TL;DR –  A charming clip of friends stuck in a cave.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

As Season Four of Star Trek Lower Decks progresses, I have been genuinely joyful about how the shake-up of promoting the team has let the show evolve its dynamic. But never one to shy away from a good reference. This week, we get not one but two deep cuts as we dive into the world of Star Trek caves.

So to set the scene, we open on the planet of Grottonus as the USS Cerritos orbits above. It has been an age since they were promoted, and for the first time, the old lower decks team of Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) have all been put on the same away mission. Mariner is ecstatic right up until she discovers that it is a “cave mission”. Everyone else loves caves, but like clockwork, there is a tremor, and the away team is trapped. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.       

When I saw this episode was called Caves, I could not help but get a smile on my face. Much like Stargate, always located in pine forests, any Cave in Star Trek looked the same. Namely, because they were generally filmed on the same set [Paramount Stage 18 for those playing at home]. Now, have some genuinely profound episodes of Star Trek occurred in caves? Yes. I raise you, Deep Space Nine’s The Sound of Her Voice. But many sillies also happened there, and this episode perfectly captures this.

While this episode is a commentary on how often people randomly go into caves that magically lose all contact with the outside world. It also takes a stab at the most despised episode format on television … the clip show. Clip shows are usually used to pad out the budget because you just get to reuse old footage. It has been used across television, but this is only the third time it has happened in Star Trek after the reviled Shades of Gray and the slightly better received The Menagerie. But unlike these and like that one episode of Community, this is a clip show made up of new material as we visit Kyron 4, Balkus 9 & Glish.

However, while the setting of this episode was a commentary on caves and clip shows, the content explored that this group has not been together for a while. There was a relatable feeling when a friend group came back together and discovered everyone had their own personal stories. Are the stories ridiculous? Of course. But they are also fun and fit well into the universe. This episode only works because you care for the characters and love their stories, even if they are super silly.

In the end, do we recommend Caves? Of course. Look, I am not sure this will be the strongest episode this season, but it was a lot of fun. Also, it was placed at the right part of the season as we dive into the final couple of episodes.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Star Trek: Lower Decks yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Star Trek: Lower Decks
Directed by – Megan Lloyd
Written by – Ben Rodgers
Created by – Mike McMahan
Based Upon – Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
Production/Distribution Companies – Secret Hideout, Titmouse, CBS Studios & Amazon Prime.
Starring – Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noël Wells, Eugene Cordero, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore & Gillian Vigman with Asif Ali, Zach Cherry, Artemis Pebdani & Paul Scheer