The ensigns have just finished an exhausting shift and are eager for some rack time. All except for Tendi, who excitedly enters with a new pet dog, eager to lick Boimler's face. She gushes about the side project she has just finished, which involved hand-editing an entire sequence of DNA from scratch to make her new furry friend from a lump of carbon. Rutherford is incredulous that Tendi would go through all that trouble just to make what appears to be a totally normal dog, but that's what she wanted. As an Orion, she's never had a pet dog before.
But just as Tendi leaves, the "normal" dog's eyes glow an eerie pale yellow as its bones crack and shift in disturbing ways. It starts climbing the walls on spindly, spider-like legs, salivating intensely. Mariner rolls over in her bunk and tells them to wake her if it transforms "into something I need to care about".
Meanwhile, Captain Freeman, Commander Ransom, and Lieutenant Shaxs have been temporarily reassigned on a covert mission to... plant rulot seeds. Mariner groans with frustration that they'll all have to deal with a substitute captain in the meantime. Boimler, on the other hand, is excited to have someone new to suck up to. He asks Rutherford for hair styling advice, but the engineer is busy working on a transporter improvement, so Boimler volunteers to help him test it. The experimental test rig he has set up works perfectly, shaving half a second off the normal duty cycle... until he tries it a second time. Boimler rematerializes slightly out of phase, his body glowing a translucent blue. Worse, there is now an annoyingly high-pitched ringing that follows him everywhere. Rutherford apologetically reassures him that it's harmless and only temporary.
When the new captain and her retinue arrive on the bridge, Mariner is surprised to discover it's Amina Ramsey, an old academy friend of hers. Her command staff says Ramsey speaks well of Mariner, though Mariner is somewhat abashed when they also observe the sizable gap between their ranks. Then everyone's attention is suddenly drawn to the turbolift as an obnoxious, whistling beacon of ethereal light in the shape of Boimler enters the bridge and takes his station with a forced nonchalance that fools nobody. Ramsey immediately orders him to sickbay.
As Dr. T'Ana is running tests on Boimler, Rutherford comes in with a solution which mercifully puts an end to the cacophony, but does nothing to help with his translucency. Since T'Ana has no idea what to do with him, she tells him Division 14, which specializes in those affected by strange medical and scientific phenomena, are on their way to take him to a spa on Endicronimas V, colloqually known as "The Farm", where she assures him he will be well cared for. She also says she's sending Tendi's bizarre not-quite dog (whom she has literally named "The Dog") with him. Tendi, who still believes her pet is a completely ordinary terrestrial canine, insists on coming along to keep her safe.
Captain Ramsey is in Freeman's ready room, getting ready to start on their mission to repair a water filtration system on the planet Khwopa, and happily catching up with Mariner. Since Ramsey is a guest aboard the Cerritos, and Mariner is a solid leader who knows the crew, she offers to make her first officer for the duration of her stay. Mariner says she's thrilled for them to team up, until Ramsey pulls her in for a hug and a hidden look of anxiety crosses Mariner's face.
The Osler, Division 14's transport ship, arrives through a stormy anomaly, its sleek black hull and red highlights giving off a sinister air. A masked Edosian medical specialist greets Boimler and Tendi at the airlock with ominous gravitas, warning them of the strange passengers they will soon be meeting aboard his ship. When Boimler asks how long it will be until they arrive at The Farm, he deflects, saying not to worry and that "The Farm cures all".
In orbit around the planet, Ramsey, Mariner, and the other three guest officers are suiting up for a walk through Khwopa's mucky terrain. Things turn a bit awkward when, in the middle of some past reminiscences, Mariner mentions a few not-so-lighthearted practical jokes that fail to impress the other officers. Their confidence in her is further shaken when they transport down and Mariner immediately takes the lead... in the wrong direction. This turns out to be neither the first, nor the worst of her command gaffes during the away mission. Even afterwards, Mariner continues to embarrass Captain Ramsey, accidentally triggering a red alert attempting to run a long-range scan for the USS Rubidoux when it fails to rendezvous with the Cerritos on schedule.
In a dimly-lit hold of the Osler, Boimler and Tendi meet a wide variety of Starfleet officers afflicted by a myriad of conditions as strange as they are unique. Most of them aren't very chatty, but one of them, an officer whose body has been aged in opposite directions on opposite sides of his body, rants about how The Farm is a myth and that their "transport" is little more than a prison for Starfleet to bury and forget about people like themselves, victims of the many vagaries of space.
The Cerritos tracks down the Rubidoux, finding it stranded and without power. Expecting technical problems, Ramsey beams aboard with her usual team to rescue the crew and conduct repairs. Mariner continues to behave uncharacteristically incompetent, but refuses to explain herself when challenged by Ramsey. When they reach the bay where the crew is holed up, they notice to their surprise that the doors have been deliberately welded shut. They force their way in to find the crew seemingly in good health, but cowering behind floating cargo containers. Even Captain Dayton is hysterical with fear, gibbering about "the thing" outside.
Dayton: You don't understand. We're inside of it!
On the Osler, the next time Tendi leaves to walk The Dog, the rest of the passengers conspire to stage a mutiny that night during the next shift change so they can take the ship somewhere habitable and live for themselves. Straight-laced Boimler looks uncomfortable with this, but with some encouragement gets caught up in their battle chant... and then immediately narcs on them to their handler afterwards. Boimler just wants to suggest opening a dialogue that will reassure the passengers that they're in good hands, but the enraged Edosian smashes his desk, grabs a phaser rifle, and storms out.
Expecting the worst, Boimler follows. When confronted, the mutineers are immediately cowed by the weapon, but despite his angry accusations of treason, all the medical specialist does is order everyone confined to quarters before departing in a huff. Oh, and he also outs Boimler as the one who blabbed, leaving him suddenly alone in a room of very unhappy freaks.
Back on the Rubidoux, Dayton explains that they deliberately shut down their systems because a lifeform that has infested the ship is feeding on its power. Ramsey is a moment too late to stop Durga from reactivating the warp core. Immediately, glowing tentacles sprout from between the bulkheads, tearing the ship's structure apart. Worse, the awakening creature is interfering with their comms. Mariner immediately takes charge, ushering the frightened crew to the bridge where they might be able to reach the Cerritos for emergency beamout.
Ramsey notices the sudden change in Mariner and realizes that her constant bumbling was just an act, gone now that there's a real life-or-death emergency to deal with. Mariner admits that she was doing it to discourage Ramsey from trying to promote her out of the lower decks where she's comfortable and free from The Chains of Commanding. Ramsey is frustrated that her friend, after all these years, still refuses to mature into the capable leader she has so much potential to be. Ultimately, they Agree to Disagree, Ramsey promising to leave her rank alone if Mariner drops the schtick and helps her get everyone out alive.
As for Boimler, the angry mob has chased him into an airlock. He pleads for mercy, saying he's still a freak like the rest of them. Alas, his phase misalignment decides to finally wear off at that exact moment. As they push the button, Boimler braces for vacuum... but instead topples down a ramp onto a bed of grass. The Farm, it turns out, is real, and they've just arrived. They all look out at its pristine skyline as the Edosian arrives, steps down onto the planet, and apologizes to everyone for overreacting instead of communicating with them better about their itinerary.
At a nearby lake, Tendi is saying a tearful goodbye to The Dog, promising to do everything in her power to get her back. But The Dog suddenly speaks, reassuring Tendi that she has been a wonderful parent and that she is happier in this new environment. The Dog wishes Tendi well one last time before floating off into the sunset. Then Boimler approaches, surprised to find that Tendi is unsurprised that The Dog is talking. Apparently, he has to explain to her that real dogs can't speak.
Boimler: No, none of that!
Tendi: Ohh! Well, then this is starting to make a lot more sense.
Boimler, no longer allowed to stay on The Farm now that his condition has resolved itself, departs the planet in a shuttle with Tendi.
The away team continutes to dodge tendrils as they dash for the Rubidoux bridge, Mariner and Ramsey only stopping momentarily to save Captain Dayton when she becomes ensnared. The ship is moments away from complete structural failure. There's not enough time for everyone to beam out. Mariner calls Rutherford and tells him to put his experimental new transporter into action. He dashes to the transporter room, makes his modifications, and everyone is rescued just before the bridge collapses! They're also all out of phase like Boimler was, but it's a small price to pay for being alive. From the Cerritos, everyone watches as the shell of the Rubidoux disintigrates to reveal a beautiful, phosphorescent, jellyfish-like creature, which floats peacefully beside them.
With the danger behind them, the lower deckers reunite with each other in the Cerritos mess. Rutherford is surprised to see Boimler back to normal (though he quickly pretends otherwise), Tendi meets a real dog for the first time, and Mariner is making up with her friend before she departs. Mariner and Ramsey both still love Starfleet, however different their ambitions may be, but Ramsey says her offer still stands. Mariner says she may decide to Rank Up to senior grade someday, but she still has some soul-searching to do before she's ready.
Tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Tendi genetically engineers all kinds of crazy abilities into The Dog simply because she had no idea that Earth dogs can't do any of that.
- Actor Allusion: The person on the Division 14 ship with a moon for a head references Mac Tonight, one of Doug Jones’ (from Star Trek: Discovery) early characters.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Ramsey confronts Mariner on why she was so sloppy during the first half of their mission together, when both of them knew that Ramsey was there to ask her Academy buddy Mariner to join her on the more prestigious crew of the USS Oakland. Mariner admits that she's capable of a better job... but she's not ready for it.
- Bait-and-Switch: Division 14 — which is tasked with Space Accidents — seems authoritarian and cruel. The ship that they operate is darkly lit, and the officer in charge has an evil laugh. Is Division 14 really just going to lock up all these poor folks in a space prison? Turns out, the answer is no. The Edosian officer in charge of transporting the patients in Division 14 isn't evil, that's just how he laughs. Turns out that "the Farm" is actually a nice place, and all the victims of these space accidents are going to be taken care of in a reasonable, humane, and uplifting way.
- Body Horror:
- Although not human, many of the "upgrades" that Tendi made to The Dog, such as twisting its head and limbs around or inverting its head into a round fleshy maw, are physically uncomfortable to look at.
- The patients on the Osler are Starfleet personnel turned into mutants by various accidents and couldn't be cured by their crews. The more visible mutations include several with grossly shortened or elongated limbs, an individual with a head shaped like a half-moon, and another whose head is breaking up into several floating pieces.
- Brick Joke: Boimler makes a Pun of "Boim me up" instead of "Beam me up". Mariner shouts the same thing at Rutherford near the end of the episode after he points out the side effects of his modified transporter.
- The Bus Came Back: This is the first on-screen appearance of a member of the Edosian species since 1974.
- But Now I Must Go: Tendi has to give The Dog a tearful goodbye when she has to leave her creation at The Farm. Played with when The Dog reveals that she can speak, is fully aware of the situation, and is happy to stay at the Farm because the place gives her room to roam and urinate on things. And then The Dog floats into the air to prance away.
- Call-Back: In "Temporal Edict", Ransom mentioned packing up his free weights when he thought that he was being thrown off the ship. During Freeman's call-in to the Cerritos, the Commander can be seen using them to work out in the background.
- Chekhov's Gun: Rutherford's teleportation modification allows him to rescue the crew of the Rubidoux when the normal transporter isn't fast enough.
- Continuity Nod:
- A bunch to "Chain of Command". Mariner calls the temporary captain a "babysitter Jellico-type", after Captain Edward Jellico. Freeman, Shaxs, and Ransom go on a stealth mission wearing the black suits that Picard, Worf, and Beverly used in that episode.
- Among the various Body Horror subjects are Ensign Janna, who suffered the same injuries as Captain Pike and is confined to the same chair, and Anthony the newt, who heavily resembles the creatures from "Threshold" and is assumed to have been human previously.
- The Rubidoux is infested by a spacefaring lifeform that grows inside it until manifesting as a sort of jellyfish, perhaps a juvenile form of the aliens seen in "Encounter at Farpoint".
- The Osler's captain is an Edosian, the same species as Arex.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Of a sort. The captain of the Osler admits that it probably would have been better if he had just talked to all the patients and explained himself, which Boimler told him earlier in the episode.
- Creating Life Is Awesome: The episode opens with Tendi debuting a dog that she engineered from scratch. Past all the usual dog traits, she added a lot of... extra features, the least of which was the ability to talk, because she had no idea what dogs aren't capable of.
- Creepy Good:
- The Edosian in charge of the Osler comes off more like a creepy, evil prison warden than a captain of a medical transport. But it turns out that he was actually taking his mutated passengers to an idyllic planet for treatment after all, and he admits that he could have done a much better job communicating with his passengers than he did.
- The Osler is introduced flying out of a nebula as an all-black star ship with Sinister Geometry. It's really just a transport on a long multiple-stop journey to the Farm.
- The Dog has shape-shifting abilities that border on Eldritch Abomination, but is otherwise mostly harmless, and is especially kind-hearted and loving towards Tendi.
- Curse Cut Short:Ramsey: I expected to be working with the capable Starfleet badass I knew at the academy, not... whatever you are now.
Mariner: Yeah, and I thought I'd be working with my fun friend, not a total b- - A Dog Named "Dog": Literally — Tendi's dog is named "The Dog".
- Evil Laugh: Subverted — the captain of the Osler may laugh semi-maniacally, but he's a decent guy with a weird-sounding laugh.
- Funny Background Event:
- As Boimler and the Osler captain run off to stop the mutiny, Tendi and The Dog are off to the side, the latter casually tearing up a piece of the deck plating.
- When Captain Freeman is calling to check up on the Cerritos, Ransom is doing reps on a dumbbell that he somehow brought with him, and Shaxs is staring intently at a plant.
- Gilligan Cut: Boimler joins in with the chanting freaks wanting to mutiny before it immediately cuts to Boimler tattling to the captain.
- Hero of Another Story: The crew of the Oakland appear to be more competent and capable, with a lineup of characters that would make for an interesting spin-off. And Mariner's friend Ramsey — the Captain, no less — was looking for a way to promote Mariner to her crew.
- I Am the Noun: The captain of the Osler declares "I am the rules!" when Boimler tries to talk him out of violently nipping a mutiny in the bud.
- Implausible Deniability: Boimler is so desperate to score some points with Ramsey that he rushes to the bridge and pretends that he isn't glowing blue and making an obnoxious noise. He lasts about 30 seconds before Ramsey loses her patience and sends him to sickbay.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Rutherford says of Tendi's artificial dog, "Just to be clear, this is a normal dog, and she's messing with us." The dog then assumes a vaguely spider-like form and climbs the walls.
- I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Tendi thinks that her Animalistic Abomination is a normal Earth dog; she has no idea that normal dogs can't fly, shapeshift, or speak English.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Lieutenant Durga looks down on Mariner from minute one and is very acid in her criticisms of her, but considering Mariner's history of insubordination, her repeated mistakes and poor behavior during their time together, and still being an Ensign while her former classmate has already made Captain, it's hard to blame her.
- Karma Houdini: Understandable though their anger towards Boimler might have been, the passengers aboard the Osler probably should have faced some sort of consequence for attempting to murder him.
- The Mutiny: The "freaks" aboard the Osler are planning to take over the ship, believing that the Farm is a lie and the ship is a prison. Boimler rats them out just before they make their attempt.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Parodied with The Dog, which is constantly unveiling various (and usually horrifying) new abilities, such as being able to bend its legs backward and climb on walls like a spider, change into a solid cube and be able to roll around on its own, implode its own head and eject its eyes (which fly around on little bat wings) before re-creating it, talk in Federation standard, and levitate.
- Non-Indicative Name: There isn't really "much ado" about Boimler in this episode at all; after he's examined by T'Ana, she summons Division 14 to pick him up and he is then promptly forgotten about by the crew of the Cerritos. Boimler's antics en route to the Farm don't even make up the episode's A-plot, which is instead about Mariner. One gets the impression that they couldn't come up with a good title for the episode and had to come up with something.
- Noodle Incident: Ramsey has already had to save Dayton and the Rubidoux once before.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: After Ramsey takes command of the Cerritos and makes Mariner her XO, she begins acting like a complete idiot in front of her new captain and the officers from the Oakland, constantly screwing up routine tasks and forgetting important gear on an away mission. But when things go south on the Rubidoux and her crew is in danger, Mariner drops the act and starts acting like her usual, hyper-competent self.
- Obliviously Evil: The Osler is Starfleet's most nightmarish ship, with a spiky design, purple clouds perpetually surrounding it, dark corridors, and a captain with an Evil Laugh, but it turns out that he's a decent guy — if pretty solidly into Creepy Good territory — and and the end he agrees that he should probably make the ship look more inviting.
- Odd Name Out: Downplayed. Most California-class starships follow the Location Theme Naming of being named after cities in California, but the Rubidoux is named after a neighborhood of the city of Jurupa Valley and is the only one with a French name as opposed to the Spanish names Cerritos and Merced.
- Poor Communication Kills: The whole subplot aboard the Osler occurs because the medical specialist doesn't communicate any expectations to his passengers about how long their trip is supposed to last. The ship's spooky atmosphere and spartan accommodations don't help. It's unknown if the passengers themselves bothered to ask when they're supposed to arrive at The Farm, but, when Boimler does, the Edosian disregards the question. By the end, he fully accepts fault for this, and says he'll be more communicative with passengers going forward.
- Real After All: The Farm is assumed to be a myth, since the patients have spent months on the Osler, but it turns out that the journey just takes a while and the Farm really is as idyllic as people say.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Osler... doesn't make the greatest first impression. Subverted when it turns out to be Creepy Good rather than actually evil.
- Sarcasm Mode:Captain Ramsey: Durga, report.
Lieutenant Durga: There's some sort of alien entity inside the ship.
Ramsey: Oh, you think?! - Secondary Character Title: Boimler gets his name in the episode's title, but he is the focus of the episode's B-plot.
- Secret Test of Character: Mariner's friend, Captain Amina Ramsey, had come from her command of the USS Oakland to see if Mariner was good enough to get promoted to her crew. Mariner, wary that her best friend from the Academy might be testing her for such a promotion, intentionally underperforms to sabotage that attempt. But when the mission turns risky and lives are on the line, Mariner quickly becomes the hyper-competent officer that she could be, which leads to Ramsey questioning why Mariner is even in Starfleet.
- Seen It All: Mariner brushes off Tendi's mutant dog when it first changes, telling a horrified Rutherford and Boimler to wake her if it becomes something that she has to care about.
- Shapeshifter: Tendi's dog can shapeshift into objects, such as a metal cube.
- Shout-Out: The design of the Division 14 shuttle is heavily evocative of the Black Ships used by the Imperium of Man to collect psykers in Warhammer 40,000.
- Sound-Effect Bleep:Ramsey: Look, how about you stop pretending to be a f**k-up, and I'll stop trying to recruit you, then we can go save these people.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Tendi names her genetically engineered dog The Dog, always said with a "The" at the beginning.
- Stealth Pun: The events of this episode's B-plot can be summed up as "Tendi's dog went to live on a farm."
- The Stool Pigeon: The disfigured passengers aboard the Osler try to recruit Boimler into their mutiny plot, but he rats them out to the captain almost immediately.
- Talking Animal: The Dog reveals that she can talk at the end. Tendi had no idea that this was not typical until Boimler told her.
- Teleporter Accident:
- Rutherford runs Boimler through a transporter that he's upgraded to be slightly more efficient. On the return trip, Boimler ends up transparent, glows blue, and constantly emits an annoying sound similar to the transporters when in use. On the bright side, Rutherford figures out how to get rid of the annoying sound. It later happens to the entire crew of the Rubidoux and the away team when they have to get off the ship fast.
- Ellis and Sanderson were fused by the transporter, causing the former's waist to be fused through the latter's stomach.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: The mutants try to do this to Boimler after he rats them out. Fortunately for him, the Osler had just touched down on a planet, so he merely ends up lying in a field holding his breath.
- Unusual Euphemism: Amina asks if Mariner has seen Ransom's "photon torpedo".
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Lieutenant Durga is left to powers the Rubidoux back on and manages to do this while Ramsey and Mariner explore the vessel. Only problem is the ship had been invaded by an unknown alien entity that was feeding on the ship's power, which the crew had turned off to reduce its activity, but comms interference means that Ramsey is unable to get this information across before Durga finishes powering the ship back on and awakens the entity.Lt. Durga: There's some sort of alien entity inside the ship!
Ramsey: Oh, ya think? - Verbal Backspace: When Rutherford sees Boimler looking normal again at the end, he blurts out his surprise before catching himself, revealing that he wasn't as confident as he claimed that the phase misalignment would resolve itself.
- Wall Crawl: The first thing that Tendi's dog does is invert its limbs and start crawling on the ceiling.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Everyone on-board the ship is rightfully freaked out by The Dog and calls it a freak, with T'Ana calling it "Mr. Whatever-The-Hell-It-Is." Tendi still loves it, even after she realizes that she kinda did make a monster. On the plus side, The Dog already knew this, but didn't want to worry Tendi.
- What the Hell, Hero?: What Ramsey does when confronting Mariner when it turns out that Mariner can be an exceptional, level-headed officer when she wants to be.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Boimler nearly gets lucky with the attendants on the Farm, but since his transporter effect has worn off, he's outed as not being a freak any more and immediately shipped out.
