with Jim Moorhouse and Ken Reilly

The ensigns of Star Trek: Lower Decks are not the only crew members of the USS Cerritos on a journey of self-discovery, as this week’s “Temporal Edict” shows.

After the series’ initial episodes were firmly focused on the four series leads — Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, and Rutherford — “Temporal Edict” allows for Captain Freeman and Commander Ransom to share the spotlight and explores their characters in more detail.

Frustrated that the Cerritos has lost out on a prestigious diplomatic mission to Cardassia Prime, Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) imposes strict scheduling on her crew to maximize their efficiency and prove that she’s a good enough captain for the prestige missions. Eliminating the lower-decks practice known as “buffer time,” the crew quickly become exhausted.

This exhaustion has near deadly effects, when a diplomatic mission to Gelrak 5 almost turns deadly. Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) must rescue the away team, while Freeman and Boimler (Jack Quaid) work to repel boarders on the Cerritos.

“Temporal Edict” is a different kind of Star Trek celebration than last week’s “Envoys.” Where last week’s episode was propelled by a massive number of visual and dialogue references to previous Star Trek shows and movies, “Temporal Edict” plays much more with some of the franchise’s staple of tropes, rather than out and out references.

On the ship, Captain Freeman’s anger and shame at being excluded from a prestigious assignment is the main theme explored in the episode. Initially it appears as if she’s taking the slight out on her crew by punishing them for being relegated to a diplomatic courtesy mission. But, as the Gelrakians invade the Cerritos after being insulted by the away team’s presentation of the wrong holy relic, Boimler discovers that Freeman is not so much punishing the crew as she is punishing herself by also being subject to the new scheduling rules.

The Freeman story is a new angle on the traditional Star Trek captain’s tale, because she is not automatically the smartest, most capable officer that our previous heroes have been. She’s flawed, like the lower deckers, and working on it – not always with productive results.

Meanwhile, on the planet, Mariner must learn the lesson that she’s not always the best placed to fix any given situation, and that sometimes senior officers are more senior for a reason. Though initially bumbling his way through a few potential escapes with the Gelrakians — “I have written a speech!” — brawn ultimately wins over brains and Ransom subdues the Gelrakian champion, Vindor.

The Ransom/Mariner relationship is a fun one, that I hope the show continues to explore. Jerry O’Connell’s Ransom is fast becoming my favorite of the senior officers, and Tawny Newsome’s Mariner is my favorite of the core four ensigns.

And in a sign that, as the show settles into its groove the four ensigns will appear more or less depending on that week’s episode, both Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Tendi (Noel Wells) get a bit less to do this week than in the previous two episodes.

Trek Trope Tributes

• The episode opens with a violin concert at the Cerritos‘ bar, echoing many a relaxing classical music concerts in Ten Forward aboard the Enterprise-D… except that Mariner and Tendi then rock out so hard it’s heard over an open comm channel with a nearby Klingon ship. Oops!
   
• The Lower Deckers practice of “buffer time” is based on “creative scheduling,” by telling senior officers a task will take much longer than it really will and then enjoying the praise when it is completed early. Sounds like a certain Scottish chief engineer and miracle worker from a previous Enterprise!
   
• This episode contains a classic “computer, halt turbolift” scene followed by a very serious conversation. I missed those.
   
• Ransom disengages the shuttle’s autopilot and lands it manually, despite there being absolutely no need to have done so.
   
• Before agreeing to fight Vindor, Ransom first tries to secure release for him and the rest of the away team by writing a speech. I love a good Star Trek speech!
   
• The fight between Ransom and Vindor is one extended Trek Trope Tribute! As previously seen in many different episodes — “Arena,” “The Savage Curtain,” “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” “Darmok,” etc. — our crew is put into a trial by combat situation. And then, of course, Ransom immediately rips his shirt off and attacks Vindor with the Kirk-patented two-handed punch. (Chris Westlake’s score for the scene also has a very strong “Amok Time” vibe to it).

Canon Connections

Klingon Bird of Prey

During the cold open, the Cerritos is in the middle of a rendezvous with a Klingon Bird of Prey. The first time this classic vessel has made an animated appearance, thee ship retains the first introduced back in 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Cardassia Prime

The USS Cerritos is initially headed for the homeworld of the Cardassian Union, which was seen multiple times in Deep Space Nine… though we aren’t sure what a ceremonial Cardassian dance might look like!

Baryon Sweep

Boimler tells Captain Freeman he has just assisted in conducting a baryon sweep of the warp nacelles. The Enterprise and underwent a full baryon sweep, designed to remove long term buildup of the harmful particles, in the TNG episode “Starship Mine.”

The 2260s

In universe acknowledgement of historical events and exact years are quite rare — the official dating of Kirk’s five year mission wasn’t even mentioned until Voyager’s “Q2” — so Mariner’s line (“What am I, Kirk? Is this the 2260s?”) is a notable one!

Magus III

One of Mariner’s scars was from an incident on Magus III. Guinan owned a rifle from the planet, which she showed off effectively in the TNG episode “Night Terrors.”

Delta Shift

Captain Jellico’s dreaded four-shift rotation gets a shout out from Ensign Tendi, who doesn’t like that “Delta Shift thinks they are so much better than us… just because they are so much better than us.”

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Other Observations

• Boimler is humming the Next Generation theme before Captain Freeman joins him in the turbolift ride to the bridge.
   
• Ransom mentions he has encountered “horned gorillas” during his Starfleet career – perhaps a Mugato?
   
• Several times during this episode, Ransom adopts the classic Riker “leg up” command.
   
• The Starfleet Command logo on the case presented to the Gelrakians matches that of the Command logo from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
   
• Mariner says she’s good at exploring “strange new worlds,” another entry for the iconic Star Trek credo into the canon.
   
• Dilithium crystals get a mention in reference to the crystal-loving Gelrakians when Boimler says they don’t have any crystals: “Well, expect dilithium — but you can’t have those!”
   
• The Cerritos’ coffee mugs are white with the Starfleet delta on them, quite similar to Captain Kirk’s delta-adorned mug from the opening minutes of Star Trek Beyond.
   
• In the far future, Boimler is seen alongside one of the “great birds of the galaxy,” of course a reference to Gene Roddenberry, who earned that nickname himself.
   
• Love a Miles O’Brien reference — especially one tying back to his days as a transporter operator aboard the Enterprise-D. “Perhaps the most important person in Starfleet history: Chief Miles O’Brien!” (Also perhaps the most random reference in Lower Decks to date!)

Star Trek: Lower Decks is firing on all cylinders, and with more episodes comes a deeper exploration of the Cerritos and its crew. As we get more comfortable with these characters and their relationships, there is a lot of potential for great things to come.