Lower Decks Season 4 Revisits The Greatest Ethical Dilemma In Star Trek History
This article contains spoilers for the "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4 premiere.
No-win scenarios, moral debates, ethical dilemmas — there's hardly a single philosophical argument or weighty concern that "Star Trek" has ever shied away from throughout the thoughtful sci-fi franchise's five-plus decades of existence. That's not to say they've all been handled equally or with consistent levels of success, mind you. For every sobering lesson learned by Kirk and Spock in "The Original Series" or patented Jean-Luc Picard speech summing up the poignant themes at the end of an episode of "The Next Generation" or the far more murky politics of "Deep Space Nine," there have been instances like the most notorious episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" to ever air: the great Tuvix controversy, which "Lower Decks" lovingly lampoons — and, arguably, even justifies — in its entertaining season 4 premiere.
A continuing source of debate to this day among fans and creatives alike, the "Voyager" season 2 episode "Tuvix" is either considered a shining example of tackling moral shades of grey with an impressive amount of honesty ... or a horrifying example of taking things to an extreme, depending on who you talk to. As implied by the title, the storyline involves Tim Russ' fan-favorite Vulcan Tuvok and Ethan Phillips' slightly more divisive Neelix suffering a deeply unfortunate transporter accident that scrambles their DNA and results in the "birth" of a distressingly new character altogether: the combined creature Tuvix, played by Tom Wright. Though Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) desperately tries to find a way to reverse this incident, the episode makes it clear that this would mean violating the rights of a sentient being — which Janeway ultimately chooses to do, shockingly enough.
Naturally, "Lower Decks" couldn't resist returning to the scene of this wildly disturbing crime.
The trouble with Tuvix
Ah, Tuvix ... the hallways and bulkheads of the USS Voyager still echo with the plaintive cries of the Tuvok/Neelix hybrid literally begging for his life, an elephant in the room that "Star Trek: Lower Decks" wisely opted to address with its "Voyager"-themed season 4 premiere. The crux of the issue is this: On one hand, the crew of Voyager is marooned in the far-off reaches of the Delta Quadrant and in need of every valuable resource to make it home — with Chief Security and Chief Tactical Officer Tuvok at the top of that list. (No disrespect to Neelix, the cook and self-professed, uh, "Morale Officer" of the crew.) On the other, Tuvix quickly ingratiates himself with his new crewmates and fills a unique role that neither Tuvok nor Neelix alone could do. When a solution presents itself that would separate Tuvok and Neelix once again, the implications of this morality play instantly becomes clear. It can only be done by what Tuvix immediately recognizes as an outright execution.
They don't teach those quandaries in the Starfleet handbook.
Of course, "murder" is a pretty serious accusation to throw at anyone, let alone a Starfleet captain, but there's really no other way to describe what Janeway chooses to do to solve their tricky Tuvix situation. Voyager's newest crewmember is rightfully horrified by the willingness of his new friends and colleagues to erase him from existence, just as they had started to become acclimated to his presence and his role on the starship. But at what point does that outweigh the grief and pain of Tuvok and Neelix's closest loved ones, who understandably don't wish to lose them forever?
The debate ends on an absurdly dark note, but "Lower Decks" doubles down as only "Lower Decks" can.
Rehashing history
Leave it to "Lower Decks" to take its typically irreverent but loving approach to past "Trek" history by revisiting the admittedly silly "Voyager" conundrum. When the USS Cerritos is tasked the top-secret mission of taking the mothballed Voyager (now converted into a museum) back to Earth for display, hijinks quickly follow as our "Lower Decks" characters end up reliving a vast assortment of the zany adventures that plagued Janeway, Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran), and the rest of the now-rescued Voyager crew. The Easter eggs and references fly fast and furious, but none take centerstage more than the reignited Tuvix debate.
When the exact same kind of transporter malfunction leads to Andy Billups (Paul Scheer) and Dr. T'Ana (Gillian Vigman) becoming, well, T'Illups, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) comforts herself with the knowledge that she need only do what Janeway once did to get out of this mess ... and is hilariously horrified upon discovering how Janeway resorted to denying Tuvix the fundamental right to life. But when T'Illups revolts and decides to save their own skin by turning everyone into hybrids, it's up to our heroes to reinstate everyone back to normal ... even if that means doing exactly the unspeakable act that Janeway once did.
In its own way, "Lower Decks" is both grappling with and validating the impossible choice Janeway faced in "Voyager." On an emotional level, losing your friends in such a way really is the worst thing that could happen. In a more meta-textual sense, there's a tacit acknowledgement that of course neither show was ever going to move forward with this absolutely bizarre new status quo. In the end, this nostalgia-heavy episode nonetheless feels like more than just fan-service, thanks to its willingness to do what "Voyager" once did and simply go there.