Lower Decks: D'Vana Tendi encourages us to forge our own paths

Star Trek has a history of depicting characters of established "villain" species becoming members of Starfleet and thereby providing a richer, more nuanced understanding of these alien cultures. Famous examples include characters like Worf, Quark, or Seven of Nine, but a more recent example is the Orion scientist on Star Trek: Lower Decks, D'Vana Tendi.

Voiced by Noel Wells, Lt. JG (previously Ensign) D'Vana Tendi has offered many entertaining insights into the culture and society of the green-skinned pirates that have been a part of the Star Trek universe since the very first pilot episode, "The Cage." What Tendi has also shown, however, is the importance of being yourself.

Throughout Lower Decks, Tendi often tries to distance herself from her Orion past. She keeps her history as a pirate a secret (even though her moniker, Mistress of the Winter Constellations, sounds totally cool). Tendi also bristles when her friends and crewmates make jokes and superficial comments about Orion culture.

In some ways, Tendi's ambivalence towards her past is in contrast to a character like Worf, who proudly proclaims his Klingon heritage, even when he has a fairly idealized notion of what it is to be Klingon. Like Worf, though, Tendi experiences outsidership both among her own people and in Starfleet. But, also like Worf, Starfleet allows Tendi to be herself.

Even though Tendi is Orion, she isn't thrilled with the Orion Syndicate's culture of violence and piracy. Her affinities lie with the exploration and discovery that Starfleet promotes. But, being Orion also means that she is not as knowledgeable of human and Federation cultural norms, like not knowing what a dog is. This makes her an outsider in both places.

Despite the fact that Tendi is an outsider of sorts, the reality is that she is true to herself. Not only that, but she is valued and embraced for her unique individuality among the crew of the USS Cerritos and Starfleet more broadly. The only issue is that her Orion family would really prefer that she return to Orion and fulfill her obligations as the aforementioned Mistress of the Winter Constellations.

That's where we have been left as of the end of Season 4 of Lower Decks, with Tendi being separated from her friends aboard the Cerritos, to rejoin her family and be a pirate. We can assume, though, that she'll somehow manage to return to her Lower Decker friends (hopefully) early in Season 5!