Star Trek: Lower Decks episodes can broadly be categorized in one of two ways: those that revolve around some kind of Star Trek trope as their primary storytelling device, and those that rely on more standard sitcom tropes with a Star Trek twist.

“The Least Dangerous Game” falls in the latter category — and though I generally find those kinds of episodes have been the weaker of the two types throughout Lower Decks’ first two seasons, “The Least Dangerous Game” is perhaps the most successful iteration of that construct for me.

The episode’s A-story involves Commander Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) and Ensign Mariner (Tawny Newsome) leading an away mission that also includes Ensign Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) and Lt. Billups (Paul Scheer) to Dulaine, a planet with a health-based culture that relies on orbital lifts (space elevators) to transport people and goods from the planet’s surface to orbit.

Having been given direct authority over Mariner in “Grounded,” Ransom is looking to put that to the test, creating circumstances to test Mariner’s resolve and her desire to rebel against Ransom’s authority. To do that, Ransom sends Rutherford and Billups to meet with the Dulainians directly, while he and Mariner work to fix a broken space elevator.

Rutherford and Billups are not up for the task of negotiating directly with an alien culture however, and once hijinks ensue, they must be rescued by Ransom and Mariner before being sacrificed to the planet’s sentient volcano.

Back aboard the Cerritos, Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid) is devastated to discover that Ensign Vendome — the Bolian lieutenant seen in early Season 1 — is now a captain. Convinced by Ensign Tendi (Noel Wells) that his awkward reticence is holding him back, Boimler decides to become “Bold Boimler” and say “yes” to every opportunity presented to him… even when a giant alien named K’ranch (Nolan North) requests to be able to hunt Boimler for sport.

“The Least Dangerous Game,” from Lower Decks’ executive story editor Garrick Bernard, leans hard on sitcom tropes – purposefully putting characters in situations they’re not right for to increase the humor factor, the character who decides to say yes to everything and gets offered a bunch of terrible choices – but for as much as this episode feels very sitcom-y, it works. The jokes are tight and funny, and the Dulainians are a funny exploration of a few Trek tropes.

The character design for K’ranch is a cool; I really like it when the Lower Decks team leans into the animated format of the show to present a unique and interesting alien design for us. And the motivations behind K’ranch are subversive and surprising in a fun way. I am also curious to see how this character turn for Boimler plays out in future episodes, if it does at all.

It feels like in order for the character to advance he is ultimately going to have to become more of a confident Starfleet officer, and perhaps “The Least Dangerous Game” was set up to get him on that path.

This season, Lower Decks also begins to expand its repertoire of Star Trek references, going beyond callbacks just to the other Star Trek shows, but increasingly calling back to itself as well. Boimler learning that Vendome — the hapless ensign who was struck by a spear in “Temporal Edict” and who appeared as a background character multiple times in Seasons 1 and 2 — had made captain is a big plot point for this episode.

And it’s entirely based on Lower Decks itself, and not some callback to another show. I think we’ll see more of this as season three goes on, and it feels like Lower Decks confidently asserting its own place in the Star Trek franchise by saying they’re just as willing to call back to themselves as they are to any other show in the franchise.

Also, special shout out to the episode’s framing device – the Klingon version of Dungeons & Dragons, a.k.a. Bat’leths & Binuchs. I enjoy any time Lower Decks is able to break the fourth wall and pull parts of what’s fun about being a Star Trek fan into Star Trek itself, and so the idea that our Lower Deckers get enjoyment out of tabletop roleplaying games (as someone who’s nearly two years into playing in a Star Trek Adventures group myself!) is a lot of fun to see.

It’s a thrill hearing Martok (J.G. Hertzler) once again, even if it is just a Ferengi holographic knock-off.

TREK TROPE TRIBUTES

• The appearance of the Dulainians plays with a number of tropes around the kinds of cultures that Star Trek That they are a “health based” culture is clearly designed to spoof races like the Edo where most of the characters were scantily clad.
   
• In addition, the rulers of the Dulainians — a sentient volcano named Morgo, a psychic baby named Nandrick, and a sentient computer named 355 — are send ups of all the cultures encountered in Star Trek that worshiped one of these entities as a leader. Though on this planet, all three together provide “a system of checks and balances.”
   
• According to Ransom, “Starfleet isn’t all about being fed fruit by erotic aliens with slightly different nose ridges.” Having watched Star Trek, I’m not sure I agree with him!

CANON CONNECTIONS

• Mariner orbital skydives, with many of the shots designed to evoke the orbital skydiving sequence from the 2009 Star Trek film.
   
• Boimler agrees to play on the ship’s springball team — a Bajoran version of racquetball — with characters dressing in attire very similar to Bashir’s outfit in “Rivals.”

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• The Klingon version of Dungeons & Dragons looks like a lot of fun, complete with miniature figures and an interactive, holographic dungeon master. I really hope we get to see the Gowron expansion pack some day!
   
• An episode about space elev — er, orbital lifts — without a single “Rise” reference?
   
• I enjoyed the moment where Ransom is watching the equivalent of a YouTube tutorial video for how to fix the space elevator.
   
• Mariner activates her flight suit by tapping an icon at her navel, the holy body region of the Dulaine culture.
   
• It’s always great to see Matt and Kimolu again, the two Cetacean Ops beluga whales introduced at the end of Season 2. (They’re right, Boimler is a real drama magnet.)

Because it relies so heavily on sitcom tropes rather than Star Trek tropes, “The Least Dangerous Game” is probably not going to appear all that highly on many fans’ Season 3Lower Decks rankings. But that’s not because it’s a bad episode — it’s fun and funny in all the ways you want this show to be — but because it just doesn’t quite hit the heights of what Lower Decks can do commenting on Star Trek itself.

I still had a great time, and what more can you ask for?

Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “Mining The Mind’s Mines” on Thursday, September 8 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.