STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS
SEASON 1, EPISODE 3
SEASON 1, EPISODE 3
Temporal Edict
Series: Star Trek: Lower Decks - (2020 - 2024)Season: 1
Episode #: 3
Original Airdate: August 20th, 2020
Writer(s): Dave Ihlenfeld & David Wright
Director(s): Bob Suarez
Guest Stars
Neil Casey as Gernba
Kevin Michael Richardson as Vindor
Kevin Michael Richardson as Gelrakian #2
Sam Richardson as Ensign Vendome
Jessica McKenna as Ensign Barnes
Jessica McKenna as the Voice of the U.S.S. Cerritos Computer
Jessica McKenna as Gelrakian #1
Michelle Wong as a Starfleet Admiral
Nolan North
Paul Scheer as Lieutenant Commander Andarithio "Andy" Billups
Stardate: 57501.4
Synopsis
As Boimler performs a combination violin and step dance routine to a barely-entertained crowd, he is interrupted by Mariner who launches into a heavy metal riff on her electric guitar. Her bass is so low and loud that it ends up reverberating throughout the entire ship and is even heard by the Klingon ambassador who Captain Freeman is negotiating with.
The Captain sends Shaxs to shut down the music. By the time Shaxs reaches the stage, Mariner has completed her set and Boimler has returned. Shaxs immediately chastises Boimler for being too loud. And Boimler, being the suck-up that he is, apologizes.
Later, while calibrating the brig sensors, Tendi learns about ‘buffer time’ – overexaggerating the time needed to complete a job so that you can chill and hang out in between tasks. While Mariner and the others are enjoying margaritas in the brig, Captain Freeman learns something unfortunate. A Cardassian negotiation she had been preparing for has been moved to Vulcan, and the Cerritos has been reassigned to offer gifts to the Gelrakians.
Freeman is incensed by the disrespect. Starfleet thinks of the Cerritos as a joke. To make matters worse, Freeman sees her crew procrastinating instead of working and overhears the phrase ‘buffer time’. When she’s stuck in the elevator with Boimler, he lets slip that he ‘skipped buffer time’. Now the Captain needs to know what this is all about.
Boimler blabs and the entire ship is given a new mandate – every task must be completed within the time allotted by the higher-ups. While Rutherford is positive the work can be done, the crew quickly reaches the end of their tether. Without the time to relax and recoup, the entire crew is overtired and stressed. They’re on edge, snapping at each other, making mistakes. The only person thriving is… Boimler. He not only finishes all his tasks but keeps taking on more!
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[ Screencap Index ]
While the lower decks are losing their minds, Mariner joins Commander Jack Ransom, for the away mission to gift the Gelrakians. They’re sticklers for crystals, which Ensign Vendome, a Bolian, has carried with him in a box. Ransom is a complete windbag, talking up his previous exploits and sharing way too much information about his previous romances. Mariner can’t stand him, and he can’t stand Mariner.
Once they land, Ransom asks Vendome to offer the Gelrakians a crystal, but to his horror, inside the box is a piece of wood. Overtired Vendome picked up the wrong box. This is a grave insult to the Gelrakians. They capture the away team and threaten them. Between Ransom and Mariner, one of them must battle the local warrior Vindor – if they win, the team can leave; if they lose, not only will Vindor kill the loser, but the rest of the away team will be crushed by a giant crystal.
With this ultimatum, and their respective hero complexes, both Ransom and Mariner rush to volunteer. Mariner tries to convince Ransom that she’s the better fighter; she even has the scars from previous battles to prove it. Just when it seems that Ransom is giving in, he stabs Mariner in the foot and enters the arena. Mariner is very attracted to Ransom breaking the rules and ripping his shirt off to flaunt his giant abs. Ransom makes quick work of Vindor, allowing the team to leave.
While the Gelrakians watch the fight on the planet, they send an armada to board the Cerritos. Freeman, also tired from following the new ‘temporal edict’, watches as her ship is invaded. She commands her crew to continue their work and reach their deadlines. This allows the aliens to wreak havoc on the ship.
Before Freeman knows it, most of the systems are down because the crew are messing up the ship, the bridge crew are unconscious, and the aliens are breaking in. Finally, Boimler finds the Captain and reminds her that while she’s a great captain, she needs to have faith in her crew’s ability to manage themselves. Freeman agrees; she reinstalls buffer time and allows the crew to use their own discretion to get rid of the aliens. Newly independent, the crew beat back the invaders and save the ship.
The away team returns to the Cerritos and offers the real gift to the aliens. Back on the ship, it seems that Ransom and Mariner have a healthy new respect for each other, but then he throws her in the brig for disobeying his direct order to roll down her sleeves. Seething, Mariner claims to love the brig and valiantly fights the officers dragging her away, leaving Ransom to see Mariner in a new and attractive light.
Freeman is so impressed by Boimler’s encouraging words that saved the day, she institutes a new rule, the ‘Boimler Effect’. According to this rule, all crew are encouraged to think for themselves and not blindly follow rules and commands. This is the very opposite of how Boimler works and he is horrified. The rest of the lower decks joke that the new rule will be forgotten, but in the far future, young Starfleet cadets are taught about this important rule and how it was named after the laziest crew member in all of Starfleet.
Trailer
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