As someone whose dissertation is on conspiracy theories, I gotta say: The writers did a great job at essentially summarizing the current literature:

“I thought you were just a paranoid anxiety made up by people who needed an imagined enemy to simulate order on unrelated disasters so life doesn't feel so random and chaotic!” (Boimler, S04E08)

That was good and wholesome... they're going to hurt us in the next episode aren't they?

ETA: also, no ships were stolen this time. Thoughts?

This episode gave me such joy. I feel like Lower Decks leans a lot into the outrageous stories, like last week’s Evil Computer and Peanut Hamper thing. Those episodes are fun, but they lean pretty hard into that Rick and Morty humor.

This episode felt like a Star Trek episode. Mocking the over reliance on cave sets was a great premise, but from there we had a good episode showcasing several minor characters interacting with our main cast. It was a great way to allow them to branch out while sticking to the core relationship between the characters.

On top of that, the jokes were funny. I almost didn’t stop laughing at the subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at cave episodes throughout the years.

Personally, I’d like more episodes like this. It really showcases what is great about this show.

It was nice to see a somewhat T’Ana centered story. Assuming she appears at all, she’s either making out with Shaxs or doing cat things.

Surprised it took so long to meet Levy. It played out as one might expect.

Glad we got some quality time with Delta Shift. We’ve had a few episodes featuring them, but they’re mostly off screen or limited to short exchanges.

As a whole package, I don’t think this episode worked as well as Veritas. There wasn’t a central story tying the four tales together. You could probably cut the hub tale, and possibly Tendi’s turbo lift tale, and not lose anything of value.

Caves really are the worst, though.

I really liked this and found it sweet.

As others have said, we haven’t seen many of these kind of recounting experiences episodes, but in this transition season it feels like we’re owed one.

While we could have just seen more of the main four leading others in B & C plots, this allowed them and us to take stock of their progress as leaders - except Tendi, but I think we saw a different angle on leadership from her on Orion.

Where the devil has T'Lyn been for the past 2 eps? I'm actually totally fine without her being in the show in every episode. Makes the world feel more lived in knowing people have other responsibilities, and the like. After all, they probably have a life off screen.

Anyway, fantastic episode. The idea of parodying a clipshow episode but with original content, I love it. Almost wish they lampshaded Shades of Gray which was the Season 2 clipshow which didn't make a lot of sense as there wasn't enough show to clip from.

This was a nice wholesome episode.

Tendi's bit was wholesome, but this was a weaker episode overall IMO. I get what they were going for, the jokes just didn't really land for me.

Annotations up at: https://startrek.website/post/2829352

Those flat floors...