{"id":56543,"date":"2022-08-26T00:53:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T00:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-lower-decks-season-3-episode-1-recap-grounded\/"},"modified":"2022-08-26T00:53:05","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T00:53:05","slug":"star-trek-lower-decks-season-3-episode-1-recap-grounded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-lower-decks-season-3-episode-1-recap-grounded\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Trek Lower Decks Season 3 Episode 1 Recap: Grounded"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The problem with making low-rank Starfleet officers the heroes of your Star Trek<\/em> show<\/span> is that, at some point as it keeps going, they’ve done enough being heroes that it starts feeling a little weird that they’re still low-rank officers. Star Trek: Lower Deck<\/em><\/span>thankfully, is back to remind us that it’s very clever, and knows how to solve this issue wonderfully.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGrounded,\u201d the third season premiere of the show, comes in the wake of Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford having done a whole lot<\/span> for the USS Cerritos<\/em> over the first two seasons of the show. They’ve paired up with senior officers, they’ve nearly died multiple times, they’ve been the heroes of the ship over and over, especially so as this picks up immediately where season two’s explosive finale<\/span> ended off, with the ship saved but Captain Freeman arrested and framed for the destruction of the Pakled homeworld. They’re less your standard Ensign at this point, but your… well, your Voyager<\/em>‘s Harry Kim kind of ensign: undoubtedly main characters of the story, yes somehow inexplicably still the lowest rank on the Starfleet-issue ladder.<\/p>\n

And, for the most part, \u201cGrounded\u201d seems like it’s going to continue to play into our ensigns as the big damn heroes of their narrative. with the Cerritos<\/em> locked down in drydock while Freeman stands trial before the Federation court, the crew and our heroes have gone their separate ways. But of course, Mariner cannot let her mother stand by and be framed for a crime she did n’t commit, and so she goes about rallying the troops and hatching a suitably crazy plot to reach the Cerritos<\/em>bypass Starfleet security, and use, of all things, Boimler’s comically over-detailed personal logs to prove that Freeman couldn’t have been near the Pakled planet at the time of its destruction.<\/p>\n

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It’s a rip-roaring adventure of getting the band back together. There’s loving references from Deep Space Nine<\/em> to First Contact<\/em>there’s beating unlikely odds, and the glorious, triumphant return of Star Trek<\/em> civilian wear that looks like sweaters made entirely out of early ’90s theater chain carpeting. It’s also very much a story in the mold of stories Lower Deck<\/em> has gotten quite comfortable telling\u2014Ensigns being told not to do something, doing it anyway, and getting away with it because without defying their status as the Lower Deckers of Starfleet, there wouldn’t have been heroes to save the day. And that’s all well and good, because Lower Deck<\/em> is still incredibly adept at telling this kind of story with the sort of fun gags and heart we’ve come to expect of its three seasons in.<\/p>\n

But what elevates \u201cGrounded\u201d is a sort of reset that manages to both address this idea that our Ensigns have become a little too enamored with the heroic spotlight, while also being deeply funny about it: none of the above adventure actually matters<\/em>. Lulling us into a false sense of security, just as Mariner and her friends ‘absurd plan\u2014using a shoal of passing aliens that was blocking transporter access between the Cerritos<\/em>‘ drydock and Earth to provide cover as an important scientific research mission they’d been tasked with to dupe Starfleet Security\u2014is about to pay off and they’ll get to court and prove Freeman’s been framed, Freeman herself shows up<\/em>. And so does the rest of the Cerritos<\/em> bridge crew. It turns out while Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford were hijinking around the Solar System and trying to be the heroes, an actual episode of Star Trek<\/em> was happening off screen. A top team of Starfleet officers secretly investigated a link between the Pakleds and a data forger, and thanks to the help of a Command Tuvok mindmeld (see, it’s definitely an actual episode of Star Trek<\/em>with cameo and everything!), uncovered that it was actually the Pakleds themselves who destroyed their world\u2014framing Captain Freeman so the Federation, out of shame, would be forced to relocate them to a new homeworld richer in resources.<\/p>\n

All this is told in a couple-minute long montage narrated by Freeman herself in her best, most heroic voice, resplendent in the triumph of Starfleet having believed in one of its own despite appearances to the contrary on the surface. But immediately after, as Mariner tries to brush off her and her friends ‘antics as \u201call’s well that end’s well\u201d chicanery, Lower Deck<\/em> gets even smarter, and doesn’t let her get away with it. Our heroes are well and truly knocked down a peg: Bomiler, Tendi, and Rutherford have to clean up the mess they’ve made, and Mariner crucially no longer has her mother responsible for tutting and passing off her repeated escapades because of their familial link , with Commander Ransom assigned to be Beckett’s final authority. Now, if she skirts authority, there’ll be actual repercussions, and the threat of her being kicked out of Starfleet suddenly feels more real than it has been for about half of the show’s lifetime at this point.<\/p>\n

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It adds a layer of stakes to Lower Deck<\/em>‘ third season that are much more interesting than the typical \u201csave the ship, save the day\u201d antics that the show has gotten up to in its first couple of seasons. And it’s not like those stories can’t happen<\/em> any more, it’s just now our heroes, especially Mariner, have to be much more careful about how they navigate them. It refreshes the show coming into season three brilliantly, while still being funny as hell and true to what Lower Deck<\/em> has always wanted to be: a series about the people milling in the background of an actual Star Trek<\/em> narrative. Only a show like this could kick off a season by knocking its own heroes down a peg or two, but really, only a show like Lower Deck<\/em> could make us love watching it happen.<\/p>\n

New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Deck<\/em> stream Thursdays on Paramount+.<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest <\/em>Marvel<\/em><\/span> and <\/em>Star Wars<\/span> releases, what’s next for the <\/em>DC Universe on movie and TV<\/em><\/span>and everything you need to know about <\/em>House of the Dragon<\/span> and <\/em>Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power<\/span>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: Paramount+ The problem with making low-rank Starfleet officers the heroes of your Star Trek show is that, at some point as it keeps going, they’ve done enough being heroes that it starts feeling a little weird that they’re still low-rank officers. Star Trek: Lower Deckthankfully, is back to remind us that it’s very clever, …<\/p>\n

Star Trek Lower Decks Season 3 Episode 1 Recap: Grounded<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[21068,280,20704,21066,21065,306,21070,1670,1762,21073,21072,5596,10444,21067,21069,21071,10010],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23666,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-lower-decks-crossover-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":56543,"position":0},"title":"Star Trek Strange New Worlds\/Lower Decks Crossover Announced","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah Pike, I'd look worried too.Image: ParamountStar Trek's been making some pretty bold moves in its current ascendant era of shows, but it's just announced it's pulling one of its boldest, most bonkers moves so far: Lower Deck is teaming up with Strange New Worlds.Just announced at San Diego Comic-Con,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24005,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-crossover-planned-with-strange-new-worlds-lower-decks-deadline\/","url_meta":{"origin":56543,"position":1},"title":"‘Star Trek’ Crossover Planned With ‘Strange New Worlds’ & ‘Lower Decks’ \u2013 Deadline","date":"July 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Revealed at Comic-Con today, Paramount+ is planning a major crossover episode for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and its animated original comedy series Star Trek: Lower Deck. 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The minute-long clip Paramount released during San Diego Comic-Con features voiceovers from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23699,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-teases-picard-cast-and-strange-new-worlds-crossover\/","url_meta":{"origin":56543,"position":3},"title":"Star Trek teases Picard cast and Strange New Worlds crossover","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"the new Star Trek: Picard trailer gives us a first look at the stars set to reprise their roles in the series' third and final season. Paramount Plus debuted the one-minute trailer at San Diego Comic-Con, which features most of the main cast from Star Trek: The Next Generationincluding Patrick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24809,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/lower-decks-season-3-will-see-the-return-of-deep-space-nine-characters-comic-con\/","url_meta":{"origin":56543,"position":4},"title":"Lower Decks Season 3 Will See The Return Of Deep Space Nine Characters [Comic-Con]","date":"July 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"At this point, it's unclear who those \"friendly faces\" may be, although there are plenty of options. Michael Dorn is set to reprise his role as Worf in \"Picard\" season 3, so he might be pulling double duty. BFFs Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Elim Garak would be nice to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entertainment"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8882,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/star-trek-universe-evil-among-paramount-panels-set-for-comic-con-deadline\/","url_meta":{"origin":56543,"position":5},"title":"Star Trek’ Universe & Evil Among Paramount+ Panels Set For Comic Con \u2013 Deadline","date":"July 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"EXCLUSIVE: Beam us all in Scotty. Comic Con is back in almost full swing for its first truly in-person gathering in three years, and Paramount+ is planting a big flag of legends, fan favorites and a couple of incredibly annoying cackling dudes. 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