Ensign Fletcher makes work difficult for Mariner and Boimler while Rutherford introduces Tendi to a holodeck training program that he created.

I’d like to think that certain Trek-nology exists that reads my reviews and dynamically updates future episodes to reflect my observations, because every niggle I’ve had about this show has now been ‘fixed’, leaving Lower Decks in very rude health.

As with last week’s shapeshifter story, the show takes an established Star Trek trope and hits it head on. All those years when you groaned as the Holodeck’s safety protocols failed on TNG are finally acknowledged in this fun half hour, as Rutherford tries to impress Tendi (yes, they finally get the best plot line) with his bespoke educational programme. The avatar he creates to  host the learning is Badgey, a virtual assistant in the shape of the Starfleet emblem, and about as welcome as that annoying Windows paperclip or Jurassic Park’s Mr DNA.

Badgey is played by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer and it’s not long before he’s glitching and the ensigns are running round a Bajoran marketplace. As Boimler notes, the Holodeck is not just for “…hanging with Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood and Sigmund Freud and Cyrano de Bergerac and Einstein and Da Vinci and Stephen Hawking and Socrates.” Yes, we saw what you did there.

Mariner and Boimler get the B-plot this week, a fairly generic romp with Ensign Fletcher, left in charge while the others go to a concert. Unfortunately, an isolinear core is stolen, and things soon go downhill. The Bridge plot features a standoff between the Cerritos command crew and some scavengers fighting over debris. It’s light, but fun.

Verdict: Lower Decks has really grown into its Starfleet uniform over the weeks. No mean feat after a handful of episodes. 8/10

Nick Joy