The Stars at night are big and bright, especially when the Texas class is committing suicide via independent control. There isn’t much need to recount or set up what we’ve got this time around with Mike McMahan’s “The Stars at Night,” as it is almost a direct follow-on from Ben M Waller’s “Trusted Sources.” In a sign that was flashing pink neon, Admiral Buenamigo had set up the Cerritos to go on that swing-by program that went about as well as a soggy fart in a turbo-lift. Eventually, they were attacked by the Breen and saved by a Texas class ship that was previously classified.

Once again Carol is on trial by a bunch of admirals due to the exposé report from Nuzé about the ship’s culture, the Breen attack, and how the USS Aledo saved the day under Buenamigo’s control. I can’t wait to be done writing his name. Long story short, Carol proposes a race after Buenamigo attempts to get the admiralty to disband the entire Cali class to be replaced with Texas class ships. Not run by little angry White men in wheelchairs, the Texas class is unique in that it is fully automated and doesn’t need a crew to jump into action when everything goes a bit pear-shaped.

Yes, it is a story of AI taking the jobs of human beings, not only in a typical sense but in a military sense. We kind of dropped that whole angry at the military thing that Petra (sorry, Cara Lroft) was on about, but it is a concept that is very present: Drones replacing humans in active combat situations. The subtext of that is there as amid the race that Carol proposed, Tendi’s double-check scan finds hints of the sign of life in the dirt while the Aledo warps off without a care for the possibility of life. In fact, there are a few stories going on that are interesting.

First we have the story of AI taking on the job of humans that can pick up on nuance. Second is Buenamigo’s desire to stand out as an admiral within Starfleet, which is also the story of Star Trek: Resurgence from the captain’s level. It also shows the desire to continually improve as humans in our jobs. The third is, unsurprisingly as it basically is her show, all about Mariner and sort of how she’s finding herself not only within the grasp of Starfleet but also as a person. All three stories are almost neatly broken up into all three acts individually.

As a finale to the third series, “The Stars at Night” does all the work to connect all the pieces but doesn’t try to skim over too much to make it so we’re asking after the fact “How did that work into the plot?” It was very much the idea of show don’t tell. We finally got the connection back to Rutherford and how he got his implan. We also learned why there was a shadowy figure looming over him during a previous episode and how that loops into the Texas class mess. Not only that, but we know why the Texas class fails before having to see it turn on Starfleet.

I mean, it is obvious why. We keep writing fiction where the AI turns on us as human beings as a warning sign to stop pretending that we’ve cracked all the flaws with things like ChatGPT. You’d think we know, but nonetheless, we get articles weekly about new applications of AI that are breaking new ground in the creative space. Of course, those AI-created images, texts, or otherwise are proven to ignore copyright, privacy, and other laws. All that is to just say we’ve seen Badgey before and know Samanthan can’t program emotions half as well as Noonien Soong.

Though while we’re onto the TNG-era references, it is nice to see that somehow the bloke that is the epitome of Starfleet, (the people without money) is somehow financing the Tomb Raider guild. I like Petra, I like the Tomb Raider guild (no, that isn’t their actual name), and I like that it is all to preserve things in museums instead of being sold on the black market by Ferengi dealers. That said, is he selling the wine to finance this? It is very clearly stated that there is a secret benefactor and if the reveal Admiral Picard is supposed to make you look over it, I’m looking more intently.

That’s not the only tool to gloss over detail, as Buenamigo gets killed by his own creation (thank Christ). Additionally, the Texas class wants secession from the Federation which is typical of Texas, and Mariner jumps in to save the day. Seeing the bombardment of the Douglas Station on the news, she calls in Cali class reinforcements. This is where we’re veering a little from the good storytelling. Mariner saw the bombardment of the station, but by the time she appears with the whole Callie fleet to save the Cerritos, the Cerritos had hit Warp 8, ejected the warp core, and was flung due to the ejection.

I’ve used this Fast 7 example before: The Rock gets out of the hospital, drives an ambulance around, takes out a drone, and uses the gun from it to do more cool-stupid Fast and Furious stuff. The ambulance or in this case the Callie-class ships make sense since those crews would know Mariner, but finding the drone and taking it out or in this case, finding the Cerritos and saving it doesn’t work because we don’t have the connective tissue that she knew where they were. If 1 Warp power is equal to the speed of light, that means Warp 8 is the equivalent of about 343,355,714,245 miles per hour.

I can absolutely nitpick for days, especially about the Boimler-Shaxs conflict and how if he actively tried to just apologize it would have been solved quicker, but I know at that point I’m the mother on her baby gorilla’s back. The enjoyment of the episode absolutely outweighs the ticks that might annoy you if you try to watch with your brain turned on. I enjoy when Shaxs is finally given permission to eject the warp core because the elation on his face is priceless and that’s the wholesomeness that this series is all about.

Ultimately, “The Stars at Night” puts a lovely big bow on everything aside from the post-credits scene which is to set up for a new season that we don’t have a release date for yet. Simple, fast-paced, and enjoyable storytelling, Lower Decks is great when it is doing all of this. It is not hyper-space political and not too action-heavy, just a lot of character moments pulled off well. Also, it was obvious that California was going to beat Texas, what does Corpus Christi have over Sherman Oaks? I’m sure that won’t bother my Texas-born editor.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks "The Stars at Night"

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• The almost "I'd have gotten away with it too" moment
• Tying most things in a nice bow.
• California proven as superior to Texas.

Cons

• How exactly did Beckett round up the Cali class ships and find the Cerritos so quickly?
• Yeah, but how is Picard funding it?