After “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” used a lot of Deep Space Nine lore for a great episode of Lower Decks, this week’s “A Few Badgeys More” revels in Lower Decks’ own canon, history, and recurring characters to thread together one big episode that seemingly wraps up three lingering plot threads — all at the same time.
 
Badgey (Jack McBrayer), Peanut Hamper (Kether Donohue), and AGIMUS (Jeffrey Combs) are three Lower Decks foils from previous seasons who take center stage in “A Few Badgeys More,” as Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Tendi (Noel Wells) are assigned to return to Earth. They head to the Daystrom Institute to interview AGIMUS — who claims he has information about the random attacks on Federation and non-Federation ships across the quadrant — and Peanut Hamper, who is up for parole from the Federation facility.
 
Meanwhile, after being salvaged by the Drookmani from the site of the battle between the USS Cerritos, USS Titan, and the Pakleds in Season 1’s “No Small Parts,” Badgey sets himself on an intercept course with the Cerritos to get his revenge.
 

“A Few Badgeys More” triumphs on its stellar guest turns from three of its best recurring voice actors. Badgey is an utterly inspired creation of the Lower Decks writers’ room, and Jack McBrayer turns in another deliciously unhinged performance as the sinister hologram. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Combs’ delight at playing AGIMUS as a misguided megalomaniac is palpable, and Kether Donohue’s love-her-hate-her-but-always-respect-her performance as Peanut Hamper continues to sizzle. And even though you could think that an episode with not one, not two, but three Lower Decks villains sharing story-time would be overstuffed, it actually feels like the just right amount of each character.

There is also a very interesting underlying theme that holds this episode together, showing us the variety of artificial life in the Star Trek universe, and how even three seemingly-evil characters can have very different motivations, desires, and personalities.

This episode demonstrates that even Badgey is more complicated than he seems; rather than just a straight evil character, this episode shows Badgey is deeper and more complex than we realize. He hates because he can’t accept doing anything else, but when he comes close to achieving his ends he realizes the futility of them and evolves.

Plus, Peanut Hamper finds meaning in family, and AGIMUS finds meaning in friendship. It’s actually a touching wrap up for each of Lower Decks’s artificial antagonists.

“A Few Badgeys More” is also admittedly full of convenient sitcom setups to quickly get the right characters in the right places — but as usual, Lower Decks triumphs when it puts an appropriately Star Trek spin on those tropes.

Is it convenient that AGIMUS has information and Peanut Hamper has a parole hearing at the same time? Absolutely it is, but an underlying theme of this episode is that Starfleet is very good at what it does. Rather than be duped, Boimler and Tendi are both aware of what’s happening and have the upper hand the whole time, showing how much experience they have gained as officers. It’s artfully done, which is something Lower Decks has always accomplished.

And the final reveal that the mystery alien ship is one not of destruction, but theft, is very intriguing. It means that our beloved Captain Ma’ah is still alive out there, and all the interesting characters we just glimpsed this season — including this week’s Bynars. I have zero theories about where this story is headed, and I absolutely love that!

CANON CONNECTIONS

• This is the first in-canon appearance of the Bynars since their debut in “11001001” in Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 (outside of still images in previous Lower Decks episodes). It’s also the first time that we have seen one of their ships.
• Badgey is able to appear anywhere he wants on the Drookmani ship, because they have installed scavenged holo-emitters on all decks.
• The Tyrus VIIA Research Station that Peanut Hamper travels to after her release is the birthplace of the Exocomps, introduced in TNG’s “The Quality of Life.”
• Upon ascending, Badgey says he might go and hang out with the Q Continuum or visit the Black Mountain — the former being the home of the Q, and the latter being Lower Decks’ take on the afterlife.
• Lower Decks’ koala appearances are racking up!

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• The title of the episode is a play on the 1965 Clint Eastwood western “For A Few Dollars More.”
• The Drookmani captain was not voiced by J.G. Hertzler this week.
• I’ll bet there’s an interesting story behind why one of the Bynars doesn’t have its twin present.
• The focus on grapplers this episode feels like it must be a call back to the grappler discussion in the Lower Decks/Strange New Worlds crossover “Those Old Scientists.”
• One of the other evil computers at the Daystrom Institute is named Lord Tyrani-killicus.
• “He’s bypassing our shields! We can’t take many more boops!” and “Sorry, Captain, but I can’t let Badgey boop my friends to death” are two all-time great Star Trek lines that only Lower Decks could ever pull off.
• The slightly sinister look on Goodgey’s face when he glitches at the end of the episode certainly implies the possibility that, like Sideshow Bob, this might not be the last we’ll see of Badgey.

I love Lower Decks episodes that continue to build the show’s unique story, and “A Few Badgeys More” provides vehicles for three of the show’s biggest antagonists to seemingly wrap up their stories for good. Part of why it’s a wonderful episode of Lower Decks is because if this was the only episode of the show you ever watched, you’d be pretty confused!

But for fans who have enjoyed all four years of the show, this is a rewarding meal of references, characters, and in-jokes that are direct to Lower Decks. In addition to being very funny, it also presents three very different takes on the “evil AI” trope that don’t feel repetitive, which was a big danger going into this episode.

I am actually a little surprised this episode isn’t the season finale, given what a big episode it is in the world of the show overall — but with the reveal at the end of the episode, it’s setting up an intriguing final act for Lower Decks’ fourth season!