The final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks continues with the seventh episode, “Fully Dilated”. In Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 7, Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noel Wells), and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) go undercover for an away mission. Their destination? A pre warp civilisation, so hijinks are sure to ensue. Meanwhile, Boimler (Jack Quaid) and his newfound confidence spell doom for the ship’s systems.
Can the girls survive in an unfamiliar world, blending in while also completing their mission? Will Mariner find love? Or will she pick up the flute instead? In the midst of all this, can Boimler and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) fix the mess they made? Find out the answers below.
WARNING – Spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 7 “Fully Dilated”
Girls Trip
Their mission is simple. Beam down, retrieve some technology before it’s discovered by a pre-warp civilisation, beam back up. With the planet’s time dilation, where one second on the Cerritos is a week on the surface, it should take no time at all. Unfortunately, due to circumstances I’ll touch on a little later, the trio end up stuck on the planet for a whole year. A lot of time to establish a life somewhere.
Each of them take to this differently. Tendi falls into an obsessive, competitive spiral. Going for days at a time without sleep to try and beat T’Lyn at science. More on their “contest” later as well, because it was Mariner who ended up having the most fun of the three. Determined to make the most of their “Carbon Creek” meets “The Inner Light” situation, she sets out to build a life.
Unfortunately, her first effort at finding love lands her in prison. Followed by another stint in prison for extinguishing a sacred eternal flame. Sure, it’s not what she wanted. But given her rebellious nature, finding a family in prison is beyond fitting. Mastering the arts, and having the family he never had suited Picard all too well. Finding friends in low places suits Mariner amazingly. A funny, uniquely Lower Decks, spin on some of the greatest Star Trek episodes of all time.
Purple Person
The object of their mission quickly reveals itself. It’s not a piece of technology, well, he is, but he’s also a person. Data (Brent Spiner) is crashing into this pre-warp civilisation! Undoubtedly, the season would feature some secret legacy guest stars. Honestly, the fact there were six episodes without one was a massive show of restraint.
Obviously, this isn’t our universe’s Data. For starters, he’s purple, as is everything in his universe. Of all the divergent points for two universes, this is by far one of the strangest ones they could’ve chosen. Science seems to work the same way, although he’s interestingly still serving on the Enterprise-D. Could it be some time dilation trick? Or is it just another difference between universes? Quite a cool little guest star role, raising some interesting questions.
Although, it feels like we’ve seen a lot of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast of late. Perhaps it was just the big show that Star Trek: Picard made of their reunion and farewell tour. Always nice to see him, but it’s not so surprising when he reprised the role only last year. Really can’t wait to see who else the show manages to pull out of the multiverse. Anyone from any time period could return, the possibilities are endless.
Transporter Mishap
The girls spending so much time on the planet can only happen because of the boys’ incompetence and rule-breaking. Boimler and Rutherford are drinking micheladas by the transporter panel, spilling their drinks just as soon as the girls are beamed down. With every second that passes, meaning a week for the away team, they have to move quickly.
Watching them undress, use their shirts to mop up the spill, and even lick off the excess was hilarious. However, what’s not so funny is that they didn’t learn much from the incident. Last week, they took the wrong lesson from an interaction with Dr. T’ana (Gillian Vigman) involving nicknames. Now Rutherford’s grown a beard more successfully than Boimler, and the two continue ruining things.
Not only that, but the people suffering as a result of the incident are Mariner, T’Lyn, and Tendi. They spent about a year down on the planet’s surface, building up lives, careers, and relationships. Of course, they turn out fine and it’s played for laughs. Come the end of Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 7, both Boimler and Rutherford are still destructively mirroring their doppelgangers. I can’t help but hope for a sort of comeuppance for the pair.
New Science Officer
Tendi and T’Lyn spend much of the episode competing, with Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) needing to pick a new science officer for the ship. Both have put their names forward; both are competent scientists. Thanks to Boimler’s incompetence, the two have a whole year to flex their science skills. Tendi gets Data’s head working, using him as a source of advice.
Meanwhile, T’Lyn makes quite a name for herself in the local market scene. She masters agriculture and farming, basically becoming the breadwinner of the trio. Introducing basic cosmetics a little early was risky, but it seems to have paid off. It’s unlikely that adding some bounce to hair curls will change civilisation. But then again, when there’s a universe where everything’s the same but purple, is this a risk worth taking?
Thanks to a creepy local snooping around, the risk not worth taking was resurrecting Data near a window. With the trio nearly being chased out of town over the incident, it’s good that they get beamed out just in time. Even better, Data recommends that Cerritos employ both of them for the science officer position. So nice to see the Lower Deckers promoted to such heights. A solid conclusion to Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 7, sweetened by the show’s ending. After 5 seasons, this is where they were both meant to be.
Conclusion
“Fully Dilated” is exactly what I wanted from Lower Decks heading toward the end of the series. Another episode where the central story revolves around interdimensional anomalies was cool. Where the story’s going is anybody’s guess, though. There has been nothing in the way of any hint or foreshadowing for a little bit. It feels like much more of a slow burn compared to previous seasons. Perhaps there will be more soon, though.
That’s not a slight on the series at all, though. The episode still shone, putting the focus back on its strongly written characters. It even ends with Freeman putting Tendi and T’Lyn into a final position as science officers. Looking back at how far they’ve come, to now be actual bridge officers, is astounding. I really can’t wait to see what the pair are able to accomplish in their new positions next week.
More From Trek Central
📰 – Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 5 “Starbase 80” Review
🔥 – Tribute: Star Trek’s Jeri Taylor
🔍️ – Command A Starship! – Bridge Command Review
Join the Star Trek conversation via our social media platforms:
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TrekCentral
- Instagram – https://instagram.com/TrekCentral
- Twitter – https://x.com/TheTrekCentral
- YouTube – https://youtube.com/TheTrekCentral
- Mastodon – https://mastodon.social/@TrekCentral@universeodon.com
- Discord – https://discord.gg/fF2heMbfW8
- BlueSky – https://bsky.app/profile/trekcentral.bsky.social
- Threads – https://www.threads.net/@trekcentral
