Star Trek: Lower Decks Reveals What Happened Right After The First Episode
This post contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 4.
The latest "Star Trek: Lower Decks" episode, "Caves" is the most dreaded of all TV plots, a clip show — sort of. In "Caves," our four leads (Mariner, Boimler, Tendi, and Rutherford) are assigned to survey moss in a cave on an alien planet. The moss turns out to be deadly and rapid-growing, so while they try to survive and restore communication with the ship, they flashback to other times when each of them has been trapped in a cave (alien caves are a very common setting in "Star Trek," since it's an easily reusable set).
The twist is that we haven't actually seen these clips before. It reminds me of "Morty's Mind Blowers" over on "Rick and Morty" — the format of a clip show, but without the tediousness of watching recycled footage. The fact these are new stories even ties into the episode's theme; the other characters haven't heard Boimler, Rutherford, and Mariner's tales before either. Thus, they slowly realize how they've been growing apart as they each develop further in their Starfleet careers.
That's why the fourth and final story, Tendi's, takes us back to the "Lower Decks" pilot episode, "Second Contact." Since it's been almost four seasons since "Second Contact," here's the rundown. The Cerritos visits the alien Galardonians, hoping to affirm diplomatic relations with them after their initial First Contact with the Federation. Unfortunately, a rage virus makes its way up to the ship and infects the crew. That, however, isn't what's really important — it's just the sort of stock "Star Trek" episode premise that "Lower Decks" uses as a backdrop (see also: "Caves"). Rather, the pilot is about setting up the show's two defining friendships: Mariner & Boimler and Tendi & Rutherford.
Friendship building
During "Second Contact, " Mariner goes against orders by giving farming equipment to poor Galardonians, thereby teaching stick-in-the-mud Boimler that sometimes it's better to break the rules. Meanwhile, Rutherford introduces Tendi to the Cerritos on her first day. The episode ends with both pairs in the Cerritos' bar. Tendi and Rutherford continue to geek out over engineering minutiae. When Boimler reveals he didn't rat out Mariner, she excitedly volunteers herself as his mentor, chants "lower decks," and puts him in a friendly headlock as she quizzes him on Federation history.
That's where "Second Contact" ends, but "Caves" shows what happened after the four new friends walked off. First, they got drunk together. Then, they got stuck in a turbolift for hours (the ship's power was damaged during the virus outbreak), leaving them plenty more time to bond. We see them passing the time with some games; first, a makeshift bean bag toss with a hoop and bags made from Boimler's bunched-up clothes, and then 20 Questions. After hours with no rescue, they go to sleep in a circle, using each others' torsos for pillows, while Tendi thanks them all for an incredible first day. Then, Security Chief Shaxs bursts in and saves them as frighteningly as possible.
Tendi keeps trying to tell this story earlier but gets shut down because it's not technically a cave story. Then, the moss (yes, it's sentient) refuses to let the four leave until he hears it. In the end, it comes at the perfect time; everyone's anger about the others' "secret-keeping" fades away with a reminder of what they've been through together. Nothing cements a friendship like being stuck in an elevator together.
"Star Trek: Lower Decks" is streaming on Paramount+.