Value SubtractedEpisode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x04 "Something Borrowed, Something Green"
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Annotations for *Star Trek: Lower Decks* 4x04: “Something Borrowed, Something Green” (SPOILERS) - Star Trek: Website
The title is a play on the wedding rhyme/tradition, dating back to 19th Century England, of the bride wearing “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue (and a sixpence in her shoe),” for good luck. The green, of course, refers to the pigmentation of Orions. The ship seems to be a new class of Orion Interceptor with some extra added bits, the original design of which dates back to the 22nd Century (ENT: “Borderland”). The female Orion plays with a TOS style phaser pistol and then tosses it in the trash. Mariner calls Tendi “D”, which is a reminder that her full name is D’vana Tendi. Tendi refers to Orion “belly dancer outfits” (TOS: “The Cage”, “Whom Gods Destroy”, ENT: “Bound”). Mariner says she has put her foot in her mouth about Orion culture enough times (LD: “Crisis Point”, and Boimler did the same in SNW: “Those Old Scientists”, when both assumed all Orions were pirates). This is the first time we’ve heard of Andorian linen, but Andorian silk was also prized as a fabric (DS9: “Q-Less”). On the shelves we see Boimler’s plate of the Cerritos, his figures of Mirror Archer, Spock in his monster maroons and Data holding a phaser rifle (LD: “I Have No Bones and I Must Flee”) and his “Boimler Effect” plaque (LD: “Temporal Edict”). On Rutherford’s side we see his DS9 model (and box) from LD: “Hear All, Trust Nothing” and a replica of Wesley Crusher’s tractor beam emitter model from TNG: “The Naked Now” (also seen in “I Have No Bones…”) Grandmama Boimler said, “A cool duvet keeps the raisin rats away.” The Boimler family owns a raisin vineyard on Earth (LD: “Grounded”). “Lil Boney” the bonsai belongs to Boimler, who acquired it reluctantly in LD: “We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”. As the Yosemite II shuttle approaches Orion, we see a space station in orbit and also an Orion barge, resembling that piloted by Orion privateer Harrad-Sar in “Bound”. In Star Trek Online the 25th Century version is known as a Blackguard-class Flight Deck Assault Cruiser. We see an Orion riding a purple rhino with two horns and two tusks. One of Tendi’s titles is “Mistress of the Winter Constellations” (“We’ll Always Have Tom Paris”). We learn that Tendi’s parents are the Warrior Queen Shona and B’Rt. Harrad-Sar alleged in “Bound” that while most of the galaxy harbors the misconception that Orion women are slaves, it is actually the females who dominate the males via their pheromones. Symbolic bridal kidnappings (as opposed to actual ones, which are considered sex crimes) are still part of some cultures on Earth. In the case of Orions, the kidnapping is done by a rival family between the save the date and the issuing of the invitations. Tendi is Prime Daughter. The real Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) appeared in TNG: “Time’s Arrow”. Comparing the lettering with the name of the bar (“Slit Throat”), the Orion alphabet is a straight one-for-one substitution with English (like Gorn script in SNW). New Seattle is located on Penthara IV (TNG: “A Matter of Time”). T’Lyn observes the Orion males in the “scentuary” are under the influence of chemicals, possibly pheromones. Mariner claims that Starfleet made that up to explain why a starship captain could be taken down by “show girls”, referring to the events of “Bound”, but is proven wrong. Tendi clarifies that only some Orions control other through pheromones, but not her. Ingreeta later claims Tendi doesn’t have the pheromones (but didn’t need it). Coqqor is a Chalnoth (TNG: “Allegiance”) and claims to be from South Chalnoth, although the name of the planet is Chalna. Coqqor could be referring to a region or a city on Chalna. The ship that Tendi says was one her and D’Erika’s favorites appears to be of the same class as the SS Raven owned by Seven of Nine’s family (VOY: “The Raven”). Tendi was raised as a Syndicate assassin, a “prime”, to be the Tip of the Moonlit Blade. If we’re keeping score, I think Mariner gets stabbed four times in the shoulder (at the Slit Throat, the scentuary, by D’Erika and at the daughter-daddy dance). While Mozart has never appeared on Star Trek, many of his works have been heard over the course of the series in episodes.
StillPaisleyCatThanks as always.
This episode will take a few watches to catch all the jam-packed Orion details.
CeruleanRuinStill waiting for someone to decode the Orion text on the invitation and sedan chair.
@[email protected] has this covered.
See his post.
It looks like the Orion alphabet and language has a one-to-one correlation with English, just for laughs.
Jörg Hillebrand (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image · Content warning: #StarTrekLowerDecks spoilers
WoosterI liked the little look into the lower decks of the Orions, especially the plagiarism line; but the mysterious ship is getting less mysterious in the not-so-fun way.
Boimler and Rutherford are absolute dweebs. It was different having such a low stakes B-Plot. I feel like their story was missing a little something though. Still good fun.
Really enjoyed the A-Plot. Tendi does such a great job balancing being sunshine and rainbows and underworld assassin. I’m a little surprised her ride home wasn’t stolen/stripped for parts.
It was weird seeing T’Lyn, not just admit, but volunteer that she was friends with Mariner and Tendi. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a Vulcan do that. I mean, sure Spock and Tuvok have admitted they were friends with their respective captains, but only ever in some form of private non-sexual intimacy. But, as established, T’Lyn is a rebel, so it somehow fits her really well.
The Bard in GreenI’d like to see T’Lyn go more and more renegade through association with the LD crew just eroding her Vulcan discipline. Then have her parents show up and accuse her of acting like a Romulan or something.
Dharma CuriousOh that’s absolutely perfect. I’d love that at the end of this season or the start of the next.
T’Lyn is fitting in perfectly. The way she deadpanned “losing” her notes and then immediately explained her choice as a straightforward matter of ethics was fantastic.
I’m a little surprised her ride home wasn’t stolen/stripped for parts.
Fifth most powerful family in the Orion crime syndicate. The people who are above Tendi in the social hierarchy don’t need it, those below probably like living.
What was revealed about the ship? It always does the same thing.
That it’s not immediately blasting every ship it comes near. It was either oblivious to their presence or ignoring them outright, until they were dumb enough to threaten it.
This was actually possibly my favourite episode this season.
- I loved T’Lyn loosening up and allowing herself to be real friends with Tendi and Mariner.
- I loved the modern extrapolation of the Orion world building from Enterprise. The nightclub and the BDSM pheromone dungeon were both hilarious and believably what Orions would be doing a couple hundred years later.
- I loved the Syndicate crime lords being like "also, we want you to get your shit out of the garage."
- While I thought the girl’s story line was way more fun than the boy’s story line, that was because the boy’s story line was par for the course good Lower Decks content, while the girl’s story line was top shelf. Boimler and Rutherford both playing Mark Twain was hilarious.
UESPA_SputnikBDSM pheromone dungeon
In the subtitles it was spelled “scentuary”. Neat little pun.
Yeah, I wouldn’t have noticed the pun without reading the subtitles.
NmyownworldLower Decks continues to shine. I enjoy finally being shown aspects Orion culture, beyond being considered, " … delinquents, pirates, slave traders." (DSC s1e15, although the same perception about Orions is held throughout Star Trek). The expansion of Tendi’s background is great. I’m hoping for more on Orion in Star Trek’s future. Poor Mariner, lol.
Getting to see Boimler and Rutherford settle in as roommates made for a nice B story. That got me wondering again about Mariner and Tendi’s new quarters since their promotions. And, T’Lyn’s.
The mysterious ship of destruction is getting old for me. When only ten, twenty-five minutes each, episodes are considered a season, there’s little time to dilly-dally around with story telling. I’m just hoping this tease doesn’t continue to be unexplained until another season.
To bad there wasn’t time in “wej Duj” (LD s2e9) for an Orion Lower Decks segment. Now, I’m just waiting for an appropriate situation to say, " … that makes you more of an Orion plagiarist."
Honestly, whilst it would be nice for the mysterious ship of destruction to actually reach the central plot someone soon, I’m enjoying the little snapshots into lower deck life on other ships. It’s a shame it always inevitably ends with vaporisation.
I was hoping the little ship of doom is using unfamiliar tech to transport the people on the destroyed ships somewhere. Mainly because of Ma’ah and the Che’Ta’, and now the Orions. But, I’m leaning more towards destruction, than transporting. On the plus side, I have an astonishingly consistent track record of being wrong when guessing story points. Fingers crossed that my streak continues.
I think they’ve been hinting that it transports since no bodies are visible in the debris, but a decent amount of organic material, like the wooden spear shaft, has survived.
In this one, it looked an awful lot like they got dusted, to me.
ProuvaireI would prefer this, I think, because I've been having trouble reconciling a sitcom spending a few minutes most episodes this season racking up a body count that would now be in the hundreds, or even thousands.
As a franchise, of course, Star Trek can handle both silly comedy and lethal brutality (and even Lower Decks has successfully juggled in a few serious scenes amongst the comedy, at times), but the way these vignettes have been inserted into the A plots this season is like if in "The Trouble with Tribbles" Arne Darvin had been gang-raped just before the credits rolled.
It would explain why he needed the orb of time so bad.
I thought it seemed like V'Ger's data storage attack, though V'Ger stored entire ships (even planets), leaving no debris.
spoilerGood call!
spoilerWoot! Woot! My ability to incorrectly guess a storyline remains true. LOL!
jaelispThese snapshots, combined with Wej du, are the best intro for new people into different Trek species. I love them and I want as many more as possible. Give me Cardassians, Ferengi, Jem’Hadar!
Some of them, notably the Romulans, were a little stereotypey. I know they’re going for funny, but it’s Star Trek, makes me feel weird.
Collectively, each of the races in Star Trek have their own thing that they do. Individually, some lean more into it than others, but that’s the way they go, pretty much.
“Weird is our business,” sayeth Janeway.
Captain Freeman referenced it destroying the Orion ship in the intro, so it’s making its way toward the plot. Or the Cerritos is making its way to the plot.
" … delinquents, pirates, slave traders." (DSC s1e15, although the same perception about Orions is held throughout Star Trek).
It seems that Orion culture internally looks down on those who want to be in the sciences, but it’s Tendi’s grandmother that shows the galaxy that they are not all just pirates. Some several years after DSC S1, in SNW S2.
It’s clearly there to seed some ongoing mystery to be resolved in the finale. This show doesn’t really do long-form storytelling except in very broad strokes.
Loved this one, prob my favorite of the season so far. We’ve had Tendi’s attitude towards her own Orion heritage hanging over her character this entire show (plus a touch of SNW), so it’s fun to finally dive deeper. I like how T’lyn was used here-- basically as a manifestation of Tendi’s her friends prying into her personal life. I wasn’t expecting Mariner’s main role this episode to be running gag, but hey, it worked.
The plot resolution (at least on the character arc side) wasn’t super surprising, but I think it works and goes beyond where we last left the thread of Tendi’s pirate identity in season 3. On DS9 it felt like she just saw herself as a trained pirate trying to be a scientist, here we have the gang affirming that the scientist is Tendi’s real self. For those of you reading queer allegories onto Tendi, this episode just makes them all the deeper.
The Brutherford B-plot was incredibly silly, even as LD plots go. It’s not deep, but I think it was just audaciously funny enough to work. I was skeptical of how they just yadda-yadda’d past the guys’ conflict resolution on the holodeck. I think it works because it heightens captain Freeman’s (and the audience’s) disbelief that they’d expect their petty Seinfeld shenanigans would translate to any useful diplomatic measures.
Other notes:
- The big guy from the B-plot friggin’ threw Shaxs. might be the first time we’ve seen Shaxs succumb to the so-called Worf effect
- Tendi’s great-grandmother Astrea had the same title Mistress of the Winter Constellations, and if the bouncer’s reaction is any indication it’s related to D’vana being her family’s prime–does that imply Astrea also had a similar path in life before ending up on the science ship D’Var?
I agree that Mariner’s role in the episode was nothing but a running gag, but I have to point out what an exceptionally well written running gag it was, both in terms of her character and her character development over the course of the series.
Mariner’s behavior in this episode tells us two things about her. First, she’s the type of person who can get stabbed three times in a single day and (mostly) shrug it off. This isn’t really a surprise. She’s has always been both tough and resourceful, but she’s also impulsive and emotional which too often results in her messing things up. Not this time though, and that’s the second thing the episode tells us. Mariner is maturing. In past seasons a knife in her shoulder would have resulted in either a fight or a great deal of grandstanding about what a badass she is for not caring that she got stabbed, but not this time. This time Mariner knows that she’s only here to support her friend.
Mariner is the running gag in this episode because now, perhaps for the first time, she can handle being the running gag. She knows that this adventure is about Tendi, and she’s not going to derail it over a little thing like getting stabbed three times.
T’Lyn was such a wild woman this week. Admiring Ny’aal’s appearance, telling Tendi that what matters is being a loyal friend, and then tossing that report out of the ship with a flimsy justification. OUT OF CONTROL I TELL YOU!
She has lost ALL control eyebrow
Mariner really shouldn’t be pulling out those knives, especially the ones with serrated hooks on the back. That just seems like a recipe for severe bleeding.
Tendi is a medical officer; she probably has it covered.
Interestingly enough at no point did Tendi ever actually do anything about the wounds.
It was cool to see a Raven-class again!
That was the stolen ship at the end?
Unnamed Raven type starships
List of unnamed Raven-type starships. This starship was located in the ship graveyard on the surface of Orion. In 2381, it was partially restored and used to fly D'Vana Tendi, her sister D'Erika Tendi, Beckett Mariner, and T'Lyn back from the graveyard to the Tendi estate in time for D'Erika's wedding. En route, the plasma manifold ruptured and crashed short of its destination. (LD: "Something Borrowed, Something Green")
I laughed out loud when that alien ate their bonsai. fucking love this show.
RIP Little Boney
So… what’s up with the big bad ship of destruction? Any thoughts?
Assuming they’re not going to introduce a new species I was thinking The Breen. As they seem to like to develop some of the less well used but established species
I would love to see the Breen taken on seriously, and had hoped they were the big bad in Picard S3. This doesn’t have the feel of them at all though.
Perhaps Matalas can take a lead out of the Relaunch novelverse Typhon Pact books and give us some serious Breen machinations.
My assumption is that it’s a collector module for some advanced race. Destroys ships but transports the crews to a cosmic menagerie.
Moopsy!
Ensign RickLoved the episode. Finally getting some Orion lore was awesome. Tendi is a bad ass. Loved it.