Star Trek The Lower Decks An Abundance of Dopplers Television 

Five Thoughts on Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ “An Embarrassment of Dopplers”

By | September 14th, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

Mariner and Boimler try to track down the location of a legendary Starfleet party while the bridge crew deals with an insecure alien diplomat. Meanwhile Tendi and Rutherford struggle to build a toy model of a Federation Starship.

1.The Doppler’s Embarrassment

The name of the episode is much cleverer than it initially appears as “an embarrassment” is sometimes in reference to a large group of something. Captain Freeman explains in her captain’s log that the Doppler begins to duplicate exponentially when he is nervous. After walking on eggshells for an entire week, Mariner tells her commanding officer that she can’t wait to get him off the ship. Unfortunately he overhears her and begins to get anxious about being a bad guest.

By the end of the episode when Captain Freeman is at her wits end, she finally starts to berate the alien ambassador. This, in typical Star Trek fashion, allows her to stumble onto the solution as the incensed doppler begins to un-duplicate out of an angry indignation. Subplots like these that revolve mostly around the bridge crew members make you feel like you’re watching half an episode from one of the older Star Trek show from the original series or The Next Generation.

2. Starfleet Party

When Mariner realises that Boimler’s clone, William, is invited to the party and won’t be able to attend; she hatches a plot to crash the party. Most of the episode involves them doing a job for an old friend of Mariner’s back when she used to live there.so they can get the address for where the party is.

Ironically (and unsurprisingly), Mariner didn’t leave their relationship on the best of terms and he tries to screw the both of them over. This interaction makes Mariner’s later actions seem somewhat hypocritical, but also shows us the audience how rare, and therefore special, making a friend is to Mariner and how important Boimler must be to her.

3. Rutherford v.s. Rutherford

We see Rutherford become extremely frustrated at building the toy model of a Federation starship. As he reads his past self’s untidy and unclear notes, he begins to feel as if he is competing with his past self, and losing at that.

By the end of the episode, Tendi tells Rutherford that they never finished it, and only did it so they could hang out together just the two of them.This puts Rutherford at ease and re-affirms to him how close he and Tendi are to one another. One of the cool things about this show is when something significant happens to a character, it impacts their character many episode down the line with their own internal conflict they must overcome.

4. Mariner still feels Abandoned by Boimler

While Boimler and Mariner spend the episode trying to find out where the Federation party is on, there are several hints that Mariner still harbours some resentment towards Boimler for leaving her on The Cerritos for a promotion on The Titan.

She seems mildly annoyed at the mention of the The Titan and how Boimler swears the water tasted better. Then she gives out to Boimler for bonding with Mariner’s old friend Malvus over being abandoned by her on several occasions. She eventually just comes out with it and tells Boimler that she was waiting for him to apologize. It is rare to see Mariner show that her feelings are hurt, let alone admit it.

5. Party for Two

While Boimler does go into the exclusive party posing as his clone, he suddenly realises that despite all the cool people there, it really isn’t any fun to go to a party without your friends. When Boimler finds Mariner in a bar and admits to her that he didn’t say goodbye to her because he was afraid he’d talk her out of it.

They then have a way better time together and even find an engraving of the names “Kirk & Spock” on the bar. The bartender informs them that they are by no means the first ensigns to wander into her establishment after not getting in a more prestigious Federation party. This episode very effectively re-establishes Mariner and Boimler’s friendship status in a way that didn’t force them to be on hostile terms in earlier episodes. It also makes their remedying of their friendship seem all the more authentic.


//TAGS | Star Trek Lower Decks

Conor Spielberg

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