History Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS2E04MugatoGumato

* {{Expy}}: With his Australian accent and a cheerful attitude towards dangerous animals, Patingi the Tellarite seems to be one to the late Creator/SteveIrwin.

* TakeThatUs: Freeman decides to gift Hyde a new shuttle to replace the one that he lost. When Ransom asks what they'll tell Starfleet, she says they'll write it off as being lost to a black hole, which Ransom notes is a fairly common occurrence. Destroying shuttles was a common action sequence in ''TNG'', ''[=DS9=]'', and ''Voyager'', which was especially notable in the latter because they somehow managed to keep replacing them while in the Delta Quadrant.

* MythologyGag: The mugato first appeared in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]:'' "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E19APrivateLittleWar A Private Little War]]". The gumato first appeared in… that same episode; that's technically the creature's real name, according to the closing credits, but Creator/DeForestKelley had trouble with the word and Roddenberry left it in. This is why there's NoPronunciationGuide for the creature's name.

* NoPronunciationGuide: InUniverse, there's all sorts of different ways to pronounce "mugato". Shaxs can't even keep it consistent from sentence to sentence.

* WidelySpacedJailBars: The bars on the cage that the Ferengi keep Mariner and Shaxs in are spaced wide enough that Mariner should be able to just walk through, and even Shaxs might be reasonably able to sidle out. As is usual with this trope, you're clearly not supposed to acknowledge it.

* WhipItGood: The Ferengi energy whip returns, which is another checkmark for these guys being Last Outpost style throwbacks.

The crew is sent to investigate a mugato sighting, Boimler and Rutherford hear a rumor about Mariner, and Tendi learns to assert herself.

* BaitAndSwitch: Boimler and Rutherford storm the cages and point what looks like a bamboo bazooka at the Ferengi… and then reveal that it's a holoprojector for their presentation on why running a mugato preserve would earn them more money than selling their horns.

* StagedPedestrianAccident: The ''Cerritos'' accidentally disintegrates a man's ship when trying to tow it in, and have to give him one of their shuttles as well as Freeman's mementos to make up for it. Then Admiral Freeman calls in to warn her about a scam where people set their ships to self-destruct in a tractor beam to guilt-trip the crew that caused it into reimbursing them, and Captain Freeman promptly tows him in and sentences the man to work in the new Mugato preserve.

* TakeThatUs: Freeman decides to gift the scammer a new shuttle to replace the one that he lost. When Ransom asks what they'll tell Starfleet, she says they'll write it off as being lost to a black hole, which Ransom notes is a fairly common occurrence. Destroying shuttles was a common action sequence in ''TNG'', ''[=DS9=]'', and ''Voyager'', which was especially notable in the latter because they somehow managed to keep replacing them while in the Delta Quadrant.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Captain Freeman nearly becomes a victim of one, if not for a timely call from her husband warning about the scam. She quickly recaptures him and presses him into the service of the Ferengi, shoveling mugato dung.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Mariner acts completely baffled by the rules of the economics game that Boimler and Rutherford are playing, which makes it easy for them to hide that she's somehow winning.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Captain Freeman nearly becomes a victim of one, if not for a timely call from her husband warning about the scam. She quickly recaptures him and presses him into the service of the Ferengi shoveling mugato dung.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Mariner acts completely baffled by the rules of the economics game Boimler and Rutherford are playing, which makes it easy for them to hide the fact that she's somehow winning.

* BaitAndSwitch: Boimler and Rutherford storm the cages and point what looks like a bamboo bazooka at the Ferengi… and then reveal it's a holoprojector for their presentation on why running a mugato preserve would earn them more money than selling their horns.

* TheBusCameBack: This episode not only marks the return of the Mugato since the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E19APrivateLittleWar A Private Little War]]" but also a Kzinti, who hadn't been seen in the franchise since the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS1E14TheSlaverWeapon The Slaver Weapon]]"
* ChekhovsSkill: Boimler and Rutherford are playing an economics board game early on called "Diplomath". During the climax, they use the principles of the board game to negotiate with the Ferengi.

** Boimler and Rutherford's holoprojector visually resembles the bamboo cannon Kirk made to fight the Gorn.
** Mariner, Boimler and Rutherford practice [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E14TheIcarusFactor anbo-jyutsu]].
** When discussing the possibility of Mariner being [[ManchurianAgent a trained secret agent,]] Boimler and Rutherford mention [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Tuvok infiltrating the Maquis]] and how Starfleet Intelligence [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E15HonorAmongThieves would sometimes use undercover agents as well]].

** Boimler and Rutherford mention that a compromise is an agreement neither side is happy with. This references what [[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E015CeaseFire Archer said to Shran and Soval during their negotiations]].

* EveryoneHasStandards: While extremely adverse to having her medical scan done and initially skeptical, T'Ana immediately moves to help the moment it's apparent Tendi is actually seriously hurt.
* EvilPoacher: The Ferengi are hunting the mugato for their horns, even though Mariner points out they could just replicate them. Boimler and Rutherford convince the Ferengi that making the planet into a preserve and then marketing the hell out of it would be a more profitable venture.

* FictionalBoardGame: Boimler and Rutherford are playing a board game called "Diplomath", where is simulates negotiating a business contract with math and graphing involved where the objective is to close on a deal acceptable to all parties, even if all the players are losing. Their knowledge of the game helps them negotiate with the Ferengi poachers to free their crewmates and convince them to give up poaching and open a preserve for the mugato.

* FurryReminder: T'Ana is both a doctor doing the typical act of avoiding a check up because she believes she would know if she had a problem and also a cat avoiding a trip to the vet. She even hisses, meows and runs on all fours while avoiding Tendi.

** While Boimler grew his on the ''Titan'', this is the first time Mariner sees evidence of it.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: At the beginning, Boimler and Rutherford are confident of faring better than usual in their Anbo-jytsu match with Mariner, as they've been training hard since the last match, and snarkily tell her to "[[TemptingFate take off the kid gloves]]". Turns out she's been going easy on them, and proceeds to wipe the floor with both of them.
* ImpaledPalm: Mariner does this to Rutherford with half of her broken Anbo staff after cutting loose. Shaxs just casually ignores it since they still have the court for ten minutes.
* MacGyvering: Boimler and Rutherford rig a bunch of equipment into a holoprojector so they can do a presentation for the Ferengi on the cost-benefit ratio of mugato poaching verses a theme park-style nature preserve.
* ManchurianAgent: Boimler and Rutherford suspect Mariner of being one after hearing a rumor from the bartender. It turns out Mariner planted the rumor herself.

* NoodleIncident: Apparently Starfleet lost the USS ''Atlantis'' (one of Mariner's old ships) due to lice of all things. Starfleet covered it up because it was that embarrassing.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Mariner stabs Shaxs in the chest and then bites the wound, making Boimler and Rutherford assume her programming has turned her into a killer. She was actually draining the poison from a mugato wound.

** In classic Ferengi fashion, the poachers are ultimately convinced to give up their brutal, Mugato-killing enterprise through negotiation. When Rutherford and Boimler explain how they could make far greater profits in the long-run by running a preserve that cares for the Mugato and allows visitors, they eagerly drop their reservations and adopt this new plan.

** Later Tendi is visibly squicked by T'Ana telling Shaxs that she [[DoubleEntendre can heal him all night long]].

* TakeThatUs: Freeman decides to gift the scammer a new shuttle to replace the one he lost. When Ransom asks what they'll tell Starfleet, she says they'll write it off as being lost to a black hole, which Ransom notes is a fairly common occurrence. Destroying shuttles was a common action sequence in ''TNG'', ''[=DS9=]'', and ''Voyager'', which was especially notable in the latter because they somehow managed to keep replacing them while in the Delta Quadrant.

* TooDumbToLive: "Renowned biologist" Patingi, who has five books on mugatos… that is, he's ''read'' five books on them, and thinks this is enough to enable him to move among them. He gets his head bitten off in his second scene.
* TookALevelInBadass: {{Downplayed}}, since Boimler and Rutherford employ the TalkingTheMonsterToDeath strategy rather than solving it through physical force, but it's still a notable departure from TheAce Mariner solving every problem. This is only the second time Boimler provides the solution -- and the first one that didn't result in a transporter clone. This is a big enough MetaTwist that a number of reviewers actually commented on it.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Shaxs, perhaps unsurprisingly given it's [[BloodKnight Shaxs]], sees Mariner mauling Boimler and Rutherford in an Anbo-jytsu match and just decides to calmly wait his turn.

* WidelySpacedJailBars: The bars on the cage the Ferengi keep Mariner and Shaxs in are spaced wide enough that Mariner should be able to just walk through, and even Shaxs might be reasonably able to sidle out. As is usual with this trope, you're clearly not supposed to acknowledge it.
* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: Played with: Patingi only ''thinks'' he's an expert, and so it makes more sense than usual that he fills this role in the plot.

* ChekhovsSkill: Boimler and Rutherford are playing an economics board game early on. During the climax, they use the principles of the board game to negotiate with the Ferengi.

* TooDumbToLive: "Renowned biologist" Patingi, who has five books on mugatos… that is, he's ''[[BookDumb read]]'' [[BookDumb five books on them]], and thinks this is enough to enable him to move among them. He gets his head bitten off in his second scene.

* BaitAndSwitch: Boimler and Rutherford storm the cages and point what looks like a bamboo bazooka at the Ferengi...and then reveal it's a holoprojector for their presentation on why running a mugato preserve would earn them more money than selling their horns.

* MythologyGag: The mugato first appeared in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]:'' "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E19APrivateLittleWar A Private Little War]]". The gumato first appeared in... that same episode; that's technically the creature's real name, according to the closing credits, but Creator/DeForestKelley had trouble with the word and Roddenberry left it in. This is why there's NoPronunciationGuide for the creature's name.

* TooDumbToLive: "Renowned biologist" Patingi, who has five books on mugatos... that is, he's ''[[BookDumb read]]'' [[BookDumb five books on them]], and thinks this is enough to enable him to move among them. He gets his head bitten off in his second scene.

* StopBeingStereotypical: Mariner accuses the poacher Ferengi of playing into Ferengi stereotypes in their villainy, even calling them "[[Recap/ StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost Last Outpost]]"-style throwbacks.

* StopBeingStereotypical: Mariner accuses the poacher Ferengi of playing into Ferengi stereotypes in their villainy, even calling them a "[[StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost "Last Outpost"]]-style throwbacks.