort in to connect the dots which says nothing of doing an echo of the Dominion War. Why am I talking about Picard so much here?

I won’t lie, I’ve felt like death crawled inside me and died (I’ll spare the details), so when I watched Ben Rodgers’ “Mugato, Gumato” and decided to write the review the next day, I forgot everything. I’m not joking, I had to rewatch the first few moments of the episode a second time just so I could go, “Oh! This one…” Then immediately regret having to write about it because there is not really much to say. It is a fine episode that uses all the elements of sci-fi and Star Trek as tropes and doesn’t really spin them on their head.

There are mainly two stories playing out with a minor almost C-plot in that Carol is scammed by someone connected to the A-plot. As has become common law at this point, “Mugato, Gumato”‘s A-plot is centered around Mariner, as Rutherford and Brad play the most Star Trek board game and get told a lie by the Cerritos’ Whoopi Goldberg if she was a White bloke that was gullible. Assigned to look into a creature terrorizing tourists, we find a massive gorilla-like beast being somewhat poached by the Ferengi.

The B-plot focuses on Tendi feeling as if she’s not good enough, so T’ana gives her the assignment of getting everyone’s physicals. Well, everyone that refused or missed their appointment. You know how that story goes: Tendi gets everyone done but there is a mystery code left for the last officer to be examined. Then we get the shock of all shocks as the final officer to be checked is T’ana. Because doctors and medical professionals are the worst patients, it is an issue. Though it isn’t a problem that takes forever to resolve since it hardly takes five minutes of the episode.

As I say, the overall quality of the episode is fine, but it is never exciting or feels like we’re bounding through the episode like a Mugato through the jungle after escape from the Ferengi poaching station. I love the Ferengi and I love the solution to the Mugato poaching situation though. It is a very Star Trek way of doing something while maintaining character. The truth is, while it can be said there is great character work on the part of the Ferengi, our crew doesn’t really have much to do in terms of progression and thus the episode feels flat.

Samanthan and Brad are scared of Mariner because she spread a lie in the bar that she is a sleeper agent for “Black Ops,” (Section 31). Of course, it is a lie that Mariner put out there so she doesn’t have to get close to anyone. We already know that fact, and this isn’t development. We also know that Tendi is insecure about breaking free from the Orion stereotype, so she wants to do her best in Star Fleet at all times. This also isn’t really development when she gets T’ana for the medical check-up. We know she’s capable, and we know she’s insecure, but we know she’ll get the job done.

The comedy isn’t all that great either, ranging from the mention of the Mugato’s genitals being sensitive to phaser fire and Shaxs making a meal of the Mugato dung. As you’d expect we do the wrong thing and cut away to focus on reactions and the Australian-alien amateur biologist. The obvious things happen, there is no subversion or twist to make it fresh, it all just falls flat to little laughter and no excitement. The long section about the Mugatos having sex and how it was apparently weird for the third to watch shouldn’t matter, we’re only a few episodes from when Bev’s granny’s sex toy ghost was mentioned.

I think “Crisis Point” is Rodgers’ best work, which isn’t difficult given he’s written 3 episodes of Lower Decks. He is credited as a story editor/executive story editor on the 20 episodes of seasons 1 and 2, and he wrote 2 episodes of something called Workaholics. The latter seems like the type of show where if you bash your head against a wall long enough to leak enough brain cells for “college humor” to be funny, it will make its really unfunny cast hilarious. Given a solid premise, he can maintain a sense of reasonable quality. However, I don’t think I’m too excited to see his next episode given where we are now.

Ultimately, “Mugato, Gumato” is an episode with the Ferengi learning a lesson, which instantly gives it an extra little bump. I love those big-lobed sexist weirdos. The episode as a whole doesn’t excite me when watching it though, and I think going for any rewatch this is one of those episodes I’d rather skip for a short while until it becomes fresh again. The fact that the episode as a whole fell right out of my memory by the next morning after watching was probably the sign that I wasn’t going to be too keen on “Mugato, Gumato.”

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Star Trek: Lower Decks "Mugato, Gumato"

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• I love you big-lobed sexists!
• Plots are decent enough

Cons

• The comedy more or less falls flat.
• Not a memorable episode