8 Ups & NO Downs From Star Trek: Lower Decks 5.6 - Of Gods And Angles
2. UP — Look To Your Laurels
Starfleet is not the easiest organisation in which to achieve, or even maintain, success. You can be highly skilled at what you do, but so are countless others around you. Ensign Olly, a talented engineer, struggled to prove herself to her colleagues, being "kicked off" various ships before arriving on the Cerritos. It wasn't until she quite literally looked to her laurel(s) that she could start to fit in.
As in previous episodes this season, roles are reversed for Mariner in Of Gods and Angles. Olly is the former, more belligerent Mariner; Mariner is, for the most part, the responsible mentor, the likes of which she has had in arguably the entire Cerritos crew (including her mother).
It is Mariner who elects to take Olly under her wing, and it is with her guidance (perhaps a little forceful at times) that the ensign comes to accept her powers (and her laurel) and find a place for herself. That did require some time in the brig first — another stark contrast for Mariner with previous seasons, now on the other side of the forcefield looking in. Olly's cavalier insubordination and cover-up did equally provide for one hell of an interrogation scene, and for one of the best lines of the entire season, nay, of the entire series:
You couldn't square the thought of making peace, so you iced a Cube.