History Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS2E08IExcretus

* UniquenessDecay: The original Crystalline Entity was the subject of multiple episodes and was this very powerful and dangerous creature. This episode has the crew casually mention multiple of them and they fly off to casually get up close to one of them like a starship equivalent of Steve Irwin.

* NotMeThisTime: Shari ran out of time to program her sabotaged simulations, meaning that when Mariner caused a horse to go irate and trample her, she did that purely through her own ineptitude.

* AffablyEvil: The Borg Queen seems genuinely concerned with the rough shape Boimler skin is in once he clarifies that he is indeed a human.

** More subtly, Shari's lack of life-or-death experience shows when she says "This is a ship whose captain left four ensigns on a space walk to answer a distress call." She seems to not recognize that ''distress calls get priority'' (though obviously ditching four Ensigns is a serious blunder) -- something Mariner and Freeman pick up on and react to as she says it.

* BrainBleach: Mariner's reaction to "The Naked Time" scenario. She purposely chose to fail her drill to stop seeing it.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Apparently, Shari thought Starfleet wouldn't ask questions about how ''every single person on an entire starship'' failed, though she seems fairly confident that a ''California''-class is so BeneathNotice that no one would question the failure.
* FanDisservice: As Mariner pans across the massive holographic orgy, we get such sights as Boimler spread eagle, T'Ana crawling over Shaxs, and Ransom being whipped by Stevens. Then Shaxs, flexing in a StupidSexyFlanders pose, shouts, "Iiiiiiit's [[TitleDrop NAKED TIIIIME]]!" The airlock is the only logical choice from there.

* JerkAssHasAPoint: While she's a complete BitchInSheepsClothing and trying to cause the ''Cerritos'' to fail to preserve her own job, Shari has a very valid point that the commanders' carelessness in responding to the SOS (from a temporal distortion involving a repeating time loop -- while the ''Bakersfield'' was in distress, based on the short perodicity of the time loop she wasn't going anywhere for a while) could have had serious and lasting consequences.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Rutherford's scenario involves opening up a superheated door to manually reset a warp core. He tries to [[HeroicWillpower power through the pain]] to turn the door handle, but repeatedly fails because his hands reflexively flinch away from the hot metal.

* TookALevelInBadass: The fact that Boimler ''wins an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation'' suggests he's becoming one hell of a Starfleet officer. (Canonically speaking, this puts him somewhere on the level of James T. Kirk.)

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Shari rigged all the tests so that everyone would fail. Despite that, Boimler still manages to get a passing grade, and is the only member of the crew who doesn't fail.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: While the simulations border on the absurd at times, Rutherford's simulation has him trying to prevent a core breach by sacrificing himself but conspicuously has his radiation suit missing the gloves needed to enter the chamber, hinting at the fact that the tests are rigged. This is further shown in Boimler's test when he somehow can't keep remodulating phaser frequencies after the Borg drones adapt. ...and all but spelled out with the nigh-impossible container-stacking drill the bridge crew get.
** More subtly, Shari's lack of life-or-death experience shows when she says "This is a ship whose captain left four ensigns on a space walk to answer a distress call." She seems to not recognize that ''distress calls get priority'' - something Mariner and Freeman pick up on and react to as she says it.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: This is kind of a boozy episode, all things considered - not that they haven't earned it!

* JerkAssHasAPoint: While she's a complete BitchInSheepsClothing and trying to cause the ''Cerritos'' to fail to preserve her own job, Shari has a very valid point that the commanders' carelessness in responding to the SOS (from a temporal distortion involving a repeating time loop - while the ''Bakersfield'' was in distress, based on the short perodicity of the time loop she wasn't going anywhere for a while) could have had serious and lasting consequences.

** With that said, the whole point of a distress call is to prompt an ASAP response - and they received ''several'' of them. Rushing to save the full crew of the ''Bakersfield'' while accidentally stranding four crew in a safe position is less troubling than ''ignoring'' a distress call for any amount of time.

* AllForNothing: Zigzagged. While Boimler did save the crew, he ultimately got an 8% percent score on husbtest after all his hard work to get a perfect score is torpedoed by Freeman and Mariner having him stall for time.

* FanDisservice: As Mariner pans across the massive orgy, we get such sights as Boimler spread eagle, T'Ana crawling over Shaxs, and Ransom being whipped by Stevens. The airlock is the only logical choice from there.
** CrossesTheLineTwice when Shaxs, flexing in a StupidSexyFlanders pose, shouts, "Iiiiiiit's [[TitleDrop NAKED TIIIIME]]!"

** More subtly, Shari's lack of life-or-death experience shows when she says "This is a ship whose the captain left four ensigns on a space walk to answer a distress call." She seems to not recognize that ''distress calls get priority'' - something Mariner and Freeman pick up on and react to as she says it.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: While the simulations border on the absurd at times, Rutherford's simulation has him trying to prevent a core breach by sacrificing himself but conspicuously has his radiation suit missing the gloves needed to enter the chamber, hinting at the fact that the tests are rigged. This is further shown in Boimler's test when he somehow can't keep remodulating phaser frequency after the Borg drone adapts.
* FreezeFrameBonus: Pausing when the pods are first introduced shows the last names of all the crew, and several episode names from the series.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: After stopping Shari and saving Boimler from simulated Borg assimilation, Mariner decides to drag Boimler away for drinks.

* TitleDrop: "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime NAKED TIIIME!]]"
* TookALevelInBadass: while there was SaveScumming involved, the fact that Boimler ''wins an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation'' suggests he's becoming one hell of a Starfleet officer. (Canonically speaking, this puts him somewhere on the level of James T. Kirk.)

* AchievementsInIgnorance: The hologram programs are designed for everyone to fail, but Boimler manages to get a passing 79% on his first try. Disappointed by the score, he spends the rest of the episode determinedly repeating the scenario until he works it up to 100%. Unfortunately, his score ends up being ruined when he's forced to stall for time on Freeman's orders.

* AllForNothing: Zigzagged. While Boimler did save the crew, he ultimately got an 8% percent score.

* BrickJoke: A meta-example. The title, "I, Excretus", only makes sense at the end of the episode, when Boimler is converted into a Borg in the simulation and calls himself Excretus.
** The comm buoy abandonment in the cold open as well - it seems like just another day on the most dysfunctional ship in Starfleet until Shari reveals that the incident made the ship stand out for her sabotage plan.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Shari rigged all the tests so that everyone would fail. Despite that, Boimler still managed to get a passing grade.

** Even during the "Naked Time" simulation, Billups is still committed to keeping his virginity and doesn't engage in any sexual activities.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Apparently, Shari thought Starfleet wouldn't ask questions about how ''every single person on an entire starship'' failed.

** When the lower deckers were left on a satellite in their space suits, Tendi suggests they'll all have a laugh about it once the ''Cerritos'' returns. Six hours later, they're huddled together and shivering, which Tendi tries to pass off as laughing.

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Shari's job is to train and evaluate Federation starship crews on how to do their jobs efficiently. However, all her training programs are simply copied from past adventures of other crews throughout Starfleet history, she's never actually served on a starship and doesn't understand the need to adapt and overcome challenges herself. When Shari is exposed to actual danger by Captain Freeman (namely facing off against a Crystalline Entity and a NegativeSpaceWedgie) she completely panics.

* MildlyMilitary: The command triad of a real ship that left a team of crew members working on a buoy behind while it raced off to assist a ship in distress would be disciplined harshly, if not outright relieved of command.

* NotAMask: Just before Boimler is about to be assimilated, the Borg Queen is impressed with how Boimler almost looks human until he reveals he is human, which shocks the Queen and she tells him he needs to drink more water because his skin is a mess.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: While the simulations border on the absurd at times, Rutherford's simulation has him trying to prevent a core breach by sacrificing himself but conspicuously has his radiation suit missing the gloves needed to enter the chamber, hinting at the fact that the tests are rigged.

* ContinuityNod: Shari is a Pandronian, the same species as [[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS2E2Bem Commander Ari bn Bem]], and like him, tends to refer to herself as "[[ThirdPersonPerson This One]]" and has come aboard to run efficiency tests on the crew.

** As a nice twist of the knife towards Shari, the fake "black hole feeding off a temporal rift" act is similar to what the ''Cerritos'' survives at the beginning of the Lower Decks title sequence. (Meaning, they got her with a reenactment after failing reenactments all day.)

** The title could be a reference to Literature/IClaudius or Literature/IRobot. It could just as easily refence the TNG episode, "I, Borg".

** When presented with the new replicator, Boimler excitedly asks about the lobster mac and cheese, his favourite from the first season.