'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Episode 6 Review: Sudden foray into dark comedic horror is a step in wrong direction
Spoilers for 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Episode 6 'Terminal Provocations'
When 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' debuted, the comparisons to 'Rick & Morty' were unavoidable. Both sci-fi shows meant to poke fun at decades of nerdy pop-culture and 'Lower Decks' distinguished itself by appealing to earnestness in the fans, setting a noticeably lighter tone. In the latest episode of 'Terminal Provocations', however, the tone of things gets considerably darker and more horrific in both A and B plots, and the results are odder than they are entertaining.
Take the A-plot, which introduces Ensign Fletcher (Tim Robinson) as a peacekeeping, dependable friend from Brad Boimler's (Jack Quaid) Academy days. It's not long before his personality seems to do a complete 180-degree turn as he lies about stealing a core reactor and fumbles a bad situation into a worse one. He blackmails his friends to get them to cover for his increasingly stupid mistakes as he tries to use the cores to increase his brainpower, creating an artificially intelligent core that threatens to tear the ship apart. The show went out of its way to establish him as a dependable guy, then makes the recurring theme of the jokes surrounding him be about how incompetent and petty he is, with no explanation for his changed behavior or even surprise from his Lower Deck friends.
In the B-plot, Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) tries to impress D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) with a holodeck program to help teach her how to spacewalk, a program embodied by a Clippy-like assistant named Badgey (Jack McBrayer). When the ship loses its shields in an attack (a malfunction caused by Fletcher), a glitch causes Badgey to turn horrifically violent, threatening to tear Rutherford and Tendi limb from limb — forcing Rutherford to incapacitate it in a bloody, gruesome neck twist.
Cutesy mascots on a rampage are definitely more 'Rick & Morty' territory, but more importantly, when that show does it, there's generally a plot point to be made. 'Lower Decks' appears to be experimenting with this style of comedy, and it does not do so well. While the 'Star Trek' franchise is no stranger to one-shot horror episodes, 'Lower Decks' is perhaps better off sticking to what it does best with the workplace-sci-fi gentle ribbing of its inspirations.
The next episode of 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' airs September 17, on CBS All Access.