IR TV Review: STAR TREK - LOWER DECKS - EPISODE 8 (“Crisis Point 2 - Paradoxus”) [Paramount+-S3]

The world that "Star Trek: Lower Decks" exists in might seem normal in many ways to those living it but the reasoning is based in the fact that these characters need to escape too. In Episode 8: "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus", the foursome takes the idea of cinematic movie and switches to the Holodeck with Mariner and then Boimler coming to terms with their own existence and what it means through their own misplaced shenanigans (especially Boimler's). The interesting ideal here is who in the simulation takes it seriously or is taken seriously in relation to the mission. There is also an underlying motive and secret that is fueling the way Boimler is asking using mythology from an earlier episode.

The episode does make fun of unusual coincidences and the climactic scenes that seem to accompany different action filled shows and films in this genre. One always wants to be the hero of their own story but sometimes that is not possible in the range of possibilities. The time travel element as always is interesting and because of the Holodeck it plays to the aspect that sometimes the computer is writing itself. While the story progression might be the most logical the computer is envisioning, it is not the most original which Mariner calls it out on. The element of relation comes back to "why?" in the greater scheme of things which is Boimler's Achilles Heel. The resolution, in an odd way, is, to a point, poignant because of how it is framed even though the aftermath in and of itself speaks to another trope. B

By Tim Wassberg