T'Lyn wins at agriculture in "Fully Dilated"; Star Trek: Lower Decks S5E7

While some may argue that Star Trek: Lower Decks is its own thing and should be left to be such, I would argue that it is still a Star Trek series and needs to feel like Star Trek beyond costume and set design. Season 5, Episode 7, "Fully Dilated" is an episode that does just that by giving us an interesting quandary and watching the quirky Lower Deckers navigate it.

Episode summary (spoilers)

"Fully Dilated" begins with the USS Cerritos arriving to close a quantum fissure, like the ones we've been seeing throughout the season so far. This one involved a purple alternate version of the Enterprise-D, and the Cerritos crew notes that some debris was left on the planet below, Dilmer III.

Captain Freeman decides to send an away team consisting of Beckett Mariner, D'Vana Tendi, and T'Lyn. Tendi and T'Lyn are both candidates for the Senior Science Officer position on the Cerritos now, and this is a source of tension between them, mostly for Tendi.

Before the trio beam down, Boimler and Rutherford (who are operating the transporter) note that time dilation is occurring, so a second on the Cerritos will be a week on the Dilmer III. Of course, right after beaming the away team to the planet, Boimler and Rutherford spill messy drinks all over the transporter console! (Food isn't allowed in the transporter room for a reason.)

Now stranded on a pre-industrial planet, Mariner, Tendi, and T'Lyn quickly find the debris from the purple Enterprise, including the head of that universe's Lt. Commander Data (with Brent Spiner reprising his role as the character). They then proceed to spend a year on the planet during the few minutes Rutherford and Boimler spend trying to clean the console.

While on the planet, Tendi keeps trying to find ways to outdo T'Lyn scientifically, to prove her value as a science officer. Meanwhile, T'Lyn proceeds to cultivate giant fruits and vegetables and become rich from these and a hair product she develops. This only frustrates Tendi further, even though T'Lyn says she was trying to invite Tendi to join her. During all of this, Mariner gets arrested multiple times.

In the end, Tendi and T'Lyn have a heart-to-heart that strengthens their friendship, the transporter console gets cleaned, Mariner is bailed out of jail, and the trio beams home. Back aboard the Cerritos, the Purple Data Head persuades Captain Freeman to make both T'Lyn and Tendi co-senior science officers, and everything is resolved nicely.

Interesting detail (regarding Vulcan ears)

One part of this episode is that the away team has to get surgery to look like the aliens on Dilmer III. Tendi and Mariner both have their ears exposed (and noticeably round, as Orion and Human ears are), but T'Lyn wears a headband that covers the pointed tips of her ears.

We have seen episodes where characters like Captain Kirk or Counselor Troi receive surgery to get pointy ears and infiltrate Romulan ships, but Vulcan characters are almost never shown having their ears rounded off. This episode is where I really noticed it, and it made me wonder why that is.

One explanation that I can think of is that Vulcans' ears are extremely sensitive and cannot have the same modifications that human ears apparently can by that time. Another thought I have is that Vulcans may have a cultural taboo against changing or modifying their ears in this way, making it more practical to simply cover them in a round-eared, pre-warp society.

Thoughts on the episode

I loved this episode. Part of that is because I'm a T'Lyn fan, so I always like it when she shows up. More of it, though, is that it gave some great opportunities for the characters to interact and deal with their predicament. Plus, Brent Spiner's voice appearance as Data was able to actually play a role in the plot for more than just comic relief.

Although I was definitely hard on the first couple of episodes in this season, Lower Decks is now "firing on all thrusters," as Dr. McCoy would say, and it is giving some really fun episodes that are light-hearted and funny with the necessary vibe of being Star Trek episodes. I just wish it had more than three episodes left in its run now.