‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Recap – ‘The Spy Humongous’

Written by Shae Rufe

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 206 of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’.
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There are few greater pleasures than watching this show before John. Because the texts I sent him definitely were both misleading and entertaining. Sometimes you have to make your biffle squirm with worry over a favorite show you share. Otherwise? What’s the point? Especially when this episode is no different than any other, in its genuine fun nature. While we didn’t learn any more secrets about Mariner, we did see Boimler try something new and Tendi turned into a giant scorpion monster. Really, it doesn’t get any cooler than that. It’s Anomaly Collection Day! Which is basically just trash collection, according to Mariner. And she’s not wrong.
 
The Lower Deckers end up collecting some very questionable things that they have to package properly and send off to a storage facility. The downside is it all comes back badly for Mariner. Well, and Rutherford. He ends up being almost blown up! Okay, he balloons up which isn’t the same thing but pretty close if you’d ask him. From there, it’s Mariner who ends up getting things thrown on her, even Nanobots that chew off her fingerprints! To say she’s having a bad day is an understatement. Like me, she’s very vocal about the things she doesn’t like doing. Being encased in a giant slime ball from an alien plant would also make me pretty crabby too, if I’m being honest.

Captain Freeman is on a diplomatic mission while her daughter is doing trash clean up. The Cerritos has been sent to negotiate a cease fire with the Pakleds, since they had a successful run in with them before. Successful being, well, a matter of opinion and this goes no better. First, they assume that Captain Freeman is Captain Janeway, and it still gets worse from there. A Pakled prisoner escapes onto the Cerritos and Ransom and Kayshon are quick to figure out that he’s actually a spy and not an escaped prisoner or revolutionary. It’s not like that’s hard to deduce, though. He did take a picture of his own shoe and demand to see the Warp Core and top-secret Shields. Top notch spy work right there. Captain Freeman and Shaxs only hang around to see if they can still negotiate a cease fire, but also, they want to see if they can learn anything about the Pakleds and their own plans. All while Ransom and Kayshon lose the Pakled and have to chase him down on the ship.

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As for Boimler? He ends up spending the day with a group called the Red Shirts who want to be Captains and help each other to make rank quick. Mostly, they spend the episode giving Boimler a makeover and asking about Riker constantly. They even mold him into something he’s not, all while demeaning his friends and practicing inspirational Captain speeches. It’s all really sad, honestly. Boimler has changed though, and he’s not going to let anyone talk bad about his friends. In the end, it’s Boimler that saves the day. Tendi can’t take Mariner and Rutherfords’ constant whining about their duties for the day, she explodes on them angrily while holding a glowing cube of doom and is turned into a giant scorpion monster.
 
She’s so angry and out of control that she almost hurts some of the crew. While the Red Shirts are busy practicing their heroic inspirational Captains speeches, it’s Boimler who saves the day. Our boy Boims does everything to make Tendi laugh, including covering himself in a mess of replicated food. Tendi does laugh and ends up back to normal.

She admits to signing them up for Anomaly Collection Duty, because she thought it would be fun. Boimler proved that being a Captain is much more than just giving speeches, it’s actions, and every Captain is different. Mariner and Rutherford apologized to Tendi, which they really did need to do. And Captain Freeman? Well, the Pakled Spy was returned to Pakled Planet, and she got him to divulge that the Pakleds were planning to plant a bomb on Earth. So, all in all, the day ended pretty well!

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Pakled Planet, the Pakled Homeworld. No joke. They ACTUALLY named it that.