Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” gives us a nice throwback to the original Star Trek. We’ve got a treaty to make, lost kids to find, and an unruly ensign to reform. Can our two warring species come around, or will it be too difficult an angle to accept? Don’t be square! Let’s get the ball rolling with my review of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles.”
Tale As Old As Time
It’s a story we’ve seen multiple times across multiple iterations of Star Trek, but Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” offers a more humorous take on a traditional peace treaty. I love how Lower Decks has done something so simple, not unlike Star Trek: The Original Series season 3 episode 15 “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” where the opposing sides were the same in every way except physical appearance, and even that wasn’t that different. The simple idea of cubes versus orbs makes for hilarity on a show like Lower Decks and a great opportunity for square/spherical jokes. “Somebody doesn’t skip radius day!” is so, so funny! Plus the names are hilarious too–Radiara, Orbiculous, Quadrilon, and of course, SquAaron! It’s so silly and so effective. It’s a more humorous take than this trope normally gets, but it’s still effective. Leave it to Lower Decks to successfully add a fresh take on a classic Trek trope and pack it with good humor too.
MORE: Here are our reviews of Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5!
Who Mourns For Olly?
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” also hearkens back to Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 episode 2 “Who Mourns for Adonis?” Ensign Olly is the character I never saw coming. Yes, her grandpa is Zeus, and yes, the laurel is attached. Now I want to see if other descendants of Greek gods show up in Star Trek. That being said, Olly is an interesting character all on her own. She’s a great person for Mariner to mentor because she is basically Mariner from a few seasons ago. Impulsive, but smart. She doesn’t know how to express her emotions and is too proud or maybe afraid to ask for help. Watching her and Mariner work together is encouraging, not just for Olly’s development, but for Mariner’s too. This shows us not just that Mariner has moved beyond her past, but that she’s grown from it immensely and is in a healthy enough place to be able to mentor others. Star Trek: Lower Decks continues to show us just how important it is to work on our mental and emotional health and the positive effects that work yields.
Be Yourself…Kinda?
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” has Boimler learning to be himself…well…sort of. The chokehold Beard Boimler has on our Boimler’s self-esteem is interesting. We should do our best to be our real, authentic selves. And yet he’s trying… just his alternate universe self. And of course, Rutherford takes all the wrong lessons from this. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season, in my opinion. I have a feeling that Beard Boimler might not be all that he seems. And do we really want Rutherford trying to be Otherford? I don’t think so. We’ll have to watch and find out if our guys will learn their lesson.
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” makes me laugh harder than any episode of the season thus far. Maybe I’m a sucker for math humor, but all the geometry puns really work well for me. Plus, Dr. T’Ana being a Catian, but also a humanoid sweary cat is great. She goes from dropping the people’s elbow on Boimler to shaking her butt before she pounces is a delightful touch. Mike McMahan and crew have done a wonderful job this season. I’m just sorry that it seems to be their last.
But the ultimate takeaway in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 episode 6 “Of Gods and Angles” is the importance of being yourself. Olly learns the lesson and uses her abilities to solve the problem. It’s Boimler who hasn’t quite learned the lesson yet. Yes, there’s some nuance with his aspirations to be like Beard Boimler, but as I said, I’ve got concerns that maybe he’s not the upstanding guy he seems to be. We’ll just have to keep watching to find out more.
The next episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks will air on November 28, 2024, on Paramount+.
