The Cerritos is in orbit of Mixtus III. An unstable moon around the planet needs to be demolished, and Starfleet has come to help the locals do so safely. The project is being led by the USS Vancouver, a ship famous for conducting stellar engineering projects of this magnitude. Unforunately, there are still a few diplomatic obstacles in their way. The Vancouver's captain leads Captain Freeman to their conference room, where the indiginous aliens are in a heated argument, each objecting to the moon's destruction for their own reasons, all of which seem quite trivial considering they'll all die if the moon doesn't get imploded.
Boimler, however, is busy gushing into his personal log about his new girlfriend, Barbara Brinson, who is assigned to the Vancouver and will be reuniting with him soon. Mariner is skeptical that she even exists.
Rutherford and Tendi are working on some of their ship's less reliable systems. The Cerritos seems to have a lot of them these days. Not at all like the Vancouver, which both Rutherford and Tendi agree is an impressive vessel. Supposedly, they even have the fancy new T88 diagnostic tools that aren't even supposed to be in service yet!
Their shared enthusiasm grows even more when they shuttle over to the ship and see it for themselves. Boimler, with an armful of romantic presents, is more excited to see his girlfriend, but she's not in the shuttle bay when they land. Mariner is still convinced this is all a pathetic act, but a moment later, a blonde woman in a science division uniform arrives. The two embrace and get all kissy for a long moment before Brinson remembers her manners and introduces herself to Mariner. She then pulls her boyfriend away on a tour of the ship, leaving Mariner dumbstruck. Boimler's hot girlfriend is real? And she's a Lieutenant? How??
As they're walking the corridors, Jet Manhaver sees them and calls out to Barb. The two are old friends, it seems, and excited to be working together on this assignment. A bit too excited, Boimler thinks. Seeing the muscular Ensign twirling his girlfriend around with such familiarity leaves Boimler feeling insecure, especially when he learns that the two dated once upon a time. But Barb says that was nothing compared to the month she's known Boimler, and seems genuinely sad when she has to cancel their lunch date to do some recalibrations with Jet for the moon implosion. As she leaves, Mariner finally acknowledges to Boimler that this new relationship of his is genuine... but privately, she still believes it's Too Good to Be True.
Tendi and Rutherford, practically hyperventilating with excitement at being on the Vancouver, meet with Lt. Cmdr. Ron Docent for their assignment. With all the political squabbling, Captain Freeman is having the team reconsider alternatives to the implosion. He gives them each a T88 so they can do some diagnostics on the simulators. When he sees how manic they are over the new tech, he decides to stoke their enthusiasm with a friendly competition: whoever finishes their tasks first will get their own scanner to keep!
Back on the Cerritos, Mariner and Boimler are arguing about Barb. Boimler is still feeing threatened by Jet, but Mariner is convinced she must be some kind of alien or impostor or something else dangerous, because why else would someone that attractive be dating Boimler? Mariner's paranoia is based in a traumatic story of her own. Back when she served aboard the USS Quito, she says, two of her friends, Angie and Niko, seemed to have a perfect relationship, until it turned out Niko was actually a Harvongian shape-changer in disguise. He transformed and devoured Angie right in front of Mariner's eyes. It's not an experience she ever wants to repeat.
Meanwhile, Freeman has managed to make remarkable progress with the Mixtans. All of their various grievances have been addressed... except for one. A lone alien remains behind after the others have left, saying his people on Mixtus II depend on the moon to block pollution emitted from Mixtus III. Without it, they won't survive. Meaning, whether they destroy the moon or not, they'll be condemning an entire planet to die. Freeman doesn't know what to do, but she's determined to find a solution. They're Starfleet. This is what they do.
Boimler finds Barb at work in the stellarcartography lab and does his best affectation of someone cool and suave, like Jet, though all he manages to accomplish is to make his girlfriend (and everyone else on her team) uncomfortable at this bizarre and intrusive display. In the midst of this, Mariner sneaks into the room and surprises them all with a loud tone from her tricorder. Supposedly, it would have been disruptive to a positronic brain, but Brinson isn't an android, so all it does is annoy everyone. Boimler kicks Mariner out, but Barb tells him as gently as she can that he should probably go too...
Mariner's obsession continues unabated. Back in the Cerritos repair bay, with frayed hair and Exhausted Eye Bags, she continues spewing her crazed theories from her giant board of pushpins and thread. But Boimler has had enough.
Mariner: But how do you know?
Boimler: She is nothing but a great human lady! You need to stop spinning out and accept people for who they are. Now be quiet. I gotta change everything about me to trick her into thinking I'm someone I'm not.
Boimler struts into the mess hall wearing a randomly discordant outfit the replicator cobbled together for him based on "the coolest people in Earth history". Once again, he does a painfully embarrassing impression of a stereotypically macho alpha male, but it only makes his poor coordination even worse, causing him to spill the beer he just replicated all over Barb's uniform. Then Mariner sneaks up behind her with a knife and unsubtlely cuts out a lock of her hair for whatever crazy test she has planned next. Brinson has had enough of these shenanigans and leaves in a huff to resume her work.
It's not until Boimler finds Barb working in the shuttle bay with Jet — and misinterprets their conversation as something sexual — that he finally works up the courage to come clean. He feels insecure next to someone as conventionally attractive and charismatic as Jet. Barb feels better finally knowing the truth and puts a stop to her boyfriend's panic spiral by reassuring him that she loves him for him. She suggests they turn the day around and invites Boimler to join her on her assigned orbital platform for the last stage of the project.
Then Mariner, who is now convinced Barb is a disguised reptoid, leaps out from the shadows to protect Boimler from her barbed tail! But all she accomplishes is to pants her in front of the entire shuttle bay. There's no tail. Barb angrily pulls up her trousers and departs with her boyfriend, leaving Mariner to wonder if she really has been wrong all this time. But then, as Mariner is leaving, something crunches beneath her foot. On the deck where Barb was just standing lies the green husk of a parasite exoskeleton. Mariner was right all along!
As for Rutherford and Tendi, their competition has started to turn less than friendly. They both rush back to Docent's office, clambering over each other in their struggle to win a new scanner. It turns out to be unnecessary, as Docent decides they've both worked hard enough to earn the reward: a transfer to the Vancouver! The two look nervously at each other. Docent never said anything about that.
Mariner dashes through the ship in desperation to save Boimler. She locates him on one of the engineering platforms orbiting the moon. When she arrives, she finds Boimler at his station waiting for Barb... in his birthday suit. After overcoming their mutual embarrassment, Mariner presents the evidence she found that Brinson isn't who she appears to be, but Boimler assumes it's just something Mariner invented to save face for all the times she was wrong before. Unfortunately, at that moment, a gravitic shock to the platform caused by the moon briefly knocks both of them to the ground. Mariner crawls over to find Boimler unconscious, and at that exact moment, Barb walks in.
Tendi and Rutherford are in their bunks mulling over the curve ball Docent just threw at them. As impressed as they are by the sophisticated Vancouver, it's just not home to them, and neither of them is eager to leave Cerritos. They decide to find Docent and decline his offer, confident that he'll understand. Except he doesn't. Docent isn't happy to hear that the ensigns want to back out. In fact, he's not going to take no for an answer. On impulse, Tendi body checks Docent, steals his PADD, and dashes out of the office with Rutherford, Docent in hot pursuit!
Onboard the platform, Brinson and Mariner fight, each of them convinced that the other is some sort of impostor — Brinson apparently has been harboring her own suspicious that someone as badass as Mariner would be best friends with her cuddly Brad. They continue to scuffle, hurling accusations at each other.
Tendi and Rutherford continue to lead Docent through the halls of their ship. They manage to reach a turbolift, where Rutherford stalls their pursuer as long as possible to give Tendi time to break into his PADD.
No solution has yet been found to save Mixtus II. The alien resident continues to beseech Freeman not to go through with the project, but they're almost out of time. If they don't start the implosion soon, the platforms run the risk of being destroyed, which would be the doom of Mixtus III. The alien says the pollution that would bring down on Mixtus II would require both of them to move.
Mixtan: Me and my wife.
Freeman: There are TWO [bleep]ing people on your WHOLE [bleep]ing planet??
Mixtan: Well, yes, we're, uh... we're rich.
Freeman: [To the conn] Implode the moon.
Mixtan: You maniacs! We just redid the floors!
Brinson has managed to wear her opponent out. As she moves in, Mariner says Boimler will figure her out eventually. He may not always be the quickest on the uptake, like on Sendu IV when he spent a week peeing in the wrong bathroom receptacles, but he's no idiot. Brinson pauses at this, recognizing the story as one Boimler told about a friend of his. Nope, says Mariner. She was there, and it was all him. The tension in the room defuses as the two start sharing more anecdotes about Boimler's various embarrassing faux pas, realizing that neither of them is as mistrustful of the other as they thought. The bond for a bit over their shared friendship with Boimler while they wait for him to wake up. Brison lets Mariner give her a tricorder scan as a peace offering, and sure enough, it reports that she's a human. But then, a moment later, the tricorder also reports detecting another lifeform...
Docent finally breaks into the turbolift, his phaser trained on Rutherford, but his hands shake with uncertainty as the magnitude of what he's doing wars with his desperation to retrieve the PADD. Rutherford tries to talk him down, but the phaser goes off and stuns Rutherford's hand. Docent, on the verge of tears at having shot a fellow officer, begs Tendi not to read his PADD, but it's too late. Tendi is shocked to discover that Docent was going to transfer himself to the Cerritos. The man drops to his knees, blubbering to them that, for all his talk of how amazing the Vancouver is, the huge projects they deal with are a neverending source of stress. He was hoping to swap places with them so he could return to a simpler workstyle. Tendi and Rutherford strike a bargain with him: if Docent deletes the transfer orders and throws in a T88 for each of them, they won't mention the little phaser incident to anyone. With Rutherford's implant recording everything as leverage, Docent relents.
The lifeform that Mariner's tricorder picked up, it turns out, is coming from Boimler. They find an invertebrate parasite attached to him, hidden beneath his hair. Brinson takes it in for analysis and finds that it's a species that reproduces by making its host chemically attractive to mates of its own species. He picked it up right before he met Barb, which makes Boimler afraid that the only reason she likes him is because of the parasite. Brinson scoffs at the suggestion, saying it's absurd that she would have fallen for him over something as simple as biochemistry... then she immediately breaks up with him, citing her job — researching this new parasite — as her new priority. Poor Boimler.
Tendi and Rutherford are back in the Cerritos repair bay together, content to be back on their ship, flawed though it is. Tendi surprises Rutherford with a gift: a duffel bag full of T88s she "borrowed" from the Vancouver, figuring their crew can make better use of them. Rutherford laughs in amusement at their synchronicity as he pulls out his own duffel bag with the exact same contents. Great minds think alike.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Numerous ones throughout the episode.
- Boimler calls his girlfriend "Bun-bun" and she calls him "Boim-boim".
- Jet calls Brinson "Barbasaurus Rex".
- After they've bonded, Brinson calls Mariner "Mare".
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: The representative from Mixtus II tries to invoke the Prime Directive to persuade Captain Freeman to call off the moon's demolition. However, as she points out, it doesn't apply since the people of Mixtus are warp-capable and specifically asked the Federation for help. Cynically, he could be invoking the "leave entire species to die in the name of non-interference" aspect of it in post-TOS Trek.
- The Alleged Car: The Cerritos requires constant maintenance to keep it afloat, contrasting with the pristine Vancouver.
- All for Nothing: Barb was only attracted to Boimler because of a neural parasite... or she has to focus on her career right now.
- Alliterative Name: Barbara Brinson.
- Always Someone Better:
- The Vancouver and its crew to the Cerritos. The Vancouver is larger, newer, has better equipment, and seems to have more exciting sci-fi adventures than the Cerritos.
- Brad sees Barbara's ex-boyfriend Jet as this, making him very jealous and paranoid. (Amusingly, in light of the above, Jet is a Cerritos crewmember).
- Artistic License – Law: There is, of course, no such thing as a "citizen's court martial". Mariner should have mentioned a citizen's arrest.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: The Mixtus II representative allows for zero compromise, unlike everyone else at the negotiation table. Any scenario where the moon gets blown up has him screaming "murderers!" When it turns out that he's just being selfish about his personal property, his concerns are duly ignored.
- Big "NO!": In the flashback, Mariner shouts "NOOOO!!!" after her friend Angie is attacked by a Harvongian shape-changer.
- Big "SHUT UP!": When the representative of Mixtus II accuses Starfleet of being murderers if they demolish the moon, Freeman yells, "SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK!"
- Blatant Lies:Boimler: No, it's fine. It's not like I programmed a 10-course meal or anything...
- Bloodier and Gorier: The brief flashback to Mariner's previous assignment has one of the first uses of blood splatter in all of Star Trek.
- Brick Joke: Barbara mentions a recent time-travel trip to 1920s Chicago while giving Brad a tour of the Vancouver. Later, when Cmdr. Docent is complaining about all the stressful situations that he's experienced, he mentions "traveling through time and killing a guy worse than Hitler".
- Buffy Speak:Boimler: I can be twice as that. I can be even that-er.
- The Cameo: Not a person, but Deep Space 9 appears in a flashback.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: When Beckett tries to prove Barb is a Reptoid, she pulls Barb's pants down exposing her underwear.
- Commonality Connection: Barbara and Beckett bond after they find out that they both thought that the other was a parasite. Plus, they were able to exchange embarrassing stories about Boimler.
- Canon Immigrant: Of a sort. This episode marks the first appearance of the Olympic-class in the prime timeline, as its first on-screen appearance was in the TNG finale "All Good Things..." in the alternate future.
- Continuity Porn: Even by the show's standards, they reference every sort of possible shapeshifting alien horror that Boimler's girlfriend could be. It also includes the Deep Space 9 station, the movie uniforms, and a String Theory Room Full of Crazy that shows salt vampires, Bynars, and even space whales. Jet is described as a "Kirk sundae with Trip Tucker sprinkles".
- Continuity Snarl: During the flashback, Mariner and her compatriots are shown wearing the movie uniforms, introduced around the time of Star Trek: First Contact, 2373... but simultaneously discussing the events of "Descent", which took place in 2370, as though they are very recent. The jokes still work as Call Backs, but have a bit of trouble with the whole "Continuity" thing.
- Cool Starship: The Parliament-class U.S.S. Vancouver is the starship equivalent of a Cool Big Sis to the Cerritos. Tendi and Rutherford marvel at how advanced she is, as well as how she's not falling apart at the seams.
- Cringe Comedy: Pretty much every scene of Boimler making a fool of himself trying to look cooler than Jet.
- Detonation Moon: The Cerritos joins a mission with the Vancouver to deliberately implode an unstable moon that is going to crash into Mixtus III and kill everyone.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The objections to the moon's detonation being religious, economic, and government conspiracy come awfully similar to certain political groups objecting to crises like climate change or COVID-19. There's also the last obstacle turning out to be a rich person selfishly equating an inconvenience to their luxury with the seriousness of people's lives being destroyed.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This episode depicts Boimler as a romantic sad-sack going through a lengthy dry spell. He would subsequently be depicted as something of an unwitting Chick Magnet who is oblivious to the many women all but throwing themselves at him, which is hard to reconcile with the same character who had gone a long time without having "taken a lover". Even if you assume that Boimler's state of mind is warped by the parasite, it still doesn't square with Mariner mentioning Boimler's numerous fake holodeck girlfriends.
- Effeminate Voice: Boimler's voice is rather squeaky when Mariner accidentally finds him naked.Boimler: (squealing) Mariner! Aah! Stop looking at me! Stop looking at me!
- Elites Are More Glamorous: The Vancouver handles large-scale engineering projects and is superior to the Cerritos in basically every way. It's newer, larger, and has all the best equipment. It even literally overshadows the Cerritos when it first appears.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Docent thinks that the Cerritos would be less stressful than his current ship.
- Exact Words: Docent promised that if either Rutherford or Tendi finished first, they would be able to keep their T88. What he meant was that they'd be able to transfer over to the Vancouver and use them there.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Mariner develops these after she creates her String Theory about the possible true identities of Boimler's girlfriend. Her fatigue is still visually evident in the mess hall when she cuts a sample of Brinson's hair, and also when she's in the shuttlebay ranting about Barb probably being a reptoid.
- Exotic Eye Designs: The parasite's sclerae are yellow and emit a faint light.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: When Boimler requests that the computer analyze the coolest people in Earth history and replicate an outfit based on that criteria, the jacket that it generates is half letter jacket, half motorcycle jacket, and he also gets a pink boot for his right foot and a green shoe for his left.
- Foreshadowing:
- Barb sniffs Boimler's hair when they meet. Since the parasite is emitting pheromones...
- She also describes Boimler as radiating "primal confidence". Brad is many things, especially in later seasons, but "primal" is a stretch, and hints that Barb's attraction to him is more chemical than emotional.
- Late in the episode, Boimler says the word "lover" so often that it annoys Mariner. When the parasite is revealed, it mostly rants "lover".
- Forgotten Phlebotinum:
- Mariner complains about Brad introducing her to fake girlfriends on the holodeck and says she's going to touch Barbara to make sure she's solid. Mariner seems to have forgotten that the holodeck can make solid holograms.
- Tendi and Rutherford have a subplot about them competing to get a T88 diagnostic tool to bring back to the Cerritos and they end up stealing several. Why couldn't they just replicate as many as they want?
- Freudian Excuse: Mariner is convinced that Barbara must be some kind of alien because a shapeshifter ate her friend in pretty much the exact same scenario. (Well, that and she's an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist).
- Funny Background Event:
- As Boimler enters the mess hall, Tendi is chasing Rutherford across the room, trying to grab his T88.
- You can see Jet in the background just as Mariner pantses Barbara. He decides he doesn't want any part of what's happening and walks back into the shuttle with his hands up.
- Girlfriend in Canada: Mariner thinks that this is the case with Barbara, until she learns otherwise. Bonus points for Barbara serving aboard the Vancouver.
- Given Name Reveal: It turns out that Brad is short for Bradward.
- Glowing Eyes: The parasite's eyes glow yellow.
- Grass is Greener: Docent wants to transfer to the Cerritos because he's sick of danger.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Boimler is constantly jealous of Jet, the hot officer who turns out to be Barbara's ex.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: A nude Boimler initially covers his genitals with his hand when he sees Mariner, and then he wraps his Starfleet uniform shirt around his waist.
- Hidden Depths: Captain Freeman turns out to be a surprisingly competent diplomat when given the chance, easily sorting out the issues of the Mixtus III representatives in a few hours. No wonder she was so pissed about getting bumped off of negotiations during "Temporal Edict".
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Docent mentions going back in time to kill a person worse than Hitler.
- Hopeless Suitor: Mariner believes that Boimler is this, and it motivates her increasingly insane reactions.
- Hypocritical Humor:Boimler: You need to accept people for who they are. Now be quiet, I need to trick her into thinking I'm something I'm not.
Brinson: No, I can walk myself! Come on, Jet, walk me. - Imagine Spot: Both Rutherford and Tendi picture themselves in their respective departments with the new T88, posed above them while everyone praised them.
- Informed Deformity: Boimler is naïve and by-the-book, but this in no way justifies (or even explains) Mariner's assumption that Barbara cannot be attracted to him.
- Insane Admiral: Lampshaded by Docent when he claims that the admiral that he knows is a psycho.
- It's All About Me: The representative of Mixtus II is a Suit with Vested Interests who constantly goes on about how Freeman will be killing his people — until he lets slip that "his people" are just himself and his wife, who own the whole planet and are the only ones living there.
- Kiss Me, I'm Virtual:
- Mariner jokingly asks Boimler if they'll be meeting his new "girlfriend" on the holodeck. Boimler angrily says that he doesn't do that kind of thing... anymore.
- Barb accuses Mariner of being a rogue holodeck program.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- "It's like a new thing every week with those guys [on the Enterprise]".
- Docent complains about how stressful living on the Vancouver is because of the constant epic adventures.
- Living Aphrodisiac: The alien parasite attached to Boimler makes its host irresistible to potential mates, although this is only partly why Barbara was attracted to Boimler, or so she claims.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Maybe Barbara was attracted to Boimler because of the neural parasite, or maybe she genuinely liked him... or maybe she's just letting him down gently. Although, since she's spent most of their relationship aboard a completely different starship, it would be impossible for Boimler's enhanced pheromones to affect her on a continuous basis, so either the pheromones have a persistent effect long after exposure, or she did genuinely like him in some fashion.
- Meaningful Name: Subverted. Mariner tries to claim that Boimler's girlfriend's name being "Barb" shows that she is indeed a reptoid, but Mariner is just being paranoid.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Boimler overhears Barb talking to Jet in a punny and Double Entendre-ish way, but he was just helping her putting a tube in a yacht at the cargo bay.Barb: There you go, Jet. That's it. Keep pushing it in...
Jet: Are you sure it will fit?
Barb: We'll make it fit.
Boimler: (accusingly) Ah ha! [Barb and Jet drop the tube] You're not... sex? I heard sex!
Jet: What?
Barb: Arrgghh! [drags Boimler out of the ship] You have been a jerko all day, and now you accuse me of cheating?
Boimler: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm an idiot. I was freeking out because you're so smart and pretty and funny and I'm... I'm just me. You should be with a guy like Jet.
Barb: That's what this has been about? Bradward, nothing is happening with Jet. - Moose and Maple Syrup: Somewhat referenced to in the episode, with the U.S.S. Vancouver, Jet eating poutine, and of course, Barbara technically being the Girlfriend in Canada.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Said word-for-word by Lt. Cmdr. Docent when he fires his phaser at Ens. Rutherford. Fortunately, all it does is numb Rutherford's hand.
- Naked People Are Funny: Mariner rushes to save Boimler from Barbara, but she just finds him waiting for his girlfriend, naked in a chair, Ready for Lovemaking. They both scream in horror. Memory Alpha helpfully informs us that this is the first instance of Male Frontal Nudity in franchise history (which is misleading, as we don't actually see anything thanks to the Censor Box).
- Noodle Incident:
- When Mariner teases Boimler about whether they'll be meeting his new "girlfriend" on the holodeck, he replies that he doesn't do that kind of thing... anymore.
- Whatever it was the Vancouver crew did involved traveling back to 1920s Chicago, stopping the guy "worse than Hitler", solved by Barbara reversing the polarity of something to solve everything.
- Not What It Looks Like: Boimler gets knocked out when the platform shakes due to gravity. At that moment, Barbara comes back and assumes that Mariner hurt him.
- One-Word Vocabulary: Although the parasite can say other words, it mostly just exclaims "Lover!" over and over again.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Boimler thinks that he overhears his girlfriend and another Cerritos officer having sex in a shuttlecraft, but they're just having trouble sticking a pipe in a storage compartment.
- Reliably Unreliable Guns: Docent's phaser fires when he drops it on the ground, hitting Rutherford in the hand. Thankfully, Docent has it set so low that it just acts like a low-grade anesthetic.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Mariner is convinced that the only way Boimler could land a catch like Barbara is that there are alien shenanigans afoot, and assumes that Barbara has ill-intentions. She's half-right; an alien parasite really is responsible, but it's Boimler that's playing host to it.
- Romantic False Lead: Jet shows up to create romantic conflict for Boimler, but disappears halfway through the episode and isn't mentioned again.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Boimler's attempt at "every cool outfit in history" at once results in a fusion of everything. Which Barb says did look sexy until he ruined it.
- Sadistic Choice: Subverted. The unstable moon has to be imploded lest it destroy its planet, Mixtus III. But then one of the aliens says doing so will doom his planet of Mixtus II by exposing it to pollution from Mixtus III. It seems like either choice will destroy a planet, and this is technically true, but Freeman discovers the Mixtus II "civilization" is just this guy and his wife who built some sort of summer home there all by themselves. Possibly an Affectionate Parody of DS9's "Progress".
- Sanity Slippage: Mariner suffers a minor version of this, becoming visibly dishevelled and sleep-deprived as the episode progresses and she tries to prove that Barbara is not what she seems with increasingly flimsier proof.
- Saying Too Much: The representative of Mixtus II slips up and says that "both of us" will have to relocate if the moon is destroyed. Freeman immediately catches his slip and asks what the total population is, which gets him to admit that he and his wife own and solely occupy the planet. She orders the moon imploded on the spot.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Docent is able to push through a transfer request because an admiral was his grandma's neighbour.
- Shout-Out: Barabra Brinson has an Alliterative Name, like her voice actress, Gillian Jacobs. Her name also echoes Britta Perry, the name of Jacobs's character on Community, who, like Barbara, was an ultimately unnattainable love interest for the male protagonist.
- Sound-Effect Bleep:Brinson: (after Mariner pulls her hair and cuts off a few strands) Ow, what the [bleep]?!
Freeman: There are two [bleep] people on your whole [bleep] planet?!
Brinson: Well, you're clearly not a parasite, or you wouldn't have let [Boimler] [bleep] in front of the admiral. - Stealth Pun: Barb serves on a ship named after the city of Vancouver, making her Boimler's Girlfriend in Canada.
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
- Both Mariner and Barb think that the other is some form of alien infiltrator or parasite or something else because they can't believe that Boimler would be friends/lovers with someone so out of his comfort zone/league.
- Both Rutherford and Tendi independently get the idea to steal a whole dufflebag full of T88 diagnostic scanners as they're leaving the Vancouver.Tendi: This, this is why we're friends.
- String Theory: Mariner creates one of these while trying to figure out Barb's true nature. A storage room on the Lower Decks turns into a Room Full of Crazy.
- Tap on the Head: Boimler's little bump on the engineering platform puts him out for a long time.
- Theme Naming: Whereas the Cerritos shuttles are named after California National parks, the shuttles aboard the Vancouver are named after neighborhoods in the city of Vancouver.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Captain Freeman lets out a resigned "Ooh, boy" when she meets the bickering representatives of Mixtus III.
- Three Lines, Some Waiting:
- The Cerritos is here to help the Vancouver implode the moon, and Capt. Freeman attempts to negotiate with the inhabitants of Mixtus III and II. This subplot actually has the least screen time, but it provides the context for the other two.
- Rutherford and Tendi compete to earn the approval of Commander Docent to earn two T88s.
- Mariner accuses Barbara, a Vancouver crewmember and Boimler's girlfriend, of malfeasance.
- Too Dumb to Live: The plan to destroy the moon is complicated by the fact that the inhabitants of Mixtus III don't seem to understand that their moon's orbit is decaying and will crash into their world, caring more about petty political and social ramifications. The representative of Mixtus II is genuinely concerned that the absence of the moon will expose his planet to deadly radiation and kill them all, until he reveals near the end that "all" comprises just him and his wife. One group objects because they had lived on that moon for generations, ignoring how the moon was falling apart already and was going to crash into the planet, which would also destroy their homes.
- Too Good to Be True: Mariner believes this of Barbara. She's beautiful, smart, in Starfleet, and a Lieutenant, so the fact that she's interested in Boimler means that something must be amiss. She's right, but not for the reason that she thinks. In turn, Barbara was thinking this of Mariner in her own mind.
- What Does She See in Him?: A double case. Just like Mariner thought that Barb being in love with Boimler was too good to be real for him, Barb thought that it was too good to be true that someone as badass as Mariner would have someone as mousey and sweet as him as a best friend. Therefore they both think that the other is up to something.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: The parasite has yellow eyes, and it's sneaky because it latches on the back of the head of its host, and the victim has absolutely no idea that the creature is there.
