‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Recap – ‘An Embarrassment of Dooplers’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’.
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Guys, this show is literally amazing. I’m not going to lie; I had a pretty rough day yesterday and just needed a great way to unwind and reset my mood. Thankfully John reminded me that Thursday was Lower Decks Day and my whole world got a million times better. I’m a bit sad this show isn’t an hour long because wow, it’s so good I never want it to end. This week's episode featured Dooplers! Or I guess a Doopler? Doopli? A Doop. We’ll stick with that. Captain Freeman is literally having the embodiment of my past few days, to be honest. The whole bridge crew seems exhausted. Dooplers apparently just duplicate themselves when they’re emotionally stressed out. Like one thing goes wrong and suddenly there’s just a perfect clone of the Doopler. That Doopler can also duplicate and then suddenly there’s billions of them. John called them ‘Emotional Tribbles’ and he’s not wrong. Although, if I suddenly just had a clone of myself anytime I was upset, I would also be constantly anxious. Which, realistically, I already am, so I guess I’m even more glad to be a human. For now.

Well, Carol can only hold it together for so long before she lets it slip about how annoyingly high maintenance their guest has been. Unfortunately, said guest overhears her say it… and then he duplicates… and then they all start to duplicate. It very quickly gets out of hand with no seeming end in sight. I felt for Carol, I really did. Shaxs clears out the bar to contain some of the Dooplers which is where we meet Rutherford and Tendi, who’re trying to put together a tiny functioning model of the Cerritos. Of course, their plans get interrupted by the Dooplers and Rutherford makes it worse with the best line of this episode. One of the Dooplers says that Rutherford is leaving because of him, and Rutherford replies with “Yeah it’s pretty clear.” And…. ya know, I felt that. I’m not saying I’m that blunt of a person sometimes… but, legit, every character on this show is so relatable, I can’t get enough. Tendi and Rutherford do end up in a near death situation where the only escape would be to go into the vents, except that’s welded shut. Rutherford finally breaks down and admits to Tendi that he feels like he’s competing with who he was before he lost his memories and who he is now. Tendi, being the good bro that she is, reminds Rutherford that he’s still the same person as he was before, memories or not, and they find a way to escape.

What are Mariner and Boimler up to during the great Doopler invasion? They’re off to a super secret Starfleet Party on an old Base of course! The thing is, the Cerritos is a California class ship and most definitely did not get an invite to said party, however bigger ships did. Like, say, the Titan. Which Boimler definitely abandoned Mariner to go join until his transporter clone happened. Thankfully the Titan is otherwise busy, and William won’t be able to make that party, giving Brad the perfect opportunity to go under his name with Becket as his plus one. The only real problem here is Mariner used to live on this Starbase and she 100% might have abandoned someone on a planet before leaving there.

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That totally bites her in the ass when they arrive and he immediately double crosses her, tries to get her arrested by security and that would make them miss the party. One wild car chase through the mall and a few near fatalities for some bystanders later, and they’re at the entrance to the party. Boimler gets in no problem, but Mariner, not so much. We did learn that she was on the Voyager-D, which might be real or not and at this point, what ship has Mariner not been on or what hasn’t she done? Either way, Mariner finally tells Boimler how mad she is at him for abandoning her for the Titan. Boimler is obviously also upset because Mariner does have a habit of abandoning people and he would know, she’s stranded him before too. Eventually they both end up at a bar near the party and Boimler confesses that he didn’t want Mariner to talk him out of going so he just left. Mariner admits she doesn’t like sharing her feelings with anyone, (same girl, same), but he’s the exception to that. In the end, the bar turns out to be way cooler than anyone expected. Mariner and Boimler weren’t the only ones to be kicked out of that party. It just so happens that once upon a time, Kirk and Spock had been kicked out too, and they carved their names into the bar.

As for Carol? She learned that if you yell at a Doopler and make him angry, he un-duplicates? Reabsorbs? I’m not entirely sure what the best way to describe that is, really. Carol is determined to also just not take any more sh*t from the Dooplers and once she figures out how to undo a Dooplers…. duplication, she tells the whole ship. The day is saved when it’s just one Doopler and man does the crew really need to tie one on. Captain Carol Freeman takes her bridge crew with all the confidence of any Starfleet Captain down to the party, and she marches up to the Bouncer and promptly gets denied entry. The crew ends up in front of the bar Boimler and Mariner are in, and Mariner does the right thing and invites her mom in for a drink. The whole thing is so wholesome and great, especially the part where Boimler and Mariner carve their names next to Kirk and Spock’s.

The real question, though, who really is who’s Number 1?

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Behold. A duo of distressed Dooplers.