Line #39 Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys


1	Boimler and Mariner go on an escort mission while Rutherford tries out new jobs in an effort to make time for Tendi.
2	----
3	!!Tropes:
4	* AmusingInjuries: Mariner and Tendi laugh at a video of Vice Admiral Gibson falling off a stage during peace negotiations.
5	* AssInAmbassador: K'orin is a raging alcoholic who regularly steals things (including shuttlecraft). When Boimler and Mariner dump him on the embassy steps, a staff member isn't even surprised to find him barely conscious and vomiting on himself.
6	* AttackHello: Mariner attacks K'orin as soon as he shows up, freaking Boimler out. Fortunately, it turns out that Mariner and K'orin are old friends.
7	* AttackPatternAlpha: During command training, Ransom suggests that Rutherford try the Janeway Protocol in the next simulation. Doing this somehow gets every single child on the ship vented into space.
8	* BaitAndSwitch: An {{Energy Being\|s}} comes aboard the ''Cerritos''. Normally, this would lead to an episode full of shenanigans, but the being in question doesn't survive to the opening theme.
9	* BarBrawl: Boimler accidentally starts one in the Andorian district.
10	* BelligerentSexualTension: Discussed when Mariner tells Tendi that she would like to start an argument with a cute lieutenant because she finds it attractive when an "uptight hunk is all wound up."
11	* BenevolentBoss: All of Rutherford's superiors, temporary or otherwise, are supportive of his dreams and are willing to take time out of their day to help him.
12	** Billups, Rutherford's superior officer and Chief Engineer of the ''Cerritos'', initially looks like he's going to explode when Rutherford requests a transfer out of Engineering... but then grants it without argument, and adds that wherever he goes, they'll be lucky to have him.
13	** Ransom, the ship's NumberTwo, is excited at how GiftedlyBad Rutherford is at command. (This might verge past this trope and more into "AxCrazy," but continues the theme of good management.)
14	** Dr. T'Ana is blunt and direct in her assessment that Rutherford has NoSocialSkills, but acknowledges his promise at the physiological aspects of medicine.
15	** Lt. Shaxs is very impressed at Rutherford's performance in the [=SmorgasBorg=] simulation, and enthusiastically introduces him to the rest of the "Bear Pack" in the security office. Even when Rutherford realizes that he's much happier in Engineering, Shaxs supports his choice and willingness to be true to himself.
16	* BeyondTheImpossible: Rutherford's first training simulation goes extremely poorly-- not only does he get his ship blown up, casualties are estimated at ''105%''.
17	-->'''Rutherford:''' Wait, how did I kill more than the whole crew?!
18	* BilingualBonus: ''Smörgås'' is Swedish for "sandwich," and because the [=SmorgasBorg=] program was designed to be an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation, the trainee is expected to end up as a Borg sandwich (i.e. a victim of a Borg CurbStompBattle).
19	* BitingTheHandHumor: While in his HeroicBSOD, Boimler says that he should quit Starfleet and go do research on an asteroid station, before going into a detailed explanation of how something will go wrong, he will die with nobody noticing, then when someone discovers his remains, they will need to figure out what went wrong [[ApocalypticLog from his video logs]], a common plot point throughout the franchise. Mariner is genuinely horrified by the very suggestion that he would consider this and tells him not to even joke about that.
20	* BlastingItOutOfTheirHands: Boimler disarms the Ferengi in this fashion after he pulls a knife.
21	* BlatantLies: Rutherford is lying through his teeth when he denies to Tendi that he switched departments in order to have more free time to spend with her.
22	-->'''Tendi''': I mean, it's not like you were trying all those new jobs just to hang with me, right?\
23	'''Rutherford''': ''(awkwardly laughing)'' Naw, yeah, naw. Could you imagine?
24	* BuffySpeak:
25	-->'''Mariner''': We can't have you co-flying angry. I need you co-calm.
26	* {{Catchphrase}}: Discussed when Freeman wants something cool to exclaim when the ship goes to warp, and she asks an officer if "It's warp time!" sounds good.
27	* CellPhonesAreUseless: Tulgana IV's ion shield blacks out communication, so Mariner and Boimler have to search for K'orin on foot instead of having the ''Cerritos'' use the automatic recall on the shuttle that he stole.
28	* ChewOutFakeOut: Whenever Rutherford broaches changing career tracks, his superior seems to be on the verge of yelling at him. Instead (as seen in BenevolentBoss above) they wish him well on his new job.
29	* CityOfAdventure: Tulgana IV is host to nearly every known species in the Alpha quadrant, and seems to be a place where anything can happen to anyone.
30	* ColorCodedCharacters: The Andorians on Tulgana IV all wear black and grey clothing.
31	* ConfidenceBuildingScheme: Mariner does this for Boimler to help him get his confidence back. She pretends to not recognize a Ferengi or that he was trying to lead them into an obvious trap to mug them, all so Boimler could point it out to her and save them from the Ferengi and snap him out of his HeroicBSOD. The end of the episode reveals that she is actually friends with the Ferengi and had set the whole thing up with him.
32	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Rutherford cycles through every department on the ship in an effort to make time to watch the pulsar with Tendi, only to realize that he won't be happy anywhere but Engineering. She happily accepts his reasoning and just decides to join him in the Jefferies tubes instead, watching it on a PADD instead of from the observation deck.
33	* CrowdChant: The Engineering staff chant Rutherford's name as a way of demonstrating their support of his decision to switch to a different department.
34	* CurbStompBattle: Thanks to his cybernetics, Rutherford is able to take down a roomful of simulated Borg drones without missing a breath.
35	* DeadBabyComedy: During the asteroid simulation, the impact destroys the kindergarten on Deck 8 and the preschool is breached soon after, resulting in all the children on the ship being ejected into space.
36	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Mariner tackles an energy being and manages to wrangle it into a canister, forcing it to bargain for its freedom.
37	* DoubleEntendre: Ransom's description of command could be mistaken for something naughty.
38	-->'''Ransom''': Nothing compares to the firm, hot pulse of a joystick in your hand.
39	* EarlyBirdCameo: Ensign Fletcher from episode 6 can be seen among the bar patrons in the final scene.
40	* EffeminateVoice: Boimler frightfully squeals in a high-pitched tone when Mariner engages in a scuffle with K'orin.
41	-->'''Boimler''': ''(panicked)'' Mariner, what are you doing?! What, no! What are you doing?! What...?! No!
42	* EnergyBeings: A ball of energy with delusions of godhood infiltrates the ship and makes IneffectualDeathThreats. Mariner forces it to make her a new tricorder (complete with a power pack), exhausting most of its energy, then it fruitlessly tries to kill Captain Freeman with the little power that it has left, instead dissipating itself.
43	* EpicFail:
44	** When Rutherford undergoes an advanced command training simulation, it's a total disaster.
45	--->'''Computer''': Ship destroyed. Casualties: 105%.\
46	'''Rutherford''': Wait, how did I kill more than the whole crew?!
47	** His handling of a basic command simulation (which is supposed to be much easier) is apparently the worst result in Starfleet.
48	--->'''Holographic Lieutenant''': All the ship's children have been ejected into space!\
49	'''Rutherford''': All those kids...\
50	'''Ransom''': Freeze program. In thousands of simulations, that's ''literally'' never happened before.
51	** Rutherford later tries to be a doctor and proves a competent surgeon, but his bedside manner leaves much to be desired. He freaks out upon learning that his patient somehow survived dilithium burns, and has to be escorted out by Dr. T'Ana.
52	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: When Rutherford glances at a Jeffries tube that's connected to the Security room, it sparkles. Jeffries tubes aren't shiny, so the sparkles are metaphorical, not literal. They illustrate that the Jeffries tube is beautiful to him.
53	* FamedInStory: According to Boimler, K'orin is one of the most decorated, battle-hardened Klingon warriors in history, and a Klingon woman who sells gagh considers it a great privilege to personally serve him a meal.
54	* FanserviceExtra: There are a lot of scantily-clad people at the Risan district of Tulgana IV.
55	* FantasticRacism: Two Kaelons give a DisapprovingLook to the humans Mariner and Boimler, and the latter brings up the fact that they're notoriously isolationist.
56	* FiveFingerDiscount: Mariner tricks the Taxor who was hurting Boimler by pretending to throw his coin purse somewhere in the market, but she actually stole the alien's money.
57	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Boimler boasts about getting assigned a diplomatic escort mission, which seems like it would be beyond his pay grade, so to speak. It turns out that K'orin is quite the handful when drunk (and he's ''always'' drunk), making it likely that Boimler got the assignment because no one else wanted it.
58	* FreezeFrameBonus: There's a wide shot of the area surrounding the park, and on the left side, one can spot the logos of the Ferengi Alliance and the Romulan Star Empire on top of buildings, which indicate that they have embassies on Tulgana IV.
59	* {{Gasp}}:
60	** There's a collective gasp in Engineering when Rutherford tells Billups that he wants to explore other opportunities on the ship.
61	** The "Bear Pack" also react in the same way when Rutherford informs Shaxs that Security isn't for him.
62	* GetOut: When Rutherford's terrible bedside manner causes a patient to panic, Dr. T'Ana shouts, "GET OUT OF HERE!"
63	* GiftedlyBad: Rutherford manages to fail the basic command training simulation so hard that every child on the ship is vented into space. Ransom is so impressed by the uniqueness of his failure that he wants to run a different simulation with even more children just to see what happens.
64	* GilliganCut:
65	** While being dismissed from Medical, T'Ana tells Rutherford that he might as well be with the grunts in Security. Cut to Rutherford being escorted by Shaxs into a combat training simulation.
66	** Boimler promises not to tell anyone about Mariner mistaking an ObviouslyEvil Ferengi for a Bolian. Cut to him sharing that anecdote with everyone at the ship's bar. It then turns out that she set up the incident to help him regain his confidence.
67	* GrievousHarmWithABody: In the [=SmorgasBorg=] simulation, Rutherford at one point rips off a drone's arm and uses it to slap said drone silly. He later throws a Borg at two others, and the impact deactivates all three of them.
68	* GroinAttack: Boimler impales his groin on an alien's spikes during a BarBrawl.
69	* HardLight: The transdimensional being is ostensibly composed of pure energy, yet Mariner is able to grab hold of it like it's a squishy ball.
70	* HeroicBSOD: After being wrong about almost everything, Boimler fears that he's not cut out for Starfleet.
71	* HighClassGlass: Mariner's Ferengi friend, seen at the end, sports a monocle on a beaded chain, and he speaks English in a fancypants Cornwall accent.
72	* ImmediateSelfContradiction: Mariner claims that she's serious about the mission, and then is ''immediately'' distracted by the shuttlecraft's blast shield function, which she plays with like it's a toy.
73	-->'''Boimler''': I wish you would take this seriously.\
74	'''Mariner''': I am. Ooh! This is the new shuttle with the blast shield! Yeah! ''(singing)'' It's a blast shield, it's a blast shield. It comes down and it goes up. Blast shield!
75	* ImprovisedWeapon: Rutherford tears off a section of the metal railing and uses it as a lance against two holographic Borg drones.
76	* InformedAttractiveness: Tendi considers P'jok (who doesn't appear on-screen) to be a snack, and she imitates the clawing gesture of a feline to further accentuate how "tasty" he is: "Meow!"
77	* KneelBeforeZod: The {{Energy Being\|s}} demands that Mariner and Tendi supplicate themselves before it-- until Mariner starts stuffing it into a canister, at which point it begs for mercy.
78	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Boimler fails at speaking Taxor.
79	-->'''Boimler:''' Female feces inside outside feces.\
80	'''Taxor:''' ''[roars and attacks]''
81	* MythologyGag:
82	** A transdimensional being invades the ship, a common plot point in ''TOS''.
83	** Captain Freeman tries to come up with a cool phrase for when the ship goes to warp. This is probably because one of Picard's famous phrases is "Engage."
84	** Boimler wears his dress uniform, commonly worn when meeting visiting dignitaries.
85	** Mariner falls asleep during the shuttlecraft trip, and mumbles about "Buried alive," "Marooned for eternity", and "Moons of Nibia"-- references to some of Khan's more florid prose in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''.
86	** Various aliens are met on Tulgana IV, including Klingons, Andorians (mentioned to be one of the founding members of the Federation), and Ferengi. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the shapeshifter in the bar was a Vendorian (last seen in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'').
87	** Janeway apparently got a maneuver named after her just like Picard after returning from the Delta Quadrant. It's useful for deadly emergencies, but a very bad idea for mundane issues like an asteroid in your path.
88	** Ransom makes reference to a joystick when describing the command track to Rutherford. ''Insurrection'' had Riker activate a manual pilot joystick in the climactic space battle of the film.
89	* NoSuchAgency: Apparently {{subverted}} with Section 31. If Boimler (a young ensign) can casually name-drop them, then they're no longer the top-secret black-op boogeymen that they were in ''[=DS9=]''.
90	* NotWhatItLooksLike: Two Andorians appear to be harassing an old man, so Boimler stuns one of them to help out. It turns out that the old man is actually a Vendorian that they were trying to apprehend, which kicks off a BarBrawl.
91	* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: After Billups praises Rutherford's work and tells him that he's an invaluable member of the Engineering department, Rutherford feels that much more guilty for requesting a transfer.
92	-->'''Billups''': Rutherford, great work on the EPS grid. I wish I had more engineers like you. My life would be a lot simpler.\
93	'''Rutherford''': Uh, thanks. Uh, can we talk for a second?\
94	'''Billups''': Just for a second? Don't tease me. Come on, man, you're my number-one-with-a-bullet-systems guy. I got time for you in spades.\
95	'''Rutherford''': Um... ''(chuckles nervously)''
96	* ObviouslyEvil: Invoked InUniverse by Boimler when he and Mariner encounter a very suspicious-looking Ferengi.
97	-->'''Boimler''': He could not be any more Ferengi-- the big ears, the beady eyes, the greedy thing they do with their hands.\
98	'''Ferengi''': ''[performs the greedy hands gesture]'' Hyoo-mon. Myah.\
99	'''Boimler''': Ferengi are the most untrustworthy race in the galaxy. He probably just wants to lure us over there so he can mug us.
100	* OhCrap: Rutherford panics and exclaims "Oh, crap!" when he realizes that he must fight a dozen holographic Borg drones, because he has no prior combat experience ("I don't know how to fight!"). It then gets {{subverted}} when he activates his cybernetic implant and proceeds to kick serious Borg ass.
101	* OhMyGods: Awed by Rutherford's performance in the [=SmorgasBorg=] simulation, Shaxs gasps, "In the name of the Prophets!"
102	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Downplayed, but Rutherford has some aptitude at both blue-shirt stuff (medicine) and his own yellow shirt (engineering, security). Command, on the other hand, just isn't his cup of tea.
103	* Over100PercentCompletion: PlayedForLaughs. After Rutherford fails the advanced command training simulation, the computer informs him that the casualties are at ''105%''. He somehow killed ''more'' holographic characters than what was generated by the holodeck for that program.
104	* PottyFailure: K'orin gets drunk and poops on his bat'leth.
105	* POVCam: We get a brief glimpse of Rutherford's point-of-view when he confronts a group of holographic Borg drones.
106	* PunctuationShaker: Discussed by Tendi and Mariner.
107	-->'''Tendi''': K'orin, how do I know that name?\
108	'''Mariner''': Maybe it's just 'cause Klingon names sound the same? Like, they all have an apostrophe for some reason.\
109	'''Tendi''': Yes, that's it!
110	* PunnyName: The name of Shaxs' combat program initially sounds like "Smörgåsbord," the Swedish buffet, but after a dozen holographic Borg drones materialize, we realize that what he actually meant was "Smorgas'''Borg'''."
111	* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: Boimler tells Mariner and Tendi to guess who got the best assignment on the ship. They start guessing everyone but him.
112	* SarcasmMode: When Mariner is fed up with Boimler mocking her to everyone in the ship's bar, her excuse for leaving is "That's my cue to just go launch myself out an airlock."
113	* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Boimler screeches at a high pitch when an Andorian is about to smash his head in with a vase.
114	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Mariner manages to insert herself into Boimler's escort mission as the primary pilot, outranking him, which she credits to pulling some strings.
115	* SealedEvilInACan: Mariner tries to stuff the energy being into a canister when it threatens her and Tendi. It offers to make anything that they want if she'll stop.
116	* ShipTease: Tendi is mildly disappointed that Rutherford is spending so much time working in the Jeffries tubes that he can't watch the pulsar with her, and then hugs him when he suggests changing jobs so they can spend more time together. At the end, she happily compromises by using her PADD to watch the pulsar in the tubes with him.
117	* ShockAndAwe: The transdimensional being unleashes bolts of its own energy, although its attacks don't seem to be all that harmful because Mariner can subdue it with her bare hands and she doesn't get hurt when it zaps her. After being severely drained of its power, the alien attempts to kill Freeman, but ends up dissipating itself on impact.
118	* ShoutOut: The energy being is able to rearrange air molecules into solid matter. The being Fart from the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS2E2MortynightRun Mortynight Run]]" has the exact same ability, only it didn't drain itself using it.
119	* ShutUpGunshot: Mariner fires her phaser into the air to end a BarBrawl.
120	* SomeonesTouchingMyButt: Implied to happen to Mariner after she's lifted up by a crowd in a bar for paying off the next five rounds for everyone.
121	--> '''Mariner:''' ''Excuse me.'' Sir, I don't know you. That is Starfleet property you're handling.
122	* SoundEffectBleep: We hear a bleep instead of "fucking" when a Lieutenant curses at K'orin ("Are you [bleep] kidding me?").
123	* TeleportInterdiction: Tulgana IV is protected by an ion field that restricts communication and transporters. This forces Boimler and Mariner to trek through the districts on foot to find K'orin rather than using the automatic recall on the shuttle.
124	* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation: Shaxs created a combat simulation called [=SmorgasBorg=] which was designed to teach his trainees how to handle defeat (the participant has to single-handedly fight a dozen Borg drones unarmed), but Rutherford emerges victorious thanks to the instructions provided by his cybernetic implant.
125	* VomitIndiscretionShot: Occurs when a drunken K'orin is dropped off at the embassy.
126	-->'''K'orin:''' (''to Starfleet receptionist'') I demand you give me an honorable--''[retches]''

Context Recap / StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys