Grounded

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Grounded)

With the finale to Season 2 probably the best episode modern Trek had achieved, Season 3's opener had a lot to live up to, and largely succeeds. This was the first season of the current era I was actually looking forward to, what with that finale being so strong and ending on a cliffhanger, and not since I awaited the debut of 'Picard' Season 1 felt actual anticipation, a very rare achievement nowadays. What a turnaround Season 2 had been, changing the series from one I almost gave up on to the series I was most interested in seeing. That hasn't always been the case - I recently saw Season 4 and was somewhat disappointed on the whole, so it's good to get back to a season I know worked. And what a fun start! It may be easy to charge it with being jam-packed full of so-called 'fan service' (a term I'm one day going to examine), but the many Trekferences were well-placed and took advantage of the characters' situations to great effect, the highlight by far being James Cromwell's return to Trek, not having been seen in his most famous role of Warp Drive creator Zefram Cochrane (or indeed any role in Trek), since the 'Enterprise' pilot in 2001. I would never have thought it likely he'd ever have come back to the role for many reasons - his age (although not without precedent - see Patrick Stewart as Picard), his status as big film star (although not without precedent - see Patrick Stewart as Picard), and the fact his character was long dead by the time of 'Lower Decks' (also not without precedent - see his return in 'Enterprise,' and that was a prequel!), so to get him, and sounding exactly as he did back then, was a great win for the episode.

The Holodeck (or holo-projectors), is always a solution for bringing back characters, and it could be seen as a cop-out, but in this case it was so well-judged for comedy and true to the spirit of what we already knew about him and those events, it made sense for there to be an entire theme park celebrating the historic first warp flight of the Phoenix and first contact with the Vulcans (good job Geordi only went as far as mentioning the statue, but then maybe back in the 2370s they didn't have quite as much commemoration and perhaps only after the Enterprise-E saved the timeline and reported it to Starfleet, might they have wanted to celebrate it even more in appreciation). It is silly, you've got the Vulcan ship recreated as a scale model in a children's play slide, which I'm sure Vulcans would find quite demeaning, but that's this series, you have to take the silliness and hope that one day it will be retconned into a more serious and realistic angle. As it is, it was just good fun, as was Rutherford and Tendi's visit to Sisko's Creole Kitchen (though sadly no sign of Joseph, but of course Brock Peters was long dead), complete with alligator hanging from the ceiling, those familiar surroundings we saw in 'DS9,' and Rutherford even appearing in one of Jake Sisko's famous civilian outfits to great effect, as does Boimler, although I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be Geordi from the film! It would be easy to derail this review by just going off on each of the fun Trekferences, what they meant and how much I enjoyed them (Sonny Clemonds concert! London Kings baseball news!), but this is a Trek episode and it's more than the sum of its call-outs.

Perhaps one key part of the story is that it fits with the kind of low-level role our main hero characters inhabit: they're at the bottom of the totem pole, they shouldn't be saving the universe or whatever, like Michael Burnham was always doing. They're real people, not superheroes, a very important ingredient in making Trek characters relatable. At the same time they have drive and determination, resolved to do something to help their beloved Captain, but ultimately nothing they do really has any bearing on the result of the episode. That could be a major complaint except that it turns things around and instead of being about the big cliffhanger storyline, it becomes about the much more personal friendships between our four leads reiterating their bond. At the same time we also get big, exciting moments, but they have to be resolved so as not to break the reality of Starfleet and its requirement for discipline and hierarchy, another part of the series which is generally well done, especially when compared to the laxity of all the other series' when it comes to such issues which often make the world less believable as they strain to be more accessible to viewers who don't see any kind of constraint as a good thing.

The lessons don't always land, however - the main point of the story is to 'trust the system,' something that could be seen as being a little too much propaganda for state control, kowtowing to those 'who know better.' The thing is, Starfleet is supposed to know better, it is supposed to be a Utopian existence in this Trek future. Not perfect, but far, far better than the struggles of humanity of the past. The difficulty is that all the other modern Treks have shown Starfleet to be the bad guys, or the Federation, to some extent, ruining that trust we used to have. And even in old Trek, that trust could be severely strained at times, often Admirals or bureaucrats were responsible for many trials and troubles and it was seen to be the Captains who were out there on the front line who had the best perspective, so I'm not saying everything was depicted as fine and dandy, it's just these later productions have often completely failed to understand Trek's (misguided in the real world), optimistic outlook and shown us those inspirational characters overcoming problems and learning from their experiences. That makes it a bit of a grey area here when we're told to trust the system to be right in the end, but at the same time, I'd much rather have that, where in the 'LD' world it's much closer to what we used to get from Trek, than the message of trust no one. Of course if Mariner had simply sat back and allowed the trial to work itself out and her Mother to be acquitted, nothing much would have happened!

It was nice to see her with her Father, Alonzo Freeman, for a change, he's only a guest recurring character we rarely see, but the episode taking place on or around Earth gave them the opportunity to do some things they couldn't usually fit in so easily. The Cerritos isn't forgotten, even in a twenty-five minute episode set on Earth, pleasing to see her again in skeletal state, which was so different and such a great visual - once again I'm reminded how clean, bright and neat the look of this series is, a vast contrast having just finished 'Picard' Season 3 in all its murkiness. We even have a visit aboard the shut-down ship, which every series has to do at some point, all empty corridors and darkened corners, with the obligatory breaking out sequence. Another side of the episode that helped it work for me was a lack of nastiness, a side of the series I've never appreciated, be it gore or crudity, and while this wasn't perfect (there's still rather a lot of swearing), it had a better sense of wholesomeness to it. It makes a big difference because that, as much as anything else they do, helps it sit better with the style of Trek they're trying to recreate. If I was being picky I could say there's not much to the story, but that isn't the point - this is the first premiere of the series I liked as both Season 1 and 2's weren't the best, and while this isn't as strong as the cliffhanger, it's got just enough to make it a fully enjoyable adventure, complete right down to some alien space swarm finale to end the episode happily.

Just as importantly, it doesn't end without consequences with Mariner put on probation under the watchful eye of Ransom, her worst nightmare. It's good to see her parents (whom I realised were quite old judging by their wrinkles and the grey in their hair), explaining to her that she needs to buck her ideas up, reminding her the Cerritos is 'still' her last chance, showing more clearly her position on the series - if her parents are of such an age then she must be older than we think, too, and we already know she had a prior career on DS9, but because she's always hanging around with these relative youngsters and acting up it's easy to forget how experienced she is. It was important to have that lesson of the ends not necessarily justifying the means: Mariner steals the Cerritos for a good reason, hoping to help her Mother in an unfair trial, but she wasn't right to do that and I can't help suspect if this were any of the other Treks of the last few years she'd have been vindicated and lauded. So some good messages in there if you look for them. And even a rare Biblical reference (admittedly more from the 'TNG' connection, of course), when Freeman says the plot against her was a 'classic Samaritan snare.' This was the title of the episode in which the Pakled's first appeared, but the idea of a Samaritan, or specifically, a Good Samaritan, was of someone stopping to help another, a parable of Jesus, so even though they probably didn't think that far along, and perhaps many people wouldn't even know the parable, it's nice to see it referenced (Bibferenced?), in modern Trek!

They have plenty of fun reintroducing the characters - Tendi and Rutherford touring Earth locations, but even more with Boimler when he's shown in Picard's outfit and hat at the vineyard, just like 'All Good Things...' I liked how we're even supposed to think this is going to be Patrick Stewart as Picard making a guest appearance as the face is in shadow! Cruel. The downside was having those huge drone hover vehicles watering the crops, which made no sense to me in 'Picard' when we saw them, as surely they'd have better, less invasive technology by that time, irrigation that would be less intrusive on the eye and in keeping with the period setting these places seem to want to evoke. Similarly, you could easily point out the seemingly innocuous Ketracel White-Hot Hot Sauce on Sisko's tables as being in bad, well, taste! The Jem'Hadar were, after all, forced to fight through an addiction to the drug this is named after, but you could say that Joseph would have that kind of humour against a deadly enemy who'd done so much against his son and grandson, but it was just an example of the slightly insensitive tone the series sometimes carries, and I don't want to be like all those complaining people who forensically criticise every little thing because it might offend someone, I'm only saying that in this specific case it might not be the most Federation attitude to have a jokey reference to a drug that was responsible for continuing a Quadrant-wide war! But it was still funny, for all that, especially as Mariner takes it in stride while Boimler almost melts after tasting it.

Mariner once again comes across as a bit mysterious and deeper than we can understand from her flippant attitude and casual disregard for authority - Boimler even asks how she can be so good at fighting when it takes all three of them to restrain her. But Boimler also comes across as having his secrets as we learn for the first time he does actually dye his hair purple, thanks to them reviewing his logs, though we're denied learning his true hair colour... There has to be some nitpicking, however, this is Trek after all, and so I would ask how Boimler was able to change the destination of the shuttlecraft which was set to return them to Earth, when they were locked out? It was a good trick to make 'Earth' the Cerritos, but he still would've had to have access to the systems, surely? And did the Phoenix go to warp in a Solar System? Surely that's too short a journey to allow for warp - even in 'First Contact' when they did that it was meant as a trip to let the Vulcans know humans had warp capability... And what about Chief Carlton 'Denny' Dennis, the friendly old codger in charge of a Transporter on Earth (a 'buffer buff' as he describes himself delightfully, Rutherford noticing his collection of Transporter pads through the ages!), who mentions having gout - wouldn't such a medical condition have been cured? Interesting in an episode all about the goodness and rightness of Starfleet, we're introduced to Admiral Buenamigo, the villain of the season - I love that he wears the proper grey-shouldered uniform and still don't understand why Admiral Freeman wears a colourful Cerritos style, it's really confusing, although I'll always take the grey-shoulders when I can get them, as the best uniform Trek ever did!

There were a few moments to make me smile, the humour generally working since it wasn't concerned with rude or gross things (even if Boimler gets stuck in an alien orifice again...), and often had a good point behind it, like Mariner asking why they even need the Golden Gate Bridge since nobody drives, her Father retorting he likes it - I wonder if this was a subtle reference to him being an Admiral so doesn't have his own starship Bridge, and therefore the bridge outside his window is the closest thing he has? It can be exhausting keeping track of the many Trekferences fired off, even in the first few seconds with the Federation News Network coverage (what happened to the Federation News Service Jake Sisko worked for?), I was pausing to read the scrolling text with in-jokes like the infamous fun-killer Admiral Jellico banning the Zebulon Sisters (and no doubt their famous Choo-Choo Dance), while some Zakdorn won the coveted title of Stratagema Grandmaster. We get a Regula One-type Starbase above Earth, and the secret investigation Starfleet carried out to find out the truth of the Pakled Planet bombing was led by none other than Captain Morgan Bateson, with help from Tuvok doing a mind meld to recover evidence, much like Spock on Valeris in 'Star Trek VI' - sad we didn't get to have these characters in 'reality,' it being part of a flashback sequence complete with pencilled court illustrations and dramatic 'photos' of what happened, so no Kelsey Grammar or Tim Russ, though we'd get the latter returning to live-action not too long after this in 'Picard' Season 3. There was even a nice view of a Runabout saving Gavin, the botanist turned pilot, from his Phoenix adventure!

As they always do each season, the opening titles are subtly altered, this time to include the Crystalline Entity as part of the big Borg/Romulan/Klingon/Pakled battle, always great fun to see what they come up with each year! Mariner seems to suggest being conservative in values is a negative thing when she describes the military court that way, which is why she believes her Mother will be found guilty, but since Freeman was vindicated this suggests maybe 'LD' isn't anti-Conservative, which is another aspect to the series that fits with the older Treks where there was much more balance to political positions, not wanting to put anyone off and instead welcoming people in and only subtly encouraging certain opinions or the things that all sides can share, which is often missing from the much more extreme liberal angle of much of modern Trek, so I found that interesting. "They're Starfleet," says Boimler, "if we can't trust them to do the right thing, what can we trust in?" You'd think that would be obvious, but sadly in modern Trek they've managed to so skew people, organisations and groups that this isn't a given, but it was good to be reminded of it. If this wasn't an amazing, all-guns-blazing episode, it was something that worked and managed to make me care about the characters once again, and that's more than I can say about the previous openers, so they were definitely understanding what they were doing by this point, and it's good to see.

***