6 Ups & 1 Down For Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.4 — A Farewell To Farms

If it doesn't add injury to insult, is it really Klingon? On the surface, at least, the whole society appears to be one long series of ancient traditions designed to cause as much suffering as possible. Or, as Boimler pointed out to Ma'ah and Malor, "You guys have a lot of rituals".

A Farewell to Farms understands, and plays on, this particular aspect of Klingon culture to great effect. Boimler's "[…] Klingon as hell" might as well be 'Klingon is hell,' or, for Ma'ah, to coin a phrase, 'hell is other Klingons'. Moreover, what best resembles the 'Rite of Ascension,' seen performed on Worf in The Icarus Factor, doesn't need a name here other than what it does on the tin (of probably gagh).

Putting it plainly — as the "Rite of Unending Pain" (supposedly part of the "Ritual of J'ethurgh" — not only underscores the ridiculousness of Bargh's posturing, but also makes plain the utter absurdity of being prodded like cattle by a set of increasingly high-voltage torture sticks simply because it’s the rite thing to do.

Boimler's solution to passing the 30,000 volt red zone was also ingenious, showing that courage and fortitude will never be the domain of the physically dominant, but that strength of character and intellect will always win out.