From the fascist Cardassian occupation to the pseudo-military operation alongside the Bajorian provisional government, and then the eventual full Bajorian operations of what was once called Terok Nor. Ask any fan of the franchise as a whole, the standout of that TNG-led era is of course Deep Space Nine for Dominion-based reasons. However, Voyager may be rewatched most often, TNG is the broadest series that established the franchise as we know it, and Enterprise had the worst theme music in known history. I’ll keep harping on about it because it was terribly boring.

The first and only episode by Grace Parra Janney, “Hear All, Trust Nothing” returns both the lovely Nana Visitor and wonderful Armin Shimerman to their roles without the need for prosthetics. What I am saying is, I want a cartoon DS9 series since we’ve done Picard and we’re doing Strange New Worlds with their high production values. I’m getting to the episode itself, but we can guess what I’ll say about this one given my love of the series it is pilfering the iconography from. It snags iconography from Dabo, to Lcars dangling from the second level of the promenade like in the holo-vids and those rolling doors.

Mariner had Jennifer stay over in her bunk last night. Everyone else is off unloading crates of alpha quadrant alcohol to the Karemma ship or Carol is doing trade negotiations with the Karemma. Beckett is left to attend a slumber party for single-Betazoid-White women, complete with enough candles to keep Yankee in business for another several hundred years. I joke, but it is pretty terrible as far as parties go. There’s beat poetry with a bongo, and people being side-eyed for day-drinking. I don’t even drink that much and I’m thinking, “Karen, why are you calling it a ‘Salon’ and why are you giving anyone the side-eye?”

The A plot seems to focus mostly on the exploration of the station and Tendi’s encounter with the Orion Kanye West. If one is out here saying, “We [race] need to stop complaining about [horrible thing/pregidious]” and the other is out here saying whatever Kanye is doing, like saying Hitler was a stand-up dude, the comparison is fine. Maybe it is a little offensive to Mesk if anyone. Oh yeah, and Brad is out here being a Dabo shark. He is even going for triple-down Dabo and winning. He is an absolute Madman (in a good way)!

As Brad is making it big in Dabo, the Karemma kidnap Quark after Carol has sold the business-expansion idea too well and they shut down the whole station. I’ll tell you right now, if Miles was there, the place would be back up and running in minutes. Not only did the Karemma’s IRA impression shut down the station, but also the Cerritos, sending the White-women into a state of hysteria. They are more concerned about the ‘intention’ that the candles bring instead of trying to avoid a Chris Chibnall and fridging the gays in a room full of idiots.

I won’t say I would love to be Beckett when she’s phasing the room full of women, but I will say I love Jennifer and I love that she knows Mariner well enough that she was happy when Mariner didn’t “take klisht” from them in the end. Both of them should be sainted for putting up with even half of that nonsense. As should Tendi, not only for saving everyone’s favorite little long-lobed space capitalist but for putting up with someone from Ohio talking down to her for so long. I mean, Ohio of all places!

Editorialized plot summation aside, I might have gotten a little emotional when in Colonel Kira’s office while she was using baseball terminology and playing with Ben’s baseball. Yeah, it is an episode that is showing the echos of the Dominion War (it cost FOX nearly 800 million), there are going to be moments looking back with fondness throughout. Nonetheless, that was one that might hit a little too close to home as I sit in my office juggling and patting a lone baseball looking for the next thing to say. It is simply an attachment of this era encapsulated in a single moment.

I don’t blame Armin one bit, but the one thing that stood out against “Hear All, Trust Nothing” has to be the slight difference in Quark. There is a big difference between being under makeup back in the 90s, especially with those teeth, face makeup, and big lobes, but in a recording booth, you don’t want to put those teeth in. He tries to get the lisp that is often made as a result into the recordings, but there is just no way to replicate that otherwise. Of course, I’ll have egg on my face when I find out he did put the teeth in and it still felt a little off.

That said, for how little he shows up for and shows up in a scene with Kira, it is brilliant to see them not miss a single beat. He’s still a bit creepy, she’s still suspicious, and everyone is trying to get him in trouble. Yet for all of this pondering about characters and people, I’ve yet to talk about the station itself. Of course, it looks like Odo has been keeping the rabble out and the station secure. Then there is the pre-season 4 music, you know I enjoy this pre-credit joke more than anything. It looks and sounds beautiful.

In an episode that could have been set on the iconography alone, Grace Parra Janney paid homage to the series of the 90s while telling a story about this crew and this ship. It was a story that included Quark and the Karemma, but it was a story about Tendi wanting to get away from the Orion stereotypes as well as Beckett and Jennifer showing they love each other. Ultimately, being the series that trots out the nostalgia acts more than almost any other (thanks Picard season 3 for that), Lower Decks does it with fan service and purpose hand-in-hand. Next time I’ll be shouted at for the title, and we’ll be onto Ann Kim’s continuation of Peanut Hamper.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• A decen cold open that is fun.
• Dabo!
• Quark and Kira going at it again.
• Jennifer and Beckett's stunning party time.

Cons

• Despite attempts, Quark's lisp isn't right.