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Five Thoughts on Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s “I, Excretus”

By | October 5th, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

A Starfleet Drill Instructor arrives on The Cerritos to run simulations that have lower deckers and the bridge crew swap duties.

1. Ensigns as Bridge Crew

The four Ensigns, particularly Mariner, seem eager to show up their superior officers and pass the exam with flying colors. But Tendi and Rutherford soon realize the difficulty they would face as the Chief Medical and Engineering Officer. Tendi is forced to assist a Klingon in achieving an honorable death, and continuously makes sensible but incorrect decisions that lower her score. Rutherford’s simulation seems to be a rather straightforward heroic sacrifice, but the radioactive engine makes it impossible to open the door to do so. Mariner surprisingly fails simulation after simulation, repeatedly being discouraged from thinking outside the box as she normally does. The only Ensign that manages to pass his first simulation is Boimler, though he doesn’t get a score he is happy with.

2. Boimler’s a Completionist

Unlike Mariner, who often goes off the beaten path when it comes to missions, Boimler excels in narrow confines with clear goals and incentives. The only problem (if you could call it a problem) is that he is a perfectionist and refuses to log in his score until he get’s 100%. Over and over again, he increases his overall score with the knowledge that should he fail on the next try, he won’t be able to try it again. But every time, he manages to get a higher score than the last time. Although even when the computer points out that getting the high 90s makes him in the top percentile, he has the computer run it again.

3. Bridge Crew as Ensigns

At first it appears that the episode will subvert our expectations and show the higher ranking members of The Cerritos breeze through the Ensign simulation. Freeman and the entire bridge crew seem to love the lack of responsibility and lighter amounts of work.

This all changes when there is a crisis and the Captain tells them to stack boxes. Freeman insists that they can be of more help but, ironically, they are kept out of the loop. What this simulation shows is that it isn’t harder by any means to be an ensign compared to being a lieutenant or a captain. It’s just more frustrating to be relegated to menial tasks when there are life or death decisions being made without your insight.

4. Mariner and Freeman empathize with each other

When The Ensigns and Bridge have to work together in their reversed roles, things get even worse for each of them. Mariner gleefully shoos her mother out of the Captain seat and has Jack Ransom get her a cup of coffee. In an effort to humble her daughter, Captain Freeman points out that her daughter’s failure to mount a horse is a matter of public record.

Mariner doesn’t take this well and ironically sends the captain to the brig for her insubordinate comments, due to their total failure resulting in the crew not even receiving a score. After this, Mariner and Freeman both admit that they didn’t really appreciate the difficulty of the other’s job and realize that there is a greater appreciation across the entire crew of The Cerritos, with bridge crew and ensigns getting along more.

5. Rigged from The Start

Believing that they have realized that creating more empathy for higher and lower ranking members of the crew was the true test all along, Mariner and Freeman go to the Consultant to let her know they’ve figured it out.

Unfortunately, they are incorrect and the Consultant reveals that the simulation were rigged from the beginning. Shari yn Yem, in typical villain fashion, overexplains her master plan: informing them that she had to prove the drills still had merit by having a Starfleet fail them. Because Captain Freeman left four ensigns out in space to respond to a distress call, Yem believed no one would be surprised if they failed. Ironically, everyone’s failure in the simulation does humble each of them and create a strong bond within The Cerritos and they manage to coerce her into passing them.


//TAGS | Star Trek Lower Decks

Conor Spielberg

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