Star Trek: Lower Decks Proves That Annoying People Still Exist In A Utopia
In the latest episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks," entitled "Caves," Lieutenant Boimler (Jack Quaid) finds himself trapped in an alien cave with his three best friends, unable to escape. While there is reason to panic — they are surrounded by seemingly carnivorous moss — none of them are thrown into a panic. Luckily, being trapped in a cave is a common occurrence on "Star Trek," and something even low-ranking Starfleet officers are familiar with. As Boimler and his friends attempt to escape, they while away the time by reminiscing about their previous cave missions gone awry.
Boimler tells a story of when he was trapped in a cave with Lieutenant Levy, a genius mathematician who likes to expound on bizarro conspiracy theories. As soon as Levy and Boimler are alone, the former begins blithering about the evil plots put into the galaxy by a species called the Vendorians, a shape-shifting race last seen in "Star Trek: The Animated Series." Levy is really, really annoying, and believes things that can easily be disproven. This irks Boimler to no end, and he finally just lets Levy have it. No, Picard is not a hologram. Yes, the doctor on the U.S.S. Voyager is. Later, Levy admits that he gets his information from logging onto "subspace forums."
Levy is annoying, smug, and frustratingly right when it comes to some of his wilder theories. He's the kind of co-worker you hope you never have a shift with.
Of course, that's the very spirit of "Lower Decks." Even if you work in a glorious post-capitalist society wherein all living beings have pledged to better themselves and the rest of the galaxy, all while having access to some of the most glorious travel, communication, research, and entertainment technologies imagined, there are still going to be a-holes.
A-holes of the future
Boimler and Levy don't exactly bond, but, well ... something happened. "You're still a crackpot with dangerous beliefs," Boimler says, "But I guess I've learned not to, uh ... yell at you? I dunno."
The characters on "Lower Decks" are always getting a raw deal, which is, of course, kind of the point. At the start of the series, the four main characters were ensigns, the lowest officer rank in Starfleet, and were most often assigned the grossest, most menial tasks on the U.S.S. Cerritos. The ensigns didn't have quarters, having to sleep on not-at-all-private bunks in a hallway. They had to clean waste out of the holodecks, scrape hull panels, and generally do basic maintenance while the senior officers got to go on away missions.
Not that those away missions are always interesting; the Cerritos is a largely ignored starship usually assigned to dull follow-up missions and escort tasks. The central joke of "Lower Decks" is that even in the utopian future of "Star Trek," there are still crap jobs that wear down your soul. One can work their way all the way up to captain, but you can still command a crappy ship.
Throughout "Lower Decks," the main characters have had to deal with bad bosses and jerkwad co-workers. In the episode "Terminal Provocations," it was revealed that the beta shift workers are locked in rivalry with the delta shift workers. Throughout the series, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) butts heads with the smug and handsome Commander Ransom (Jerry O'Connell). In the most recent season, the visiting Vulcan T'Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) finds the Cerritos' lower-ranking officers to be immensely irritating.
Of all the s***ty jobs I have encountered in my travels, this one is the most ... human
In the fourth season of "Lower Decks," Tendi (Noel Wells), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), Boimler, and Mariner are promoted to lieutenant junior grade. This slight step up in their careers isn't actually much of an improvement, as they still have to work on undesirable tasks and rarely get to go on away missions. And because the four main characters are seemingly stuck in a frustrating career, "Lower Decks" remains endlessly relatable.
"Star Trek" is, above all, a workplace drama. Not everyone can relate to working in a utopian future, but almost everyone can relate to having had a terrible job at some point in their lives. The characters on "Lower Decks" are working the "Star Trek" equivalent of retail, complete with conspiracy theory-spreading middle-management and dumb corporate mandates coming from the home office. There's something weirdly comforting about the fact that want can be eliminated from the galaxy, money can discarded, and war can be studiously avoided at all costs, but there are always going to be instances of co-workers you hate.
As much as I personally like Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford, part of me hopes that we never see them succeed. They believe in Starfleet ideals and learn lessons about being better officers all the time, but they should never be in a position where others offer them prestige. Indeed, it's never too late for them to be transferred to anther, crappier ship, and for them to be demoted outright. It would only feel correct.