Lower Decks Season 5 Returns To A Forgotten Season 1 Planet

Red alert! This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”

If “Lower Decks” had to end with its fifth and final season, at least it continues to go out on the highest of notes (as /Film’s Jacob Hall noted in his review) with a string of episodes that feel as fitting as can be. In recent weeks, episodes have shown some love to the under-appreciated Upper Deckers on the USS Cerritos, brought back a fan-favorite character from “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and even broke format to deliver a long-overdue Klingon storyline. Creator Mike McMahan and his entire writing team couldn’t have planned out a more satisfying arc if they’d tried — especially considering the fact that, sadly, the show’s abrupt cancellation caught everyone by surprise. Still, that hasn’t slowed down the show’s momentum one bit as we barrel towards the finish line.

Judging by the most recent and penultimate episode of the series, titled “Fissure Quest,” things are coming full-circle in ways that even the biggest Trekkies couldn’t have expected. In the latest adventure, our main crew all take a seat on the sidelines in favor of a multiverse story that sure feels relevant right now. The action begins with the clone of our very own Ensign Boimler (Jack Quaid), the previously-introduced William Boimler who ended up being recruited into the shadowy Section 31, taking command of an interdimensional rescue op seeking to repair damage to the multiverse caused by parties unknown. When they chase down the offender, their resulting battle forces them to crash land on a particularly boggy planet … one that eagle-eyed viewers might remember we’ve visited before.

In one of the show’s deepest cuts, we return to the planet Khwopa from a “Lower Decks” season 1 episode that played a foundational role in Beckett Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) character development.

Do you ever stop to think about how far our Lower Deckers have come? This misfit group of ensigns have been through quite a lot over the years, and this week’s episode of “Lower Decks” found a typically cheeky way to remind viewers of that fact. While the multiverse storyline that’s included so many fun cameos (and ended on a cliffhanger to be concluded in next week’s series finale) takes up much of the spotlight, one key location serves as more than just the setting for the action. As it turns out, the swamp planet Khwopa that our interdimensional crew crash-lands on is one that fans have seen before. And, as luck would have it, this was also a significant episode in the show’s early run that helped define who Mariner would become.

A bog planet. Why’d it have to be a bog planet? If you didn’t quite get why alt-universe Mariner wastes no time declaring that “Stupid bog planets are the worst,” a refresher might be in order. In the seventh episode of season 1, titled “Much Ado About Boimler,” an unexpected encounter with an old friend helps put Mariner’s irresponsible ways in perspective. Amina Warren (Toks Olagundoye), Mariner’s former partner in crime who has since risen up the ranks all the way to the captaincy, assumes temporary command of the Cerritos and brings her pal (whom she promotes to First Officer) on an away mission to repair a waste pipe for the benevolent salamander-like aliens known as Khwopans. Here, Mariner displays just how much growing up she needs to do and proves utterly unhelpful in a crisis. (You can actually watch the episode with a free Paramount+ trial here.)

Fast forward a few years later, and alt-universe Mariner instantly remembers this bog planet (and how much she hates it, calling back to her season 1 line about how these planets are “the worst kind of planets, as far as planets go”), though the results are much better this time around. Seriously, give that episode a revisit and prepare to be floored by the well-rounded individuals they’ve all become since then. 

We have just one more episode of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” to go, and it’s slated to premiere next Thursday, December 19, on Paramount+.