Penis, bums, and willies, or are we just saying the double entendres are not intentional in an episode called “Fully Dilated”? Directed by Megan Lloyd again, I know before I see more than a minute of the episode that we’re going to get pretty solid direction from the former storyboard artist. From a name we know to a writing assistant we don’t, Andrew Mueth takes the helm, previously staff writing for Apple TV’s Central Park. Mueth was also a writer’s assistant for Difficult People (aren’t all writers? Huh, Hollywood?) and Kevin James-led Kevin Can Wait. At least we know the director has a decent track record.

Chasing dimensional fissures around like I’m chasing people for articles for this break we’re currently on, the USS Cerritos just missed a purple-tinted Enterprise D. If it wasn’t obvious thus far, the big through-line of the season is the dimensional fissures and alt-realities. I hope you’re ready for another one of those episodes. After a purple Picard left some magic 24th-century Starfleet crap on a planet, Beckett, Tendi, and T’lyn are sent on a secret undercover Simpsons cosplay mission to remove and recover whatever it is on Dilmer III. While back on the ship Carrol has to decide who will become senior science officer: T’lyn or Tendi.

Tension in T-town aside, the three are beamed down by two idiots drinking beverages fruitier than their screams when they spill them on the console. Grow a real beard, boys, and have a real man’s drink, like Sex on the Beach. Spilling the Micheladas with more accouterments than my use of French words this week, the two have destroyed the station that can bring the three back once they find the weird energy signal, a purple Data head – not a double entendre. What makes it worse is there is a strange time dilation between the ship and the surface of Dilmer III: In the span of a few moments on the Cerritos, weeks pass on Dilmer.

With a creepy little man “heugh”-ing all over the place, T’Lyn, Tendi, and Beckett have to try and not be weird, future-y, and, maybe to primitive peoples, very “witchy.” In a 25-minute-long sci-fi comedy-drama that is making fun of and endlessly referencing Star Trek, particularly TNG in this case, what do you think is honestly going to happen? Nothing goes wrong, Mariner doesn’t go to prison (twice), Tendi and T’lyn don’t have this fight that the Vulcan doesn’t know about, and Data doesn’t say something that almost makes me cry.

As I’ve been repeating (and I hate myself for not having much else to say), it is all a very similar story to one we’ve seen before, if not in Lower Decks, certainly somewhere else in Star Trek. However, unlike the previous few episodes feeling like filler for the sake of it, “Fully Dilated” is exactly what it needs to be. It offers both something long-term in the realm of the season arc and something of character for our crew to deal with and overcome.

If we’re quite honest, I think Mueth’s writing and Lloyd’s direction result in one of the breeziest, most enjoyable, and visually distinct episodes of the season. I can joke about Beckett, Tendi, and T’lyn all being turned yellow (and purple Data), but it is more visually interesting to see Dilmer III than it was to see some glowing orbs last time out in “Of Gods and Angels.” Sitting somewhere around an idyllic 19th-century European town, it is pretty, it is clean, it is also a bit purple, and the Dilmerians (if only they were Dildo-ians) aren’t horrible.

Snell is a bit horrible, but he’s the type of person who would try and kill Gabriel Bell to kick off the Bell Riots back in August. He’s a creepy little man who pokes his large nose and bushy sideburns where they don’t belong. He goes chasing Tendi and T’lyn around to find something wrong with them, knowing they aren’t from around these parts. Xenophobe! This is what I can’t help but say Lower Decks is best at, doing something similar that we’ve seen before, but taking a fresh look at it that maybe makes fun of the franchise.

Purple Data’s voice acting is however, a bit shaky from the character we know. Brent Spiner does still have the voice — we’ve seen it in Picard Season 3 — but all the same, the performance just wasn’t the same from the booth as he normally does painted up and with contacts in. Something about it felt looser, more Brent Spinner in Independence Day 2 than Brent Spiner sat playing poker with a bald man, a serial leg-cocker, and his on-screen best friend. Certainly not terrible, but I’m left wanting something a bit more Data than Doctor Okun.

Ultimately, if I wasn’t running on pure emotion of doing a few episodes back-to-back, I’d be more confident in saying that “Fully Dilated” has been the best episode of Season 5. That isn’t saying much, the season has been okay, but this stood out. Being Lloyd’s penultimate episode, I’m glad she’s been such a constant delight as a director, for however little an animation director controls. If it weren’t the final season, I’d be more than happy to see more episodes from Andrew Mueth, if this was just the beginning.

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Lower Decks "Fully Dilated"

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• A great, visually distinct take on Lower Decks.
• Solid writing, making it a breeze.
• Jadzia must be good with ropes.

Cons

• Spiner's performance isn't as great as his Picard run.
• Where was this type of episode earlier in the season?