Star Trek: Lower Decks ends season 3 on a lower note

After a surprise attack by hostile forces on the planet Brekka, the Cerritos and the whole of the California-class fleet of the Federation faces discontinuation. To prove the Cerritos’ worth, Captain Freeman challenges the Aledo to a race across multiple worlds in need of a check up. Meanwhile, Mariner is enjoying her new life as an archaeologist, yet something within her longs to return to Starfleet. All this and more in the season 3 finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks, “The Stars at Night.”

For a standard episode, “The Stars at Night” is fine. But as a season finale…ehhhh. Let’s break it down.

Story-wise, the plot gives us good stakes with the Cerritos facing decommission, and the space race between it and the automated Aledo is fun enough. However, that only takes up half of the episode. I think the space race could have been a neat framing device for the entire thing. I bet that would have allowed for the writers to find a more plausible reason for Mariner’s ousting from Starfleet, which was one of my main problems with last week’s episode. And then more time could have been dedicated in this season finale to the consequences of that defeat and the unraveling of the mystery.

SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks, “The Stars at Night,” ahead

Basically, “The Stars At Night” feels a little too typical for me, even if all the pieces fit into place and there are no loose ends. We get an answer to the mystery introduced in an earlier episode “Reflections”; turns out Admiral Buen Amigo is not a good friend at all, having stolen the code from Rutherford for the creation of the automated Texas-class ships. The resulting emotional instability wreaks havoc once the Aledo gets loose.

So the story itself is structured well, but it’s pretty predictable. A corrupted Admiral in Starfleet? Next you’ll tell me red shirts die a lot. And of course Mariner, off on archaeological adventures, hears the bad news and arrives just in time to help. That’s another point of disappointment: we only get two scenes of Mariner living outside of Starfleet before her return. It’s pretty clear the only reason for kicking her out was so she could make a triumphant return in the nick of time.

As you’d expect, the day is saved as Mariner returns to help the Cerritos defeat the Texas class ships with all the California class ships in tow. And despite a devastating amount of destruction and death, everyone has a big happy celebration. And that wraps up the season.

And that’s this season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Some highs, some lows, but I had a decent amount of fun with it. With the ending, season 3 definitely decided to stick to the show’s name and went Lower.

Grade: C+

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