Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Because the mystery ship has been interfering with their trade routes, Ferenginar has decided to finally join with the Federation, with Captain Freeman and an Admiral there to lead negotiations, though they are jerked around at every turn due to Ferengis being master swindlers. Meanwhile, the LJGs head to the planet for cultural study, with Boimler binging Ferrengi TV, Mariner still feeling her urge to rebel and ruin situations that are actually good, and Rutherford and Tendi faking being a couple to get a discount, which seems to stir up some unprocessed feelings.

OUR TAKE

We got another mystery ship scene that was the same scene again but with Ferengi this time, and it will apparently not be the last species we see in this format. Four episodes left until the finale and still no clue who’s behind this, though I have my fears it will be another deepcut reference pretending to be an actual joke. Thankfully this episode avoids that this week, including with characters who were actually introduced in Deep Space Nine, with that detail not even brought up and their presence simply being because their roles made their involvement in the episode’s plot a reason for them to be there. It’s weird how the episodes focusing on stuff that is DS9 related are able to just exist in this show without previous knowledge being necessary, but whenever something from Voyager comes up, it is basically begging you to do homework in order to understand what is going on. I still have not seen Deep Space Nine or Voyager at the time of this writing, though I have heard good things about both and plan to watch them in full some day. But not today. So, I hope Lower Decks can stop pointing to things I have no knowledge of and just let me enjoy the show for its own merits.

But yeah, this episode’s jokes are all Ferengi related, just like ones two weeks ago were all Orion related. Though instead of being pirates like the Orions, the Ferengi are capitalists who are only slightly less insidious than the ones in real life. Every joke about price gouging or lost profits or shows about cop landlords do bring out a genuine chuckle followed shortly by a sigh at the world we live in. And if that were all we had to look at, that would be okay, but we also get some thorough character work for three of the four mains (and no T’Lyn this week, apparently). The main plot focuses on the adorable awkwardness and escalation as Rutherford and Tendi pretend to be a couple but find things getting uncomfortable fast. Not just because of needing to be publicly intimate and affectionate under threat of imprisonment, but also that they may have some feelings for each other they haven’t quite figured out yet. And I know I’d fake a relationship with Tendi in a heartbeat so Rutherford better figure his shit out fast. The B-plot involves Mariner, as mentioned, still feeling urges to mess with things and not trust that things are actually working out with her, which I’m sure will be brought up later in the season so I’ll leave that for now. Four episodes to go!