This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Star Trek: Lower Decks has shown glimpses of the pirate within D’Vana Tendi. The brilliant but usually mild mannered and reserved science officer has reverted to her stereotypical Orion tendencies on occasion when circumstances call for it. In “Something Borrowed, Something Green,” we see even more of that side.
Tendi is given leave time to attend her sister’s wedding back home on Orion. Mariner and T’Lyn accompany her hoping to learn more about one of Star Trek’s more secretive alien races. When Tendi and her friends arrive, her parents inform her that her sister has been kidnapped. It’s going to take the Mistress of the Winter Constellations to get her sibling back safely.
Lower Decks plays off of the contrasts of Tendi’s current and past life. There’s the laughs of having a huge science nerd turning into a kick ass warrior that producers fear in her people. She goes from one lead and crazy situation to the next that escalates at each stop. But it does reveal more about the culture. Mariner and T’Lyn journey mirrors the viewer as we’re all experiencing it for the first time.
But beneath the surface is a more personal and intimate story of family and expectations. Tendi sacrificed in order to pursue her career in Starfleet, and it put a strain on her relationships. But she also has faith in her loved ones, particularly her sister, that they are strong enough to endure and carry on without her. Even though Tendi isn’t as physically present now that she’s in Starfleet, there is still a love and bond between them. A more tender and sentimental moment for the animated comedy.
Elsewhere, Rutherford and Boimler hope to implement their methods of conflict resolution as roommates on a bigger scale. It gives an opportunity for Eugene Cordero and Jack Quaid to cut loose with fun accents and shenanigans, but the actual story is so silly, random, and out there that it’s hard to believe anyone would humor the idea for an important negotiation with actual hostiles. Maybe the triviality is to offset the family drama and reflection in the main storyline.
“Something Borrowed, Something Green” highlights how much of a physical bad ass that Tendi is while exploring her familial relations and the Orion people as a whole.
New episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks are released Thursdays on Paramount+.
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