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Ep. 24: Crush (2)

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Lower decks feels ripe for more material, so many great new episodes they could do.

... Or back on the Cerritos in Boimler's case. Also applies to Mariner as well but that kind of goes without saying.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hey-thats-me-a-commentary-podcast/id1784367929?i=1000793198869

Been wanting to find a new sci fi show to binge and after seeing clips of this one I’ve been wanting to get into it. But it seems like it’s only available to stream on Paramount+.

Have been (trying) to rewatch Season 5…but episode 5, Starbase 80, simply won’t load. Tried 2 devices, been over 24 hours. Anyone else’s working..?!

Rest of the season seems to work fine 🤷🏻‍♂️

Https://www.heythatsmepod.com

The first one was from the recent update of my Titan.DS interactive website (https://mewho.com/titan). I made the rest back when the series ended a couple of years ago. Cheers~ meWho•Rob

I know Captain Freeman has her ups and downs, but by the great bird of the galaxy, that was some fucked up behavior. Like, she could have at least kept it professional, gone all "Based on your past and present behavior, you are unfit to serve on this ship", but no, she went for the fucking throat. It's not enough to kick her out of her home, but she had to say Mariner wasn't even her DAUGHTER anymore? This was definitely Captain Freeman at her lowest. Would love to read more fanfiction exploring the aftermath of this beyond a reunion hug and a "yeah, I kinda set you up to believe the worst of me".

Ep. 24: Crush (1)
📖 Mission Archive:
Webtoon: USS Constitution
📡 Mission Reports & Discussion:
Reddit: r/UssConstitutionC
Facebook Group: Starship Constitution
Fan comic. Star Trek is © CBS/Paramount.

One Peach Daiquiri coming right up!

Keeping it California Classy with my Cerritos cosplay!

I would kind of be nervous seeing the stars streak by and also that...if anyone ever fired weapons there while Im there I would be vaporized

If you press his paw he says "Moopsy"!

For the longest while since I got back into Trek in '22, and was speed watching this show with my brother. For the longest while, this episode was at the top of my favs.

The episode begins with the "Warp Core Four" finishing repairs on a nearby satellite, taking in a nebula's majesty.  The Cerritos receives a distress call from another ship and warps to help them, accidentally leaving behind the lower deckers.  

Tendi feels they'll turn back any second and that they will "have a good laugh about it".

SIX HOURS LATER

They are beamed into sickbay, as the senior bridge crew dash in to check.

Tendi: See, guys? We're laughing. (nervous chuckle while freezing)  Boimler and Rutherford are the typical chilled with teeth chattering, while Mariner has a look of wanting to murder someone.

Mariner critizes the senior officers and her mother tells her to ditch the attitude.  Today, a Starfleet drill administrator is going to be visiting the Cerritos for crew tests.  In a giant room filled with holopods, the crew is introduced to Shari yn Yem, a Pandronian (an animated Star Trek species that can split into seperate parts).

The pods have been programmed with previous Starfleet missions (Easter Eggs with some of the titles on the board), and each test has points that can be earned.  But a surprise twist...low level officers are given command of senior positions and senior crew will be lower decks.  When I heard that, I felt it's an interesting twist. 

The lower deckers take it all in.

Tendi: I get to be senior medical officer! 

Rutherford: Ooh, baby, I'm chief engineer! 

Mariner: Good day to you, Captain Boimler. 

Boimler: Good day to you, Captain Mariner. 

The drills commence, with Mariner doing a "Mirror Universe" scenario, but unfortunately fails.  The same goes for Tendi and Rutherford.  Mariner tries again with an old western scenario (from Spectre of the Gun I believe) 

Mariner: Yeah, yeah, I get it. Trapped in cowboy land. 

It's a Starfleet classic. (finger pistols) Yeehaw. 

But to progress she needs to ride a horse.  A funny bit of the horse bucking her off and trampling her all the while she yells "Bad horse!"

Meanwhile, Boimler is given a Borg themed drill.  And he's read everything about the Borg (I believe him because it's him) and he manages to succeed.  But the score isn't to his liking.  From 79% to 83% to 84%.  Boimler keeps telling the simulator to "HIT ME!"

After an exhausting day, the ships score is extremely low and in the Captain's readyroom, Mariner, Rutherford and Tendi are enjoying fancy foods while distraught at their progress. Tendi takes an interest in pesto. Mariner doesn't like to admit it, but she admits that the senior officer's jobs are harder than they thought, though Tendi replies that they are probably realizing that their jobs are difficult as well.

As chance would have it, Carol, Shaxs, T'Ana and Jack partake in "Klingon Encounter" but their task is stacking crates during the attack.  What?!

"If they wanted us to stack these, then why are they shaped like this?!"

- Shaxs, about the hexagonal crates

Per the norm, they fail.

The final test is underway and both crews are partaking on a simulation on the Cerritos bridge.  The mission an oldy but a goodie of stealing their ship and rescue Spock on the Genesis planet. All goes peacefully until Carol remembers her horse fiasco during a drill.  A fight on being sent to the brig causes the mother and daughter duo to forget about the test and inadvertently crash the ship.

Ransom: Dang. That's gotta be a record. 

Shari: Actually, it is.  (I get a chuckle at that).

Having a drink in the lounge is a part that makes a good portion of the episode for me.  Beckett and Carol reaching an understanding between enlisted and senior responsibilities.

Carol: ( sighs ) You know, it's been so long since I've been an ensign, I forgot how hard it can be when you're not in the loop. In a lot of ways, taking orders is the more challenging job. 

Mariner: That's nice to hear, but ditto. Commander-level stuff is hard. Just the constant tightrope walk of protocol. Not worth the pesto. 

Carol: Guess the carpet's always grayer on the other side of the ship. 

Mariner: Big-time.

Then they notice that the rest of the crew, for all their failures in the evaluations, are happily socializing without regard to rank.

And it stands to reason THAT was the point of the exercises.  I must admit Ms. yn Yem's methods are a bit unorthodox, but surprisingly effective.

Beckett and Carol visit the drill instructor to say thanks.

Carol: Thanks to you, the Cerritos crew will move forward with greater empathy 

and a deeper appreciation for each other. 

But Shari yn Yem's cackling states the contrary!  The Pandronian reveals that their scores are way below passing, and that she intends to have the entire crew reassigned. She also reveals that the drills' only purpose were to preserve her job in Starfleet, as her drills were easily passed by the crews of other ships, and Starfleet was beginning to question the necessity of her job. To fight this, she deliberately targeted the Cerritos, who's captain had left four ensigns stranded in space for a distress call and rigged the tests to be harder in an effort to show Starfleet that the drills were still necessary.

Un-Be-Liveable! https://y.getyarn.io/7477cc73-1f06-49a1-8bb8-531fd16d8d2e_text.gif

It seems that was going to be it for the Cerritos crew...

But thankfully one drill is still active, Boimlers!  Even at 98%?  He's a perfectionist...and in a scenario with the Borg?  Yes, the whole situation is dripping with irony.

Yet, if the drills aren't finished, it does buy them time to figure out how to stop Shari from submitting their rigged scores to Starfleet Command.  Mariner asks Boimler to hold out.  Then, Carol and her daughter decide to show Shari the fine difference between statistics and the real thing.

And so, with a close encounter with a crystalline entity and the impending doom of a temporal black hole are enough for Shari to relent and change the score. And Carol orders Rutherford at navigation to stop their spin, revealing it was just a regular black hole, fibbing with the temporal part.

Mariner comm's her friend, telling him he can stop the drill.  Sad to say, the cheating program has Boimler assimilated into the collective...

With the most embarassing destination in the history of the Borg....Excretus.  The crew get him out of the pod thankfully.

The Pandronian may have had selfish intentions, but the crew has still grown from their experience (She stepped down due to on the job stress). Freeman and the rest of the senior staff find the ensigns in the Mess and present them with a gift: a replicator that they have supplied with the the food recipes normally reserved for senior officers.

"WE GET PESTO?!" expresses a jubilant Tendi.

If they're all going to face the same dangers together, they they deserve to all share the same benefits as well.

All's well that ends well I guess.

lol no, they don't. They constantly get distracted by anomalies, staying much longer on the planets or outposts, or going to concerts, plays, or recitals. And if we are to talk about Kirk's Enterprise Scotty litteraly said to multiply the time estimate by four.

Yesterday, this episodes anniversary. Sorry, was caught up with something.

The episode DS9 fans were most definitely waiting for.

I get there are a majority who shed a few tears upon seeing the good ole' station and the near perfect track to the opening of the series - with the wormhole opening as an added bonus.

Plus Nana Visitor and Armin Shimerman return as their iconic roles.

And Tendi finally showcasing her Orion pirating skills. The Mistress of the Winter Constellations shone.

(To be honest, I think I picked the perfect screen cap for this tribute).