Fletcher

Story: Terminal Provocations

Written By: John Cochran

Series: Star Trek: Lower Decks

Year: 2020

While the Cerritos is disputing some space debris is an alien trying to salvage some old Starfleet property, Boimler and Mariner deal with the consequences of relying on Fletcher, a fellow Lower Decker that went to the academy with Boimler and is mow doing his best to pitch in and help them out whenever he can. Unfortunately, when he takes up the task of working on some cores while they go to a concert, he ends up connecting his brain to the core to make himself smarter, and it instead makes the core sentient and evil. 

On the holodeck Rutherford attempts to impress Tendi with his new educational program called “Badgy,” but when the ship gets knocked around and the safety protocols go offline, Badgy goes nuts and tried to kill them. I think the idea of a Starfleet equivalent to the old Microsoft Word paperclip going crazy and trying to murder you is fun, once again making the Rutherford/Tendi B-plot somewhat more interesting than the Boimler/Mariner A-plot. Though at least this week no one is as over the top annoying as the usually are. This week it is Fletcher who seems to dumb to be in Starfleet. It is just a shame that this show makes Starfleet seem to dumb to exist. 

We are now past the halfway point of the first season. I am mostly watching out of obligation. I am unsure if the show’s first season fails to impress in any way near the end if I should even bother to continue. I highly doubt I will see some massive change in style going forward. The show has it’s fans from what I have seen...but it is just generally failing to grab me.

NEXT TIME: Upgrading the Dog