With "Lower Decks" first season released later, on Amazon Prime, in the UK, it's actually only seven months since I watched the finale of the first season and wrote my review. In that, I said that I felt it was "alright, but not amazing" but that it certainly improved across it's run. I'd say that the second season maintained the level that the first season ended at, and so was better and more inventive overall.
With Boimler (Jack Quaid) reassigned to the USS Titan, the remaining crew of Lower Decks are getting used to life without him, but his time on board Will Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) all action Starship is a stressful change of pace. The Cerritos becomes embroiled in the politics of the planet Pakled, negotiating a ceasefire whilst dealing with a spy and later discovering that the leadership has been supplied Veruvian bombs by a third party and intend to use them in a war against Earth.
As I say, the second season is better than the first because they've settled into the tone of the show now. They've arrived on affectionate parody, which is probably the sweet spot. The episodes have genuine stories to them, that from another point of view would be series - but is undercut by a sense of humour. The series also likes a deep cut reference. The Tom Paris one is fairly standard, but I did not remember who Sonya Gomez was, and had to google that one when it was clear I wasn't getting the joke. Bringing Alice Krige back for a single short scene as the Borg Queen was a nice touch too as well as a non-Star Trek but still in-joke of having June Diane Raphael voice the mother of Paul Scheer's Billups character.
I still don't feel that the series has crossed the barrier from good, to great and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't already a "Star Trek" fan, but I'll be back for the third run.
With Boimler (Jack Quaid) reassigned to the USS Titan, the remaining crew of Lower Decks are getting used to life without him, but his time on board Will Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) all action Starship is a stressful change of pace. The Cerritos becomes embroiled in the politics of the planet Pakled, negotiating a ceasefire whilst dealing with a spy and later discovering that the leadership has been supplied Veruvian bombs by a third party and intend to use them in a war against Earth.
As I say, the second season is better than the first because they've settled into the tone of the show now. They've arrived on affectionate parody, which is probably the sweet spot. The episodes have genuine stories to them, that from another point of view would be series - but is undercut by a sense of humour. The series also likes a deep cut reference. The Tom Paris one is fairly standard, but I did not remember who Sonya Gomez was, and had to google that one when it was clear I wasn't getting the joke. Bringing Alice Krige back for a single short scene as the Borg Queen was a nice touch too as well as a non-Star Trek but still in-joke of having June Diane Raphael voice the mother of Paul Scheer's Billups character.
I still don't feel that the series has crossed the barrier from good, to great and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't already a "Star Trek" fan, but I'll be back for the third run.