History Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS2E07WherePleasantFountainsLie

* NerdsAreVirgins: The implicit joke behind Billups' whole plotline. Hysperia is a planet settled by people so obsessed with Ren Faires that they modeled their new culture after it. Thus the throne is succeeded not by the first heir to be married, but the first one to lose their virginity.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Billups's mother, the Queen of Hysperion, is constantly scheming to trick Billups into having sex to force him to ascend to the throne.

The ''Cerritos'' foils a standard ''Star Trek'' plot: a sapient computer, Agimus, that has taken over its world. Mariner and Boimler, tasked with transporting it back to the Daystrom Institute, are stranded with it on an uninhabited planet. Meanwhile, back on the ''Cerritos'', Lt. Commander Billups must prove his engineering abilities to an old adversary: his mother, Queen Paolana of the RenaissanceFair planet Hysperia, who wants him to succeed her as monarch and is willing to do anything to make it happen -- including get him laid.

* BitingTheHandHumor: At the very end, one of the computers that boot up to mock Agimus bears the Creator/{{CBS}} eye logo. CBS produces the show, and continues to now that CBS has reemerged with Creator/{{Viacom}} and CBS All Access has resultingly been renamed Paramount+.

* CantHaveSexEver: Billups can't have sex, because the succession laws on his planet mean he would immediately become king, forcing him to resign from Starfleet.

** A subtle one, but when Agimus taunts Ransom that he should be the captain, Ransom just closes the lid. In the season opener, Freeman fed his ego so much that he said the same thing of himself.
** In Agimus’ vision of conquest he is commanding the Echo Papa 607 drones from “[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E20TheArsenalOfFreedom The Arsenal of Freedom]]"

* TheDogBitesBack: Subverted. After discovering Mariner was the one who got him reassigned to a different mission because she thinks he's not ready for it, Boimler gets fed up with Mariner and tackles her to get to Agimus when she keeps underestimating him. During the struggle, when Boimler pulls out his phaser on her, Mariner thinks he doesn't have the guts to shoot her but she's immediately proven wrong when he stuns her. It turns out it was all the trick from Boimler to gain Agimus's trust to use him.
* EvilGloating: When Agimus thinks he's won, he mocks Boimler and goes on a rant about becoming a GalacticConqueror with an endless legion of killer drones.
* EvilIsHammy: Creator/JeffreyCombs as an evil A.I.? Yes please.

* {{Expy}}: Billup's mother is similar to Lwaxana Troi, famous ambassador for Betazed and mother to Deanna Troi. Dialogue implies that this isn't the first time the ''Cerritos'' has encountered her nor her plans to make Billups have sex so he can take the throne. Lwaxana had similar machinations about getting her daughter married, although they rarely conflicted with Starfleet duties.
* FakingTheDead: The Queen fakes her death to make Billups think he has to ascend to the throne. Tendi exposes the ruse and Rutherford barely manages to keep him from consummating the deal.

* FireForgedFriends: This is the first time Boimler and Mariner take on a situation as equals, a marked change from prior episodes which were more like an EscortMission on Mariner's part.

* ImagineSpot: As Agimus goes into EvilGloating mode he envisions an endless army of {{Attack Drone}}s at his command as he perches triumphant atop a mountain of NothingButSkulls.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: After Rutherford agrees to work on the ''Monaveen'' despite his apprehension, Tendi lists off several things he needs to keep in mind. This just makes Rutherford more nervous.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: Agimus constantly tries to manipulate people to fight each other. In particular, he tricks Boimler to fighting and eventually firing on Mariner. This turns out to be Boimler playing along, although it seems like a lot of the truth buried in there.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: To Creator/WilliamShakespeare's poem ''Venus and Adonis''. "Where pleasant fountains lie" is Venus attempting to seduce Adonis by implying there's more than one place he can kiss her. ([[DontExplainTheJoke You couldn't use the word "cunnilingus" back then]].)

* ManipulativeBastard: Agimus tried to make Boimler turn on Mariner by showing him footage of her getting him reassigned from a mission he wanted to be on. He continues preying on Boimler’s anger towards Mariner to get plugged into a computer to resume his evil plans.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Mariner can't understand why Boimler is making such a fuss about her injured arm -- it's only fractured! (Mind you, she pops her arm back in like a dislocated shoulder rather than a fractured arm.)
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The moment Agimus plugs himself into the ship, it powers up and a screen behind him shows it releasing a signal. It turns out that it's a distress signal and Boimler tricked Agimus into helping him.

** Billups’s mother is always trying to get him to lose his virginity so that he can become king and resign from Starfleet. For this occasion, she fakes her own death to try making him ascend the throne.

** Tendi fears she did this to Rutherford, forcing him out of his comfort zone. Instead, he enjoyed the experience and thanked her for giving him the push.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Queen Paolana boasts that her guards are trained to skip foreplay. This works out for Rutherford, as it allows him to reach Billups while Billups is having trouble performing, a situation the guards could have rectified if not for their training.
* NoodleIncident: Captain Freeman complains about the alien street food, saying it's "always such a gamble."
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Billups's mother, the Queen of Hysperion, is constantly scheming to get Billups to ascend to the throne, which means she tries to trick him into having sex.

* SexIsEvil: {{Zigzagged}}. Billups is opposed to losing his virginity not because sex is, in and of itself, bad, but because it would force him to abandon the career he loves.

* ShapedLikeItself: When Tendi encourages Rutherford to go out of his comfort zone, he responds that "it's so comfortable".

* StockYuck: The replicator breaks so that the only thing it replicates is black licorice. Similarly, the fruit they find tastes like black licorice, but it's the only nourishment they can find on the planet.

* TookALevelInBadass: Precisely how many levels Boimler has taken is certainly up for debate -- when Mariner points out that his conduct on the desert planet is justifying her concern for his capabilities, [[JerkassHasAPoint she's not wrong]] -- but he gets a chance to show off however many he already has. Instead of the guy being scammed, he's the one doing the scamming; and he's a far cry from the panicky ensign we saw as recently as [[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E05AnEmbarrassmentOfDooplers two episodes ago]].
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Mariner doesn't believe Boimler's three months on the ''Titan'' prove he's ready to handle dangerous missions and asked Ransom to reassign him to a safer mission. After Agimus reveals what Mariner did, he gets into a physical fight with her which completely catches her off-guard. When Boimler aims his phaser at her, she thinks he doesn't have to guts to shoot her but he does it and she gets stunned. She's later impressed when Boimler reveals it was all a trick to gain Agimus' trust and have him power a ship to send a distress signal without his knowledge.

* VillainRevealsTheSecret: After Agimus connects to Mariner's data pad to get information on her, he reveals to Boimler that Mariner is the one who had him reassigned from a dangerous mission to her mission in order to create conflict between them. Mariner denies it, claiming Agimus is trying to turn them against each other, but she eventually admits it and they do get in a fight.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: {{Subverted}}. Billups doesn't get laid, and no aspersions are cast on him for refusing carnal knowledge by either the characters or show (outside of not taking the throne).

* {{Asexuality}}: Numerous jokes are made about Billups possibly enjoying his virginity for its own sake. When he decides to lose it so he can take the throne, he's unaroused by his suitors, though this may just be [[TheLoinsSleepTonight purely biological.]] Or because his mother (supposedly) died under an hour before.

** In Agimus’ vision of conquest he is commanding the Echo Papa 607 drones from “[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E21TheArsenalOfFreedom The Arsenal of Freedom]]"
** The shot of the Daystrom Institute is practically the same as when we first see it in StarTrekPicard.

* {{Asexuality}}: Numerous jokes are made about Billups possibly enjoying his virginity for its own sake. When he decides to lose it so he can take the throne, he's unaroused by his suitors, though this may just be [[TheLoinsSleepTonight purely biological.]] Or because his mother died under an hour before.

* ContinuityNod: A subtle one, but when Agimus taunts Ransom that he should be the captain, Ransom just closes the lid. In the season opener, Freeman fed his ego so much that he said the same thing of himself.

* {{Asexuality}}: Numerous jokes are made about Billups possibly enjoying his virginity for its own sake. When he decides to lose it so he can take the throne, he's unaroused by his suitors, though this may just be [[TheLoinsSleepTonight purely biological.]]

* BitingTheHandHumor: At the very end, one of the computers that boot up to mock Agimus bears the Creator/{{CBS}} eye logo. CBS produces the show, and continues to now that CBS has remerged with Creator/{{Viacom}} and CBS All Access has resultingly been renamed Paramount+.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Mariner doesn't believe Boimler's three months on the ''Titan'' prove he's ready to handle dangerous missions and asked Ransom to reassign him to a safer mission. After Agimus reveals what Mariner did, he gets into a physical fight with her which completely catches her off-guard. When Boimler aims his phaser at her, she thinks he doesn't have to guts to shoot her but he does it and she gets stunned. She's later impressed when Boimler reveals with was all a trick to gain Agimus' trust and have him power a ship to send a distress signal without his knowledge.

* VillainRevealsTheSecret: After Agimus connects to Mariner's data pad to get information on her, he reveals to Boimler that Mariner is the one who had him reassigned from a dangerous mission to her mission in order to get him to fight her. Mariner denies it, claiming Agimus is trying to turn them against each other, but she eventually admits it and they do get in a fight.

* Asexuality: Numerous jokes are made about Billups possibly enjoying his virginity for its own sake. When he decides to lose it so he can take the throne, he's unaroused by his suitors, though this may just be [[TheLoinsSleepTonight purely biological.]]

* BitingTheHandHumor: At the very end, one of the computers that boot up to mock Agimus bears the Creator/{{CBS}} eye logo[[note]]the show remains produced by CBS, but as of season 2 is now classified as a Creator/ParamountPlus original[[/note]].

* StockYuck: The replicator breaks so that the only thing it replicates is black licorice. Similarly, the fruit they find takes like black licorice, but it's the only nourishment they can find on the planet.

* BlatantLies: A few of these throughout the episode:
** The aliens subject to Agimus's ploy deny attributing their war to the supernatural, while standing in front of a mural dedicated to him.
** Tendi does not look comfortable at all at Rutherford potentially dying again.

* ContinuityNod: A subtle one, but when Agimus taunts Ransom that he should be the captain, Ransom just closes the lid. In the season opener, Freeman fed his ego so much that he said the same thing of himself.

** Along with Rutherford and Paolana, a third casualty of the explosive is listed as "L. Playa", although the portrait is obscured.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: After Rutherford agrees to work on the ''Monaveen'' despite his apprehension, Tendi lists off several things he needs to keep in mind. This just makes Rutherford more nervous.

** Tendi fears she did this to Rutherford, forcing him out of his comfort zone. Instead, he enjoyed the experience and thanked her for giving him the push.

* NoodleIncident: Captain Freeman complains about the alien street food, saying it's "always such a gamble."

* ShapedLikeItself: When Tendi encourages Rutherford to go out of his comfort zone, he responds that "it's so comfortable".

* FreezeFrameBonus: The evil computers include not only one with the CBS logo, but one that looks like Batman's cowl.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Even as Billups and Rutherford work on the "dragon fire engine", the former finds it all a bit too easy. Then a random explosion happens on the ship.

* VillainRevealsTheSecret: After Agimus connects to Mariner's data pad to get information on her, he reveals to Boimler that Mariner is the one who had him reassigned from a dangerous mission to her mission in order to get him to fight her.

The ''Cerritos'' foils a standard ''Star Trek'' plot: a sentient computer, Agimus, that has taken over its world. Mariner and Boimler, tasked with transporting it back to the Daystrom Institute, are stranded with it on an uninhabited planet. Meanwhile, back on the ''Cerritos'', Lt. Commander Billups must prove his engineering abilities to an old adversary: his mother, Queen Paolana of the RenaissanceFair planet Hysperia, who wants him to succeed her as monarch and is willing to do anything to make it happen -- including get him laid.

* EvilIsHammy: Creator/JeffreyCombs as an evil AI? Yes please.

** Evil AI is so pedestrian for Starfleet that they just box them up and warehouse them as part of standard protocol.

* PlanetOfHats: Invoked by Hysperia, a planet with a natural dragon population described by Rutherford as having been colonized by "Ren Faire" types. Naturally, they emulate a theme park version of medieval culture, complete with a monarchy and eating mutton while referring to all their futuristic technology using fantasy terminology.

* TheFettered: Boimler insists that they can't just bury Agimus in the desert because it would be against Starfleet principles to treat a sentient being that way, even if it's an evil supercomputer (much to Mariner's frustration). They do give in and bury him anyhow after one too many provocations, but he gets dug up by crabs anyway.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Billups, the ''Cerritos''' resident MrFixit and [[TheEngineer chief engineer]], finally gets one of these after being the most OutOfFocus member of the vessel's senior staff.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: To Creator/WilliamShakespeare's poem ''Venus and Adonis''. "Where pleasant fountains lie" is Venus is attempting to seduce Adonis by implying there's more than one place he can kiss her. ([[DontExplainTheJoke You couldn't use the word "cunnilingus" back then]].)