Star Trek: Lower Decks review, Episode 9, “Crisis Point”

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks digs into Mariner’s character while skewering the franchise’s many movies. It’s another great entry.

Star Trek: Lower Decks has done a stellar job of poking fun at all the things Trek fans love about the series, but this latest episode tops them all.

“Crisis Point” puts the Holodeck to the test. Fans know it can whisk Starfleet members away to any number of far-flung environments, but can it produce a riveting feature film? The short answer is yes, and apparently it can be very therapeutic, according to Mariner. We get a lot of insight here not only into the possibilities of the Holodeck, but also why Mariner is such a loose cannon. Now that the secret of her being the captain’s daughter is out, it sets up what promises to be an excellent season finale.

“Crisis Point” starts off with Mariner actually completing a mission, helping a race of lizard people free themselves from a tyrannical species that uses them as a food source. But it ends up she should never have been on this planet in the first place. But instead of sending Mariner to the brig like usual, Captain Freeman sends her to therapy. Like a lot of people who think they already have everything figured out, Mariner thinks therapy is a complete waste of time even though it’s obvious she has some things she needs to work out.

Pictured: Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. Photo Cr: Best Possible Screen Grab CBS 2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Boimler, meanwhile, is so excited about his upcoming interview with Captain Freeman he interrupts a shooting range Holodeck scenario with Leonardo Da Vinci to simulate the Bridge — complete with accurate versions of the Captain and other crew members — so he can prepare. Mariner alters Boimler’s simulation to turn it into a movie where she plays a villain named Vindicta, who is bent on working out some rage issues she has with her mother. This new version isn’t very helpful for Boimler, but it is more entertaining.

Tendi is drafted to play an Orion Space pirate in the movie, but she’s not thrilled about it, since it plays into stereotypes about her species. Rutherford, in the movie, almost runs away with his boss, but it’s a Holodeck program so that was never in the cards.

Pictured: Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. Photo Cr: Best Possible Screen Grab CBS 2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Eventually, Vindicta takes on Freeman, and as she is about to defeat her, Mariner’s simulation turns on her and attacks. During the back and forth, viewers learn a lot about Mariner, but in the end, she realizes that she loves her job, Starfleet, and being on the Cerritos with her mother and friends. The simulation version of her sacrifices herself to save the crew, and Mariner starts to really work out her issues.

But the simulation keeps going, with fake Captain Freeman giving fake dead Mariner’s eulogy, revealing to real Boimler and everyone else that Mariner is her daughter. If this secret is found out, Boimler could be kicked off the ship and possibly out of Starfleet altogether.

Pictured (L-R): Eugene Cordero as Ensign Rutherford, Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner and Noel Wells as Ensign Tendi of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS. Photo Cr: Best Possible Screen Grab CBS 2020 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Holodeck parody movie was brilliantly put together and wonderfully skewered some of the cliches of the franchise. Best of all was the excessive coverage of the Cerritos crew, something that happened on the Enterprise in the movies all the time. And it’s cool they made sure to crash the ship, because it wouldn’t be a Star Trek film if there wasn’t a crash.

The other great thing was getting some much-needed insight into Mariner’s motivation. Knowing what really makes her tick puts her on Picard levels of awesomeness, and makes me more invested with whatever happens to her next.

Sadly, there is only one episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1 left, and I’m definitely curious to see what will happen now that Boimler knows Mariner’s secret. Until then, “Crisis Point” is a fantastic entry, for Lower Decks and the franchise as a whole.

Episode Grade: A

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