Not gonna lie, Fangirlish Fam. Lower Decks really had me on the ropes this week. I went from laughing to clutching my metaphorical pearls with “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie.” Episode 2×07 really did a good job not only delivering some serious laughs, but also some serious emotional beats in this episode. Here are a few of my thoughts on this week’s episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie.”
Where Pleasant Fountains Lie are with PRINCE Andy?
Did any of us expect that Andy Billups is anything but an earthling? Did any of us suspect he is a prince?! Andy looks like my uncles did in the 80s, so he is not what you would expect when it comes to an intergalactic prince. Star Trek is great about subverting expectations, and they certainly did mine here. One of the things I appreciate about Andy’s storyline is that it is an inversion of a traditional fairy tale trope of a princess forced into marriage (and sex) against her will. Andy embodies that role here, where he’s being forced into the “Royal Copulation” in order to assume his role as King of Hysperia.
What I appreciate about this is that the focus here is on Andy’s decision and his ability to control his own life, regardless of whether or not he has the respect of his mother. That aspect of the episode is particularly interesting, considering the inversion of tropes used for this storyline. I am curious to see if we will learn more about Hysperia later in Lower Decks or other Star Trek series.
R. I. P. MY SHIPPER HEART
I was NOT prepared for all the emotional whiplash we would get in “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie,” especially with them almost killing Rutherford AGAIN. Come on, Lower Decks writing staff! I’m quite sure all of us are way too emotionally spent right now to handle that! Tendi is truly all of us with that expression of agony. I can’t take the idea of Rutherford nearly dying either, Tendi! Here’s hoping they’ll be a little kinder to these two cinnamon rolls the rest of the season. Also, can I just say that Tendi tackle hugging Rutherford to the ground in sheer relief that he’s still alive warms my little shipper heart? Because it does. Let’s make this ship sail already!
Big Bestie Energy with Boimler/Mariner
With Boimler and Mariner’s storyline, we get a couple things brought to the surface.
1). Mariner routinely underestimates Boimler’s abilities because he’s different from her.
2). Boimler has more going on underneath the surface. His acting here to get Agimus to trust him is quite good and had both Mariner and me going.
What it comes down to here is that while Boimler is still working on becoming more confident and more sure of himself and continually proves his competency, I think Mariner is starting to become more intimidated by his growth. We have already seen how she fears change; she fears losing Boimler to bigger and better things all over again while she is comfortable working on the lower decks. I’m going to guess that we’ll be faced with a challenge in this regard by the season’s end. I want to watch them grow together, and not apart. Their big bestie energy is too good to waste.
Final Thoughts
Finally, I adore that we get Jeffrey Combs making his NINTH unique Star Trek appearance in this episode as Agimus. This is the first time we’ve seen him play a non-humanoid role in any Star Trek series. Combs is a real gem of a character actor, and according to a good friend of mine that’s had the pleasure of meeting him, he is a truly kind person in real life.
That’s about all I have for “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie,” but I do have one confession before I sign off.
I like black licorice.
What did you enjoy about “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie”? What do you anticipate for the end of the season? We’ve got just three episodes left and while Lower Decks is much more episodic than any of the other modern Trek series, I’m very eager to see where we will end up with these characters by the season’s end. Leave me a comment and let’s talk Trek.
The next episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks will air on September 30, 2021 on Paramount+.
