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On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver tackled the U.S. government & media's generational misinformation efforts toward UFO eyewitnesses.
Posted in: Paramount+, Review, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: Eugene Cordero, Jack Quaid, Jerry O'Connell, noel wells, paramount, Review, star trek, star trek: Lower Decks, Tawny Newsome
Star Trek: Lower Decks S04E01/E02 Review: Voyager Love & Growing Pains
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 premiere episodes "Twovix" & "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Fleet" prove a blend of nightmare fuel & cute chaos.
Just when you think Star Trek: Lower Decks will start to mellow out in the fourth season, you have another thing coming. Who are we kidding? It's franchise chaos incarnate. Paramount+ premiered the first two episodes of the Mike McMahan animated series in "Twovix" and "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee." At the very least, there's a definitive next chapter for the ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D'Vana Tendi (Noël Wells), and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero). The following contains minor spoilers for the episodes.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: "Twovix" – A Love Letter to 'Voyager'
As the title suggests, "Twovix" is a direct reference to the season two episode "Tuvix" which found the U.S.S. Voyager's security officer Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) and the ship's Talaxian/Mylean chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips) fused into a singular being as Tuvix (Tom Wright), who shares the memories and traits of both. The Lower Decks season four premiere, directed by Barry J. Kelly and Jason Zurek, manages to turn this concept of the Mike McMahan-written "Twovix" into a comedic version of John Carpenter's The Thing meets The Last of Us to prepare you for the upcoming nightmare fuel ahead. The secondary arc is a plethora of Easter eggs gone berserk throughout the Voyager before it's formally retired and displayed on Earth before its final voyage into the fleet museum.
The episode completely strips away the ethical issues the UPN series spent the better part of the episode and turns it into an absurd horror comedy. Keeping up that horror theme is the follow-up episode "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee," written by Aaron Burdette and directed by Megan Lloyd. The Lower Deckers find themselves in an unfamiliar position as Rutherford tries to catch up and the rest of them adjust to their new arrangement, with Mariner being the most insecure. We do see Jerry O'Connell's Cmdr. Jack Ransom is more the focus as we see him and her bump heads. At least that's a refreshing change compared to her mother, Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis).
Give Us Moopsy Plushes
While Lower Decks has a knack for going in circles, it does plow on ahead while thriving in its chaos, like McMahan's previous series, Adult Swim's Rick & Morty. The second episode focuses on Rutherford trying to play catchup with Tendi trying to help, Boimler getting used to his new quarters, and Mariner and Ransom on an away mission with uncertain danger in a menagerie while traumatizing a new ensign. One final thing of mention is the small deadly Pokémon-worthy creature of the week is the moopsy that sucks the bones out of its victims in the cutest way possible. It would be a grievous mistake if Paramount didn't release that plush ASAP. "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee" is more focused than "Twovix," but still gives us the much-needed Star Trek fix since the season two finale of Strange New Worlds – not to mention that we have a season-long arc for the crew of the Cerritos to confront. But for now, things have started off on a strong note. Star Trek: Lower Decks streams on Thursdays on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4 Episode: "Twovix" & Episode 2: "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee"
7.5/10
The two-episode season four premiere of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Lower Decks picks up where previous seasons' left off, but with one big twist: promotions for the ensigns and how they'll have to cope as a group. "Tuvix" doesn't really re-examine the ethical issues as much as it just cobbles them together like John Carpenter's "The Thing" and "The Last of Us Part II's" Rat King. But the more story-driven "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee" provides a new dynamic to Jerry O'Connell's Jack Ranson and Tawny Newsome's Beckett Mariner.
Credits
Directors
Barry J. Kelly, Jason Zurek, Megan Lloyd
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